The Darling in His Palm

When the Yunzhou embezzlement case came to light, the entire officialdom collapsed overnight. Pei Ji, the celebrated jade-like gentleman of Chang'an, was ordered to investigate. When he returned to the capital, however, he had a beautiful, pale-skinned mistress by his side. She was Shen Qingxiang, the daughter of the convicted official. From then on, he kept her hidden away in a golden house and spent every night with her. The upright gentleman of old became a libertine, drunk on the beauty in his bedchamber. He turned down noble ladies for her, defied the princess's threats for her, and even secured an imperial marriage decree so he could wed her in grand style. Everyone said Shen Qingxiang was lucky. How could a lowly mistress marry the jade-like Pei Ji? Only Shen Qingxiang knew how he had cornered her at every turn until she had no choice but to give herself to him. He loved her looks and her gentle obedience. He took her, turning her from a pampered young lady of a noble family into a mistress who had to live in the shadows. Now he wanted to marry her and keep her trapped at his side forever. Shen Qingxiang didn't want to live like that. The day before the imperial marriage decree was issued, Pei Ji held the woman in his arms, remembering the pain of wanting her but being unable to have her in his previous life. He was glad that in this life he'd acted early and finally won her. But when he woke after a night's sleep, the young woman who had always been gentle and obedient to him had run away. Content warnings: 1. Possessive pursuit in the early chapters, followed by the hero's arduous pursuit of his wife. 2. The heroine grows stronger over time, starting out weak. 3. The hero is ten years older than the heroine. He appears to be a gentleman, but is domineering inside. 4. Set in an alternate Tang dynasty, with a serious tone. My next novel, Strange Tales of the Eastern Capital, is now open for reading lists: (Tang-style setting, a cold-hearted, ruthless, use-her-and-throw-her-away, number-one female Daoist x a hot-blooded, money-flashing, defiant, number-one rich playboy) In the first year of Tianshou, the two sages ruled together, and strange things began to happen. Eight women died one after another in the Eastern Capital, Luoyang. Their deaths were horrific, as if caused by something beyond the human world. The two sages personally issued an edict, respectfully inviting the number-one female Daoist in the land, Ji Changqing, abbess of Xuanzhen Abbey, to come out of seclusion and subdue the demons. Ji Changqing was dazzlingly talented, and possessed a gift that every cultivator envied: She was born unable to experience love, which made her Daoist heart unshakable. But no one knew her secret. Three years ago, she had been struck by a love poison and spent one night with a strange man. As the man asked her name in bed, the poison had already worn off. Ji Changqing left without a trace of emotion. Three years later, Ji Changqing came out of seclusion to subdue demons. At the scene of a murder, she ran into the man she'd once seduced and abandoned: He Lan Hun, a deputy minister in the Ministry of Justice. II. When He Lan Hun was a playboy, he single-handedly supported half the playboy world of the Tianshou era. After joining the Ministry of Justice, he single-handedly took on and solved major cases, forcing a group of lazy officials to work hard and become experts. Everyone knew that He Lan Hun had no scruples, but never went near women. It was said that he'd once encountered a female demon at night, who drained his yang essence, leaving him unable to perform. When He Lan Hun heard the rumor, he cracked the head of the person spreading it with a brick. Then he saw the "female demon" who'd supposedly drained his yang essence. The female demon wasn't a demon. She was a Daoist who hunted demons, and the number-one female Daoist in the land, Ji Changqing. He Lan Hun held the brick and rubbed his chin. Well, this was going to be interesting. The author's completed novels: After Losing My Memory, I Saved the Tyrant with a Sickness Obsession, a healing beauty x a tsundere, beautiful lunatic The Sickly Beauty's Moonlight, a sweet story about a sickly male lead pursuing his wife How Can She Be So Alluring, a scheming beauty x a possessive male lead Pampered in His Arms, a delicate beauty in an old-school romance Wooing Sickly Men Across the World, quick transmigration, a sweet, soft beauty wins over sickly men Pampering the White Lotus (Quick Transmigration), a scheming white lotus Theme: Even if you're as supple as rushes, never give up in the face of adversity