Li Yunzhir was reborn.
In her previous life, she had spent five years as a bedchamber maid to the heir of the Duke of Cheng's family. Three years of taking contraceptive medicine had left her body depleted.
Because of the difference in their status, Cheng Yan had considered simply living with her as they were, with no desire to marry or take concubines.
But then an imperial marriage decree came.
Reborn, she returned to the age of fifteen, just as her prince's residence faced total ruin. Falsely accused of plotting a rebellion, the men were exiled and the women enslaved.
By a twist of fate, she never entered the Duke of Cheng's household as a slave in this life. Instead, she became Yu Niangzi, the most celebrated courtesan in Jiangnan.
The heir of the Duke of Cheng, Cheng Yan, was so used to following the rules that he never imagined he would pay a fortune for a courtesan's first night. But once he had her, he couldn't get enough and fell deeply under her spell.
Against her wishes, he forcibly bought her freedom, acquired an estate, and made her his kept woman.
Scene One
In a moment of tenderness, Cheng Yan wrapped an arm around Yun Zhi's slender waist and murmured hoarsely, "Come back to the residence with me. I'll give you the status of a concubine. What do you say?"
Yun Zhi's eyes brimmed with coquettish charm. "No. I'll stay here at the estate. Whenever you miss me, I'll be waiting for you."
Scene Two
Word spread that the emperor greatly favored the heir of the Duke of Cheng's family and intended to marry a princess to him. Yun Zhi decided the time had come. If she didn't fake her death and escape now, she might never get another chance.
She would return to Jiangnan, open a little rouge shop, give birth to the child she was carrying, and live a life of her own. What could be better?
Cheng Yan was dispatched by imperial order to investigate a corruption case in Jiangnan. He never expected to find a little bundle of a child in his inn room, then learn that the child's mother was his former kept woman, the one he had thought long dead.
Cheng Yan's face darkened, his eyes deep as an abyss, their emotions rising as if wounded. "Is this your child?"
Reader's Guide
1. Both leads are chaste in both lifetimes
2. The male lead pursues his wife after losing her
3. Updated daily. If I can't update, I'll ask for leave
4. The romance takes its time to develop
5. A little forced possession, because without it there'd be no story
--- Coming Soon: After Our Divorce, I Was the One Who Started It and Ended It ---
They Had All Been Plotting to Win Me Over, currently in progress...
After You Hua returned to the capital following her divorce, the noblewomen who had once envied her marriage to the Marquis of Anbei came to sneer at her. They all wanted to see how this discarded wife would manage to survive in the capital.
Before she married, people only ever said she was sheltered from the ways of the world, charming and beautiful, talented and lovely. After her divorce, those once-glowing compliments became sharp blades, stabbing You Hua all over again.
What good is being beautiful and delicate if you can't hold on to a man? Now she's a discarded wife, forced to slink back to the capital, disgracing the entire You family.
In the sixteenth year of the Mingde era, You Hua married the Marquis of Anbei. Xie Xun was only fifteen then, a prince the emperor barely regarded.
When Xie Xun heard that You Hua had agreed to marry the Marquis of Anbei, he charged into the You residence, eyes bloodshot. The guards of the Left Chancellor's household nearly mistook him for an assassin and cut him down on the spot.
Only You Hua's arrival stopped the chaos. Xie Xun called to her softly, "Elder Sister."
"Xie Xun, hurry back to the palace. If Uncle Emperor finds out, you'll be punished again."
"Are you really going to marry Xiao Jingtong? He's so old. Can't you refuse to marry him, and refuse to go with him to Jingzhou?"
In the nineteenth year of the Mingde era, You Hua divorced the Marquis of Anbei. Xie Xun was eighteen, and the prince who once had no voice in the palace had become Crown Prince.
This time, no one could stop him.
Xiao Jingtong had assumed You Hua was just being difficult, the way she sometimes did, and that they would soon make up as usual. As for the divorce, he had never agreed to it, not once.
By the time he learned she had divorced him, You Hua had already returned to the capital. In Jingzhou, he gripped the imperial edict the emperor had sent at breakneck speed, furious. He decided he ought to let his young, naive wife cool her heels. There had to be a limit to her unreasonable tantrums.
This time, he wouldn't be the first to give in. He would wait for his wife to apologize.
As far as You Hua was concerned, apologizing was out of the question. But she could certainly take a good look at some men. She hadn't been back to the capital in three years, and there were plenty of new faces she hardly knew.
Rong Heng, the new top scholar from a humble family...
Jiang Yiming, a wealthy merchant who had traveled all the way from Jiangnan to make his fortune in the capital...
Fang Jinyu, a retainer in her father's household...
Reader's Guide:
1. A heroine adored by everyone, with a whole host of male leads. The male lead is blurred out for now
2. All male leads involved with the heroine are chaste, but the heroine is not
3. I'm open to writing advice, but don't expect me to change the story just because you demand it
4. Feel free to criticize the characters, but please don't attack the author
5. The fictional characters' values do not represent the author's
The blurb was screenshotted and archived on August 3, 2023.
Theme: Reject the helpless damsel role and live life on your own terms
Why do you have the nerve to use pampering? , In the middle of the night, I was so angry, Dad, how did you trick people into killing them, and why didn't you torture the male protagonist anymore?
The flowers are scattered at the end. If the writing can be more focused, I believe it will look better! My real feeling is that I was hooked just watching it. The central point of the novel was not highlighted enough. No matter which chapter I cut out, I felt that it had no impact. It was not integrated enough and it did not firmly grasp the readers. It is like dreaming at night and still thinking about the plot. It still lacks some flavor, because I really like reading novels. I have read countless books, and there are not many very gripping plots! I don't mean to criticize and point fingers, I just hope to make greater progress. No one can become a god with one book. As long as you don't give up, maybe one of the ten books will become popular! Come on!
Are you lying? I haven't seen it yet
I don't understand. The male protagonist thinks that it is good for the female protagonist to put her in a courtyard where she is constantly screaming and screaming every day, without a maid to serve her? At least the yard should be tidied up to make it comfortable, and the maid should take good care of the heroine. Not to mention fine clothes and fine food, she should also eat well and live well. If the male protagonist didn't say anything, I would have thought he was punishing the female protagonist. Even the male protagonist's words are unfounded.
The heroine's mother is also pitiful
In the previous life, the male protagonist knew that the female protagonist's family was wronged, but he felt at ease and allowed the female protagonist to be his wife?
It turned out to be a traveling businessman who had agreed to be the male protagonist. No, you must write down the male lead today. How about double updates? Ha
The new cover is indeed festive. Not bad
Isn't it disgusting? Who can I show my affection to after death, and that uncle, who knew that his niece was a slave, but still didn't take her out, a bunch of wrong people
So how did Cheng Yun hook up with Qiao Zhen in her previous life? So the second girl robbed the third girl of her marriage?