Historical Girls' Love, ABO. New story, please add it to your reading list.
Yuan Jihui could read at three, recite prose at five, and compose poetry at seven. She was a renowned prodigy in Yunzhong County, but even a talented woman had her flaws. Yuan Jihui's birth mother, who had vanished without a trace, came from a brothel. She was the daughter Yuan Waiyuan brought home after a night of passion.
After Yuan Waiyuan died, her stepmother, Zhang, wanted to marry Yuan Jihui off and divide up the family property. But the matches she found were either Diao Chan, a butcher from a narrow alley, or Nan Shi, a tofu seller by the bridge. Whenever a family of officials came to propose, Zhang rejected them all.
Despite her stepmother's endless provocations, Yuan Jihui first earned the top score in the county exam, then secretly pledged herself to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Langya on Pan Gong Bridge, thoroughly humiliating her stepmother and half-siblings, who had been waiting to see her fail.
But just as they were preparing for the wedding, terrible news arrived from the capital: the Duke of Langya had failed in his bid to install the crown prince.
Overnight, the woman she loved fell into disgrace and was even at risk of becoming a prisoner.
Yuan Jihui: How many more surprises are you hiding from me? .jpg
To avoid being implicated along with their entire clan, the Yuan family members stepped in one after another to persuade Yuan Jihui to call off the wedding. If she gave up one noblewoman, Lu Xianrong, there would still be thousands upon thousands of butchers like Diao Chan waiting for her.
Lu Xianrong: If you don't want to marry me, get lost already.
Yuan Jihui, unable to bear it: After the Duke of Langya is executed, you'll have only me!
Lu Xianrong, correcting her: No, I still have my princess mother.
A lighthearted style. Follow Yuan Jihui as she progresses through the imperial exams. The early story focuses on farming, and the later story on court politics.
No sidekicks
Theme: Don't discriminate against anyone
