The Innkeeper's Blessing

★ Coming soon: "The Color in Her Palm" and "Forced to Marry the Prince Regent." Please add them to your reading list!

★ Blurb:

Shen Lingshu, daughter of Imperial Medical Academy Director Shen Qiu, sought refuge in her uncle's household, the Marquis of Xuanping, after her father was convicted of a crime.

Her cousin coveted her beauty, and her female cousin envied her looks. In a fit of anger, Shen Lingshu saved up enough silver to open a spice shop in the west of the city.

Running a shop, making some money, and hiring a handsome young assistant: that was the peaceful life she wanted.

But her aunt, eager to curry favor with the powerful, took it upon herself to send Shen Lingshu to the Fourth Prince.

Rumor had it that the Fourth Prince was frail and sickly, cruel-tempered, and prone to beating and berating his servants. He was also said to be unlikely to live past twenty.

Shen Lingshu was unwilling, but there was no defying an imperial decree. The day of her wedding to the Fourth Prince arrived all the same.

On their wedding night, she met the supposedly dying, brutal Fourth Prince.

He wore red, with a face as handsome as jade. Dashing and full of vitality, he looked nothing like a sick man.

But... he looked far too much like the assistant in her shop!

The Fourth Prince bowed gracefully. "How have you been, Shopkeeper?"

Shen Lingshu's expression froze as she suddenly remembered what this refined, smooth-talking shop assistant had told her ten days ago: "Marry the Fourth Prince? Have you thought it through? Even living with me would be better than marrying that sickly man!"

What had she said to him at the time?

She had brushed him off: "Since you're clever and capable, if you don't mind, once I enter the palace and wait for the Fourth Prince to die, I'll summon you there."

Now she didn't need to wait for the prince to die or summon the assistant to the palace. He was already by her side.

At the thought, Shen Lingshu turned as pale as paper.

Later, the ailing prince grew more and more vigorous. Not only did he survive, he became emperor and kept Shen Lingshu in the palace, doting on her alone for the rest of her life.

Reader's guide:

1. Both leads are devoted to each other, sweet romance, one-on-one.

2. The setting is entirely fictional and cannot be verified against history.

3. Updated daily, no abandonment.

Theme: Take each step steadily, and life will bring new opportunities.