The Prime Minister's Cousin's Daughter (Reborn)

The novel is complete. [My serialized column novel, The Art of Concubinage, is now underway! Please add it to your favorites. The blurb is at the very bottom~] A sweet, soft-hearted beauty who knows how to ensnare men and lives under someone else's roof x a powerful Grand Secretary who holds sway over the court (older man) Blurb: Yan Anning lost her mother as a child. Her stepmother was unkind, so she was raised in the household of her maternal aunt, who was a concubine to the Marquis of Yang'an. From the age of ten, she began plotting to marry Gu Yun, the Marquis's illegitimate son. It had nothing to do with love. She could tell he would become the most promising young man in the household, and marrying him would let her stay closer to her aunt, whom she regarded as a mother. Day after day, she quietly endeavored to please him. Sure enough, Gu Yun vowed to marry no one but her, and a peaceful life seemed within reach. But just before their engagement was to be arranged, she had a dream. In it, the future mother-in-law who was now so gentle and loving schemed to ruin her reputation, then relentlessly demanded that she be cast aside so Gu Yun could marry a noblewoman from a distinguished family. Gu Yun, who had always treated her with tenderness, avoided her disbelieving gaze and silently cut off every last hope. In less than five years of marriage, she suffered endless torment and died young. After waking from the dream, Yan Anning rejected the match without hesitation. At a family banquet, she pretended to stumble and caught the sleeve of Grand Secretary Gu Wentang, Gu Yun's third uncle, with whom she had shared a night in her dream. The man looked up. His dark eyes gave nothing away, yet he turned her hand over and clasped her wrist, saying coolly, "Miss Yan, be careful." * Reborn, Gu Yun returned only to make amends to the lovely woman he had been forced to wrong in his past life, the woman who had died with hatred in her heart. But she never even spared him another glance. Instead, he caught sight of his third uncle, who had always been high-ranking and strict about propriety, disheveled and holding her in his arms, repeatedly calling her his darling in a loss of composure. * Gu Wentang had spent half his life navigating the treacherous sea of officialdom, finally reaching a position second only to The Outcast and above all others. He never imagined that, in his thirties, he would fall into a tender trap. He fell so hard that he could never escape. #After Being Reborn, I Became My Ex-Husband's Third Aunt# A few things to know: 1. A love story between an older man and a young woman, with an age gap of around fourteen years. 2. The heroine is a skilled seductress. She has no feelings at first, but becomes fiercely protective later. One-on-one romance, both sexually inexperienced. Blurb for the upcoming The Art of Concubinage: The novel launches on October 14 at 7 p.m. Please add it to your favorites~ Before the age of sixteen, Zhuang Qingrao's wish was to marry the learned young shopkeeper and escape her family's generations of servitude. After she turned sixteen, her masters graciously allowed the young shopkeeper to marry another senior maid. Miss Chen Si, whom Qingrao served faithfully, looked at her gently and consoled her: "Men can't be trusted, Qingrao. You need to make something of yourself and secure a bright future." So later, Qingrao was carried in a small sedan chair to the household of the Duke of Ying, a descendant of the previous emperor and the husband of the eldest Miss Chen, and became one of his insignificant bedchamber maids. By chance, Qingrao discovered that Miss Chen Si had deliberately sabotaged her engagement so she could take the place of her gravely ill elder sister and marry the Duke of Ying as his second wife. Gazing at the beauty in the bronze mirror, her lips as red as a dab of cinnabar, Qingrao decided not to disappoint her mistress's expectations and to strive even harder. Only, it seemed she had striven a little too hard. Amid a howling snowstorm, Chen Yuewei waited outside the Imperial Study for an entire hour, pleading for her husband to spare the Chen family. The door creaked open, and the favored consort of the imperial harem, Noble Consort Zhuang, emerged in a jade-colored cloak embroidered with gold thread, so exquisite it could only belong to the nobility. Her familiar features no longer held a trace of deference or caution. She looked down at Chen Yuewei, a provocative smile blooming on her exquisite face. "My lady, how is it that you no longer understand the very lesson you taught me?" Men can't be trusted, especially a man whose heart belongs entirely to another woman. Reader's Guide: 1. Major content warning: The male lead is not a virgin, while the female lead is. She will not fall in love with him. The male lead belongs to a direct branch of the imperial clan and is a typical member of the feudal aristocracy. He has a wife and concubines, but later will love only the heroine. Includes a plotline about favoring a concubine over one's wife. 2. Contains extensive household and palace intrigue. 3. The heroine will be promoted to principal wife. The age gap between the leads is ten years. Theme: The gifts of fate always arrive when the time is right.