The Golden Heiress on the Run

A gentle-looking but strong-willed girl x a beautiful, strong, tragic, and unhinged chief minister

A coup turns Yu Cha from a delicate, breathtaking princess into a lone girl fleeing for her life. With no other choice, she drops to her knees, clutches the man's belt, and sobs.

The chief minister's cool, phoenix-shaped eyes sweep over her petite figure from head to toe, his gaze impossible to read.

"Sheltering a princess is no small crime. If I make an even more outrageous demand, will you be able to bear it, Your Highness..."

*

On the day of the coup, believing the princess dead, the chief minister braces himself against a wall and suddenly bends over, vomiting a large pool of blood. From then on, he is bedridden.

Later, he takes in a veiled woman as his mistress, and at last his health improves.

No one knows about the repeated whispers of "Your Highness" in the house outside the capital.

What does it matter if he holds the highest position under the emperor? He thought he would have to spend his whole life gazing at her from afar, longing for what he could never have.

Until... she comes to him herself!

*

He catches the young woman's tear on his fingertip and puts it in his mouth, then laughs softly.

"What a coincidence. I like chaste, fiery women best."

Content warnings:

Both leads are virgins, one-on-one romance, coercive possession. The male lead is not a good person and is thoroughly unhinged. The leads have premarital sexual activity. Please proceed with caution if this bothers you.

----- The Parrot's Words -----

Yao Yao was raised in the southern frontier. By chance, she and a young man from the Central Plains fall into a ravine, and each mistakes the other for their own beloved.

Cao Can is innocent and passionate, and goes out of his way to treat her well, almost clumsily.

To give her a home, he risks his life gambling in the black market, bleeding to earn money.

He takes punches meant for her, goes hungry, and picks herbs to treat her illness.

On the night they are to be married, Cao Can's family comes to take him home.

At last, he remembers who he is: the son of a high-ranking official, dressed in white robes and a gold crown, so courteous and virtuous that he seems beyond reproach.

He washes his hands, which have touched Yao Yao, until they turn red, then smiles politely.

"I'm sorry. I hope you find someone else."

With nowhere else to go, Yao Yao is taken back to the capital by Cao Can, who pities her.

His home in the capital is enormous!

Yao Yao's muddy trouser legs dirty the expensive carpet. Uneasy and at a loss, she doesn't know what to do with her hands and feet.

She's nothing but an embarrassing footnote in the story of a noble young master who fell on hard times. Cao Can is so proper and composed. How could he marry a country girl?

When he plans to match her with one of his friends, all she can do is talk to the kitten.

The maids whisper among themselves: "She's a poor girl, not some pampered young lady. How can she have no sense of her place?"

Later, everyone laments the death of the beautiful, capable young maid. Yao Yao fakes her death on a snowy night.

The capital's winters are too cold. She is going back to her hometown.

Yao Yao enjoys a carefree life for a while.

She's still the same heartless girl from the southern frontier, but she hears that he is no longer the flawless gentleman he once was.

To turn against the whole world just to marry a memorial tablet, is that any different from going mad?

Yao Yao puts New Year prints up in her new home and laughs with her neighbor. "What utter nonsense."

----- The Imperial Cat Beauty -----

A Wei was sold to the Cao family as a child. Her dark eyes have a blue sheen, just like the imperial cat in the master's arms, so she is promoted to head maid.

Everyone laments that such a lovely flower was born into the poorest streets.

She is so beautiful that people catch their breath, and she draws the eyes of the young masters of the capital.

But none of them dares to touch her.

Behind her stands Cao Jingqing, the young master of a top-ranking aristocratic clan, whose possessiveness is fierce. Who would dare touch what belongs to him?

By day, she manages the household with care. At night, she bathes him and warms his bed.

She understands him, and every gesture of hers finds its way into his heart.

Only she knows that Cao Jingqing appears as radiant as the sun and moon, handsome as a bodhisattva, and is praised for his compassion.

In private, however, he is domineering, a madman who devours others and has swallowed his every human emotion.

Cao Jingqing lifts her onto his lap and calmly toys with her chin, then suddenly turns her face toward him.

"A Wei will always belong to whom?"

Her expression remains unchanged, cool and distant. Even when it hurts, she can hardly be bothered to lift her eyelids.

To him, it is no different from playing with an imperial cat.

A Wei quietly earns her wages and does her work. She knows perfectly well that even if she becomes a concubine, she will still be trampled into the mud.

The future mistress of the Cao household is generous and gracious.

But A Wei does the math: one salary to serve two people? That doesn't work for her. She's out!

When A Wei runs away, she takes his most precious sword, along with his child in her belly.

Everyone knows a royal cat has escaped from the Cao family.

That day, the whole city is on edge, gripped by fear and unease. Everyone wants to curse but doesn't dare, while the Imperial Guards search the entire city!

The people kneel in terror as Cao Jingqing's face turns frighteningly cold.

He hears that another man helped her escape.

Just thinking about it is enough to drive him mad.

Theme: Even in difficult circumstances, keep striving to live