The Lotus Banquet

★ Please add my upcoming historical romance, Worship the Moon, to your collection. The blurb is at the end.

★ The complete novel costs only 7.7 yuan. Thank you for supporting the official release! If you've read the whole novel, please leave a rating. Thank you! "Bows"

Blurb

[A seemingly innocent but deeply devoted Ninth Prince × a spirited, clever, wealthy Miss Fu]

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The emperor of the Great Lin dynasty was preparing to choose consorts for his sons. The Jiang family didn't want to take sides, so they decided to bring back Fu Yundai, whom they had abandoned more than a decade ago.

On the day Fu Yundai arrived in the capital, the entire Jiang family waited to see her humiliated. This "illegitimate daughter," abandoned for years, was destined to become a sacrificial pawn for the Jiang family.

When the carriage reached the Jiang residence, Jiang Pinhuo and his family waited in the main hall, putting on a false show of warmth. Everyone expected a coarse woman in rough homespun clothes, but instead a beautiful woman with a graceful figure and a face like peach blossoms stepped lightly inside.

Everyone was stunned. Weren't they told she'd been raised by an ordinary merchant family, living in rough clothes?

They reassured themselves: Never mind, beauty is inborn, but her manners are another matter.

The woman calmly stepped back with her right foot, stood straight, and bowed. "Yundai greets you all."

Everyone: !

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No sooner had Fu Yundai arrived in the capital than people were captivated by her beauty. In less than half a day, her reputation for beauty had spread among the capital's great families.

One young lady held a banquet to find out whether the rumors were true.

Who could have guessed that Fu Yundai would excel at the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, then smile modestly after her performance? "This humble woman has made a poor showing."

Everyone: If you're ugly, what does that make us!?

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One day,

Shen Yanhen was discussing a plan with his subordinates when he ran into a problem. "Money's an issue if we want to bring down Shen Qiyan."

Fu Yundai was shocked. You don't have money? You're a prince, for heaven's sake, and you're broke?

Shen Yanhen: ...

Fu Yundai: It's fine. I have money.

Shen Yanhen watched box after box of gold being carried into the prince's residence: ...

His subordinates swallowed. The princess consort is so rich.

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Shen Yanhen lost his mother when he was five. A court official petitioned the emperor to send him to a temple to mourn her. A month after Shen Yanhen entered the temple, trouble began to erupt there. First, a fire broke out and burned down several rooms. Then, when Shen Yanhen was in the scripture library, it caught fire, nearly destroying half the scriptures. Later, as Shen Yanhen meditated with the temple's abbot, a Buddha statue fell and shattered. A shattered Buddha statue was an ill omen, so Shen Yanhen was branded as unlucky. Some even believed he had caused his mother's death. The emperor gradually came to despise him and sent him to a frontier garrison, heedless of whether he lived or died.

From then on, Shen Yanhen understood that even one's own family couldn't be trusted completely. Filled with hatred, he laid traps to uncover the truth behind his mother's death and find the people who had framed him.

Shen Yanhen thought there was no one left in the world who would truly care for him, until a young woman appeared out of nowhere. She looked like a delicate noblewoman who lived by strict rules, but was lively and active at heart. Later, Shen Yanhen and she fell in love, and he would have only her for the rest of his life.

After they married, Shen Yanhen thought his little princess consort was terribly fussy. She demanded the finest food, clothes, lodging, and travel, which certainly cost a lot, but she had never asked him for money. So where did his little princess consort get all her money?

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Later, not wanting his little princess consort to worry, Shen Yanhen went to do business with the manager of a money house. To his surprise, the person in charge of the money house looked remarkably like his little princess consort, who was supposed to be lying in bed sick. Shen Yanhen tested her with a jade pendant, and Fu Yundai also learned that her husband was in the room opposite. They stared at each other across the money house. Seeing how respectfully the manager treated Fu Yundai, Shen Yanhen fell into deep thought.

Fu Yundai: I can explain.

Shen Yanhen: If I remember correctly, the person behind this money house is the richest merchant in all of Lin.

Fu Yundai: I just haven't had a chance to tell you yet.

Shen Yanhen: So you're the richest merchant in all of Lin.

Fu Yundai: ...Sort of. I'm half an heir.

One subordinate: Who should we curry favor with from now on, His Highness or the princess consort?

Another subordinate: It doesn't matter whom we curry favor with, and being a rich merchant doesn't matter, either. What matters is that I like the princess consort better.

Shen Yanhen, shooting him a cold glare: You like the princess consort?

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This novel could also be called The Handsome, Brave, and Clever Prince Who's Too Broke to Build His Career and His Beautiful, Brilliant, Incredibly Wealthy Princess Consort.

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A few tips:

1. This is the author's first novel, so it will inevitably have flaws. I welcome well-reasoned criticism and advice, but not pointless arguments.

2. The entire novel is set in a fictional world, with loads of invented details. Please don't overthink it.

3. The heroine is rich. Extremely rich.

4. The hero looks as gentle as jade, but he's actually ruthless and merciless, crushing flowers and making them bloom and wither... (Sorry, the author's getting carried away.) He's a fox who acts fierce outside but turns into a tail-wagging puppy at home, begging the heroine to blow on his wounds.

5. One-on-one, happy ending. The author is absolutely the hero and heroine's biggest fan.

6. Anti-piracy setting: V chapters require 50% of the novel to be purchased, with a one-hour delay for unauthorized access.

7. Please add it to your collection to show your support. Love you all, thank you, kiss~

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Blurb

[A clever, pampered princess with near-supernatural intelligence × a dark, brooding wolf cub of the grasslands]

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In the forty-first year of the Zhao dynasty, Yubei fell into chaos and repeatedly invaded Zhao, only to be defeated. Fearing further trouble, the Zhao court demanded that Yubei send a prince as a hostage.

With no other choice, Yubei sent its second prince. A young man with downcast eyes followed at his side. The Yubei envoy said he was the prince's personal guard. Later, the young man was brought before Princess Kangning and made her attendant.

Princess Kangning, Gu Xi, was the most honored princess in all of Zhao. The Empress Dowager and the emperor doted on her, and her father's military achievements in service to Zhao were enough to secure her place throughout the realm. That was why she had been made a princess.

Gu Xi had grown up in the palace from the moment she could understand the world. Her life seemed to go smoothly, but only she knew how much she hated this palace, which felt like a cage.

When the young man from the grasslands was brought before her, her imperial cousin smiled and said he would protect her from then on. She paid him little attention.

Gu Xi named him Chengfeng.

Everyone thought the young man was insignificant, and at first Gu Xi thought so, too. But later she saw the contempt he held for the emperor in his eyes, and his loathing for the second prince. Yet whenever he faced her, the young man was always unfailingly respectful.

Later, the young man Chengfeng left Zhao with Yubei's second prince. Gu Xi never saw him again, until news came from the grasslands that the young Wolf King had ascended the throne...

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The young Wolf King was Chengfeng, whose real name was Sai Lehe.

When Gu Xi heard the news about the king of the grasslands, she laughed. "I thought the one from the grasslands was a horse, so I named him Chengfeng. I never expected to get it wrong."

Later, Sai Lehe came to Zhao with Yubei's envoys. In front of the imperial relatives and nobles, he looked dark and menacing, but when no one was watching, he quietly climbed into the princess's chambers and respectfully bowed to Gu Xi.

He asked her, "Do you want to go to the grasslands?"

His grassland scent and gentle words drew Gu Xi in. She did. More than anything. She had hated the palace for far too long.

So Gu Xi answered, "I do."

The young wolf of the grasslands narrowed his eyes. "Your Highness, the moon is the most precious and revered thing in our grasslands, but you are the only precious thing to me."

Theme: A beautiful future is something you have to fight for yourself