A Lovely Spring Day

[A cool and clearheaded fake heiress x a seemingly spoiled young nobleman who is actually a dangerous villain]

The legitimate daughter of the Su family, Su Yuanyin, is beautiful and reserved, like the bright moon in the heavens and a flawless flower atop a snowy peak. She is the ideal woman in the hearts of the young men of the capital.

Then the Su family suddenly finds their real daughter. Su Yuanyin becomes an adopted daughter, her origins a mystery, and her standing plummets. The real daughter is hostile toward her, her family indulges the girl as she steals Su Yuanyin’s engagement, and her friends drift away to curry favor with the powerful. The unattainable moon in the sky becomes frost on the ground, there for anyone to trample.

Later, she meets Xiao Que, a willful and irreverent young lord, and learns the secret he has kept hidden, a secret that defies convention.

He coerces and teases her, but he also saves her from danger and helps her uncover her origins. He breaks down the walls she has built, teaches her about the world and human nature, and shows her what love is.

*

Rumor has it Xiao Que is a complete wastrel who relies on the imperial consort’s favor to do as he pleases. He loves nothing more than visiting brothels and taverns, cockfighting, and horse racing.

But only Su Yuanyin knows he is a rebel to the core, secretly laboring to overthrow the empire and become a traitorous usurper.

To Xiao Que, she is cool-headed and clever, knows how to read the situation, and is almost foolishly stubborn when it comes to loyalty and affection. Yet that loyalty is never directed toward him.

So he wants to take her away, to tame the proud woman and make her fall with him into an endless abyss.

But in the end, he willingly lifts that moonlight ever so gently, cherishing her deep within his heart and doting on her without restraint.

*

The day his army was defeated, he lay in a pool of blood and thought back over everything that had happened.

He remembered his birthday, when she had just finished dancing in a pale moon-white gauze dress. Standing beneath the moonlight, she saw him, and her cool eyes bloomed like flowers, every glance bewitching.

He stood far away, already thinking of retreating.

But she came over and, smiling, asked him if she looked good.

He didn’t dare look her in the eye, so he deliberately teased her for having no shame.

But she didn’t know that, in that moment, he had glimpsed the light for the first time in the eternal darkness.

Reader’s Guide:

1. Face-slapping and a reborn rival; at heart, this is a sweet romance.

2. Happy ending, both leads have had no prior partners.

3. A little slow to warm up.

4. The male lead gets into trouble, while the female lead makes money. Both are clearheaded and independent.

My next book, The Broken Jade Pearl, is open for pre-orders. Please add it to your reading list!

Synopsis:

A frail princess x a lone wolf from the northern frontier

In the tenth year of Changyuan, Yuwen Yao led the Northern Di cavalry in breaking through Yanmen and advancing deep into the heart of Great Qi.

The Qi Emperor sent several envoys to Yanmen to negotiate peace, willingly ceding three cities in exchange for the Northern Di’s withdrawal.

Several days later, only one envoy returned in a panic, announcing Yuwen Yao’s condition for withdrawing his troops: Great Qi’s Fifth Princess, Zhao Qingsui.

The Fifth Princess had been sickly since childhood, and her mother’s low birth made her unpopular in the palace.

The Qi Emperor didn’t hesitate before making his choice. He ordered preparations for the political marriage that very night.

*

On their wedding day, red candles flickered as Zhao Qingsui sat beneath the red canopy, her trembling hand gripping a sharp golden hairpin.

When she heard footsteps approaching, the veil was casually lifted. She looked up, and the hairpin fell from her hand when she saw who it was.

Yuwen Yao glanced at her, mockery in his eyes. “Princess, you’ve grown even less capable. When you held a dagger before, your hand never trembled.”

Zhao Qingsui’s lashes quivered. She called to him in a strained voice, “Yu An.”

Yuwen Yao chuckled at the sound. Looking at her as though he were seeing the past through her face, he recalled those laughable days and said coolly, “Have you forgotten, Princess? Yu An died three years ago, by your own hand.”

*

As a child, Yuwen Yao had wandered into Great Qi. When his life was in danger, a young woman saved him.

All he knew was that she was of noble birth and the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was so slender he could wrap one hand around her waist, and she had grown up on medicine, always carrying the faintest scent of herbs.

Only later did he learn that she had the most vicious heart of all. She saved him, then wounded the heart he had offered her and tried to take his life.

So he schemed for power and the throne, determined to turn everyone against her and make her a cast-off of her country and people, forced to repent before him day after day.

But whenever they were entangled, he would lose control, holding her increasingly slender waist and forcing her to call him “Yu An” again and again, the name she had once given him.

*

Zhao Qingsui had always followed the rules and never made a misstep, except once. During her convalescence at a Taoist temple, it rained for days on end. Her old illness flared up, and her hands and feet were cold as she lay awake night after night.

The wolf cub she had taken in wrapped his arms tightly around her. As warmth spread between them, he asked, “In Great Qi, men and women have to marry after they share a bed. Now that we’re like this, does that mean you have to marry me?”

Warmth bloomed in her heart. She pretended to be asleep, but the blush on her cheeks reached the tips of her ears.

Theme: Never yield to fate. Join hands to create a new world.