Raising a Bewitching Beauty

(Not recommended. The early plot sprawls a bit too widely, and it may be hard to bring everything together.) [Alluring, radiant, unhinged concubine-born daughter X Cunning, cold emperor] You Dayao was blessed with a voluptuous figure and graceful, seductive beauty. In her past life, she kept her brilliance hidden and yielded at every turn, yet others still framed her. She was falsely accused of losing her virtue, and her fiance of three years turned against her and broke off their engagement. Branded with infamy, she fell into ruin and met a tragic end. Reborn at sixteen, You Dayao took her plain clothes and cut them up herself, then painted her lips the brightest red as she gazed into the mirror. A temptress, am I? A seductress, am I? Then she'll become the most shameless, flirtatious woman of them all! But though she had beauty and ambition, she lacked the skills to manipulate people's hearts. Fortunately, Heaven sent her a mastermind: her cousin, who had come to the capital for medical treatment. Her cousin was handsome and dashing. With a flourish, he snapped open his folding fan, the very picture of a graceful, charming gentleman. Too bad he was frail and sickly, coughing blood at the slightest chill, with only a few years left to live. Out of kindness, You Dayao often visited him to offer comfort in his final days, so her cousin was happy to offer her advice. The two worked together in perfect harmony. When she seduced, he made his move. When she played the temptress, he smiled faintly. When she shifted the blame, he praised her ingenuity... With his help, You Dayao had a touch of divine assistance, and through her own efforts, every young nobleman in the capital fell at her feet. Everywhere she went, she left behind a battlefield of jealousy and bloody rivalry. The more men she attracted, the more trouble she found herself in. The powerful young noblemen were all bewitched by her. Each one was willing to tear off the mask and fight for the chance to marry her... No matter whom You Dayao married, the others would never let it go. With no other choice, she went to her cousin for advice. Her cousin smiled faintly, his slowly waving fan pausing as he leaned closer and coaxed her gently: "Right now, the only man in all the land who can protect you is the one sitting on the dragon throne." * While traveling incognito, Li Huaize happened upon a beautiful woman flirting with men everywhere she went. She was clearly an innocent little rabbit, yet insisted on pretending to be a seductive fox. He found her clumsy but earnest efforts amusing. Sometimes, when watching her made him anxious, he even gave her pointers and came up with schemes for her... As she grew more skilled at playing the temptress and stirred up a storm in the capital with her beauty, he began to think that a captivating beauty like her belonged with a wise ruler like himself. If you help someone, help them all the way. If you send off a Buddha, send him all the way to the West. Since she was determined to seduce the whole world, what was wrong with giving her the chance to ruin the kingdom and be infamous for all time? Li Huaize went to great lengths to bring her into the palace... From now on, this radiant beauty would bloom for him alone. Reading notes: 1. The lowly rise up, and the powerful show tenderness. 2. The heroine's beauty increases as the story progresses. In the later chapters, she dazzles everyone. 3. The pacing is sometimes slower than a snail, and sometimes faster than a roller coaster. 4. Rivalry among men and women, a melodramatic jumble, and a possessive romance. Please add my upcoming novel next door, Mistakenly Taking My Husband's Elder Brother for My Husband, to your favorites. "A brother steals his younger brother's wife, and love becomes a battlefield." A year ago, on the night Xu Shuxian got married, an imperial decree arrived out of nowhere, sending her husband off to the frontier to fight before the marriage could even be consummated. Since then, she has enjoyed a carefree life: no husband to serve, yet all the luxuries and comforts of a wealthy household, with servants at her beck and call. One day, her husband sent a letter by carrier pigeon: I miss you and long for you. I will soon be taking up a post in Lingcheng, and I hope we can rekindle our old affection then. Xu Shuxian: ? We met only once. What old affection? Her parents had gone to great lengths to secure this marriage, which brought considerable benefit to the family. So Xu Shuxian made a point of learning when her husband would arrive for his new post, then dressed in all her finery to welcome him. When the official boat docked at the wharf, Xu Shuxian craned her neck to look. At once, she spotted a man standing at the bow, clad in a cloak and exuding heroic vitality. As expected of her husband. After all this time apart, he was even more handsome. And after enduring fierce battles, he had become more composed and reserved, with an overwhelming presence that could make anyone's legs give way if he merely furrowed his brow. Xu Shuxian stepped forward gracefully, lowering her lovely head and smiling softly. "I am overjoyed that you have returned safely." * Half a month later. Xu Shuxian and her husband went to a teahouse to watch a play. Passing a private room, she saw a man and woman inside gazing lovingly at each other. The man met her eyes in a panic. His fingertips froze as he started to remove the woman's outer garment, then he turned and demanded angrily: "So that's why you stopped writing back! You've been cheating on me!" Xu Shuxian: ??? The man leapt to his feet and clenched a fist, ready to swing at the "husband" beside her. But just before his punch landed, he stopped short and called out in bewilderment: "...Elder Brother?" The man she had mistaken for her husband was none other than the head of the Chu family, a senior minister entrusted with the late emperor's final wishes, the foremost of the twenty-six meritorious officials of the Lingyan Pavilion, and a man whose standing among the officials could not be shaken. Her husband's elder brother, Chu Sheng'an. Later... The sound of rippling water came from the bathing room... Chu Sheng'an's eyes darkened as he held her tightly in his arms and spoke hoarsely against her ear: "If you insist on going back to being my younger brother's wife... then I, your husband's elder brother, am willing to be your secret lover." Reading notes: 1. There will be no situation where one woman has two husbands. (Blurb posted on October 27, 2023.) Completed novels available next door: Had a Baby Without Telling the Chief Councillor [Beautiful merchant heroine keeps the child and sends the father packing X Ruthless chief councillor who holds all the power] The Empress's Lover Is the Chief Councillor [Forbidden affair in the imperial harem] Theme: People may slander and defame me, but they cannot destroy or erase me.