Morning Delights

Historical romance novel coming soon: Seven Strings of Qing

The blurb is at the very bottom.

To pay for her younger sister's treatment, the desperate Wei Qiongzhi was pushed into becoming a concubine to Pei Yanzhou, heir to the Marquis of Rongxiang.

Pei Yanzhou was exceptionally handsome and renowned for his brilliance on the battlefield by the age of fifteen. Then an accident injured both his legs and left him unable to walk properly. Even his fiancée, who had been about to marry him, used excuses to delay the wedding.

The marquis's wife wanted to arrange a concubine for her son first.

Wei Qiongzhi was pretty, docile, and easy to control as an orphan, so the marquis's wife sent her to her son's room that very night.

Night after night, even after their passion had faded, Pei Yanzhou would coldly send her away and never let her stay the night.

Wei Qiongzhi understood. Pei Yanzhou had always looked down on her and had not the slightest affection for her.

He and his fiancée had known each other since childhood and were already engaged. They were a match made in heaven, only temporarily kept apart by the other family's objections.

That young lady was gentle and well-read, someone foolish and uncultured Wei Qiongzhi could never compare to.

With no family or social standing and a husband who neither cherished nor protected her, Wei Qiongzhi struggled to survive in the marquis's residence. She could only tread carefully at every turn, searching for somewhere she could make a life for herself.

Seeing how obedient and clumsy she was, Pei Yanzhou thought that if she could keep it up, there would be no harm in letting her remain in the marquis's residence after the heir's wife arrived.

Not long afterward, Wei Qiongzhi became pregnant. Rumors that Pei Yanzhou could no longer have children instantly vanished, and peace returned to the Marquis of Rongxiang's household.

His engagement was brought up again as well.

But, to everyone's utter surprise, the usually obedient and compliant Wei Qiongzhi disappeared just before the wedding.

When Pei Yanzhou heard the news, he hurried out to find her. By the mountainside, he discovered a wrecked carriage and half of a bloodstained skirt. Below the cliff, the water rushed violently. No one could survive.

That night, Pei Yanzhou was given thirty strokes of the family punishment for calling off the engagement.

He emerged covered in blood and continued searching for Wei Qiongzhi despite his injuries.

But no matter how tirelessly he searched, even after nearly losing his life, he never found her again.

* HZC runs away while pregnant, both are virgins

She Is the Aloof Beauty's First Wife

Xu Tang was the envy of every woman in the capital. Ever since she married Zhou Yucheng, her husband had risen steadily through the ranks.

Xu Tang enjoyed the wealth and glory Zhou Yucheng brought her while managing the entire Zhou household. Although Zhou Yucheng was always somewhat cold toward her, they could at least live together in harmony until old age. She never expected that a mere bout of cold would somehow cost Xu Tang her life.

Perhaps because she couldn't accept dying like that, Xu Tang's spirit lingered at the Zhou residence.

She saw that Zhou Yucheng never remarried in the years after her death. He didn't even take a concubine or a bedchamber maid. He simply spent years patiently raising and teaching their children alone.

Just when Xu Tang was feeling deeply comforted, she witnessed something she had never imagined in her life:

Zhou Yucheng had fallen in love in his old age.

He welcomed a lovely young wife into the household. After a drawn-out dance of retreat and advance, with both sides entangled in love and heartbreak, the usually aloof Zhou Yucheng finally couldn't resist her.

Xu Tang watched helplessly as her children were sent far away. The young wife dredged up a baseless incident from over a decade ago to prove Xu Tang's supposed wrongdoing, successfully having Xu Tang's memorial tablet removed from the Zhou family shrine and her grave moved elsewhere.

Even as a spirit, Xu Tang was so furious she spat blood. She thought a ghost spitting blood would disappear, but instead she was sent straight back to her childhood.

At the time, she was the Xu family's pampered little daughter, adorable and sweet, while Zhou Yucheng was a poor, lonely boy living with her family, enduring bullying and mockery.

In the past, only Xu Tang had bothered to talk to him. But now, she wouldn't even give him a kind look.

Whoever wanted to pluck that aloof flower could have it. She wouldn't bother trying again.

Zhou Yucheng's meals became leftovers, and his books were covered with ink stains when he studied, but he silently endured it all.

Then he discovered that the pastries once left on his desk were now being given to someone else, and Xu Tang, who used to chatter around him all the time, no longer even glanced at him.

For the first time, Zhou Yucheng panicked.

After tossing and turning all night, he quietly stopped Xu Tang as she was heading out to play with someone else and asked in a trembling voice, "Third Younger Sister... why don't you talk to me anymore?"

* The blurb does not represent the entire plot or characterizations

Theme: Only with a clear heart can your wishes come true.