Pluck a Green Branch

*The main story is complete! Please add Springtime Peach, Little Pear’s Delight, and The Highborn Concubine to your reading list!

*Usually three chapters a day, aiming for six, and as many as ten thousand words on weekends if possible.

Salute!

Coercive, possessive male lead x heroine who acts like a frail rabbit but is a tiger in disguise

Steadfast powerful official coerces his nephew’s fiancée into marrying him / Frail, alluring heroine turns the tables to her advantage

1.

The Shen family’s youngest daughter, Shen Qingzhi, was breathtakingly beautiful, with the looks of a celestial maiden. Since childhood, she had been engaged to a young marquis.

The young marquis was a promising talent who had won battle after battle on the frontier. Before setting off on yet another campaign, he clasped his fiancée’s hand, his eyes shining with tears, and vowed, “Zhizhi, wait for me to come back and marry you!”

The frontier was full of beautiful women, each with her own charms. The young marquis failed to resist one of them when she plied him with wine, and from then on, things spiraled out of control.

When the Shen family’s daughter found out, her eyes reddened. She went to her father to ask to break off the engagement, looking so pitiful that the Shen family patriarch flew into a rage. “You’re a concubine-born daughter. This match is a blessing you earned over three lifetimes, and you want to break it off? Dream on!”

2.

Shen Qingzhi lowered her head and wiped away her tears. When she looked up, she noticed a man sitting beside her father, as otherworldly as an immortal. He sipped his tea in silence.

Only then did she realize he was her fiancé’s maternal uncle. Her knees went weak. She had been so careless, no wonder her father was this angry. Biting her lip, she looked at the man through tear-blurred eyes and softly called,

“Uncle...”

To her surprise, he smiled and lightly pressed his thin lips together. “My nephew has actually done such a thing. How about you marry me instead, Zhizhi? Wouldn’t that make him furious?”

Shen Qingzhi blinked and swallowed, then gave a small nod. “All right.”

3.

Later, when her fiancé returned victorious, he went to pay his respects to his uncle, the Grand Secretary, only to find his own maternal uncle and his fiancée whispering intimately together.

His fiancée, beautiful as a celestial maiden, had tears shimmering in her eyes as she hid beside his uncle like a little rabbit seeking shelter.

He immediately flew into a rage and reached for her, but his uncle drew the young woman into his arms and kept her out of reach.

“Pei An, do you want to lose that hand?”

The man’s gaze was sinister, his whole presence cold. Pei An hastily pulled his hand back. “Uncle, why humiliate An’er’s fiancée like this?”

“Pei An, call her Aunt. Understand?”

4.

Jiang Yuxiu had taken a liking to his nephew’s young fiancée. Instead of stealing her away, he sent his nephew several beauties. Sure enough, the young man soon lost himself in them and crossed the line.

The fourth young lady of the Shen household, as lovely as a flower, wept in front of him. He slowly turned the white jade ring on his finger and lifted his eyelids. “He betrayed you. Why not become his aunt by marriage?”

The young lady was shy and lowered her head without speaking, but she still agreed.

Heavens knew how delighted he was.

He would not force her. He would win her heart instead.

Content warnings:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads sexually inexperienced. The male lead has no bedchamber attendants or concubines.

2. Full of melodrama! There is a lot of it, so don’t read if it’s not your thing.

3. The male lead forces his way into the relationship! He becomes the third party in someone else’s romance for love!

4. The heroine seems delicate and gentle, but she is strong inside.

5. The male lead sacrifices his nephew for the heroine’s reputation. He’s a bad guy.

6. The heroine is doted on exclusively, while the scheming female antagonist is driven mad. The heroine has a circle of female friends, so there is no rivalry between women!

[Blurb written on 2023.02.21]

-

Springtime Peach: Blurb

Li Taozhi, the most beautiful woman in the capital, was ethereal and delicate, soft as jade and gentle as a flower.

She was the daughter of a former dynasty’s powerful official and the empress dowager’s adopted daughter, with a lowly status and a gentle disposition.

On the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, the empress dowager promised her to a foreign prince from Turpan. With nowhere else to turn, she went to beg her imperial elder brother, the Son of Heaven.

But the man only looked at her coldly from above. “Since when do adopted daughters of such low status come begging me? What do you take me for, some great philanthropist?”

Later, on her way to marry that foreign prince from Turpan, she ran away.

The empress dowager’s men caught her and locked her in a dungeon.

She lay on the ground, barely breathing. Looking at his black robe embroidered with dragons, her eyes filled with tears, and she pleaded like a little deer being bullied, “Imperial Brother, save me!”

Song Yuanting crouched before her, his long fingers lifting her chin. His gaze was cold. “Imperial Sister, if I save you, what will you give me in return?”

From then on, Li Taozhi became the canary Song Yuanting kept in the palace.

Later, many beauties entered the palace, yet the position of empress remained empty. Still, he spent every night in her chambers, and even had her help him change his robes each morning. They were like a married couple, yet in truth they had no title or status together.

When Li Taozhi heard that the princess of Xizhou was about to join the imperial harem, she ran away.

In the rainy mists of Jiangnan, she was falsely accused and sent to the authorities. They beat her until she coughed blood and threw her out into the rain. Through her haze, she saw him arrive with an umbrella, elegant and refined, like a noble orchid and a jade tree.

He dropped the oil-paper umbrella. Rain soaked his handsome, peerless face as his long fingers gripped her slender jaw. His gaze was cold. “Zhizhi, did you really think you could escape my cage?”

-

Not long after Song Yuanting ascended the throne, he began dreaming that Li Taozhi was crying and begging him to save her. Sometimes he also had outrageous dreams.

His boundless ambition was on full display when it came to her.

He had never been a good man, yet he was willing to bend his proud spirit for her.

In court, he was the ruler. In the harem, the Son of Heaven was her servant alone.

Content warnings:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other’s first.

2. The male lead is seriously awful! Don’t read if that’s not your thing.

3. Coercive pursuit, physical and emotional abuse.

4. He chases her after she leaves. He is cruel to her at first.

-

The Highborn Concubine: Blurb

Cheng Jiao had a lowly status and was an abandoned child raised by an old woman who scavenged for a living.

But Cheng Jiao was naturally optimistic, sweet and charming, with a smile that dimpled her cheeks and made people feel protective of her.

When Cheng Jiao was fifteen, she was nearly beaten to death by villains. At the most perilous moment, a young gentleman rescued her. It was snowing that day, and he carried her for a long, long way along Chang’an Street. Someone’s blood flowed onto the ground, mingling with the snow before slowly freezing.

She was a beggar who followed the old woman from place to place. She had never read many books, but she knew this young gentleman was as refined as an orchid and as handsome as jade.

That day, she hated that she had never studied, for she had no words to describe how happy she felt.

*

When they met again, her old woman had been murdered by villains. The killers were powerful and influential, and with nowhere else to turn, she went to the Crown Prince and offered herself to him.

In the deep palace, she was led into the luxurious Eastern Palace. The man sat high on his dais, untouched by wind or snow, every inch noble and refined. He tapped his long fingers against the sandalwood table and lifted his eyelids.

“Cheng Jiao, an orphan with a hard fate. Tell me, should I grant your request?”

His gaze was cold, without a trace of the warmth he had shown her that afternoon.

Cheng Jiao looked up at the man on the dais and realized that he was the young gentleman who had rescued her.

But he was cold and proud, like snow on a lofty mountain.

*

Cheng Jiao thought Yin Zhuo would remember their past and help clear her name, but she was wrong. He was ruthless, cruel, and devoid of loyalty.

She became a swallow in his cage, an object in his hand. Other than what he said in bed, he had nothing kind to say to her.

Cheng Jiao grew angry, packed her things, and tried to leave the Eastern Palace. But he seized her chin with sinister force and scolded her sharply. “A-Jiao, don’t you love me anymore? You want to leave the Eastern Palace? Did I give you permission? Have I spoiled you too much?”

“A-Jiao, wouldn’t it be good to become my side consort?”

Cheng Jiao turned her head away and replied softly, “Your Highness, you’re far too full of yourself. A-Jiao doesn’t love you! And A-Jiao knows her status is lowly. I’d rather be the wife of a poor man than a concubine in a noble household. That’s my line in the sand!”

“A-Jiao can tell the difference between a transaction and reality. Between us, there’s only a deal!”

*

Later, A-Jiao ran away, planning to marry a poor scholar from a remote backwater. On the day Yin Zhuo was to ascend the throne, he abandoned the coronation ceremony and rushed a thousand miles to her. In front of the poor scholar, he pulled the young woman into his arms. “A-Jiao, I’ll make you empress. Will you accept?”

Theme: Love can overcome anything.