Jade Waist, Spring's Pendant

Chen Yanqing is the future head of the Chen family, refined, warm, and graceful, with impeccable manners. The only exception is his strained relationship with his father, Master Chen. He especially despises the debauchery that fills his father’s entire household. After Master Chen dies, he promptly confines all the concubines to a single courtyard. Song Yinrou, once Master Chen’s most favored concubine, is even punished by being made to copy scriptures in the Buddhist hall every day. But no one knows that inside the solemn, stately Buddhist hall, Song Yinrou is flushed from head to toe, trapped in the arms of the upright, aloof Third Young Master Chen. Her eyes brim with tears as she pleads pitifully with him. “Yinrou offended you back then. Please, Third Young Master, show mercy.” “Isn’t it a little late to call that an offense?” Chen Yanqing grips her waist and lifts her higher. Only once her whole body trembles does he tease her playfully. “Back then, you went to such lengths to tempt me, ” “Wasn’t this exactly what you wanted?” * Yinrou was Master Chen’s concubine. By chance, she foresaw that after his death, the mistress of the household would sell her off, and she would end up abandoned in the wilderness, meeting a miserable end. To escape that fate, she set her sights on the most upright Third Young Master of the Chen family. She did not know that even the most refined of men could be utterly depraved. One-on-one romance, both leads are virgins The leads have no blood or legal family relationship There is no intimacy between them while the false mother-son relationship remains in place Coming soon: The Lovesick Curse Mingyue was cherished from childhood, spoiled and doted on. Whatever she wanted was brought to her, but Ye Ji never looked her way. Frustrated, Mingyue also envied how tenderly he cared for his fiancée. She was spoiled and had lost her head, so she placed a lovesick curse on Ye Ji: anyone afflicted would become utterly devoted to the one who cast it. Just as expected, Ye Ji forgot his bond with his fiancée and gave all his tenderness to Mingyue. She, too, forgot she had engineered it, naively believing she was the happiest woman in the world. Until her family was arrested and Ye Ji pointed his long sword at her throat. She knew the curse had been lifted. All the love he had once shown her turned to hatred. She clung to his leg, begging him to spare her. “I was wrong. I’ll never bother you again. You can even kill me, just please spare my family.” Ye Ji kicked her away in disgust. “You think dying is enough? It’s not that easy.” He divorced her and imprisoned her in the coldest, most remote courtyard. She knew he hated her, but every night, he would break in and torment her until dawn. She clung to a sliver of hope, only for him to mock her mercilessly. “You like being used like this, don’t you? I’m just giving you what you want.” Ye Ji brought the woman he had once loved back to the household to care for her. Mingyue thought he would no longer keep her prisoner. “Can I... leave now?” Ye Ji’s expression suddenly changed. He gripped her cheeks, his voice dark. “Remember this: without my permission, you can’t go anywhere.” The heroine is spoiled and willful early on, and far from perfect. The fiancée is not entirely innocent. #Classic angst#Coercive courtship#The trope itself is a trigger warning Coming soon: A Pawn Beneath Her Skirt Jiang Xue’e had been in love with Second Young Master Li for years. At last, she got her wish and became engaged to the Li family. But then someone framed her and drugged her with an aphrodisiac. In her confused state, she spent a night entangled with a strange man. Jiang Xue’e carefully hid the secret, but was horrified to discover that the drug’s effects returned every half month. The drug tortured her to the point of near death. She dared not show the slightest sign in front of Second Young Master Li, and the man from that night came looking for her just then... Jiang Xue’e saw the admiration in his eyes. Without a doubt, he was her best option. “You must not say a word, or... I’ll make you regret it.” Her face flushed with desire, her breathing ragged as she threatened him into helping her. Half a month passed, then another. She still couldn’t find an antidote. Fortunately, the wedding date was drawing near, and she wouldn’t have to keep doing this. On the night she tried to end things, the usually silent man gripped her waist more roughly than ever. Sweat dripped onto her face as his deep, hoarse voice brushed her ear. “Break off the engagement.” * Pei Yuxiao, heir to the Prince of Zhenbei, had fought alongside his father since he was young. He had killed countless enemies, and was admired by countless young women who nonetheless dared not approach him. But one woman had the audacity to barge in while he was recovering from a critical injury and take liberties with him. Worse, after using him, she vanished without a trace. Pei Yuxiao had never suffered such humiliation. He would find her even if he had to turn the earth upside down. At last he found her. She was even more alluring than that night, eyes swimming with tears and face flushed with desire. His simmering anger turned to lust. Blurb dated December 1, 2022; revised February 22, 2025 Theme: Love is a journey two people take together