The Master Wants to Live Off His Partner

[My completed novel, The Reborn Grand Tutor Keeps His Cool: A Love-Hate Relationship! A deranged female lead. My upcoming novel, I Want to Cherish the Eunuch: A eunuch story about mutual salvation. The blurb is below. QAQ If you're interested, please save it to your reading list!]

Everyone knew that the magistrate of Weinan County was an honest, upright official who impartially upheld the law.

He gave all his salary to the refugees, and had not replaced his moon-white robe in decades. He even rode in a simple, almost shabby carriage when he went out.

Seeing this, the people all sighed in admiration. This was what a good official should be.

But no one knew that the carriage held pine-needle tea, freshly rushed down from the peak of a snowy mountain. Shen Anhe had a whole wardrobe of those moon-white robes, each exquisitely made with delicate patterns sewn in silver thread.

Even less did they know that Shen Anhe had long since climbed into the bed of Shang Yuan, the only daughter of the richest merchant in Northern Wei.

"Gifts from the people could never compare to yours, Sister." He looked down at Shang Yuan, his eyes full of affection, more pure than his completely empty purse.

She bit down hard on the finger Shen Anhe had offered her, leaving a distinct mark. "You corrupt official. How much gold would it take to bribe you? I can get it ready in advance."

A smile reached the corners of his eyes.

"Not much. One of your purses would be enough, Sister."

[The setting is entirely fictional. Please don't overanalyze it.]

Reading guide:

1. Older woman/younger man romance, both virgins, four-year age gap, happy ending, one-on-one romance. (At first, the female lead only sees the male lead as a younger brother.)

2. Many secondary couples.

3. The side plots include a few boys' love and girls' love relationships.

----------------Upcoming novel: I Want to Cherish the Eunuch. A real eunuch. Please add it to your reading list!

Li Zi's love for Xie Mingzhi was common knowledge, passionate and unrestrained. Xie Mingzhi's rejection of her was just as well known, firm and decisive.

She thought Xie Mingzhi truly hated her.

But after she went missing, Xie Mingzhi, who had always obeyed the emperor without question, stormed into the imperial court with a blade in hand. His usually gentle eyes were now filled with cold murderous intent.

"Where is she?"

Xie Mingzhi held his blade to the emperor's throat, all for the sake of finding her.

·

Li Zi was the daughter of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Her mother died when she was young, and she grew up on the frontier. Headstrong and willful, she first met Xie Mingzhi when she was the arrogant, overbearing daughter her father complained about, while Xie Mingzhi was the tutor her father had specifically hired to discipline her.

She had been able to read minds since childhood. Whenever she made physical contact with someone, she could hear their thoughts.

She had heard Xie Mingzhi's thoughts twice.

The first time was when he came looking for her in the rain after she had angrily left home.

The second time was when Xie Mingzhi denied her feelings for him during the Lantern Festival.

Xie Mingzhi came from the Xie family, a line of imperial tutors. He was a man of grace and integrity, both scholarly and skilled in martial arts. He should have been the most dazzling young official in Jinguan City. But on the day he passed the imperial examinations, the Xie family was convicted, and Xie Mingzhi became a eunuch.

All his fervent ambitions and ideals had vanished with the blood spilled when the Xie family was executed. He thought he would spend the rest of his life feeling empty.

But then Li Zi, her eyes red, told him:

"I always feel like no one in this world could love you more than I do, but I'm also afraid that I'm the only one who loves you... Xie Mingzhi, you're wonderful. You're truly wonderful!"

At first, he thought Li Zi was a child who couldn't tell the difference between familial affection and romantic love. But when Li Zi kissed him without hesitation amid the crowd's mocking laughter at the Lantern Festival...

He knew.

Li Zi had gone mad.

And so had he.

Li Zi had thought Xie Mingzhi cared for her only as a teacher cared for his student. But whatever the truth, once she had someone as gentle as a warm breeze, she didn't want to let go.

Yet the moment their lips touched, Xie Mingzhi's thoughts rang out in her mind, deafeningly clear.

"I want to be with Yi'er for all eternity."

Divider: The Reborn Grand Tutor Keeps His Cool, a completed novel about a love-hate relationship and a deranged female lead!

Chi Xuan was the Grand Princess of Jing with power in her hands, while Mu Qingming was the current Grand Tutor. She thought Mu Qingming was blocking her path, and Mu Qingming thought she was holding back Jing's progress.

They both wanted the other dead.

At night in the princess's residence, she looked down at Mu Qingming, who was curled up on the ground and had been unresponsive for a long time. Her gaze was contemptuous. She had poisoned him with a love spell that day, and it had already taken effect.

"Grand Tutor, what did you just call me? Say it again."

Mu Qingming lay on the ground. Apart from a slight tremor, he might as well have been dead. His lowered, cool eyes held desire, resentment, and infatuation that no one else could understand.

"A-Jin..."

Chao Jin was the courtesy name he had once given Chi Xuan, a name only he knew.

He had been reborn for Chi Xuan again and again, each time hoping to keep her safe and worry-free for a hundred years, yet every time they met a tragic end.

Only when he was on the brink of death would he let his love for her pour out.

He had thought that each time they started over and died, he alone remembered.

The moment he finished speaking, Chi Xuan laughed softly. He looked up and saw blood streaming from the corner of her mouth, though she smiled as if she didn't care at all.

He suddenly understood what kind of spell was inside him, and what kind was inside Chi Xuan.

"Your Highness, you truly are mad."

Ever since she became entangled with Mu Qingming, she had been having the same dream.

Perhaps dreams were the opposite of reality. In her dream, the man who had died for her again and again wished for her death in the real world.

She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth without a care and curved her lips into a smile.

The dream was real.

"This spell is called Love Thread. When your heart stirs, it brings a pain that pierces your heart and gnaws at your bones. Only lovemaking can suppress it. Next time you want to kill me, Grand Tutor, you'd better try another way."

But now, she looked into Mu Qingming's eyes and kissed the corner of his lips.

"I have long been in love with the Grand Tutor. Would you be willing to save my life once again?"

Theme: Don't wait until all the flowers have fallen to break off a branch.