I'll Take Care of You

The Smiling General Gu Fuli has three legends.

The first legend: Gu Fuli is breathtakingly beautiful. A beauty mark sits beneath his flirtatious eyes, and his rosy lips reveal dimples when he smiles. When he walks down the street, people throw fruit into his carriage. When he first joined the army, even burly men were stunned. Women adore his peerless beauty, while men feel ashamed of their own looks beside him.

The second legend: Though born of humble origins, Gu Fuli is a fierce cavalry commander. With a weapon in hand, he can take on ten men alone. With command of an army, he can drive back a thousand with a hundred. He has led his troops through a hundred battles and never lost. Wherever his iron hooves ride, he reclaims the land.

The third legend: The Smiling General Gu Fuli is a loyal hound of the eldest princess's household, and also a vicious dog at her side. Anyone the princess despises is his enemy, and anyone she wants dead becomes a soul beneath his blade.

The world mocks him for having no ambition, for willingly letting love make him subordinate and risking his life for a hairpin-wearing lady. Only Gu Fuli remembers that bitter winter, when the eldest princess's fingertips brushed his lips and she softly asked, "Come with me. I'll take care of you. How about it?"

The eldest princess bought his freedom from Red Sleeve Pavilion, a place where people were consumed without a trace. She wiped the rouge from his face, took off his silk clothes, taught him to read, and sent him to the training grounds. She even gave him a new name. From then on, he climbed out of the mire and became the eldest princess's "Gu Fuli."

Even if a beauty were worth ten thousand gold, even if his bones were ground to dust, he would remember: once he entered the princess's household, he would forever be the princess's Gu Fuli.

Note: Female lead is not a virgin; the second male lead pursues his wife and ends up with his ashes scattered.

My next book will be Spring Light Folded. Please add it to your reading list. Here is the blurb:

At a banquet, fellow graduates teased Shen Zhiya again: "Top Scholar, your little wife has come to bring you some medicine for your hangover."

Shen Zhiya was annoyed. Worried that Jiang Jiyue, the daughter of a criminal, might cause trouble, he hurried outside, took the medicine, and sent her away.

He had barely sat back down when the silent Prime Minister Xun Yinhe spoke to him for the first time. "Who is she?"

Shen Zhiya answered in alarm, "She is my wife, sir."

A moment later, the wine cup in Xun Yinhe's hand shattered into pieces. Shen Zhiya was so frightened he fell silent, unable to figure out how he had offended him.

Then Xun Yinhe said softly, "Is that so?"

That very night, Jiang Jiyue was taken to Xun Yinhe's residence.

Theme: Learning to understand and respect one another.