The Coldhearted Power Minister

Don't read. This is writing practice, and I can't lock it.

Fu Yao was breathtakingly beautiful, the most stunning woman in the Qin Empire. She followed Ning Xiao, chasing him year after year.

But Ning Xiao was stubborn and heartless, the coldest stone in the Great Qin. He had no interest in women and treated her with icy indifference.

Even when she had taken off every last piece of clothing, her eyes reddened as she stood before his bed, he merely kept his head down and reviewed official documents, saying coldly, "Get out."

Heartbroken, Fu Yao wept as she handed him a divorce agreement. Ning Xiao gave a casual "Oh" and took it, assuming she was just being difficult and that they would soon make up as usual.

Not long after,

Fu Yao was laughing and chatting among a crowd of handsome young men.

Ning Xiao blocked her way and demanded coldly:

"The new top scholar is ugly and dark. Why are you going boating with him?"

"General Zhao has smelly feet and is a slob. Why are you embroidering insoles for him? Aren't you afraid they'll stink?"

"That playboy heir surnamed Wen never does an honest day's work, and you still call him handsome? He's just a pretty face, all looks and no substance!"

Fu Yao answered dismissively, "Who are you? What does it have to do with you?!"

Ning Xiao looked humiliated and desperately managed to get out, "I'm your... ex-husband! I can't bear to watch you throw yourself away by marrying trash..."

"Aren't you the biggest piece of trash?"

As he watched her graceful figure turn and walk away without a backward glance, Ning Xiao suddenly felt his heart ache. He almost wanted to cry.

Content warning:

1. Both leads are each other's first, happy ending. A pessimistic, cold, ruthless official x a healing, delicate beauty

The writing process and timeline for this blurb have been documented in screenshots.

Recommended: Yue Conghuan's upcoming novel, The Minister in My Palm, opening in November:

Yan Jingshu is the youngest daughter of a duke's household, doted on and raised to be extremely spoiled.

Regent Yan Cheng once killed a hundred men alone on a battlefield strewn with corpses and personally skinned an enemy general. Decisive and ruthless, he never smiles and meets every challenge head-on.

The two had nothing to do with each other, until the emperor arranged their marriage.

Yan Jingshu would rather die than marry someone so cruel and ruthless!

Knowing that the regent despised spoiled people most of all, she acted even more spoiled whenever she saw Yan Cheng. A breeze made her cough, the sight of blood made her faint, she wouldn't eat fish skin, and she had to soak in milk for ages to bathe. If he raised his voice even a little, Yan Jingshu would cry.

Yan Cheng was sure to hate her and call off the engagement.

But then, at their next meeting...

When she ate fish, Yan Cheng picked out the bones and removed the skin. When she drank tea, he gathered the morning dew. He even kept dairy cows at home, and learned to clean ears and care for nails...

Yan Jingshu: ???

The hero's perspective:

No one knew that he had asked the emperor to arrange the marriage.

The hands he used to wield a sword had spent months staying up all night to learn nail care and ear cleaning. He had even lost weight. He wondered whether his fiancée would be pleased.

He had neither mother nor father. He had clawed his way up from the dirt to a position of immense power for one reason: when he was young, a girl had brought beauty into his dark, stifling childhood.

Recommended by a fellow author, Jiang Nanyue: Empress, Take Care.

The emperor had been on the throne for nine years and had lost eight empresses. His ninth empress was Gu Jinchu, the legitimate daughter of a censor. The empress was stunningly beautiful, with a graceful figure and jade-like bones, a rare beauty indeed.

On their wedding night, the emperor did not sleep with the empress. Instead, he went to see the Noble Consort. On the way, he encountered assassins. The guards pursued them and found traces of them in the empress's palace.

The empress was forced to let them search her chambers. After everyone left, she returned to her room and was seized by the throat by an assassin.

The empress trembled in fear, weeping like a flower in the rain.

The next morning, the empress went to the ancestral temple to pay respects to her forebears. There she saw the assassin from the previous night standing safe and sound beside the emperor. Everyone treated him with utmost respect, and even the emperor dared not show him displeasure.

Blurb two:

The day after the emperor and empress's wedding, Regent Li Changqi accompanied the emperor to pay respects to their ancestors. Along the way, he saw the empress, her face pale and eyes filled with tears.

He curled his lips. "Sister-in-law, you're about to cry."

The empress bit her lip, holding back her tears. "I'm going to expose you."

Setting aside the unpleasantness of the previous night, Li Changqi bowed to her with great respect and said flippantly, "Sister-in-law, you should know my elder brother owes his throne to me."

The empress turned and walked away in tears. Li Changqi bent low in a long bow, as if paying respect to a living ancestor. "Take care, Sister-in-law."

A little scene:

Everyone knew the regent had a terrible temper. Even the young emperor dared not speak harshly to him and had to placate him every day.

During the New Year's Eve ancestral rites, many people saw him bend down to brush dust off the feet of the Empress Dowager, Gu Jinchu.

But the empress dowager only gave him a disdainful look and walked away.

The regent stayed where he was, looking rather pitiful.

Theme: Heal each other's hidden wounds and live a brighter life.