The Delicate Beauty in the Inner Chambers

Chu Yan was a beauty with exquisite features and a figure as graceful as a startled swan. Once, she was beyond the reach of all the young masters in the capital, and the line of suitors seeking her hand stretched from one end of the street to the other.

But fate is unpredictable. The Chu family fell, and in an instant, the beauty who had captivated the whole capital became a delicate flower anyone could pluck.

On the road to her exile at the frontier, she endured every kind of abuse. When the all-powerful Regent passed by, she knelt outside his carriage and begged him to save her. Little did she know that the man was the Regent himself, the very person whose engagement she had once schemed to break off.

He pinched her pale chin. "Will you be exiled to the frontier, or come with me?"

Later, Chu Yan became his kept woman.

The Regent, Nangong Che, had won countless military honors and wielded immense power. He was handsome and refined as a green bamboo, radiant as the moon. Yet rumors said he was cruel, domineering, and utterly cold-hearted. The women of the capital loved him but dared not approach, only gazing from afar.

One day, word that the Regent had taken a kept woman spread through every street and alley of the capital. Everyone mourned for her. Would any woman taken into the Regent's household have a chance of survival? They secretly lamented that beauty's fate was cruel.

Only Nangong Che knew just how he had taken advantage of her when she was in dire straits.

Later, she actually dared to pack her bags and leave...

Later still, the Regent besieged a city with his army, determined to marry the Princess of Shu.

Everyone sighed. The Regent had once given all his affection to that kept woman, and now he was ready to go to war for the Princess of Shu. Men were indeed fickle.

But what they did not know was that she was the only one he had ever wanted.

Reader's guide:

Both leads are sexually inexperienced, one-on-one romance

Alternate history

-- Next up: The Charming Maid. Please add it to your collection, sending love.

Ning Ke was the daughter of a low-ranking official. After her family suffered a misfortune, she became a maid in a distinguished family.

One day, Shen Xiuting pointed at her and said to Old Madam Shen, "I want her."

Everyone thought that being chosen by the young master Shen meant she was in for good fortune. Only she knew how Shen Xiuting, bright and noble by day, tormented her at night.

As she knelt on the floor, drenched in sweat, he asked, "Tell me, who sent you?"

Ning Ke knew that, in Shen Xiuting's eyes, she was nothing but a lowly maid. He hated her.

He would never show her the slightest tenderness or give her a shred of dignity, even though he craved her body.

Later, she escaped the Shen estate.

He ordered his men to search every inch of the land until they found her. Pinching her chin, he said, "You think you can run after crossing me?"

Reader's guide:

Impartial, brilliant investigator and powerful minister vs. sweet, delicate maid

Forced possession + groveling pursuit

The heroine has a twin sister who is a spy for an enemy kingdom, leading to mistaken identity.

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Shen Yan had almond-shaped eyes, rosy cheeks, and the face of a femme fatale. Sadly, she came from a poor family. Her adoptive father was addicted to gambling and nearly sold her to a brothel, but a young master rescued her.

She had two wishes in life: to find her benefactor and repay him, and to marry him.

On her way to the capital, bandits robbed her of her money. With nowhere else to go, she had to seek shelter for a few nights at a nearby Ci'en Temple.

Unexpectedly, she ran into the benefactor who had saved her. Unfortunately, he had taken the tonsure and joined the clergy. No matter. She would repay him first, then figure out how to make him return to secular life.

From then on, the man had a thoughtful "disciple" by his side, always ready to pour tea and see to his every need.

One day, Shen Yan realized that he wasn't the benefactor who had saved her. She left a letter saying she had mistaken him for someone else, then left.

Gu Yanzhi: "?"

Gu Yanzhi was the disgraced Crown Prince of Great Liang. After suffering a serious injury, he was rescued by the abbot of Ci'en Temple. To avenge himself and reclaim what should have been his, he remained at the temple to cultivate as a lay practitioner, enduring humiliation and biding his time.

Unexpectedly, a woman clung to him, insisting that he was the man who had saved her. To avoid arousing suspicion, he temporarily endured her clinginess and suppressed his murderous intent.

Later, she said she had mistaken him for someone else and left without so much as a goodbye. Heh... She crossed him and thought she could run?

Shen Yan, forced to enter the palace as a consort, never dreamed that the man with the aura of a Buddha would storm the palace with a mighty army on her wedding day, kill his younger brother, and ascend the throne as the new Emperor.

Gu Yanzhi pinched Shen Yan's chin as she knelt beside him. "Will you come with me, or die?"

Scheming, repressed monk who is a wolf in sheep's clothing vs. fallen beauty with a calculating heart

Forced possession + groveling pursuit

Theme: No matter how dark the night, dawn will come