The Golden Branch Hidden Away

★ [My Cousin Is So Delicate] and [The Noble Wife at the Gate] are complete. If you're interested, tap the author's profile to add them to your collection! ★

Huo Zhi is a county princess from Lingnan, cherished and pampered beyond measure. She plans to pick a man to share her bed from among the slaves in this place of exile.

The young county princess thinks that if she gets pregnant, she won't have to enter the palace and become a consort to the old emperor. So she conceals her identity, calling herself Zhizhi, and prays to the merciful monk exiled here, asking him to help her bear a child for her late husband.

But the monk is a little strange. He's even more eager than she is to...

After being thoroughly worn out, Zhizhi's hair is disheveled, her cheeks flushed and lovely as she pants, "Master, are you really a monk?"

His eyes are cold and show no sign of desire, yet he refuses to let her go so easily.

As the former most powerful minister, Pei Zhen knows all too well that his imperial brother sent her. He decides to play along. But the spy is delicate, and that title of "Master" grates on him so much that even his refined brows grow irritable.

At last, his imperial brother dies, a general amnesty is declared, and the young emperor summons Pei Zhen back to court.

But strangely, the spy has vanished without a trace.

Only after returning to the capital does Pei Zhen learn that his imperial brother had been bedridden for a long time and had no interest in state affairs. He hadn't sent a spy to Pei Zhen at all.

If that woman wasn't a spy, then what was the point of all that debauchery?

Then the young emperor ascends the throne, and the regional princes arrive to pay their respects. The newlywed county princess of Lingnan softly says, "I, Huo Zhi, county princess of Lingnan, pay my respects to the regent."

The slight swell of her belly stabs Pei Zhen in the eyes...

A blunt county princess of Lingnan x a regent disguised as an exiled monk

★ [Don't Miss This Finished Historical Romance, My Cousin Is So Delicate!] ★

Xu Sheng learns she isn't really a daughter of the Xu family.

She watches the Xu family pretend to send her to the Duke's mansion, planning to bring their real daughter back and abandon Xu Sheng once her true identity is revealed. She comes up with a plan: why not make her marriage to her cousin official and use him as a protector? They can be together for two or three months, then part ways.

Xu Sheng tearfully pleads with Chi Jingzhou, her voice soft and sweet. "Cousin, let me kiss you, and don't dodge, all right?"

Chi Jingzhou returns from riding and strolling through the gardens, frowning. "Xu Sheng, which piece of jewelry have you set your sights on this time? Why not just say so?"

Everyone in the capital knows that the Xu family's fake heiress has a cousin who spends a fortune on her. Xu Sheng outshines the real heiress. Even though her identity is fabricated, she remains as untouchable as the moon in the sky.

But Chi Jingzhou has been entangled with the daughter of a deputy minister for three years, and Xu Sheng is always the one who has to make excuses for their rendezvous. He's clearly not a good match.

Seeing Xu Sheng, whom he has cherished since childhood, blush as she tugs at his sleeve, Chi Jingzhou hears her ask, "Brother Jingzhou, what do you think of that top scholar? I want to marry him."

At first, he doesn't take her seriously. That is, until Xu Sheng really does marry into the top scholar's household. A broken mirror cannot be made whole again.

Then the political winds suddenly shift. The childless emperor decides to pass the throne to the young duke.

At the spring banquet, Xu Sheng is pulled along by the wrist and stumbles all the way into the inner hall. Lanterns shaped like rabbits flicker overhead. She stares at the vermilion cross-collar robe and speaks quietly.

"Your Majesty, the Kunning Palace is where the future empress will live. This is improper."

The new emperor conceals the dark, bloody look in his eyes and patiently coaxes the scheming young woman he has known since childhood. "Shengsheng, won't you stay with me?"

A ruthless, shark-like villainess x an emperor who reforms and pursues his wife without success

[Completed historical romance, The Noble Wife at the Gate]

A fishmonger's daughter lucks into becoming the young mistress of a local powerbroker's household, and from then on she no longer has to rise before dawn and toil until dark. But her husband is a sickly man, wheezing whenever he speaks, with thin arms and legs. She wonders whether he'll even be able to father a child and secure her place as the young mistress.

That night, Chu Linglong marries with a heart full of worry. Little does she know that she has underestimated this sickly man.

Married life turns out to be fairly happy.

As it happens, the husband's grandmother wanted to ensure the family line continued, so she secretly switched the groom, having a page from the household take his place.

A month after consummating the marriage, Chu Linglong gets her wish and becomes pregnant. Fate plays a cruel joke: her sickly husband dies, leaving her a wealthy widow!

On the day she gives birth, the young master of Grand Academician Jiang's family comes to visit. He stands outside the delivery room all night.

Later, when the child grabs for a festive object on New Year's Eve, Young Master Jiang brings a congratulatory gift and chooses a name for the baby.

Later still, when the child falls ill, Young Master Jiang sends an imperial physician and shows the utmost concern.

That would be one thing, but when Chu Linglong can't sleep at night, Young Master Jiang plays the qin for her in the middle of the night. At last, she can't take it anymore.

The next day, Chu Linglong finds her grandmother and pours out her grievances. "Young Master Jiang is the son of a grand academician. Why doesn't he understand that he should keep his distance?"

Her grandmother says nothing. That night, she gives Chu Linglong a bowl of medicinal broth. When Chu Linglong wakes up, she has somehow become Young Master Jiang's wife!

He takes her by force and traps her in a gilded cage. She won't stand for it. "One day, I'll kill you!"

"If you want me dead, could you really bear to do it?"

That's right. The cool look in Young Master Jiang's eyes, his taciturn nature, and his refusal to let her go are just like those of her short-lived husband...

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