The Phoenix Beneath the Parasol Tree

Now available as a paid work. The most convincing lie is the truth told falsely. When An Hao, a country girl, is approached by her biological parents, she's stunned to learn that her parents had been telling the truth all along: she really was found in a trash can. Her paternal grandmother had abandoned her on purpose because she didn't want a girl. "Did you have another child after I was abandoned?" An Hao asked the well-dressed couple. "No." "Did you call the police?" No one answered. Her biological parents urged An Hao to return to the city for school, giving them a chance to make it up to her. The villagers also urged her to go back to the city, telling her to bring her parents there to enjoy a better life once she succeeded. She shouldn't come back to this poor, remote place. The parents who had raised her wanted to speak, but held back. They wanted her to have a good life. On the day she left for the city, An Hao's friends came to see her off. Fu Shiqiu was unusually downcast. Just before she got on the bus, he asked, "An Hao, will you come back?" "Yes. I'll come back when school starts. I'm just going to learn the way there." An Hao had already made up her mind. Ignoring the changing expressions of the people around them, Fu Shiqiu pulled a pen and paper from his pocket and asked for her address. "Then I'll wait for you. If you don't come back, I'll find you when I'm grown up." Meeting you was fate. I choose to follow you for love. Coming soon: Elopement of a Concubine Dan Sui is a wealthy merchant's concubine. She does the work of a concubine but is given the title of maid. The merchant looks so sickly that he probably won't live another couple of years. When he dies, she'll either be toyed with by his spoiled son or dismissed and sold off. With her looks and no protection, she'll inevitably end up in the pleasure quarters, where she'll be abused as a plaything. So, while the merchant can still draw breath, she scrambles around like a headless fly, searching everywhere for a new protector. One day, a new guard arrives at the household. Word is he's a wandering swordsman. High martial skills = he can help her elope. A decent income = he can buy her a registered household status. No fixed abode = no need to fear gossip. He's the one. Dan Sui starts figuring out how to win him over. ** Hei San is a swordsman who makes his home wherever he happens to be. He has no family or friends, is cold-hearted, and lives as he pleases, spending freely when he earns well and cutting back when he doesn't. When he passes through Cangzhou, his money has run out, so he takes a well-paying job guarding a cloth merchant. But the master of the household takes a liking to his martial arts, while the concubines in the inner courtyard take a liking to his body. One by one, they hint that they want to roam the martial world with him... He's sick of it, especially since a beautiful young woman keeps turning up to watch, even though she's already surrounded by wolves and seems completely oblivious. A rabbit laughing at a wolf for falling into a fox's den. What an idiot. Theme: Be self-reliant and strong.