A Slightly Arched Brow

[More recommendations: completed historical romance sweet romances, Meeting the Moon and The Cuckoo Calls]

Bright and lovable noblewoman vs. brooding, reserved young minister

Both virgins / One-on-one / Happy ending / Sweet romance / Childhood friends

Xie Long is the youngest legitimate daughter of a Hanlin scholar, lively and adorable, with exceptional beauty and talent.

When she comes of age, the line of powerful suitors stretches all the way to the city gates.

But the youngest Miss Xie is picky, and after looking over one candidate after another, she still has no marriage prospects. Before long, disaster strikes the Xie family instead.

The powerful families all avoid them, but Xie Long turns to only one person for help: her senior fellow disciple, Qi Yu.

Qi Yu comes from a humble background and has a cool temperament, yet is extraordinarily gifted.

After breaking with the Xie family, he rises rapidly through the ranks and becomes a powerful, highly sought-after minister.

Everyone mocks Xie Long for having delusions of grandeur, waiting to laugh when Qi Yu throws her out of his home.

On a drizzly spring day, plump green plums hang over the low wall.

Qi Yu sets out without hesitation to fetch her with an umbrella. He bends down and gathers the young woman into his arms, cherishing her as if she were precious beyond measure.

Years later, Xie Long remains the most celebrated and talented minister's wife in the capital.

*

On the night all her family were slaughtered, Xie Long had a dream.

In the dream, her senior fellow disciple Qi Yu, who had always seemed to despise her, had countless portraits of her hidden in his study. The sheets of paper he practiced calligraphy on were covered with her name.

When she was reduced to a servant, he would rather break his leg and throw away his career than let her die.

Later, after she died, Qi Yu cast aside the dignity of a scholar and became a corrupt minister reviled by everyone, all to avenge her.

He spent the rest of his life in loneliness, his hair streaked with frost.

Deeply moved, Xie Long packed a small bundle that very night and obediently knocked on her senior fellow disciple's door.

She planned to take advantage of the fact that he was still poor and threaten him into marrying her that very night.

A little scene

Qi Yu was down and out in his youth. The only person who never looked down on him was his late mentor's youngest legitimate daughter.

But he was cold-blooded, selfish, ungrateful, and disloyal, and had never thought of repaying her kindness. Instead, he wanted to take advantage of her misfortune and seize her for himself.

Instead, the young woman showed up at his door in the middle of the night with a little bundle, crouched there, and threw herself into his arms, sweet and docile.

"Waaah, Senior Brother, if you don't marry me, I'm not going home."

Qi Yu: "?"

#Did you misunderstand something about me?

#Well, I suppose I'll reluctantly pretend to be a gentleman.

#What's the point of taking a wife by force when she can come cuddle up to you on her own?

Content warning: The heroine is rather slow to understand her feelings and is late to fall in love. Readers who dislike this type of heroine should proceed with caution.

Also, the hero is secretly in love with her, but he is no good person.

A preview of a sweet, wholesome romance, A Young Wanderer

After her engagement is broken off, Xie Tingxun becomes the target of everyone's scorn in the capital.

The former darling of the capital's noblewomen becomes a laughingstock, and her family loses all face. Her father and brothers are furious, so they send Xie Tingxun to the family estate in Jiangnan to recuperate.

In truth, they announce that from this day on, the Xie family has no seventh daughter named Xie Tingxun.

Jiangnan, the second month.

Grass grows, orioles fly, and spring stretches to the horizon.

A young swordsman in white, a sword on his back, arrives weary from the road.

He stops beneath a wine shop banner on the street and asks the owner to warm a cup of wine. When he turns around, he sees a fine carriage passing through the drifting willow catkins. The bamboo curtain sways in the breeze, revealing the pale, beautiful profile of a young woman inside.

A fleeting glimpse, and his heart skips a beat.

-

The day Bian Jiu appears in Jiangzhou, the city is suddenly full of rumors about him.

Some say he spends lavishly on the famous courtesan Xue Xiaoxiao. Others say he got drunk beneath the wine seller's skirts after tasting her fine wine. Still others say he has confidantes all over the world and came to Jiangzhou to escape the constant attention.

Someone asks Bian Jiu, "Who is more captivating, Xue Xiaoxiao fixing her makeup before the mirror, or the wine seller with her hands fragrant from the wine and fair as snow?"

Bian Jiu hugs his sword and leans casually against the railing, his loosely tied long hair fluttering in the wind.

The boy gives a lazy smile and scoffs without a second thought. "If you could see them both every day, I guarantee you wouldn't ask that. You'd just feel that you could never see enough of either one..."

For some reason, the crowd falls silent.

Bian Jiu turns around. His lively expression suddenly freezes, and the tips of his ears, partly hidden by his tousled black hair, turn faintly red.

It takes him a long moment to find his voice. "...But I really don't know them."

The young woman passing by under an umbrella seems not to have heard him. She lifts her skirt and walks straight away over the stone path. Bian Jiu freezes for a moment, then slings his sword over his back and leaps lightly through the treetops, landing in front of her in just a few steps.

After hesitating for a long while, he says softly:

"Miss Xie..."

"Can I still come help you air out your books today?"

2024-12-20

Theme: Look at life with optimism