Escaping the Jade Slave

The Rebellious Uncle is currently updating... [The story is complete. Please support the official release.] Among men of letters, giving a concubine as a gift was commonplace. As a lowly concubine, Yu Lou was passed around like a present among the sons of officials and nobles. In secret, she hoped she might eventually end up with the Chi family’s Third Master, Chi Jing. When that day finally came, Chi Jing merely glanced at her before turning to the host seated across from him and smiling with cool indifference. "I appreciate your kindness." He thought she was beneath him. She clutched the hem of her clothes and lowered her face, pretending she could neither hear nor see. Only when the host was appointed to an official post far away and entrusted her to the Chi household did she finally enter Chi Jing’s life. He introduced her to incense she had never smelled and tea she had never tasted. In his spacious, splendid room, he raised a hand and brushed it carelessly over her face. "Are you always so meek and obedient with everyone? Don’t you have a personality of your own?" His innate nobility only made her seem all the more lowly. Yu Lou still had a little self-respect. She turned around and became engaged to another man. She wagered that Chi Jing would come after her, because no one else was as gentle and obedient as she was, and she was too good to simply throw away. On the eve of her wedding, Chi Jing’s agitated figure appeared at the door, just as she had expected. "Do you know what the punishment for a runaway slave is? Come home with me." She said nothing. Looking at his crestfallen expression, she thought that at last she could negotiate with him over their financial interests. * Chi Jing was born into a marquis’s household and had always lived as he pleased. He had never been interested in marriage. In the end, he chose Yu Lou as his wife for three reasons: he valued her meekness and domestic skills, pitied her weakness and helplessness, and wanted to fulfill her devoted love for him. Besides, they had already been intimate. Not long after they married, someone warned him that Yu Lou was shrewd, loved money, and was skilled at scheming. He had never believed it. Ridiculous. How much cunning could a girl have when she blushed shyly in front of him at the drop of a hat? Until one day, he happened to overhear her talking to her maid behind his back. "I sacrificed my dignity and my love just to get the Chi family’s wealth. If you think I’ll hand out money for nothing, dream on!" Chi Jing stood stunned for a long moment, then gritted his teeth and walked inside, asking with a smile, "Whose love did Madam sacrifice?" Yu Lou: ... [Reading guide] Both leads do their sums first and speak from the heart later. The heroine appears to be a little white rabbit, while the hero seems frivolous. In truth, this is a story about two cold-hearted people scheming against each other and entering a marriage of convenience. Happy ending. 90% subscription lock to prevent piracy. ---- Upcoming novel: Is She Pan Jinlian? ---- The Yao family was enthusiastically arranging a marriage for Second Master Yao. He found fault with every candidate: he wouldn’t marry an ugly woman, and he called a beautiful one a source of trouble. In short, he picked and chose, but none pleased him. One day, as he was meeting a young lady in the small reception hall, his mother suddenly came in with instructions. "Your Sixth Aunt’s boat has reached the dock. Get a carriage and bring her here." Only then did Second Master Yao remember that he had a Sixth Aunt. She was the daughter his maternal grandfather’s second wife had brought into the family, and although they did not share a father or mother, she was his mother’s sister. His Sixth Aunt had just lost her husband. People said she had carried on an affair and plotted to murder him. She had finally cleared her name, but not before provoking a great deal of gossip. Her husband’s family would no longer tolerate her, so she had no choice but to seek refuge with her maternal relatives. With so many accusations she could not easily shake, she must be a seductive, wanton woman! Second Master Yao arrived at the dock full of contempt. He gave a lazy bow to the quiet figure on the deck. "Greetings, Sixth Aunt." She turned around. Her face was cold and pale; her lips were a frozen pink rose against a white wall, and her eyes were like a black alley cat barely clinging to life. Each was using the last of its strength to preserve its beauty. * Pan Xiping was reserved and quiet. After returning to the Yao family, she watched her convenient "nephew," who was a head taller than she was, come and go each day, never bothering to speak much with him. One day, she could stand it no longer. She pushed him down onto a stool, picked up a comb, and straightened his slightly crooked topknot. At last, her restless mind found some relief. After that, her nephew grew even more careless. Sometimes he tied his sash wrong; other times, he put his shoes on the wrong feet. Making mistakes was one thing, but he even had the nerve to stroll around in front of her like that. She valued neatness and order above all and could not tolerate the slightest mess! Until one day, he leaned back in his chair with a carefree smile and said, "I know some things are wrong, but it doesn’t matter. For you, I’m willing to keep doing them wrong." [The blurb is provisional and may change.] The leads have no age gap and are not blood relatives. The heroine is a black lotus with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. The hero is a lump of mud who tends flowers. Theme: Without the courage to take a risk, where can one flee to survive?