The Little Silver Hook on the Curtain

Gu Baolian was born a commoner, yet possessed an otherworldly beauty, with a slender waist and jade-white skin.

After entering the palace as a low-ranking maid in an imperial retreat, she went eight hundred years without seeing the emperor.

By a stroke of luck, she was given the chance to attend Emperor Yuanxian. After two nights beneath warm, shared bed curtains, she was granted the lowly rank of Baolin, a sixth-rank consort.

Who could have known that Emperor Yuanxian would be so fickle? After two carefree nights, he returned to the palace and forgot to take her with him. Two years passed.

Everyone mocked Gu Baolian for dreaming of becoming a favored consort. She had the looks of a fox spirit but not the fate of a beloved concubine, and was left in this cold, deserted retreat, doomed to grow old alone as a living widow.

Some pitied her, saying she had been dealt a cruel hand, since she was nearly twenty-five and would soon have been old enough to leave the palace.

With her whole life about to be wasted in this imperial retreat, Gu Baolian had no other choice. She used the little authority she had there to clear a plot of land and grow sweet potatoes.

Two years later, Emperor Yuanxian, He Yingou, returned to the Beiling Retreat to escape the summer heat. At last, he remembered Gu Baolian and summoned her to attend him.

Gu Baolian thought that no matter what, she had to seize this opportunity.

She fussed over him and flirtatiously tugged at his belt, but Emperor Yuanxian didn't react and told her to go to sleep;

She served him tea and water, hoping to add a touch of charm to his evenings, but Emperor Yuanxian thought her clumsy;

She personally cooked pastries and simmered ginseng soup, but Emperor Yuanxian thought she was making a fuss;

She accompanied Emperor Yuanxian on a stroll through the gardens, but he barely spoke the whole way.

Later, in the cool autumn of September, Emperor Yuanxian set off for the palace and forgot to take her with him again. He couldn't even remember her name.

Gu Baolian crouched glumly in her sweet potato field. She heard that His Majesty had come to the retreat because he had quarreled with the woman he loved and wanted some peace and quiet. And the reason he had left without a word was that they had made up. Now Emperor Yuanxian was about to marry. How could he possibly remember her?

Gu Baolian's spirits sank.

Gu Baolian decided that relying on a man to escape this wretched place was hopeless, and she wasn't going to become a favored consort either. So she simply ran away.

With her harvest of sweet potatoes on her back, she escaped the retreat. Under the bright, clear sky, Gu Baolian thought, why become a favored consort? Better to go home and sell sweet potatoes.

When Emperor Yuanxian, He Yingou, learned that the beautiful young woman he kept at the retreat had disappeared, the usually composed emperor flew into a royal rage.

Later, he searched the entire capital and found his beauty in the courtyard of a farmhouse.

Gu Baolian was pinned against the courtyard wall by a handsome, imposing man, her lips kissed until they were swollen.

The man's dangerous presence burned around her. His eyes bloodshot, he rasped, "Gu Baolian, you've gotten bolder and bolder, haven't you?"

#The Domineering Emperor Falls for a Farmer's Daughter# Am I not as good as your sweet potatoes?

#A Low-Ranking Consort's Guide to Self-Preservation

Reading Guide:

1. Monogamous romance, happy ending, misunderstandings will be cleared up.

2. Slow-burn, a gradual and steady romance.

Cover art thanks: Qian Cao Tu Zi from Ze Shang, Sen Mu Mu from Tao Zhi Yao Yao, and Pai Gu Xiao Bao from Shui Mo Dan Qing.

Theme: Ordinary people deserve to be loved too.