Marrying the Chief Secretary When He Was Down on His Luck

[Complete and revised]

Previews for my upcoming historical romances, The Foolish Beauty's Pampered Days and Revenge of the Mountain Spirit, are below. If you're interested, please add them to your favorites~

Blurb:

Lu Qiong always thought she would marry either Niu Dazhuang, a farmer from the neighboring village, or a young clerk from the county who was good with numbers. They would have a few children, send them to school to study and learn a trade, and she would care for her husband and raise their children. That would be a whole life, too.

Then, by a twist of fate, she married Xie, the scholar who had just moved into the village.

Scholar Xie was cool and handsome, eloquent, and knowledgeable about all the elegant pursuits under heaven. Lu Qiong couldn't understand a word, so she looked up at Xie Zijie and asked, "I'm so stupid. You won't abandon me, will you?"

Xie Zijie glanced at her and said coolly, "The Xie family has no custom of divorcing a wife for a mistake. I married you, so I'll keep you for life."

*

For the first fifteen years of his life, Xie Zijie had been a proud and carefree young man of the capital.

At sixteen, his family suffered a sudden disaster, and he was reduced to marrying a poor girl to escape danger. His loyal servant advised him to endure it for now: once the Xie family's name was cleared, there would still be time to divorce her.

Xie Zijie couldn't bring himself to do that. He thought he couldn't expect a poor girl to understand him, but as long as she behaved herself, he would respect her for life. They could treat each other with courtesy, and that would be enough.

Ten years later, the dashing and refined Prime Minister Xie, favored by the emperor and wielding great influence, knelt at the gate of his own Wild Apple Courtyard. A passing steward hesitated, then tried to persuade him.

"Prime Minister, let this old servant speak from the heart. If you don't stand up for yourself soon, everyone in the land will know you're afraid of your wife."

"Stand up for myself?" Prime Minister Xie snapped. "So what if I'm afraid of my wife? Have you read any books? Which great statesman isn't afraid of his wife?"

Prime Minister Xie knocked on the door with a pitiful look. "Qiong Niang, I was wrong. Treating each other with courtesy isn't enough. Please let me in."

● A noble gentleman, pure and elegant as moonlight, x a levelheaded, resilient shopkeeper from the prefectural city

● First-couple-only, happy ending, one-on-one

--Please add my upcoming historical romance The Foolish Beauty's Pampered Days to your favorites!--

Jiang Wuyu is breathtakingly beautiful, but foolish, and at eighteen she still isn't married.

After someone schemes against her, she hastily marries the sickly son of Prince Su, a man bedridden with a chronic illness and liable to die at any moment.

The capital waits to laugh at the newlyweds.

--Xi Yansang is frail, and Jiang Wuyu is willful. One of them will probably be driven to an early grave, while the other spends half her life a widow.

*

To plot his escape from the prince's estate, Xi Yansang has pretended to be ill for years. When he marries Jiang Wuyu, he has long heard of the foolish beauty's great reputation, so he makes things clear to her: the prince's estate is a dangerous place. For now, we must stick together. I'll do my best to protect you, and you mustn't hold me back.

He thinks they'll be no more than birds in the same forest, destined to fly apart one day.

But later,

Even as the Prince of Su's estate rises, falls, and finally collapses, the people of the capital never see the young couple leave in disgrace.

Instead, the sickly man rises to the highest ranks of the court, while the foolish beauty receives a noble title, and they share in wealth and glory.

Everyone says, "Fools have their own luck. Jiang Wuyu really was born lucky."

But only Xi Yansang remembers that when they fled the Prince of Su's estate, Jiang Wuyu took his hand, her eyes shining like stars, and said nonchalantly, "So what if it's a den of dragons and tigers? I'm here."

At that moment, Xi Yansang understood that no matter whether it was a mountain of blades or a sea of flames, he would protect her for the rest of his life.

[Short scene]

There was no mountain of blades or sea of flames, only Jiang Wuyu, who was determined to support Xi Yansang after they escaped the Prince of Su's estate.

Jiang Wuyu tried her hand at cooking, and smoke billowed from the stove.

Jiang Wuyu tried to earn money for the household, but couldn't make sense of business.

In the third year of Jiang Wuyu's big plans, the deposed crown prince returned to the capital to claim the throne. They say he has a jade-faced demon under his command, a ruthless and vicious man who can stop children from crying, and who also has a grudge against the Prince of Su's estate.

Worried that her gentle, taciturn husband might be caught up in this, Jiang Wuyu secretly considers how to protect Xi Yansang.

Then the jade-faced demon walks into her home, carrying vegetables and a duck, along with the account books for the Jiang family's shops, all sorted out for him.

Xi Yansang calls out helplessly, "My lady, come over for some soup in a bit."

Jiang Wuyu: "That's pretty thoughtful of you, isn't it?"

● A man who's pretending to be sick but is actually scheming, and an optimistic, energetic foolish beauty. The first half is life at the prince's estate, the second half is married life.

● The heroine really is foolish, in every way. Her greatest strength is her positive attitude.

--Please add my upcoming historical romance Revenge of the Mountain Spirit to your favorites!--

While the mountain spirit was recuperating at an estate, a young gentleman moved in next door.

She had heard of him: General Li Yunran, who had single-handedly defended Beiding Pass, only to be left with crippled legs and no prospects for a great future.

Li Yunran was handsome and elegant, like jade among mountains and snow in a forest. Feeling sorry for him, the mountain spirit brought him a bowl of fruit one day and a jar of her clan's fermented wine the next.

Li Yunran returned her kindness by teaching her refined Central Plains speech, telling her about the customs of Jiangnan, and promising to be with her forever.

When their love was at its most intense, the mountain spirit even prepared to share with Li Yunran half of the spirit medicine she had used to escape her clan.

Then, stumbling, she was pushed into a raging fire. She saw Li Yunran standing tall, his legs perfectly sound, his face as cold as snow, and her spirit medicine in his hand.

The mountain spirit suddenly understood. He had come prepared, a hidden dragon biding its time in the waters, seeking her out precisely because they shared the same misfortune.

She had only imagined his affection.

*

After returning to the capital, Li Yunran presented the border clan's spirit medicine to the emperor.

His achievements brought him great power, but in the dead of night, he often saw again the girl with smiling eyes, sitting in a tree and offering him fruit.

Then flames swallowed her whole.

When the Left Chancellor's youngest son became engaged, the young nobles of the capital all went to the banquet, understanding one another without a word. There, people chatted and laughed, praising the new bride from the south for her fine command of refined speech, and remarking that the newlyweds were deeply in love and had a bright future ahead.

Second Young Master Li stopped in his tracks. His hand clenched inside the sleeve embroidered with entwined branches as he met Shan Ling's gaze across the room. She was dressed in bridal red.

He met a pair of eyes filled with fire, yet cold as snow.

*

From a disgraced son born in Jiangnan to the Left Chancellor's "youngest son," and finally to the master of the imperial palace, Shi Linyu had never had much ambition.

That changed when he left the drizzle of Jiangnan behind and saw the girl who had just moved in next door.

He knew she had come from a mountain farther south and was going to the capital for revenge.

So he would return to the capital, to that cesspool, and to all its gilded splendor.

He had to be by her side.

● A regretful pursuit that ends in failure: he never wins her back

● A story where the second male lead takes the top spot. The heroine's pairing is Shi Linyu.

Theme: Growing together and supporting each other