[Contract signed, unfinished, and the writing is still rough... Read at your own risk]
Blurb:
Cold, calculating magistrate vs. theatrical, survival-minded princess of a fallen kingdom
Liu Shiliu, the sixteenth princess of Xilin, was famous in Lin'an for being a princess in name only. Her mother was of low birth and died young, so Liu Shiliu was unloved, forgotten, and bullied.
Though she was a princess, she had worked as an inn attendant in Lin'an and sold pheasants from the mountain. In the end, her father was captured, and she was executed along with the rest of her clan, dying with grievances unresolved.
Reborn, Liu Shiliu packs her things and runs, planning to find someone powerful to protect her first.
But she never expected her protector to have such a vile personality. He makes her his maid, wakes her in the middle of the night to sweep the streets, and even deliberately tosses leaves around to create more trash!
She can only cry out in protest: "You exploit your workers day and night!
Jiang Songling, you black-hearted monster, you don't have a heart at all!"
Jiang Songling smiles at that, plucks off a leaf, and drops it on the ground. "If it's black-hearted, doesn't that still make it a heart?"
*
Jiang Songling, a magistrate of the Court of Judicial Review, is exceptionally capable. He became a third-rank magistrate at a young age and is the dream husband of countless young women in the Southern Zhou Kingdom.
The emperor intends to marry him to the princess royal, but Jiang Songling refuses in open court, saying he already loves someone. The noble families and officials are stunned, and every young lady in the city loses the man of her dreams overnight!
Yet the supposed vixen, who the rumors claim is doted on, is actually sweeping and grinding ink in the study, worn out with an aching back.
Looking at Jiang Songling's icy face, Liu Shiliu feels wickedness stirring in her heart. She swears that one day she'll make him fall in love with her, then dump him!
PS: The female lead is a ridiculous goofball who would rather bend than break. Both leads are each other's first and only love, and the tone is lighthearted. There's a little mystery, though the author isn't clever enough to lay any huge traps, so it should be easy to guess. Later, the male lead will have to work hard to win her back.
Writing practice.
Theme: As long as you're alive, there's hope
