After I Laid Hands on the Cold, Aloof Young Master

[A coquettish, silly beauty vs. a cool, chaste gentleman]

Ji Wanyuan was the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister, the apple of his eye. With a face as beautiful as a flower, she had been doted on since childhood, leading a life of extravagant luxury and growing into a haughty, willful young lady.

She fell for Wen Qiyan, the capital's foremost gentleman, as aloof and cool as the moon, elegant as an orchid and a jade tree. She chased after him relentlessly for years, even lowering herself to curry his favor.

Sadly, he never took her seriously. He ignored her advances and treated her as if she didn't exist.

That didn't matter. Whatever she set her sights on had to be hers. If the straightforward approach didn't work, she'd try something crooked. If he wouldn't accept a gentle approach, she'd use force.

Ji Wanyuan had someone procure the strongest aphrodisiac. At last, she got her wish and spent a night with Wen Qiyan.

In that moment of wild abandon, just as Ji Wanyuan felt her soul leaving her body, she somehow learned that she was merely a vicious, stupid supporting character in a story.

Wen Qiyan's true reason for marrying her was to get close to her and use her. To help the emperor wipe out the remaining rebels, her powerful father, the prime minister, would be the first target. The Ji family would be destroyed less than two years after the wedding, and she would die from a difficult labor and hemorrhage.

By handling the case against the prime minister, Wen Qiyan would secure his position before the emperor and rise to become a powerful new favorite, attracting ever more attention.

The following year, he would bring his beloved white moonlight, her sworn enemy, into the household. The two would live happily ever after, while her son would be bullied and neglected until he died young!

The moment she came to her senses, Ji Wanyuan was drenched in sweat. Looking at the man's cool profile, her face went deathly pale and her whole body felt plunged into an icy pit.

“...”

-

Wen Qiyan detested Ji Wanyuan. She was frivolous and ignorant, stupid and foolish, with nothing to offer but her pretty face.

If not for the emperor's decree to gather evidence that the Ji family was abusing its power for personal gain and eradicate the prime minister's faction in one fell swoop, as well as to settle the “murder” caused by their fateful mishap, he never would have married this shameless woman.

He had thought this marriage of convenience, during his period of lying low, would be filled with bickering and misery.

He never expected her to abandon the haughty, overbearing ways that had made her so hateful and become considerate, even cautious and accommodating.

Perhaps... it was just another one of her little tricks to draw his attention away. He scoffed at her with contempt.

But when his mother suggested bringing his cousin into the household,

Wen Qiyan thought Ji Wanyuan would cry, make a scene, throw a tantrum, or even do everything in her power to stop him from taking a concubine, as she had in the past.

The one thing he hadn't expected was for her to smile and agree.

She actually... agreed with a smile?!

When Wen Qiyan heard about it, he was so stunned that he snapped the brush in his hand and darkly furrowed his brow.

[The love-struck girl comes to her senses, and the powerful man falls]

Reader's guide:

A cool, chaste, untouchable nobleman from a powerful family vs. a fair-skinned, voluptuous, silly beauty (a domineering love-struck supporting character who humiliated and abandoned him, now awakened)

Both leads are virgins, happy ending (the heroine's perspective in the blurb is mistaken)

Married first, fall in love later | Pregnancy before love | Untouchable beauty falls from his pedestal and goes mad with love | Face-slapping | The hero chases his wife to win her back

The heroine awakens at the start, but she isn't perfect and still makes foolish mistakes now and then. Before falling in love with her, the hero detests her, so he is a real jerk.

Not a power fantasy with an all-conquering heroine. She grows through stumbles and setbacks.

Theme: The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is now.