Exchanging Concubines

Barely fifteen, Liu Qiqi was sold for ten taels of silver to become a concubine in the neighboring village's Shen family. Their only son, Shen Yunyu, was a celebrated scholar for miles around.

Remembering how he had once saved her life, Liu Qiqi entered the Shen household full of hope. Instead, she was met with her husband's furrowed brow and disgusted gaze.

He thought her coarse and ugly, ignorant and stupid, and never once wanted to touch her.

Facing her husband's coldness and her mother-in-law's mistreatment, Liu Qiqi endured in silence. She served him tea and meals, learned to read and write for him, and taught herself needlework.

But after five years of hardship, all she got was a casual remark from him after he rose to a higher position.

"Liu Qiqi, I've given you to someone else."

*

Shen Yunyu's life had always gone smoothly. The only stain on it was the concubine his grandmother had chosen for him when he was eighteen.

The peasant girl was painfully thin and illiterate. She was not at all the kind of woman he wanted.

A few years later, after passing the imperial exams, he reluctantly took her to the capital, out of consideration for the years she had spent serving him.

As a newly appointed top scholar, he saw all the splendor of the capital in a single day, and grew ever more disgusted with the lowly concubine waiting at home.

Then, on the day he was invited to a banquet, the mighty Marquis of Wuan, a celebrated war hero riding high on his recent victories, offered to trade a beauty for that humble peasant girl.

Shen Yunyu could hardly have been happier. He hurriedly handed her over.

*

Meng Songxun, the Marquis of Wuan, was nearing thirty and still unmarried. Many noblewomen in the capital hoped to become his marquise.

But no one expected the emperor to suddenly arrange a marriage, bestowing on the marquis a noblewoman from a family no one had heard of.

On the night of the Hanshi Festival, the Marquis of Wuan brought his new wife to a palace banquet. Everyone craned their necks, eager to see the beautiful woman he kept hidden away.

At the banquet, Shen Yunyu stared in a daze, his eyes blurred with drink. Then he looked up and froze.

Amid the dazzling lights, the marquise smiled gently, her beauty radiant. She leaned shyly against the Marquis of Wuan, her gaze lowered, without sparing him a glance.

Her familiar features were just like those of the obedient concubine he had given to the marquis's household, where she later died. Shen Yunyu was overcome with grief, and a sudden sweetness rose in his throat.

He regretted it…

Reader's Guide:

1. One-on-one romance; both leads are sexually inexperienced.

2. Shen is the second male lead. The man who ends up with the heroine is the male lead. No arguments.

3. This is a story about a man rescuing the heroine from misery and her finding herself again. As for the concubine exchange, the male lead does not trade an innocent woman for the heroine. Don't make assumptions; read the story first.

4. A little case-solving, slow-burn romance, and plenty of fictional worldbuilding.

5. The story's message: Be yourself, stay away from trash men, and reject emotional manipulation.

The Lame Man I Married Ascended the Throne

In the twenty-fifth year of Tiancheng, Emperor Wen'an died and a new emperor ascended the throne.

General Su Min was ennobled as Duke of Yi for his achievements in capturing the enemy. His fame and influence were at their height. Just then, Su Zhier, the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Yi who had been away from home for sixteen years, returned to the family. In no time, those looking to curry favor by marrying her had filled the doorstep.

Half a month later, Su Zhier became engaged to the heir of the Marquis of Zhennan. She accompanied her grandmother to the palace to meet the Grand Empress Dowager, only to unexpectedly recognize the familiar face of the man seated high above.

The new emperor gazed at her gently, but the cold glint in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine.

Su Zhier's smile stiffened, and she nearly twisted the handkerchief in her sleeve to shreds.

Will someone tell her why the new emperor looks exactly like the lame husband she once married?

*

The sixth prince, Ming Yu, was upright and refined, strikingly handsome and deeply beloved by the emperor for his quick wit and intelligence. But at the age of twenty, he was falsely accused and framed, leaving his left leg crippled and consigning him to a remote region in the south.

At his lowest point, with his heart dead and no will to live, Ming Yu met a peasant girl.

To avoid being given by her aunt to a local gentryman's sixth concubine, she got him drunk. The next morning, wrapped in the quilt, she wept like a flower in the rain.

"You've taken my innocence. You have to marry me and take responsibility."

Looking at the beautiful, delicate woman before him, Ming Yu's gaze darkened, and, as if bewitched, he nodded.

The girl always called him "husband" in her sweet, clear voice. She sewed his clothes and shoes, washed his hands, and cooked for him.

Ming Yu's icy heart was finally warmed. He taught her to read and write, play chess, and compose poetry. For the first time in his life, he gave his heart to someone and learned how to treat a woman well.

But a year later, she suddenly took the family's belongings and disappeared, leaving behind a letter of divorce.

When they met again, she was smiling like a flower, transformed into the legitimate daughter of a duke and already engaged to another man.

Remembering how she had promised to be with him for life, Ming Yu ran his fingers over the cool rim of his cup and gave a scornful, cold smile.

She'd always said he was kind. She had no idea how thoroughly he repaid every grievance!

Since she had chosen to entangle herself with him in the first place, she would never escape him, not even in death!

Also known as My Husband Turned Dark After I Ran Away

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are sexually inexperienced, happy ending.

The early part focuses on farming; the later part on court politics.

The heroine is not a scheming, heartless woman. She had a reason for leaving.

After Being Reborn, I Found My Child's Father

At fifteen, Mu Xiyao accompanied her mistress to a banquet, where she unexpectedly lost her innocence and became pregnant. Her mistress's legitimate daughter, Mu Xiyun, imprisoned her in a side courtyard, where she gave birth to a daughter, Suisui, after ten months.

After mother and daughter depended on each other for three years, Suisui fell into a well and died. Mu Xiyao, driven mad by her loss, died as well. In the tenth month of that year, her half-sister Mu Xiyun broke into the courtyard and, without a word, ordered her servants to strangle her with a white silk cord.

Only on the verge of death did Mu Xiyao learn that her encounter with the man years ago had been part of her half-sister's scheme, and that Suisui had died because of her, too.

When she woke again, she had returned to the year Suisui was two. Mu Xiyao resolutely fled the capital with her child and headed south to Yezhou to find Suisui's father.

There was just one problem. She only knew that the man belonged to the Marquis of Zhennan's household, and that he seemed to have a scar on his chest.

But there were three men from the Marquis of Zhennan's household in Yezhou.

Lin Zheng, the second son of the old Marquis of Zhennan, was spirited and approachable.

Wei Zishen, the marquis's cousin and military adviser, was calm, astute, refined, and courteous.

Mu Xiyao secretly thought to herself:

As long as it's not the cold-hearted, ruthless Marquis of Zhennan, whose icy stare always made her uncomfortable.

She didn't care which one was Suisui's father.

*

A bewitchingly coquettish young widow came to work as a cook in the military camp.

Lin Duo found her suspicious and kept her at arm's length.

But before long, both his younger brothers had been won over by her, and her two-year-old little dumpling kept wrapping his arms around Lin Duo's leg, looking up to call him "Daddy" in a soft, sweet voice.

Soon, even Lin Duo, who had always kept himself free of worldly desires, began to dream again and again of the night three years earlier, when he had lost control at a banquet in the Duke's mansion.

Until the day the truth came to light.

Rain fell on the begonias. Lin Duo stood by the window, his hot palm pressing down on the woman's slender waist. Bending close to her ear, he gritted out in a low, husky voice:

"Your husband is dead?"

"And you still want to find my child another father, hmm?"

Also known as Reborn, I Went Looking for My Little One's Real Dad

And The Story of How I Looked for My Child's Father and Ended Up with Him Myself

Reader's Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are sexually inexperienced, happy ending.

2. A lighthearted story about finding a father and raising a child (probably).

3. That's all for now. I'll add more if I think of anything.

Theme: Keep your heart turned toward the light, and darkness holds no fear