Beauty Is Not for Sale

#Pregnant First, Love Later# #Leaves After Giving Birth#

The old Duke is gravely ill, and everyone in the Duke's household has their own agenda. No one knows who will inherit the title.

The old Duke once declared that the Xie family's title could not pass to a son born to a concubine. Only a legitimate son who had fathered a boy could inherit it.

The old man is so desperate for a grandson that he's lost his mind. None of his three legitimate sons has a son.

The eldest is a doting father to his daughter, the second married only recently, and the third, Xie Wenzheng, has never married at all.

Everyone assumes the next head of the family will be either the eldest or the second son. Then a maid approaches Xie Wenzheng, offering him a deal in exchange for her lovely looks.

Xie Wenzheng is surprised by her scheming ways. He sees that she thinks herself clever and beautiful, and hopes to rise in status by bearing him a child.

A year later, the maid gives Xie Wenzheng a son, but in the end, she takes only the money and leaves after buying her freedom.

*

Mingxi leaves the capital and works hard for three years. Renowned for her skill with the qin, she becomes the most mysterious tutor among the daughters of the capital's noble families.

Recommended by an acquaintance, she enters the provincial governor's residence to teach his daughter.

That spring, important guests visit the governor's residence. Mingxi keeps her distance, but runs into a little boy who has lost his way.

"Little one, where's your mother?"

"Hmph, I don't have a mother. Father says she didn't want me, so she left me behind and ran away."

Mingxi is momentarily dazed by his words. When she looks up, she sees the father the child spoke of coming to find him.

*

In the fourth year of Xie Wenzheng's search for Mingxi, their child finds her.

She has barely changed. She's still just as calculating, just as audacious, just as selfish and heartless.

"Ruan Mingxi, so you're still alive. I thought you were dead."

"...It's been years, Third Master, and you still have such a way with words."

Reading guide:

* Both leads are each other's only romantic partner.

* The heroine didn't sell her son. You can think of it as her leaving him with his father when they separated.

June 25, 2025

[This link originally led to Flower Desires to Sail Together. I left that story untouched for a long time and lost my feel for it, so I've replaced it with this one. I've reposted the blurb for Flower Desires too. That story needs more work, and I'll start it if I think of a good plot point to add, but I'll definitely start Shuse first. Thank you for understanding!]

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