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The Brocade Guard

One day, Yu He was doing the accounts when she noticed Gu Jing sitting nearby, his brow furrowed. He kept staring at the abacus in her hands, looking as though he wanted to say something but couldn't.

She had never seen him wear such an expression around her before. Thinking back on how kind and gentle he had always been to her, almost always granting her every request, she decided to ask frankly, "My lord, are you short on money? Just tell me how much you need."

Gu Jing had been about to take out a pearl hairpin, but silently tucked it back into his sleeve. The warmth in his eyes vanished, and he said coldly, "Hmph. You're certainly direct!"

Yu He: ???

Coming soon

After Abandoning the Powerful Minister I Had Seduced

"Only by becoming the most favored and most powerful princess in the empire can I escape the miserable fate of being sent away for a political marriage, then widowed and left with a child."

Raised in the cold palace, Chu Qingzhao had regarded these words as sacred truth from childhood. She spent five years working hard to win the favor of her imperial brother, the emperor, who even promised to choose a suitable husband for her from among the powerful families of the capital.

Chu Qingzhao never trusted promises that hadn't been fulfilled. When she came of age, she used her birthday banquet as an excuse to invite every unmarried young man in the capital.

The capital was blessed with outstanding talent, and there was no shortage of promising young men. Now that they had all gathered at her princess residence, Chu Qingzhao figured that even if she couldn't find someone she wanted to marry, she could at least choose a few promising future ministers to cultivate and win over. They could help her claim power and take control of her own fate someday.

Dressed in her finest, she entered the banquet with perfect grace. Sure enough, as soon as she took her seat, she spotted a black-robed young man among the guests, his face cold and proud as frost and dew.

The young man noticed her gaze. His clear eyes grew even more indifferent. He tipped back his head, drained his cup, then crushed it in his hand, the warning unmistakable.

Chu Qingzhao: He may be putting on airs, but he looks ruthless. I like him.

After learning that the young man was Xiao Qi, heir to the Marquis of Wu'an, a valiant warrior who had distinguished himself above all the troops by the age of seventeen, decisive and ruthless in his methods, and full of potential to become a powerful minister, she found him all the more charming.

From then on, she fussed over him and showed him every kindness, sweet-talking him until he was dizzy with infatuation. She was just about to win him over.

But who could have guessed that beneath his handsome exterior, the young man was as stubborn as a mule? He suddenly declared that no military general in the court could defeat him, and that he was going to roam the martial world and become its greatest master.

Chu Qingzhao nearly rolled her eyes right out of her head. Still, in keeping with the principle of parting on good terms, she saw her act through to the end, weeping so prettily she looked heartbreakingly vulnerable. "Then you must come back alive. How will a widow with a child manage on her own?"

Xiao Qi clenched his fists and pressed his lips together, saying nothing. He shot her an angry look, then galloped away. From that day on, she heard nothing from him for six months.

Chu Qingzhao assumed he was dead and immediately cheered up and started looking for a new promising young minister to cultivate. She quickly settled on her target: the Vice Minister of Revenue.

Unfortunately, before she could even make a friendly overture, Xiao Qi, the faithless man she had already imagined ascending to heaven, suddenly came back to life and appeared in front of her.

He stared darkly at her flat stomach, his smile chilly. "Looks like the princess is carrying Nezha. Must be taking a long time to give birth."

In her panic, Chu Qingzhao blurted out, "That's right. I've been carrying it all this time, waiting for you to come back and take over."

Xiao Qi: ...?!

Reader's guide

All talk, no actual childbirth; single-couple pairing; happy ending

Theme: You are as bright as the moon, and my heart delights in you