Stealing Spring's Splendor

[Upcoming novel: After Being Reborn, the Crown Prince Pursues His Wife to the End of the World. Blurb below.]

Su Wanzheng was abandoned in a remote village by her birth father and stepmother. By chance, she rescued a badly injured man.

He was as serene as a gentle breeze and had a mild disposition. During the months they spent together, he drove away bullies, cooked for her, and chopped firewood. He looked after her with the utmost tenderness and care.

Su Wanzheng grew attached to him. After marrying him, all she asked was to spend her life with him, with neither of them ever taking another partner.

But things did not go as she wished. One day, soldiers suddenly barged in and fell to their knees before her husband, calling out, "Young Marquis!"

Only then did she learn that her husband was none other than the renowned Young Marquis Xie Jinhua, a decisive warrior who had fought on countless battlefields.

Later, she followed him to the capital, where he settled her in a manor in the countryside. She became the very sort of kept woman she had always despised. Their dream of growing old together shattered, and she plotted her escape day and night.

*

Young Marquis Xie Jinhua was a man of noble bearing, aloof and unsullied, and everyone assumed he would never marry an ordinary woman.

No one knew that he had become utterly obsessed with a village girl.

After they became husband and wife in all but name, he wanted to give her a proper status.

But as a woman from the countryside, she couldn't enter the main hall, and she refused to enter the marquis's residence as a concubine. He had no choice but to keep her elsewhere.

Knowing how much her status mattered to her, he planned to marry her once the time was right.

But when he had finished dealing with his affairs, the manor had been burned to the ground.

Everyone said she was dead. He was the only one who refused to believe it.

He picked up the jade pendant he had left with her, a ruthless obsession in his eyes.

"A-Zheng, you think you can run away from me?"

*

Xie Jinhua searched for months. When he finally found her, it was at his nephew's wedding, as the new bride served him tea.

The young woman stared at him in shock, her faint voice trembling. "Uncle, please have some tea."

He suppressed his anger and accepted the tea.

In a corner where no one could see, his hot hand clasped her slender fingers. His gaze dark, he murmured a few words.

Su Wanzheng read his lips, and her eyes trembled in an instant.

He said, "A-Zheng, I've caught you."

[Content Warnings]

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are virgins. The male lead is awful at first, but there is more to his marriage plans. Later, he turns into an obsessive, love-struck madman and pursues his wife relentlessly. Neither lead is perfect, so please read with that in mind.

2. While the heroine's marriage to the heir is still in effect, the two leads will not become romantically involved.

Blurb for upcoming novel After Being Reborn, the Crown Prince Pursues His Wife to the End of the World

[Both leads are reborn; he pursues his wife to the end of the world.]

Xie Yuanxi was the eldest legitimate daughter of a duke's household. She married Crown Prince Xiao Yingshen, and for eight years they lived in harmony, with no one else between them.

She devoted herself to helping him become emperor. When he ascended the throne, she became empress, a model for women throughout the realm.

Her one regret was that she could not bear children. During the rebellion of the Fifth Prince, she took a sword meant for Xiao Yingshen, injuring her womb and leaving her unable to conceive.

Knowing an emperor could not remain without an heir, she forced herself to endure the pain and planned to select concubines for him.

But who could have guessed that Xiao Yingshen had hidden a pregnant woman in Chenghuan Palace? It was none other than her divorced younger sister, Xie Xiangyi, born of the same parents.

Her mother advised her, "Yuanxi, you can't have children. A child your sister bears is just like one you would have had."

Heartbroken, she suffered a relapse of her old illness.

When she awoke, she heard the shocking news that Xiao Yingshen had already made her sister a consort.

Thinking back, Xiao Yingshen had wanted to marry her younger sister all along. Only an accident had made her the Crown Princess instead.

The world was unpredictable, yet this was also to be expected. Her sister had always longed for Xiao Yingshen since her divorce.

The consort's investiture ceremony was grand, a mark of honor he bestowed upon her sister. Meanwhile, Xie Yuanxi was already on the verge of death.

When she awoke again, she had returned to eight years earlier, before her marriage. She was once more the willful eldest daughter of the duke's household.

This time, she would never repeat her mistakes.

[Little Scene]

During a hunting competition, an arrow flew toward Xiao Yingshen at her side.

Back then, Xie Yuanxi had been shoved into the arrow's path, and that was how she and Xiao Yingshen ended up married.

This time, she dodged the hand reaching for her from behind in advance, then subtly let the person fall toward Xiao Yingshen to take the arrow for him.

But Xiao Yingshen reacted with astonishing speed. He turned and took the arrow for the woman in his arms.

Ignoring his serious injury, he looked anxiously at her. "Are you all right...?"

When he saw Xie Xiangyi's deathly pale face, his expression changed. He instinctively looked up at Xie Yuanxi, who was watching them with keen interest.

Xie Yuanxi smiled brightly. "Your Highness and my sister truly are a match made in heaven."

She turned and left without hesitation, missing the pain and distress in Xiao Yingshen's eyes.

Theme: No matter what happens, we should always love ourselves.