The Noble Heir's Quest to Win His Beloved

Yangyang was stunningly beautiful and had countless suitors. As the third young lady of the Second Manor, the second-richest family in the capital, she had always done as she pleased and spent money like water. The only thing that troubled her was the capital's most esteemed young gentleman, He Jingheng, heir to the Duke of Yu.

He Jingheng was noble and otherworldly, so aloof he seemed almost inhuman. He was the unattainable dream that countless noble young ladies could only indulge in while shut away in their chambers.

As the saying goes, a bold woman can wear down a man. The reverse is true, too.

So Yangyang endured the aristocrats' scorn and paid a fortune to enter the academy. She ignored their ridicule and stayed by He Jingheng's side. After all these years, she thought, he hadn't driven her away, so he must like her at least a little!

Until he left the capital on official business and returned with his cousin, a young princess.

She saw how gently and tenderly he spoke to the princess. She saw his eyes redden with concern for her. She saw him lead the princess out at his birthday banquet, where the streets had been cleared of crowds...

And she heard him speak in a voice as cold as ice to his friend: "Just wait until she gives up."

Yangyang froze... So that's what he was waiting for. For her to give up...

**

Yangyang accepted a suitor's invitation to go boating. When she stepped ashore, the young gentleman brushed her arm, and they said goodbye at the landing.

"Move aside." A cold voice came from behind her. Yangyang turned in surprise and met the heir's dark gaze.

Behind him stood the innocent-looking young princess and two or three friends with teasing smiles.

The young gentleman nervously pulled Yangyang out of the way. A moment later, the heir's icy voice sounded: "Should I congratulate Third Miss?"

Yangyang looked back, glanced at the nervous young princess beside him, and smiled. "I'll take your kind wishes, Your Highness."

The heir's eyes turned icy. He turned and boarded the boat.

Later, he watched helplessly as Yangyang went about with the new top scholar, laughing and chatting happily, ignoring him again and again. At last, he completely lost his composure. He sneaked into the Second Manor in the middle of the night, appearing before Yangyang covered in wounds.

For the first time, he showed weakness. "Yangyang, can you really bear to do this to me?"

One couple, both virgins, no changing the male lead.

The heir's pursuit of his wife is agonizing, with one rival after another.

The young princess won't appear until more than ten chapters in.

My new novel, The Third Year After the Divorce, has started. Please add it to your reading list!

The year Yue Rongrong married Shen Jichen, she was sixteen. She thought they would love each other and grow old together, staying by each other's side for life.

She never knew he had no intention of taking her back to the capital. She never knew his identity was so exalted that she could never reach him, even if she climbed a ladder to the clouds. And she never imagined that their marriage certificate was fake.

She tore up the certificate, then crumbled under his cold gaze.

Yue Rongrong saw Shen Jichen again in the third year after their divorce. He had risen to the highest ranks of the court, while she was merely an embroiderer at a shop in the capital.

That day, he came with his new love, while she was in a wretched state.

The embroidery shop's owner hurried over and bowed, asking what he wanted.

He took the hand of the beautiful woman beside him, his voice cool and distant. "Have a wedding dress made." His chilly gaze swept over Yue Rongrong. "Let her make it."

Yue Rongrong looked at the young lady who was his social equal and silently gritted her teeth. So they're finally getting married! Then she raised her head and smiled sweetly. "My work doesn't come cheap."

The shop owner turned pale with fright, while Shen Jichen's face went livid.

At a banquet, a friend probed him. "You haven't forgotten your sweet, delicate ex-wife, have you?"

Shen Jichen sneered. "As if she could ever be worth remembering."

A frivolous young gentleman nearby laughed. "There's an embroiderer named Yue Rongrong at Splendid Embroidery House. She's quite the beauty. Want me to call her over for some fun?"

A rush of icy wine suddenly drenched him from head to toe. The whole room gasped and froze.

The noble young gentleman leapt to his feet in fury, only to meet Shen Jichen's freezing, piercing gaze.

Shen Jichen never imagined he would see her again. He held his fiancée's hand and made a show of doting on her, yet Yue Rongrong managed to infuriate him nearly to death every time they met.

At a banquet that night, he watched the young master of the Xue family confess his love to her in front of everyone and ask her to marry him. Shen Jichen was like an ice sculpture, watching with cold indifference. But the wine cup in his sleeve shattered, cutting his hand. He didn't even notice.

In an empty courtyard, the injured hand gripped her chin hard. Ignoring her struggles, he kissed her fiercely, the taste of blood between them, until the world spun around her.

His breathing was ragged as he bit her lip, his voice pained and hoarse. "Come back, Rongrong."

Theme: Love knows no boundaries of rank or status