The Female Top Scholar Is His Wife

Ancient-style novel coming soon: I Could Never Fall for a Country Bumpkin. The blurb is below. If you’re interested, feel free to add it to your collection first~

[Cross-dressing, upright and honest top scorer in the palace examination * sharp-tongued, proud top scorer with a possessive streak]

To find her mother’s murderer, Shen Chenying, the youngest daughter of the Shen family, takes her older brother Shen Chenjun’s place and travels to the capital to enter officialdom. As she climbs step by step toward the position of The Outcast, she proceeds with extreme caution, daring not to let a single flaw show. Even so, she is discovered to be a woman by Bian Bai, the top scorer from her cohort. From then on, Shen Chenying is forced to do everything at Lord Bian Bai’s bidding.

After winning a princess’s favor, Shen the Top Scorer is granted an imperial marriage to become her consort. Unexpectedly, that heaven’s favorite disregards the eyes of the world and, as though possessed, publicly kneels in the main hall.

"Your Majesty, I have long since fallen deeply in love with Lord Shen. I will marry no one else!"

The ruler is stunned, then looks at Shen Chenying.

Shen Chenying stares blankly at Bian Bai, then grits her teeth and replies, "I, too, have long admired Lord Bian and have already pledged myself to him in private. I fear I cannot marry the princess..."

The ruler says, "It seems I have indeed made a foolish match, then."

Just as Shen Chenying thinks she has escaped disaster and is about to breathe a sigh of relief, the ruler speaks again:

"How about I arrange a marriage for you two, my dear ministers?"

In an instant, the entire hall falls silent.

Shen Chenying can hear only the pounding of her heart...

Bonus scene

Having just witnessed a passionate encounter, Shen Chenying hurriedly flees. Finding only a wall in front of her, she wastes no time climbing over it!

When she jumps down, she lands on Bian Bai on the other side of the wall. They both end up on the ground, with Shen Chenying on top...

She lands squarely in a warm embrace, held up by strong arms so that she doesn’t fall flat on her face.

Afterward, she feels bad for using him as a cushion, so she specially buys some pastries and pays him a visit.

Shen Chenying: "I am Shen Chenjun. I meant no offense to Lord Bian, and have come to apologize."

"Shen Chenjun?" The usually arrogant and swaggering top scorer chuckles, then taps Shen Chenjun’s smooth, full forehead with a pale jade-like finger. "I don’t think your name should be Shen Chenjun. It should be... Shen the Deceiver."

[One-on-one romance, happy ending, more sweet than angsty. The hero loves teasing the cross-dressing heroine in the early part of the story. Later, he loves her so desperately he becomes as humble as a dog.]

Ancient-style novel coming soon: I Could Never Fall for a Country Bumpkin

[Devious schemer who plays the pig to eat the tiger * gloomy, unhinged, obsessive prince]

Qin Wan, the Great Xia dynasty’s first female chief councilor, is framed by villains and dies in disgrace on a man’s bed, leaving the world cursing her as a seductive minister who bewitched the ruler and threw the court into chaos.

In her final moments, only a slender, fair-skinned attendant drapes clothes over her, shielding what little dignity she has left.

Perhaps fate has not yet abandoned her, for many years later, she is reborn.

She becomes a crude yet truly beautiful country woman.

But just as revenge fills her every thought, she encounters the young man who once obeyed her every command: Wen Yu.

The boy has shed his youthful awkwardness and grown into a tall, strikingly handsome man, but his brows and eyes seem veiled in a layer of proud, snow-cold frost, making him difficult to approach.

When she first met Wen Yu, all she knew was that he was the illegitimate son of Prince Gong. Turned away by the prince’s household, he was dressed in rags and still kneeling to beg them to save his dying mother. Yet even after his mother passed away, the household refused to acknowledge this wretched child.

Later, on a snowy day, Wen Yu was stiff with cold, his tattered clothes covered in white snow. Qin Wan had just been sabotaged at court and was passing by after a coarse woman had thrown slops on her, leaving her in a miserable state. She had been ridiculed simply because she was the only female official at court.

She saw Wen Yu, nearly frozen into a snowman, and with a cool, disdainful expression, removed the warm fox-fur cloak stained with slops and tossed it to him as he shivered.

Young Wen Yu looked at her as if she were his only lifeline, begging Qin Wan to take him in. He would serve as a man or maid, even be her shoe-licking dog, but Qin Wan only smiled and told him, "I have no use for useless people."

"If you want to stay by my side, you’ll have to show me what you’re good for."

Now, as she has no choice but to rely on Wen Yu for revenge, he teasingly hooks the sash of her skirt with his scabbard, his tone impossible to read:

"If you want to stay by my side, you’ll have to show me what you’re good for."

"I have no shortage of dogs to order around. What I lack is..."

"A maid to warm my bed."

Theme: To obtain what you desire, you must make twice the effort.