Meeting My Beloved

The ongoing novel East Palace's Resentful Couple is looking for readers to add it to their collections!!!

Novel blurb:

He Yi has lost her memory and is innocent, carefree, and cheerful. Born into a prestigious family, she has had everything go her way for years, except for her marriage prospects.

Egged on by her older cousin, this scatterbrain decides to travel to the capital and call off her engagement.

After the emperor and empress's marriage falls apart, the emperor loses heart, leaving most affairs of state to the crown prince. Her greatest support is the mentor the Eastern Palace relies on most, so she's confident she can persuade the crown prince to help.

Everything goes smoothly. The young crown prince, aloof, refined, and solemn, warmly calls her Yiyi when they first meet, then hands her a token that lets her freely enter and leave the palace.

He's willing to help with anything, except calling off her engagement. He Yi can't make heads or tails of it...

**

Crown Prince Wangshu was born in a turbulent age and spent many years as a hostage in the Wang household as a child. Through those lonely, hopeless years, a petite figure was always by his side.

She was a little lotus blooming in his heart, and the morning star guiding him when he was lost.

After his father unified the realm, he was welcomed back in a blaze of glory. From then on, he was caught up in power struggles and could never escape.

When they met again, she had grown into a graceful, alluring young woman, but mistook someone else for him.

Always cold and detached, he felt the first stirrings in his heart, driven by profound disappointment and resentment.

Fortunately, he had plenty of means and patience. He believed that one day she would finally understand...

As for breaking off her engagement, absolutely not. Who would push away a marriage written in the stars?

**

At first, the crown prince thought He Yi had come to the capital like a lamb walking into a tiger's den. But once they understood each other's feelings, he realized just how wrong he was.

He had studied under a great Confucian scholar since childhood and always took propriety seriously. He refused to break the rules before marriage.

But there's only a fine line between love and desire. She was used to doing whatever she pleased, and when the mood struck, she refused to deny herself anything.

He was always afraid she might regret it, so he kept restraining himself and refused to cross the line, until the last time they reunited after a long separation...

Afterward, her cheeks flushed and tears streamed down her face as she choked out that she regretted it.

His limbs went cold at her words, as if struck by lightning. But she propped herself up and hugged him, laughing and crying as she said, "I regret not turning you from Big Brother into my beloved sooner."

There was nothing he could do about her. He could only accept his fate for the rest of his life!

Reading Guide

* Originally titled Little Lotus: "Aloof, Chaste, Scheming Childhood Friend x Innocent, Adorable, Airheaded Girl Next Door"

* Four-year age gap, a sweet childhood-friends-to-lovers story with an older-brother dynamic.

* A slow-burn, everyday-life romance, with no intense palace intrigue and no tacky love-rival tropes. The second male lead only loves the second female lead, while she loves her career even more.

My new novel, The Black Moonlight I Killed Has Returned, is now serializing:

Gender-swapped domineering romance / tragic love / love and hate / male stand-in...

When Yan Ran became a bandit beyond the frontier, countless souls perished beneath her blade, including the man who had once stirred her heart.

Among the vast mountains and endless seas of sand, the iron-blooded guard He Lan Yao followed her through life and death without a single complaint. They swore to heaven that they would never betray each other.

Just as she held Yanmen Pass, determined to protect her family and take revenge on the emperor once her power had grown, the emperor died, leaving the throne vacant. To stabilize the court, the ministers decided to bring back a collateral member of the imperial family: Yan Ran's old father.

The journey from beyond the frontier to Luoyang was long, and assassination attempts never stopped, so she had no choice but to leave her troops behind and escort him herself.

Luoyang was prosperous and splendid, but also full of treacherous currents.

At a palace banquet, she met a handsome, refined gentleman of extraordinary bearing, who looked just like the man she had mistakenly killed in her youth.

☆☆☆

Yu Che was the prime minister's only son, peerlessly handsome and looking down on everyone.

Li Yanran had spent years among bandits, fighting beasts and trading blows with cutthroats. Her bandit nature was impossible to hide, and she was full of bloodlust. He couldn't stand to associate with someone like her. He never took Yanran seriously, and Luoyang's nobility didn't think much of her family either.

That is, until the new emperor firmly took his place on the throne, the late emperor's wife and daughters were utterly defeated, and the prime minister who had invited a wolf into the house was sentenced to be beheaded and have his body displayed in the marketplace...

The ethereal young nobleman fell into the dirt, with no one willing to hear his pleas. At last, he bowed before Yanran.

"Become my consort, and I'll leave him with his whole corpse," she said, her tone suggestive.

Yu Che looked up in bewilderment. In the shadows behind her appeared a heartbroken face.

That was her right-hand man, He Lan Yao, a man who killed without blinking. Finding a way to get rid of him would be a public service.

☆☆☆

This marriage was a compromise between the new dynasty and the old ministers, and they both knew it.

Beneath the embroidered quilt and silk curtains, her gaze was troubled. It was clear she was looking at someone else through him.

They were both too young to understand that as time passed, a pretense could become real.

There were no fathers and daughters in the imperial household. As Yanran's power grew, her father began to grow suspicious of her.

It was the perfect moment to join forces and bring her down, and the ultimate aim of his offering himself as bait. Yet, for some reason, his thoughts were in turmoil.

As he was torn by his own anguish, his long-lost younger brother, Yu Yuan, returned. Only then did he realize that he was nothing more than a substitute.

Spurred on by his brother's manipulation, hatred, and resentment, he coldly laid a deadly trap for her. He had calculated everything, but never expected that Yu Yuan, a fellow son of the Yu family, would switch sides at the last moment and turn on him.

In despair, he wanted to die. But she snatched away the poisoned dagger and plunged it into Yu Yuan's chest, just as he basked in his triumph. Then she turned to him and said tenderly, "Your hands aren't suited to holding a blade. They're better suited to holding a brush and a book."

The moon had been bright and the night breeze cool. When she returned last night, she carried someone else's scent. Half-serious and half-jealous, he had asked whether He Lan Yao or Yu Yuan mattered more to her.

Drunkenly sprawled against his chest, she murmured, "I'm only putting on a show with them..."

☆☆☆

Yu Yuan was narrow-minded, dark, and obsessive. A bastard child forced to hide in the shadows, he swore he would make something of himself. But as soon as he ventured out into the world, he fell into the hands of the young Yanran.

She saved him, pitied him, and loved him. She also deceived him, humiliated him, and killed him. As he lay dying, through the endless sandstorm, he clearly saw grief and reluctance in her eyes.

Returning from the gates of death, he cast aside his hatred and wanted only to find her and demand an explanation.

Years had passed, Luoyang had changed beyond recognition, and the Yu family had long since fallen into decline. His once-revered elder brother had become the imperial consort, and his new sister-in-law was the very woman he had searched for from heaven to hell without finding.

He thought she had been pining for her brother-in-law until she stabbed him clean through. Only then did he realize...

She was still as vicious and cunning as ever, heartless and ungrateful. Even with a new face, she remained cruel to the core.

His hatred awakened in full. He swore to clip her wings, destroy her pride, and strip away everything she was proud of.

But she was not only his enemy, she was also his lover, and an equal opponent. Perhaps only death could end the entanglement between them...

* One-on-one romance throughout, with a happy ending. The heroine has three genuine relationships, each at a different time.

Theme: Unwavering devotion, two hearts as one.