The Hibiscus Beauty

Advance notice: You can add my upcoming novel, "The Crown Prince's Long Road to Regret," to your collection from my author page. Thank you so much!

Synopsis

Wen Yuerong is the daughter of the Deputy Censor-in-Chief. Delicate and breathtakingly beautiful, she has countless suitors among the capital's officials and their sons. Then her father is caught up in a wrongful case, and their magnificent household falls apart.

Facing the devastating prospect of having her family property confiscated, Wen Yuerong turns to the Song family's son for help. Their engagement is suddenly called off, and the Song family disowns them to distance themselves from the affair. Wen's father is left in an even worse position and soon dies in prison.

Wen Yuerong's family is destroyed, and she is sent to the Bureau of Music. The legitimate daughter of a respected official's family becomes a courtesan everyone feels free to mock.

When she wakes from a dream, Wen Yuerong remembers that the Song family's son has a distant uncle who holds immense power and influence. Besides, she has a stone. Asking him for help is truly her only option.

When Shen Chaolun sees the stone, he says dismissively, "It was just a childhood game. You can't take it seriously."

Wen Yuerong steels herself. "I've never thought much of youth, as fleeting as morning dew. If you would take me in, I wouldn't know how to thank you."

Shen Chaolun: "No need to thank me. Just stay by my side and know your place."

She assumes that from now on, she'll merely be putting on an act for his amusement. After all, their family backgrounds are worlds apart. She's just the lowly daughter of a disgraced official. Wherever he chooses to settle her, as long as she can stay alive, her life won't have been wasted.

Later, he defies an imperial decree and his betrothal to the County Princess of Qinghe, nearly having his arm cut off by her husband. The entire Shen family pressures him to cast out his concubine-born daughter, but Shen Chaolun tells them to their faces, "Only if the heavens fall and the earth splits apart, only if I die."

Only then does Wen Yuerong understand that when he called her "the apple of my eye" while half-drunk and half-awake, it wasn't a lie told at the moment of their parting.

With tears in her eyes, she embraces Shen Chaolun in the pouring rain.

What she missed in her previous life, she'll cling to in this one, even if it costs her life.

Shen Chaolun: "You're such an idiot."

She protests, "From now on, the children must take after me. Say what you mean instead of speaking in riddles."

Shen Chaolun sweeps her into his arms. "Then let's do it today instead of waiting for an auspicious day."

Through a twist of fate, the male lead's secret love comes true. The heroine is reborn and chooses her first love. One-on-one romance, both leads' first time.

A fictionalized Ming dynasty. No historical research needed.

"The Crown Prince's Long Road to Regret"

Synopsis:

Wen Ying was born with a birthmark on her face. It wasn't large, but it was right in the middle of her face, severely affecting her looks and marriage prospects.

Her father is demoted three ranks, and the whole family is soon exiled to Liuzhou. Her stepmother points at her face and curses her as an ill-omened bringer of disaster who ruined the family. When the family heads south, they leave her behind.

With nowhere else to turn, she enters the palace. During the Qixi Festival, she prays that one day she can become a palace kitchen maid and earn two extra taels of silver a month.

Instead, she catches the Crown Prince stealing rouge from a serving girl's lips. Terrified, she stammers, "Your Highness, your wedding is near. You shouldn't neglect the Crown Princess anymore. You should obey His Majesty's decree and be a diligent, filial Crown Prince."

The Crown Prince laughs in anger and has all the eunuchs and maids in the miscellaneous service bureau beaten, sparing only Wen Ying. "Then you can attend to me. I hear women from the music registry know all sorts of tricks. Don't disappoint me."

From then on, Wen Ying lives in endless darkness. The Noble Consort showers her with gifts day and night, the Emperor sends down an edict every other day, and Prince Wu comes by every few days to tease the poor Crown Princess. Wen Ying realizes miserably that she hasn't climbed to the top at all. She's a target, plain and simple.

When a fire breaks out in the Eastern Palace, she finally finds a chance to flee. A young eunuch comes running to bring her the concealer she forgot, saying the Crown Prince ordered him to tell her to take her things and never come back.

Wen Ying glances at the Crown Prince standing outside the hall in white, one half of his face smudged with soot, and thinks that Heaven has finally answered her prayers. She's escaped her misery!

Later, when the imperial mausoleum is completed and the late Emperor is buried in Mang Mountain, and Prince Wu is sent to a restricted territory and put under house arrest, Wen Ying finally learns about Wei You's long-hidden plans and everything he had schemed.

One evening, she tells the child in her belly a story about their time living in the village. The woodcutter next door has been very kind to her, and if she can, she might consider marrying him into her family.

Wei You looks at Wen Ying, who's sleepy and nauseated from her pregnancy and has lost her memory, and purses his lips. "You really come up with the strangest ideas."

Half asleep, Wen Ying dreams of a fire in the Eastern Palace. She wraps her arms around Wei You's neck and says, "Wei You, are you stupid? Run away with me. I'm ugly and you're stupid. Neither of us can judge the other..."

Theme: Say your love out loud.