Taking a Crown Prince as My Lover

Original title: Good Fortune at the East House

The Yan family has a daughter named Yan Qingtang, a brilliant businesswoman. Unfortunately, she's a woman, and after her father dies, the Yan family faces the threat of having their estate seized by the clan.

Bringing in a husband is out of the question. So should she just have a child herself?

One day, while on an errand, she passed an inn and saw a handsome scholar and his young servant being turned out. The scholar wore a plain cotton robe with frayed edges, clearly poor and down on his luck.

A thought struck her. She sent someone to "invite" him to her private residence, rented him the house for next to nothing, and pretended to be a wealthy wife whose husband was useless and who resented her for being unable to bear children. The scholar was quick to catch on...

A few months later, after Yan Qingtang was diagnosed as pregnant, she tearfully gave the scholar a sum of money and then made her escape.

At the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, the major silk merchants of the Jiangnan region had gathered, all hoping to reduce this year's levies imposed by the court. But the usually decisive commissioner of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau was nowhere to be seen. A frail-looking man in a blue robe sat in the seat of honor.

Nobody knew who he was. Only Yan Qingtang stared blankly at the "poor, weak scholar" she'd supported for several months.

So much for him being a poor scholar! So much for the child being hers and having no father?

"Shopkeeper Yan, long time no see."

Yan Qingtang's expression changed at once.

Formal synopsis:

In the seventeenth year of the Qianwu reign, the emperor sent the crown prince to Jiangnan to gain experience. While investigating corruption at the Maritime Trade Office in Suzhou, Crown Prince Ji Zuo crossed paths with Yan Qingtang, who was already caught up in the matter without realizing it.

Yan Qingtang was the eldest daughter of the Yan family. After her father died, she faced the threat of having the clan seize the family estate. As she dealt with the crisis, one mystery after another came to light.

Was there another motive behind the clan's attempt to seize the estate?

Was the 200,000-tael shortfall caused by the levies imposed by the Weaving Bureau connected to her father's death?

When one scheme failed, another deadly trap followed, along with calculations from every side. This battle, stretching from the capital to the provinces, engulfed all of Suzhou and even the coastal region.

How would she navigate this storm of danger and intrigue?

And how many identities did Ji Jingxing, the man she had taken for a poor scholar and used to have a child, really have? Why did he seem to be everywhere?

Afterward, Yan Qingtang summed it up this way: Ji Zuo was like a Chinese puzzle ball to her.

You think he only has one layer? Think again. There are many more inside.

* One-on-one romance. Unless otherwise announced, updates are usually around two in the afternoon.

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Theme: A woman should stand on her own and never stop striving