Flirting with Trouble

A sweet-talking, well-behaved beauty & a doting, oblivious hypocrite

Gu Qingyue came from a good family, had a good temperament, and was even more beautiful. With snowy skin and flowerlike features, her lips were naturally rosy. She was the sort of beauty people would call a femme fatale at first glance.

Aside from her looks, the only thing people could criticize was her poor scholarship. After coming back to life, she became even more of a slacker, letting her nature run wild.

One time, she dozed off by chance. When she opened her eyes, she saw a young gentleman as lovely as a jade branch.

The young gentleman had an elegant, refined air about him, every inch a nobleman.

She admired him and gave him a flower.

Later, in countless memories, Gu Qingyue would regret it and kick herself. Why hadn’t she recognized that scoundrel Chao Yu at first sight?

*

Chao Yu was a well-known gentleman in the capital, upright and as handsome as jade. Noblewomen hoping to pluck this lofty flower could line up from the eastern end of the city to the western end.

But reborn Gu Qingyue had seen another side of him. Who would admire someone who would nearly destroy her family in the future?

Whoever wanted to pluck that flower could go ahead. After their third encounter, she once again marked Chao Yu as dangerous.

Gu Qingyue studied and made friends while racing wholeheartedly toward the course her previous life had taken. But somehow, someone had grabbed her by the nape of fate.

Chao Yu, smiling: Marry someone else? Not a chance.

She "pursued" him, he pursued her, and in the end, they both fell for each other!

Bonus Scene 1

Choosing the Flower God at the Flower Festival

One was ethereally beautiful, the other had peerless flowerlike looks.

The gathered young noblemen couldn’t decide, so they looked to Chao, the model of a gentleman.

Chao Yu: "How utterly vulgar."

Everyone understood. They hid their faces in shame and tossed their flowers onto the pure and noble lotus.

But when they turned around, they saw their paragon of virtue walking toward the person he had just called utterly vulgar.

Bonus Scene 2

Gu Qingyue walked over to Chao Yu with a scented sachet.

Chao Yu, thinking: The little troublemaker is giving me a present.

Gu Qingyue: "Senior Brother, could you give this to Young Master Du for me?"

Chao Yu: "Heh. Heh."

*Some aspects of this story are a little open-minded, but the overall setting is feudal. If you can’t stomach a particular chapter, please stop reading.

*The education system is inspired by the Six Schools and Two Academies, the official system by the Tang dynasty, with multiple chancellors, and the imperial examinations by subject-specific exams. There are many changes and fictional elements, so please don’t scrutinize the historical details too closely.

*I consider this a sweet romance. The heroine is beautiful and capricious, and the hero is a classic tsundere whose actions belie his words. The blurb doesn’t do it justice, and the romance is slow-burn. Also, "utterly vulgar" is not meant to describe the heroine!!!

Upcoming story: "The Warlord Doesn’t Know His Wife Is Beautiful"

A lying, substitute bride, a sweet little flower & a warlord who doesn’t know his wife is beautiful. (Size difference)

Li Qingye had spent more than ten years as the eldest daughter of the Li family of Yanzhou. Before Li Mujin was found, she had never imagined that she wasn’t really of the Li bloodline.

To make it up to Li Mujin, everyone took back the wealth and privileges Li Qingye had once enjoyed. Even the lowest servants could order her around.

Someone who had known riches could hardly accept a life of misery. Just as she was about to escape the pit by relying on her former fiancé, the imperial family fell into decline and warlords rose on all sides. At a time like that, the Li family remembered her.

Adoptive mother: "Qingye, for the sake of all the years I devoted myself to raising you, help Mujin."

Adoptive father: "Marrying into Jizhou on behalf of the Li family is the best choice you have."

Adoptive brother: "If my little sister has to marry a barbarian who lives like an animal, I might as well have my way with her first..."

*

Wu Xun, the notorious young tyrant of Jizhou, was a rough, arrogant man who knew nothing but war. People said he could knock down a tiger with one punch and needed to drink blood and chew raw meat at every meal to be satisfied. His marriage proposal to the daughter of the Li family of Yanzhou was really a demand for their submission, and he was less interested in his new bride than in drinking with his soldiers.

On their wedding night, he was dead drunk. When he awoke, he found his little wife curled up at the foot of the bed, where she had spent the whole night. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes still held traces of tears. The moment she opened her eyes, she trembled with fear of him.

How could a delicate, frail girl like her be fit to be his wife?

He left her alone at the fortified estate and rarely returned home.

But later, he saw with his own eyes as she whipped her brother, pretended to cry in front of him with asafoetida, and smiled sweetly at an old lover...

Wu Xun’s expression darkened. Did he really understand his little wife?

*

Li Qingye was uneasy about being a substitute bride, but after spending a little time with the young tyrant, she discovered that although he seemed intimidating, he was not the sort to indulge in romantic entanglements. He even seemed to have a soft spot for the weak.

Day by day, she tested his limits and made plans for her future. She knew better than anyone that if he succeeded in building his empire, she could simply pack her things and leave. If he failed, she would die alongside him.

As she became more and more adept at pretending to be helpless in front of Wu Xun, she also prepared to run away at any moment. She never expected that the young tyrant, whom her tears had fooled again and again, would rather die than let her go alone.

Theme: Pursue a better life