Flames Scorch You

I want to write some melodramatic stuff. I'm a simple country bumpkin, and I love writing it.

Half a year into their flight, Xiao Ran happened to discover that the gentle, frail farm girl by his side, who depended on him for survival and always silently put up with his bad temper, was actually the most trusted lady-in-waiting in the empress's palace: Aunt She Ting.

His elder brother had died on a distant battlefield. It would have been one thing if she hadn't been busy mourning her childhood sweetheart, but she had even come close to him...

She was obviously using him as a substitute.

Young and hot-tempered, Xiao Ran couldn't bear the indignity. He gripped her waist and made her suffer through the whole night as punishment.

He growled fiercely in her ear, "Look carefully at who I am!"

She Ting remained silent throughout.

Only when Xiao Ran tried to kiss her lips did she raise her hand and slap him.

The next day, she vanished from the little mountain village like morning dew, leaving Xiao Ran to search for her everywhere like a madman.

Many years later, the three armies returned in triumph. Xiao Ran, now their commander-in-chief, brought back with the army his long-missing elder brother, Xiao Xuan.

When the emperor handed out rewards, Xiao Ran declined the gold, silver, jewels, and jade, then knelt before him. "Your son asks for nothing else. I only ask Father Emperor to grant me a marriage."

"Which young lady have you set your sights on?"

With his elder brother present, Xiao Ran smiled maliciously. "Your son wants Aunt She Ting."

On their wedding night, Xiao Ran confiscated the highly poisonous powder She Ting had hidden away and tied her hands with the sash of her wedding dress. Through the wall, her former lover roared like a trapped beast: "Let her go! Let her go!"

As her wedding dress slipped loose, She Ting asked softly, "Why do you always refuse to let me go?"

"I can't accept it, Auntie. I can't accept it at all." He gently pinched her chin, forcing her eyes to reflect only him. "If I didn't take you by force, how would you ever see me?"

A sudden idea. I'll write it when I have time.

There's a lot of information in the blurb, so here's a summary: younger man and older woman + substitute + rivals competing for her + coercion. It's pretty melodramatic. The male lead is good at barking but not at biting; the female lead is good at biting but not at making a sound; the second male lead is good at neither biting nor making a sound.

Theme: You can't settle for a relationship, and you certainly can't force one