Branch After Branch of Resentment

The main story is complete. Bonus chapters are being updated. (Real life has been very busy lately, so bonus updates are temporarily irregular, but they will be finished by the end of the month.)

[High-ranking, cold-hearted man vs. frail, helpless dependent flower]

Before she met Qu Yue, Qi Rou survived on scraps and leftovers.

Qu Yue took her in and kept her by his side, treating her extraordinarily well.

She had enough to eat and warm clothes to wear, and someone to look after her. If anyone bullied her, she no longer had to kneel and beg for mercy. Someone stood up for her and had her back. At last, Qi Rou learned what it meant to have a place to call home and live with dignity.

To repay Qu Yue, this young woman, who feared pain and hardship more than anything, forced herself to take medicine and build up her strength, never missing a dose, determined to risk her life to bear him a child. Only when she went into labor did she awaken as if from a dream, realizing that it had all been nothing but flowers reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water.

All the hopes she had carried through ten months of pregnancy were meant to help cure the woman he loved. The woman he kept hidden in a secret chamber, in a forbidden place no one was ever allowed to enter.

He gave Qi Rou a home and food and cared for her devotedly. He kept her, spoiled her, and stood up for her, all to deceive his enemies who came looking for him.

Qi Rou had not forgotten how she had been captured, tortured until she was near death, then crawled back to him. He had not even offered her a single word of comfort. Instead, he held Miss Lu and said she was delicate and could not be frightened.

Yes, Qi Rou was a disgusting, lowborn girl from the streets. How could she compare to a refined, noble young lady from a respectable family? She was someone he could summon or dismiss at will, while a proper, spotless girl who kept her distance and spoke softly could tease his heart.

To give him and Miss Lu their happiness, and to repay all his kindness, this nameless young woman who had lost her heart stood alone and threw herself into the icy river.

On that bitterly cold winter night, the wind and fog must have been so thick that they blurred her vision and made her hallucinate. In her vision, Qu Yue roared in despair. He was calling her Rou'er again.

After Miss Lu returned, she never heard him call her with such tender affection again. It was the name Qu Yue had given her.

His face was twisted with terror, as if someone had taken away the love of his life. He begged Qi Rou not to die. He leaped after her, only to be dragged back.

His heart-wrenching, grief-stricken expression left Qi Rou in a daze. Could he cry, too? She thought Heaven must have taken pity on her. How could Qu Yue love Qi Rou? He was the Emperor's younger brother, second only to the Emperor and above everyone else. He was such a proud, lofty man.

After Qi Rou died, Qu Yue's heart palpitations and nightmares grew worse.

He kept dreaming of the young woman leaning against his bedside, tugging at his sleeve and acting coquettishly. One kiss would make her blush for ages, and she would sweetly call him "my dear."

Content warnings:

An old-school, over-the-top substitute romance. (A groveling chase after the wife, with the man ending up cremated.)

The leads have only ever been with each other, and it has a happy ending. The male lead's beloved is a fake.

This novel is extremely melodramatic and old-school! It includes a storm of angst: she runs while he chases; she falls out of love and he chases her instead; she falls for someone else, and he swallows his pride to become the third party, but is still rejected. He cannot have her, becomes consumed by jealousy, and resorts to taking her by force. There is a whole cauldron of over-the-top tropes, so readers who dislike this sort of story should stay away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

The story is entirely fictional, set in an imaginary world. Please don't nitpick the historical details.

Highly recommended: a similar melodramatic novel, "The Heir Hates Her to the Bone" by Wu Dian Ling Jiu

Book ID: 7903018

A fallen yet resilient noblewoman and a young lord who doesn't realize he's in love with her. So good!

When Xia Ran fell from being the envied legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Dingbei to working in the entertainment quarter, she thought it couldn't get worse. Little did she know, it was only the beginning...

A large hand closed tightly around her slender neck. The man before her was cold and stern as a demon from the underworld. "You killed all three members of the Jiang family. Don't think you'll ever escape me in this life."

The evidence was irrefutable, and Xia Ran had no way to defend herself. She could only endure Zhou Yan's way of controlling her as he vented his hatred.

When the older women at the entertainment quarter ostracized her, Xia Ran washed clothes with red, raw hands in the bitter cold of winter. Someone kicked over her wooden tub, and the silver that had made everyone envious clattered to the ground before her. The man looked down at her from on high and said, his thin lips barely moving, "Beg me."

When someone plotted to make her fall into the water, Zhou Yan rescued her, then angrily wrapped her in his cloak. "You think you can kill yourself? You don't deserve to."

Xia Ran understood that Zhou Yan hated her with all his heart and was determined to keep her firmly in his grasp. Even on the day she resolved to put herself up for sale, he got to her first and took her away.

That night, the red curtains billowed. For the first time, Xia Ran cried in front of Zhou Yan, unaware that her hot tears had fallen straight into his heart.

Beneath the frozen earth, long buried under hatred, something had quietly begun to sprout.

Zhou Yan had thought he would hate Xia Ran for the rest of his life. He never expected that one day he would willingly let her use him, kill the Emperor for her, lie awake all night fearing she would leave, and place the throne at her feet as he pleaded with her in a hoarse voice...

1. A whole mountain of melodrama. At first, the heroine is deeply mistaken about the hero. Later, she takes revenge and loses her memory, and the hero takes advantage of the situation. When she recovers her memories, she runs away while pregnant.

2. The hero doesn't realize he is in love. He seems sharp-tongued, but everything he does is out of favor for her, and he has never deliberately hurt her.

3. One couple, happy ending.

Theme: Everyone is unique. No matter how much you love someone else, don't forget to love yourself. Don't lose yourself or your agency in love.