The Young Master's Mask

This is a companion piece to the completed novel in my collection, A Guide to Becoming a General's Consort After Rebirth. A short, serious story. Blurb: Zhao Jin takes in a beggar who looks like her unattainable first love and brings him to the Princess's residence, naming him A-Gou. She torments and tramples the boy, who is far too dependent on her, humiliating and oppressing him, casting his sincere feelings aside and treating him like a dog. The cold-hearted imperial city has taught her only two things: to take revenge for every slight, and to wear a mask. The moment the mask comes off is the moment she falls for good. - Zhao Jin x Song Tuo A capricious, irreverent princess x a stubborn, taciturn young nobleman and secret guard 1. A-Gou is Song Tuo. His identity as a beggar in the early chapters is a disguise. 2. This is the original version and predecessor of The Female General, written several years ago. 3. A short, serious story with some angst, written to practice my prose. - [Completed] A Guide to Becoming a General's Consort After Rebirth. An alternate-history ancient romance about a female general and an emperor: As a renowned female general, Hao Xin's lifelong wish is to protect her sovereign. In her previous life, she died consumed by her passionate love for him. But fate played a cruel trick on her: she wasn't reborn as a child. Instead, she was reborn in the body of that heartless emperor! When the ministers bring her own dead body before her and demand that she decree a grand burial, she really doesn't know what to do. When the imperial consorts compete to seduce her and get her to spend the night in their palaces, she is genuinely terrified. When the ministers argue furiously in court and demand that she make a decision, she is utterly bewildered. Worst of all, the real emperor has been reborn in her body! They've switched bodies! Her Majesty calmly tells her to attend the morning court in his place. Or he pouts, acts pitiful, and begs her to comfort him because he's been hurt and is bleeding. Hao Xin screams inwardly: A general should be broad-minded! She can't hold it against His Majesty! She absolutely must stay away from this demon emperor! What? He wants to marry her and make her empress?! -That, she can consider. Theme: Lovers will find their way to each other.