Cherished Beauty

(Complete. The blurb for the upcoming book, The Substitute Bride, is at the bottom.)

Before everything happened, Wen Qinxin's parents sent her to her uncle's home in the capital, hoping her maternal family could arrange a suitable marriage for her.

She had imagined what her future husband might be like. Someone as gentle and kind as her cousin, with a refined and warm nature, would be perfect.

But to save himself, her cousin tricked her into leaving the house and offered her to Pei Yan, a powerful court official with a terrible reputation.

At a moonlit flower banquet, the princess inexplicably ordered her to dance, drawing the emperor's attention.

The emperor thought she looked about half like his most favored consort, Yun, but was even more beautiful, with a dazzling, voluptuous charm that Consort Yun couldn't match. He immediately set his sights on her.

Just as he was about to make her a consort, the cold and arrogant powerbroker Pei Yan reached out and snatched her away.

She heard gasps and cries of alarm from the hall, even the metallic clatter of a silver cup hitting the stone floor.

"Still afraid?" Pei Yan lowered his eyes and glanced at her, his expression as indifferent as ever, though his arm held her steady.

Everyone said that Pei Yan's former fiancee had been seized by the tyrant, so he had deliberately taken Wen Qinxin as her replacement.

Wen Qinxin didn't want to be anyone's replacement, but Pei Yan caught her by the wrist and drew her close. His voice low and dark, he asked, "Do you really not remember me?"

Mist clouded Wen Qinxin's beautiful eyes, and she stared at him blankly.

Pei Yan removed the phoenix hairpin from her temple and smiled faintly. "Perhaps I can help you remember."

After he ascended to the throne, the national treasury grew steadily fuller. His ministers praised his courage in lifting the maritime ban, but his confidants joked in private, "The emperor was really just in a hurry to clear his father-in-law's name and please the empress, wasn't he?"

Notes:

1. Set in a fictional world.

2. One-on-one romance.

3. A sweet, delicate beauty and a cold, powerful official, with a four-year age gap.

4. A sweet story of love after marriage.

Check out my completed works in my author collection. Please add my upcoming book, The Substitute Bride, to your reading list!

Blurb:

Qi Fengxiao grew up in a secluded estate, unknown to the world, her life as insignificant as a weed, yet her beauty as lovely as an orchid.

Song Yuguang, heir to the Marquis of Zhongyong, was renowned for his military achievements and wild arrogance. After being blinded in a plot against him, he changed completely, shutting himself away and keeping even his closest relatives at a distance.

The marquis's wife wanted to find her son a noble bride who was beautiful, gentle, and kind, someone who could stay by his side and care for him. Everyone who came to propose had their own agenda, and in the end she chose the legitimate daughter of the Earl of Guang'an.

But the day before the wedding, the bride disappeared.

As Qi Fengxiao was forced into the bridal sedan, she heard her stepmother threaten in a low voice: "If you can win the marquis's favor, I'll tell you where your mother is and let you see each other. If you can't, don't blame me for selling you off just like I sold your mother!"

Qi Fengxiao didn't dare disobey. Though terrified of the young master, whose moods were unpredictable, she was gentle and attentive, serving him with all her heart.

The young master couldn't see, so she became his eyes.

The young master needed to write a letter, so she painstakingly imitated his handwriting.

With her slender waist and soft voice, she became the gentlest comfort in Song Yuguang's darkness, and he decided to play along with the mistake.

Who could have guessed that after his wife returned to her family home, she would come back a different person?

Theme: Sincere hearts are met with sincere hearts. Treat others honestly, and you will reap the rewards.