Nothing but Beauty

[Complete]

Empress Jiannian has skin as fair as ice and bones as fine as jade, with the grace of a celestial maiden. After marrying three times, she enters the imperial palace and becomes empress, driving the emperor and his ministers to turn against one another.

First she marries a general, then a young lord, and finally becomes the empress, second only to one person. With each marriage, her status grows more exalted.

But she knows that she is nothing more than the most prestigious captive concubine in all of Great Qi.

What she doesn't know is just how many ruthless means the cold yet passionate emperor used to pull her into his arms.

But this scorching love, steeped in coercion and deceit, ultimately burns away her short life.

A comment in the book reads: “All beauty and no substance, a beauty fated to die young, passed from husband to husband three times, and never granted a happy ending.”

Ying Jiarang shivered as he read the strange storybook that had appeared out of nowhere, wrapping his drab gray Taoist robe tightly around himself. Yet it still couldn't conceal his increasingly graceful, slender figure.

Li Ji saw the gentle, aloof young man, unaware that he was inviting covetous eyes. Li Ji, who had never let his emotions show, had red-rimmed eyes as he pulled him into his arms, losing control. His voice turned sinister as he demanded, “Why does a young man like you smell of a woman...?”

1. In her first life, the heroine married three times, and she was intimate with each husband. Stop nitpicking about whether she is a virgin. Her second life is a one-on-one happy ending, with both leads virgins.

2. Fair-skinned, beautiful heroine with a youthful voice x mixed-race, wickedly charming, scheming male lead

3. Don't let the first life scare you off. Volume Two is super sweet.

4. Volume One tells the story of her previous life and is not closely connected to Volume Two. It's mainly there to explain why the heroine disguises herself as a man.

Pre-publication: You Can't Escape

Ever since the General's Fourth Miss returned to the capital from Lingnan, her temperament changed completely. The delicate southern girl began training in martial arts with the guards in the courtyard, and even obtained an imperial decree to accompany her father to Lingnan to suppress bandits. She personally set fire to the bandits' stronghold on Dragonhead Mountain and threw their leader into the flames.

After finally putting an old, gnawing worry to rest, she soon encountered the little son of the Prince of Zhennan, who had been missing for years and had just been brought back to the capital.

The two met at a peach blossom banquet. A chill ran through every bone in the Fourth Miss's body, a fear that seemed rooted deep within her. The young lord carried her into the Peach Blossom Pavilion. The slender sash at the woman's waist was tossed among the delicate pink blossoms, and the man's voice mocked her like an evil spirit: “You burned my stronghold, but you're still going to be my bandit bride. Youyou, you can't escape...”

Male Lead's Version:

Han Jiang grew up in the countryside, never knowing who his parents were. As a child, he once stayed at the old estate of the Lingnan General's family, where he worked as a laborer.

He saw the General's Fourth Miss, as lovely as a little fairy. The Fourth Miss hated the heat and took off her shoes and socks, getting her feet dirty. Han Jiang wiped them with his clothes, but she thought they were dirty and glared at him.

Even then, Han Jiang thought that one day he would force her to let him wipe her feet with his dirty clothes. Later, he became a bandit leader, and his men kidnapped a group of women.

Han Jiang let all the other women go, keeping only the Fourth Miss they'd abducted...

Reader's Guide: One-on-one happy ending, both leads virgins

A bold, seductive bandit lord and young nobleman vs. a well-behaved official's daughter who loves poetry and music. She grows over time and matches wits with the male lead.

Content warning: The male lead is insane! This is truly a story of seizing someone by force. If you can't accept that, please move on. Don't curse me out. I'm just a writing machine with no feelings.

Theme: The yearning of youth, wanting what one cannot have and being unable to let it go.