The Fallen Beauty

A Ning is a maid to the legitimate daughter of the Shen family, with a face like a lotus flower and a delicate, lovely appearance. At a banquet at the Shen residence, Prince An, a volatile and lecherous man, took one look at A Ning and set his sights on her. Miss Shen had long disliked A Ning, so she simply went along with it and handed her over. On a dark and stormy night, with a bruise darkening her temple and her face deathly pale, A Ning clutched her torn clothes and stumbled out of the North Court. She crashed into someone's arms. Backlit, she only had time to glimpse the man's handsome profile. Then, like someone clutching at a lifeline, she grabbed his sleeve. "Young master, please, save me..." Only later did A Ning learn that he was Shao Ce, heir to the Marquis of Zhenbei, a rising court noble who had just won distinction in battle. She had escaped the wolf's den only to fall into the tiger's lair. When she was sent to the Marquis of Zhenbei's residence as a gift, A Ning had no choice but to accept her fate. Fortunately, this tiger didn't seem all that frightening. Shao Ce had always been cold-hearted. The first time his heart was stirred was when a tearful, terrified face crashed into his arms beneath the night sky. So when Miss Shen sent the girl over, he made an exception and kept her. He had thought of it as no more than another mouth to feed. He hadn't expected her to be so much trouble: timid, soft-hearted, and frail. If there was one thing worth mentioning, it was how soft and obedient she was, enough to make anyone worry about her. In less than three months, she had managed to break Shao Ce of his habit of coming home late. Whenever the servants reported something and Shao Ce frowned in "impatience," everyone felt their teeth ache with sweetness. More than anything, though, they were curious about the woman who had changed him. Unfortunately, fate is unpredictable. Not long afterward, Shao Ce was ambushed while on an inspection tour, and it was three months before he finally made his way back to the capital. During that time, he dreamed countless times that A Ning was frightened and worried over his disappearance. Every time he dreamed it, his heart ached so badly he could scarcely breathe. But when he finally returned to the residence, weary from the journey, all that greeted him was an empty room... Two years later, the Marquis of Ningyuan, who had spent years guarding the frontier, was summoned back to the capital. It was said he had finally found and brought home the daughter he had lost many years ago. At the welcome banquet, Shao Ce watched as the woman following behind the Marquis of Ningyuan greeted him with distant politeness. The cup in Shao Ce's hand suddenly shattered under his grip. An innocent, beguiling beauty x a pure-hearted (secretly passionate) young marquis The heroine is an absolute beauty. One man, one woman, both each other's first, happy ending. The setting is fictional, so no need to fact-check it against history~ 2022.01.22 My next book will be The Day I Discovered My Husband Had a Secret Crush on Me After We Married, a sweet story about love after marriage. Please add it to your collection~ Blurb 1 The Yun family had been imperial merchants for generations. Unfortunately, by Yun Shuli's time, they were all show and no substance, burdened with troubles at home and debts outside. For ten thousand taels of silver, they arranged a marriage with the Xue family, whose head was a Vice Minister. It was called a marriage alliance, but in truth, the Xue family needed someone to bring good fortune to their ailing old madam. The other person chosen for this purpose was the Xue family's eldest son: cold, taciturn, and rumored to be cursed to outlive his wives. This wonderful fortune, unsurprisingly, fell to Yun Shuli, the unlucky girl her family never favored. But Yun Shuli took it in stride. She was happy to leave that wretched home and enjoy her freedom. And for all his flaws, Young Master Xue had a genuinely handsome face and was polite to others. Yun Shuli thought that as long as she remembered her place, behaved with virtue and grace, and avoided arrogance and jealousy, she could be a pretty ornament and have an easy life. And so she did, in fact, enjoy a peaceful stretch of time, apart from her husband's boundless energy at night, which was the complete opposite of how he acted during the day. Until one day, she happened upon a slightly worn wooden box in the study. It was filled with letters and notes, and every single one began with the same four words: "My beloved A Li..." Blurb 2 Since they married, Yun Shuli had thought her husband was exactly as cold and taciturn as the rumors said, except for one thing: he was far too "vain." If another man's wife embroidered a new sachet, prepared a new jade pendant, or even added a new patch to her clothes, he couldn't bear to be outdone. But since her husband asked, Yun Shuli, being a gentle and virtuous wife, dutifully prepared each one. She even took it a step further: whenever she heard that some family had acquired a beautiful concubine, she would immediately send over the prettiest maid in the household. When her husband didn't visit for several days in a row, Yun Shuli was very pleased with her own virtue and propriety. She even slept better. She never expected that when she opened her eyes in the middle of the night, her husband, who should have been enjoying the company of a beautiful woman, would be standing beside her bed, his face black as the bottom of a pot. Yun Shuli jumped in fright. Before she could ask what was going on, he had already taken off his boots and climbed into bed. His voice was full of barely restrained anger. "Since you get your news so quickly, you must know the Liu family just had a healthy baby boy today..." A sweet little slice-of-life story about how I thought we were simply being courteous to each other, only to discover my husband had been plotting for ages, and how we eventually fell for each other. The hero and heroine are both adorable. I realized I've mostly written stories about couples before marriage, so this time I'm trying love after marriage. Pure sweetness, no angst. Feel free to dive in. My completed novel in my collection, The Fallen Little Golden Branch, is also available if you're interested, sweethearts~ Theme: True feelings are precious, so cherish them while you can!