Plucking the Tassel (Qing Dynasty)

Qingya is the exquisite, beautiful daughter of a powerful man's mistress, and the most beautiful woman in the capital.

They say you should marry a virtuous woman and take a beautiful concubine, and every high-ranking official in the capital wants to bring Qingya into his household and keep her as a treasure.

But she falls for the cold and heartless Fourth Master. She refuses to enter his household as a wife and is willing to be his mistress.

At first, they are inseparable, enjoying a life so sweet it makes others envious.

But their good days don't last. After she is framed for sleeping with another man, Fourth Master confines Qingya at a country estate and ignores her for seven years.

She isn't brought back to his residence until the fiftieth year of Kangxi's reign.

Hongshi is already a grown boy. Not only does he mistake his enemy for his mother, he has learned all the arrogance and malice of a spoiled heir.

Everyone says Qingya has only been brought back to bear children for Fourth Master.

Qingya merely sneers and keeps sharpening her knife...

When Kangxi encountered Qingya by chance at the waterside pavilion in Lingzhao Hall, he assumed she was some young palace attendant he had never met...

Her breathtaking beauty and graceful figure made even Kangxi, a man who had seen countless women, feel an itch in his heart. If the eunuch beside him hadn't explained things quickly, he might already have summoned her to the pavilion to serve him...

[High-Stakes Warnings:]

1. The heroine evolves from a helpless flower into a black-hearted schemer, and personally sends her boyfriend to the crematorium. (Yes!)

2. Early on, the heroine is framed for cheating on her boyfriend. Later, she deliberately plants a green hat on his head. (Yeah!)

3. There is no absolute male lead. The heroine decides who deserves the role. She goes dark from the start!

4. Beautiful, black-hearted, and a legendary player...

[About the title: During the Spring and Autumn period, King Zhuang of Chu held a night banquet with his ministers. The candles went out, and someone in the darkness tugged at the clothes of one of the king's beauties. She secretly removed the man's hat tassel so she could tell the king who he was. The king ordered all his ministers to remove their hat tassels before the candles were lit again, so the man would not be exposed. Later, when Chu fought Jin, that man fought with all his might to repay the king. The title refers to removing a hat tassel, and also suggests a secret love affair. (*￣︶￣)]

Blurb written on 2020/5/6

Theme: If you give me blades and spears, I'll coat them in poison!