Spring Days in Changyu

My new novel, Forced Into a Shotgun Wedding, is now available. Come check it out!

[A marriage-after-the-wedding, she-falls-first-and-he-falls-harder story about a coolheaded, cold-hearted substitute Crown Prince who chases his wife]

Shen Yu took her seriously ill cousin's place and married Li Xun, heir to the Prince of Wei.

Everyone said that the person in Li Xun's heart was her cousin, Shen Ruo, his unattainable white moonlight.

The two had grown up together and been engaged for years. They were the perfect couple, envied by all.

The usually rational, cold-hearted man only ever showed a hint of tenderness when he was with her cousin.

As for Shen Yu, she was merely a convenient choice forced on him by circumstance. He hated her and treated her coldly. On their wedding night, he left her alone, and never once gave her a kind word.

But Shen Yu didn't care.

She never expected Li Xun to love her. After marrying into the prince's estate, she was always dutiful and kept to herself. At night, she would sit by his side and gently attend to him; by day, she would manage the household affairs, meek and sensible. She was the very picture of a worry-free wife.

But being humble isn't enough to make someone love you.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, Li Xun was made crown prince. So that he could bring his white moonlight into the Eastern Palace with proper standing, Shen Yu was demoted from wife to concubine, becoming the laughingstock of everyone.

Everyone thought she would cling to him and refuse to give up her position as his principal wife, Li Xun included.

But Shen Yu showed no resentment or grievance. She calmly packed her things and went to a temple outside the palace, making way for her cousin.

At the time, Li Xun thought nothing of it, certain that one day she would return to his side.

Then, on the night of the Eastern Palace wedding, with ten miles of bridal finery and wedding candles burning bright, the crown prince, so sure he had everything under control, received the news that Shen Liangdi was dead.

The gentle woman had fallen into the icy river at the bottom of a deep ravine. She hadn't even left him a body to bury.

Only then did Li Xun understand what he had lost...

*

If he could start over, Li Xun would give up everything, as long as he could keep the young woman whose every thought and feeling had once been for him.

Later, his wish came true. The young woman really hadn't died, but there was no longer any trace of him in her eyes.

He did everything in his power, going mad as he tried to save her, but she lay in another man's arms, smiling tenderly.

When the man's mask fell away, Li Xun saw a pair of phoenix eyes almost identical to his own.

In that moment, Li Xun was struck as if by lightning and finally understood.

She had never loved him. Her white moonlight had always been her gentle, refined elder brother, a man he had always revered and respected, and whom he believed he could never catch up to, even if he spent his whole life trying.

He was just a substitute!

P.S. This is not a rebirth story.

Reader's guide:

1. Important: The male lead is a substitute, but the female lead is not her cousin's substitute. The heroine suffers first, then the hero (about half each). There's a mix of sweetness and angst. Read with caution if you can't accept that.

2. Don't insult the author or heroine, especially the author. I'll get mad if I see it.

3. The blurb mistakenly says the male lead was never married. There's a misunderstanding.

4. Both are virgins, 1v1.

See Chapter 1 for content warnings.

The following are upcoming stories. Please add them to your collection!

Upcoming novel 1: Forced Into a Shotgun Wedding

Shen Tangning is the legitimate daughter of a declining marquis's house. Though gentle and quiet by nature, she is alluring and beautiful, yet she has a poor reputation among the many noble young ladies of Chang'an. When she was sixteen, her uncle arranged a prestigious marriage for her to curry favor with a powerful family.

But after an accident, she slept with the heir to the Duke of Zhenguo at a flower-viewing banquet, despite already being engaged to someone else.

The heir to the Duke of Zhenguo, Xie Zhan, was a talented young man, handsome as a jade tree in an orchid grove. He had been childhood sweethearts with the empress's niece, and they were only waiting for her to come of age before marrying.

After news of the incident spread, both sides had no choice but to end their previous engagements. The Duke of Zhenguo's household then sent a matchmaker to propose to the Marquis of Pingning's household.

From the proposal to the setting of the wedding date, Shen Tangning's fiance, Xie Zhan, never once showed up.

Three months later, heartbroken, Shen Tangning hurriedly married into the Duke of Zhenguo's household, heavily pregnant.

On their wedding night, Shen Tangning held back her tears and spoke to her husband, who had lifted her veil and was about to leave without a word. "Young Master, don't worry. Once I've had the baby, I'll divorce you right away. I won't drag this out or cling to you."

Xie Zhan paused, then left with a cold expression.

-

Xie Zhan had been forced to marry Shen Tangning. To him, she was a stranger, a woman with a bad reputation, his wife, and even the mother of his child.

He had no feelings for her whatsoever. If it weren't for the child, he thought he wouldn't even have set foot in her courtyard.

As the baby grew, Xie Zhan visited her courtyard more and more often. He began to notice that although Shen Tangning didn't say much, she was gentle and kind, and never made things difficult for anyone.

Still, they had nothing to say to each other, and they remained distant and cold.

After the baby was born, Xie Zhan thought that if she could change her old ways, the two of them might as well make a life together.

Until Shen Tangning asked for a divorce...

On the night she left the Duke of Zhenguo's estate, she didn't look back. When Xie Zhan heard the news, he grabbed the child and chased after her carriage.

The man who had always been calm and self-controlled was frantic with desperation. In a hoarse voice, he pleaded, "Ningning, the child is already so big. Are you really leaving?"

Elder Brother

Qi Ning was breathtakingly beautiful, with skin like ice and bones like jade, and an alluring charm. But as a girl surnamed Xie who had been brought into the Xie family by her father's mistress, she had never been cherished.

Her stepmother was kind in appearance but cold at heart, and after her father's death, she often mistreated Qi Ning.

One day, her elder brother Xie Chengzhou returned victorious from the battlefield, and the whole household rejoiced.

Xie Chengzhou had hated Qi Ning ever since they were children and had never once been kind to her. Qi Ning knew this, so she was even more careful around him.

But her elder brother always observed proper etiquette and kept himself strictly in check. To outsiders, he was a paragon of virtue.

Qi Ning had thought so, too.

Until that night, when she knelt before her elder brother, eyes red, and begged him:

"Brother, please, save him. I'll do anything."

Unexpectedly, her elder brother abandoned his usual propriety, lifted her chin, and asked with a smile, "Anything?"

At the sight of his dark, possessive gaze, Qi Ning's face turned deathly pale.

Theme: Let go of the past, face the future, and cherish the one before you