The Ugly Concubine

"You want this filthy, stupid thing to be my grandson's bedchamber maid?" The exquisitely pretty young master pointed at her in disapproval.

The other maids had told her that young master Chu Shanxun was cruel and unpredictable, and hated clumsy, ugly, fat people most of all. Xiao Tao had been forced into the Chu household by her wicked brother and sister-in-law. She stood beneath the blazing sun, terrified that she might not survive the day.

On the day they first met, he was furious that his grandmother had made the decision without his consent, so he left her to bake in the midsummer sun for an hour. After that came three years of exhausting, lowly work in the outer courtyard, where she was constantly bullied. Chu Shanxun watched the pretty maids and servant concubines torment her. Not only did he do nothing, he found it entertaining.

*

Chu Shanxun was drugged. Beads of sweat dotted his handsome forehead, and his eyes had turned red. Just then, ugly, fat Xiao Tao wandered into the inner courtyard by mistake...

From then on, Xiao Tao became his personal maid, though the least favored one.

Later, the old madam died suddenly, and Chu Shanxun was driven out of the family home and left to wander the streets. His servants scattered. Only Xiao Tao remained. She pawned the jewelry he had casually given her and got up before dawn every day to sell wontons for breakfast, barely managing to keep them both fed.

*

Years later, after weathering the vicissitudes of life, Chu Shanxun became the new top scholar. He turned down every offer of help from the powerful families, his eyes fixed only on the plain-looking woman.

"Xiao Tao, come with me to my new post." The handsome, refined young man stubbornly stood by the rickety gate. "Can't you love me one more time?"

"Have you forgotten...?" Her fingertips went pale. She replied indifferently, "You are the bright moon in the heavens, while I am the filth in the gutter."

"Please, give me a chance to make it up to you." Chu Shanxun smiled bitterly, regretting everything. "Xiao Tao, in this life and the next, you're the only one I want."

[So this is how painful it is to love someone. It makes you miss them until you go mad. Without you, even all the wealth and power in the world would mean nothing.]

P.S. A grounded story with a handsome male lead and an ugly female lead. The male lead is a bastard early on, but devoted later. Besides the male lead, there are plenty of villains and trash men. The heroine is not a virgin. Hard times give way to better days.

Coming soon: The Blind Prince's Ugly Bride for Good Fortune (The Beggar Empress). A story of mutual salvation. [Gentle, sensitive, petty male lead x ordinary, fat beggar heroine]

During a great plague in Jiangnan, just as Qi Miao was about to starve to death, she spotted a blind fortune-teller by the roadside.

She was so hungry and lightheaded that the fortune-teller looked absolutely delicious to her, and she couldn't help walking over.

The man, as elegant as a breeze beneath a bright moon, read her fortune. Then she was sent into the palace to bring good fortune to the old emperor.

Qi Miao stuffed herself with delicacies from the imperial kitchens for a whole month before she began to worry that the old emperor might put her to use.

As it turned out, the emperor escaped death. When he woke, he summoned her to bestow a reward. Supporting her round belly, her puffy little face trembling, she stood before the imposing, elderly ruler. Before she could speak, a palace eunuch announced, "I pity Prince Qi, who is blind and frail, so I shall send this lucky charm to his residence as well, to bring him good fortune. Someone, take her away at once."

*

Once she entered Prince Qi's residence, she realized that Prince Qi was the same handsome, otherworldly fortune-teller she'd met that day!

Fortunately, he couldn't see, and he was so mild and kind. Qi Miao didn't believe in any of that nonsense about bringing good fortune. Her mother and younger sister were still trapped in the pleasure house, so she might as well make the act real. After all, blind men never regained their sight, right?

She'd serve and please this one man, and once she'd earned enough silver, she'd quietly run away. It was a good deal.

*

So Zhu Yunli endured the awkwardness every day, watching the chubby girl sneak around and try to seduce him with all sorts of clumsy, laughable tricks.

That's right, he was only pretending to be blind to avoid the struggle for the throne.

Later, even his sense of beauty changed. He grew increasingly captivated by the girl's soft, rounded belly, and his favorite thing was to hold her close and pinch her cheeks.

When he discovered she was selling her jewelry to escape, the man smiled as he stopped her in front of the dog hole she'd dug. His eyes darkened as he asked gently, "After all the sweets you've eaten at the prince's residence, Miao Miao, don't you think you've made this dog hole a little too small?"

P.S. 1. The male lead pretends to be blind. He is a hypocrite with an unhappy childhood, and later turns dark, imprisoning his father and killing his brothers. His life is cruel and dark, except for the heroine.

2. The heroine really is a beggar. She acts obsequious, but in truth she looks down on everyone, even the emperor. She trusts no one and only wants to save up enough money to live a comfortable, ordinary life.

3. She is made a consort first later on. Includes a forceful pursuit trope, but the main focus is mutual salvation.

Theme: Even an ugly duckling can have her springtime. Have faith and work for what you want.