A Stir in Beijing

[Complete]

★ My next book, A Capital Full of Dust, is coming soon. Please add it to your reading list!

Blurb:

A clear-eyed, arrogant, and capricious princess x a scheming scholar pretending to be from a humble family

Princess Anxi, Xiao Tongxia, takes a liking to a junior official in green named Gao Qiguang. He has two remarkable qualities. First, he is a handsome young man with extraordinary charm. Second, his surname is Gao, and he is closely connected to the powerful Gao clan, the imperial in-laws who hold sway over the court.

Xiao Tongxia seizes this perfect opportunity, with every advantage on her side, and carefully stages a tale of deep affection between husband and wife using a moon-white silk pouch filled with candy. But she never imagines that he isn't just a pawn adorning her game. From the very beginning, he has been a willing captive to her charms.

"I ate the princess's candy."

"Then I'll take the prince consort's life."

*

Choosing you was fate: we walked divergent paths, yet arrived at the same place.

As husband and wife, I offer you my life. It's a gift that costs me nothing.

Please, kill me!

Only then will it be perfect in every way!

*

[Reader's Guide]

◎ Both leads are sexually inexperienced; 1v1, HE. The plot and romance are evenly balanced, with lots of detail. Not a story to skim.

◎ All the characters are ordinary people, with the full range of human emotions and thoughts. Don't judge them based on isolated passages.

◎ The male lead has a secret identity, but he and the female lead are not enemies. Love strikes before the truth can.

◎ Set in an alternate world, with all customs and institutions invented for this story. No need to overanalyze them.

★ Blurb for A Capital Full of Dust

Prince of Yan Xiao Mingzhuo discovers that Xue Zhi, the newly appointed military aide at his estate, has an unusual little sister. She often waits outside the estate for her brother to finish work. Her hands are slender, pale, and exceptionally pretty, yet she likes to pick up things that have fallen on the ground and eat them.

From then on, he personally sees this low-ranking official off work every day, despite being a prince. His attendants praise him for respecting the worthy, but only he knows the truth: Three years, and she still hasn't kicked that bad habit? Three years, and does she even remember me?

*

Xue Qingchen knows that the master of her brother's estate is Xiao Mingzhuo, the fifth prince of the realm and a former official of the old capital, Luojing. Their hurried encounter three years ago was not really the beginning of their story.

Their stations in life are worlds apart, and she had planned to keep her distance. She never expected him to call on her himself, bringing so many famous delicacies from the capital, bolts of cloth, and provisions that they filled her little courtyard. He said, "I admire Military Aide Xue's talent, so I've prepared a small gift to express my regard."

It was broad daylight, and her brother was on duty at the prince's estate. Why take the long way around? Why come in person to give her a reward? She didn't ask. She watched him turn around with composure, then miss the stirrup as he mounted his horse, his handsome face instantly turning red.

*

There are many things one cannot say, has no way to say, or sees no point in saying. But when I meet you, I find I have to speak. Only then will you feel at ease, come eagerly to stand before me, and take my hand.

"A Chen, do you believe there are parents in this world who favor one child, and want to trade the life of the child they've abandoned for the future of the one they love?"

"I believe it. We have no parents. We belong to ourselves."

"A Chen, when I look at you, it's like looking in a mirror. I won't let you become as wretched as I am. I want you to go."

"I didn't come for you, so I won't leave because of you."

*

Luojing is full of dust. Whose heart is stirred, and why?

May we become a pair of singing cranes and fly high in our youth.

[Reader's Guide]

◎ Both leads are sexually inexperienced; HE. Plot and romance are balanced at a ratio of six to four.

◎ The leads have an eight-year age gap. The heroine is young when they first meet, and the hero is mostly curious about her. After they reunite, he falls hard for her, while she remains clear-headed and restrained.

◎ The leads are two little bitter gourds who save each other. The heroine's background is central to the capital's political intrigue.

◎ The heroine has a brief, hazy first love. The second male lead gives up first. Avoid if this bothers you.

◎ Domestic and palace intrigue, court politics, and other elements are mixed together. The story includes an arranged marriage that turns to love, a tortured romance, and a groveling pursuit of the wife, with these storylines distributed among various characters.

Theme: Become your own weapon, and live and die for yourself.