The Bridal Dowry

[Completed, all chapters unlocked. Read at your own risk.]

Coming soon: the historical novel The Little Princess and the Western Fantasy novel The Vanishing Priest. Their blurbs are at the end. If you're interested, add them to your reading list!

Li Guanyue was the daughter of the greatest incense maker of her time. When she was fourteen, her parents became casualties of court intrigue. To save their daughter's life, they sent Li Guanyue to serve in the household of their friend, Duke Lu.

Fortunately, the Lu family treated her well. Later, the emperor arranged a marriage between the Lu family and General He Huai. Miss Lu was timid by nature, and having heard that He Huai was unpredictable and moody, she asked Li Guanyue to accompany her. After one year, once Miss Lu had adjusted, Li Guanyue would be sent back to the Lu residence and given her freedom early.

To repay the Lu family for taking her in, Li Guanyue agreed. She married into the He household alongside Miss Lu, as her companion maid.

Li Guanyue only wanted to get through the year as quickly as possible. But for some reason, she inexplicably got on He Huai's bad side, and not a day passed in peace.

On their wedding night, He Huai abandoned his new bride to come find her, earning Li Guanyue the whole city's scorn as a "vixen".

Her mother had left her a recipe for making incense. If Li Guanyue reviewed it, she was punished; if she set it aside and didn't look at it, she was punished anyway.

Even when someone praised the sachet she'd made for Miss Lu, He Huai found a way to blame her.

"You're a dowry maid, a lowly servant not even fit to be a bedchamber attendant," he said.

Li Guanyue didn't want to make trouble, so she replied respectfully, "You're right, my lord."

She didn't care about any of it, anyway.

But He Huai seemed even more displeased.

Who could have guessed the Lu family would go back on their word? With no other choice, Li Guanyue had to risk getting caught up in a dispute and force them to return her contract of servitude.

She thought she could finally leave.

Little did she know that He Huai would pursue her as if possessed, following her from the He residence to Xilin, then from Xilin to Jinling.

"I'm just a lowly dowry maid. I'm not worth you going to such trouble, my lord. You should head back early, or you'll miss dinner." Faced with his relentless pursuit, Li Guanyue kept her head down, focused only on checking the moisture level of her incense ingredients.

He Huai knew he had broken her heart.

He knew he was in the wrong. She could hit him or curse him, but what he feared most was her acting as if nothing had happened, not even bothering to look him in the eye.

Reading guide:

1. A groveling-to-win-her-back romance. 1v1. Classic melodrama.

2. The male lead is a jerk: childish and despicable. He gets put through the wringer later, but there is no switching male leads.

3. Almost everyone is a villain. The Lu family are not the heroine's benefactors, but her enemies (spoilers involved). Miss Lu herself asked for the heroine to accompany her as a dowry maid; this is explained in chapter one. The heroine's marriage to the male lead is forced by family interests, and so is his.

4. The author isn't very knowledgeable about incense ingredients and incense making, and isn't a professional. I mainly research online, so please point out any technical errors. (These details won't take up much of the story.)

Thanks to Jiang Kongwan for designing the cover! My girl finally has a face!

Coming soon:

The Little Princess

Everyone says there's no one you should marry less than a little princess.

She has unparalleled beauty, but none of a princess's dignity. She loves handsome men, flitting from one to the next without ever getting attached. Countless young men fall for her, only to go home nursing broken hearts.

So when the emperor asked his ministers who wanted to be the princess's consort, they all took a step back in unison. Being married to such a troublesome woman wasn't worth it.

Everyone, that is, except for Jing Anhua, the new top scholar, who was still sobering up from a heavy night of drinking.

Under the expectant gaze of the entire court, the young man cleared his throat. "It would be my honor to have the princess's favor."

The next day, news spread that Mr. Jing had given up drinking.

The news reached Chen Sizhen.

Fine. She had to get married one way or another. Better to marry Jing Anhua, who couldn't stand her and whom she couldn't stand either, than some lecher who chased after her all day with drool on his chin. At least she'd get some peace and quiet.

They would keep out of each other's way, live their own lives, and part ways as soon as the time was right.

"I'll marry him. Right away!"

After the wedding, Chen Sizhen prepared to call back her former lovers.

But then...

"Now that the princess is my wife, it wouldn't be appropriate for you to go out alone looking for pleasure."

Chen Sizhen was furious. "Didn't we agree you wouldn't interfere with my life?"

Jing Anhua smiled. "You misunderstood me, Princess. I meant that for something this enjoyable, you should bring me along."

Chen Sizhen: "...I suddenly feel unwell. Another day. Another day."

Having someone tagging along would ruin all the fun!

Later, Chen Sizhen dismissed all her lovers.

Everyone was amazed and eagerly asked the prince consort how he'd managed it.

Jing Anhua replied:

"First, you need thick skin."

"Second, you need to be handsome."

"Third, you mustn't have a bad memory..."

Everyone only talked about the princess's debauchery these days.

Only Jing Anhua remembered how gentle and radiant Chen Sizhen had been before the upheaval. She hadn't kept lovers then. Her eyes had held only one person.

He had quietly held her in his heart, too afraid to reach for her.

Until that day in court when he pretended to be drunk and Chen Sizhen's gaze fell on him. From then on, he became insatiably greedy, wanting her to look only at him, every day.

Reading guide:

1. Lighthearted. 2. The male lead is a rascal. 3. Sweet romance.

The Vanishing Priest [Western Fantasy]

Fasita, a diviner who likes to laze around, has a peculiar habit.

For his final divination card, he insists that his beloved pet nightingale draw it. Otherwise, he refuses to take out the cards at all.

Every day, his nightingale, Bina, gets so mad her feathers stand on end.

Where's my birdseed?

This nightingale doesn't work for free!

Then one day, Fasita opened the birdcage, with a divination card spread out in front of him.

"The card says that in ten years, you'll be my wife."

Bina: ???

What is wrong with you?

I'm a bird!

Bina thinks life as a nightingale is pure bliss.

Eat bugs, drink water, play cards, sing songs, get chubby, and fluff up her feathers.

Humans are too foolish to understand the happiness of a little fluffball.

Then, through a twist of fate, she recovered her memories and turned back into a human.

Bina: @￥&* [Nightingale swear words]

The continent of Susi has two legendary jokes.

The first is the High Priest, reduced to ashes a hundred years ago, a poor soul abandoned by the gods.

The second is a genius diviner who staged a rebellion in the same era and met a miserable end, throwing away a boundless future of his own accord.

For a hundred years, people mocked them and lamented their fates. Ignorant children even used their tombstones as drawing boards.

But when disaster struck, the very people who had once mocked them fell to their knees before their graves, begging for protection.

Bina stroked the tiny nightingale crystal at her chest and looked down at her people from on high.

"Abandoned? I've always been the gods' favorite."

Behind her, Fasita dropped to one knee, utterly devout. "I will follow you forever. Welcome back, High Priest."

#Two genius clergy having a taxpayer-funded romance#

Reading guide:

1. The heroine spends a long time as a bird in this life, and only turns back into a human much later.

2. The setting is Western Fantasy, with a great many original elements.

Theme: Make your own money and mind your own business