The Parasitic Vine's Concubine Ran Away

[The ongoing novel The Unattainable Belle Next Door is available in the author's collection. Feel free to check it out.]

That year, as rain fell on Qingming, a young woman stumbled into Jiang Chen's view. Her thin clothes clung to her, soaked through, as she raised her tearful eyes and pleaded, "I hope you, Lord Duke, can lend me a hand."

Jiang Chen looked at her familiar features and smiled. "Of course. You need only give me something in return."

From then on, Yinyin became his mistress.

At first, he thought he wanted nothing more than a brief fling. But as time passed, he found it harder and harder to let her go. When choosing a wife, he declared, "I have a vulnerable mistress with no one to rely on, so I need to find someone who can put up with her."

When the imperial decree of betrothal arrived, he thought Yinyin would feel at least a little resentment. But she still wore her usual gentle smile, like a fragile dodder vine in the wind, delicate and breakable, able to survive only by depending on him. He finally felt at ease.

Until the day he saw his imperial betrothed driving his dodder vine to the riverbank. Yinyin leaped into the river and was swept away. Only then did he realize she had a backbone of steel.

Later, when he found that familiar figure again in Jiangnan, his eyes turned red. He couldn't bear to imagine how difficult her wandering life must have been without him, that fragile hothouse flower.

But the young woman held a book and smiled gently yet resolutely as she said to the little girl beside her, "As a woman, the most important thing is to stand on your own. Having a man or not isn't all that important. Look, we're doing just fine."

Jiang Chen abruptly raised his eyes. In her clear, bright gaze, he could no longer find any trace of the obedient dependence she had once shown him.

(1) The male lead has no wife or concubines. Both leads are romantically inexperienced. He pursues his wife after losing her.

Prepublication: The Lazy Bride's Replacement Marriage Diary. Please add it to your favorites.

The Lazy Bride's Replacement Marriage Diary

The Yan family had a third daughter named Yan He. Rumor had it she was sweet and lazy, and her favorite things were eating and sleeping.

When Yan He reached marriageable age, Master Yan tossed and turned night after night, fretting over how he could marry off his lazy daughter.

One day, the Yan family's legitimate eldest daughter, Yan Jiuwei, demanded to break off her engagement because her fiance's family had fallen on hard times and even lost their title.

Master Yan slapped his thigh and sent Yan He in her place.

The Pei family fell into ruin, but their legitimate son, Pei Qingzhi, worked from dawn to dusk and studied hard until he finally became a newly appointed top scholar. Without his family's support, however, he still couldn't compare with the sons of the great clans.

He bore the weight of his family on his shoulders and never dared slack off for even a moment. Always diligent and self-disciplined, he seemed a good match for the Yan family's dignified and ambitious eldest daughter.

But on their wedding day, when he lifted the veil, he found that his bride had been replaced. It was none other than the lazy, gluttonous third daughter of the Yan family.

Yan He blinked her misty peach-blossom eyes and handed him a pastry. "You're standing so straight. Doesn't it tire you out?"

Pei Qingzhi: ...

Later, Pei Qingzhi entered the Grand Secretariat, was made a first-rank duke, and rose to the highest position in the court. Yan He also received a noblewoman's title.

People in the capital speculated, all saying that the third daughter of the Yan family must have been pretending to be a fool while hiding her cunning. Otherwise, how could she make the cold, aloof Lord Pei treasure her like his own eyes?

It wasn't until they saw Yan He eating pastries in the garden that every madam and young lady was left pounding her chest in frustration. They were jealous: she was genuinely lazy, so why was she so lucky?!

Theme: Live diligently, face difficulties head-on, and strive for happiness.