The Heir Can't Stop Thinking About Me

My new story, currently updating: Embracing the Azure Sky. Completed stories: From Junior Banner Officer to Regent (Qing Dynasty), Farming for the King in Great Qin, and The Sound of Bells and the Taste of Food in the Red Chamber. Story blurb: Formerly titled The Most Unforgettable Thing in This World Blurb 1: Guo Jiye, the eldest legitimate grandson of the Duke of Ying, a pillar of the state, could govern the people with his pen and defend the realm with his sword. Unfortunately, he had a strange affliction. He couldn't bear women helping him dress, much less stand the slightest hint of a woman's scent. Whenever a woman came near, he turned pale, grew dazed, broke into a cold sweat, and looked so weak he seemed on the brink of death. It was the most famous of Luoyang's Ten Great Oddities. In private, the noble young ladies of Luoyang all said, “What a shame he has such a handsome, dashing face, but is all looks and no use!” Blurb 2: Xia Chuanhui was a little maid bought from the countryside and specially trained to serve the nobility. Because she loved food, knew how to eat, and dared to eat, she was sent early to the Duke's estate to be the old Duchess's bed-warming maid. But at some point, the bed this little maid was supposed to warm stopped being the old Duchess's and became that of Guo Jiye, the eldest legitimate grandson of the Duke. Oh well, a warm bed is a warm bed. What difference did it make whose bed she warmed?… Note: The heroine was only five when she became a bed-warming maid, so warming the bed really just meant warming the bedding. Once it was nice and toasty, she could happily retire after a job well done, haha! This story is entered in the Growth and Comeback writing contest: The Carp Leaps the Dragon Gate, the Latecomer Takes the Lead. The heroine swims against the current, working hard and striving to improve as she continually advances and surpasses those who came before her, achieving a major rise in status and accomplishments. In the story so far: The heroine has already achieved a major rise in status and accomplishments. Key plot points related to the theme: The heroine's parents sell her as a slave. Through her own hard work and perseverance, she helps the soldiers fighting on the battlefield gather provisions, drive back the northern raiders, and protect their homeland. She earns the respect and admiration of others, rises from slave to head of the household, and achieves a dramatic leap in status. Check out my completed stories: Farming for the King in Great Qin and The Sound of Bells and the Taste of Food in the Red Chamber. Check out my new story: Thinking of the Years. Jiang Cunhua had only just joined the ranks of overworked wage slaves when she opened her eyes to find herself an orphan with a substantial inheritance. It was the seventh month, when the gates of the underworld stood wide open. In the sweltering height of summer, she returned from selling pancakes with her handcart to find two adults and a child standing outside her door, looking like down-and-out paupers. They claimed they had come to reclaim the ancestral home. Oh, they were the heir of a marquis's household, exiled to the northwest, here to take back the last of their family's property. Jiang Cunhua: “…” But damn it, this house had been passed down through her own family for generations. Since when had it become Xu Sinian's ancestral home?! Xu Sinian was the heir of the Jingning Marquis household. Born into luxury, he had spent his life as a spoiled dandy and was considered the least suitable marriage prospect among the capital's elite families. But his father and grandfather had backed the wrong side. When the new emperor took the throne, the whole family was exiled to the northwest. During the exile, dozens of family members fell ill, died, or got separated. By the time they reached their destination, only Xu Sinian remained. In his previous life, Xu Sinian fell from the heights in an instant. It took him twenty years to claw his way back up. He was cold-hearted and ruthless, killing his enemies, slaughtering the corrupt, restoring the state, and clearing his family's name. Yet he died alone, his life spent, on a bed in the vast Marquis estate. When he opened his eyes, he was back on the road to exile. He saved his second younger brother from being abused into taking his own life, and his third younger brother from being devoured by others. With them, he struggled all the way back to the ancestral home he had reclaimed in his previous life. Contract in hand, he stood at the door of the home that would one day be his, ready to break in, when the owner returned… Xu Sinian was baffled. Shouldn't the ancestral home have been empty at this point? And who was this young woman glaring at him with a rolling pin in her hand? Theme: Strive to make courageous flowers bloom in the dust.