Bending Zen (By Force)

[Main Story Complete, Extra Chapters Updated Alongside Rankings]

❤️ Please add my next novel, "Paying for a Wife," to your reading list! The blurb is below ⬇️

★ Possessive Pursuit | Powerful Man Bows His Head | Both Leads Inexperienced, Happy Ending

★ Honest, Resilient Young Nun 🌿 x Brooding, Mad Crown Prince 🐶

Born heir to the throne, Li Ji never imagined that one day, with nowhere left to turn, he would have to reach out for help from the very young nun he despised most.

This little nun had lived in the mountains for years, innocent and guileless.

A few pleas from him were enough to make her take pity on him and bring him back to her hideout.

A little flirtation, and he could persuade her to see him as a kindred spirit and nurse him back to health.

Even when he casually mentioned that he could not sleep at night, Lai Niang went to great lengths to obtain the best incense in the temple for him. Even though it was of poor quality, he pretended to praise her for being "so thoughtful."

When the woman blushed as he had expected, Li Ji only sneered inwardly.

Lai Niang had no idea this was merely one insignificant trick among the many Li Ji had honed over the years.

He played his part flawlessly, all so he could recover as quickly as possible while hiding from his pursuers, then leave without looking back.

But this foolish woman had fallen for him. She begged him to take her with him, so they could be together forever.

Li Ji still answered her gently, but when the appointed day came, he left her alone to wait in the bitter cold of night.

He thought he would soon forget this place, and the insignificant young nun who lived here.

But after he truly returned to the palace, surrounded by splendor and the scent of dragon's-breath incense, he tossed and turned night after night. Awake or dreaming, all he could think of was the coarse incense he had once loathed.

-

Since childhood, Xin Lai Niang had known that "lai" meant wild grass, just as her life was worth no more than a blade of grass.

Yet even on that cold night, when the man she loved abandoned her, her family and friends turned against her, and she was hunted, captured, and tortured for no reason, none of it could extinguish her will to live. Life held too much suffering. She would leave the past behind and look ahead.

To escape prison, Lai Niang had no choice but to beg a revered Chan master to take her as his disciple. In return, she would have to stay by his side for the rest of her life, cut herself off from worldly ties, and never return to secular life.

Without hesitation, she composed herself and bowed in gratitude.

But on the day she received the vows, as she swore before the patriarch, a nobleman in resplendent imperial-yellow robes seized her from behind and pulled her into his arms.

His icy fingertips tilted up her face. She looked up in shock.

Months had passed since they last met, but he still wore the same smile. In his hand, however, was a blood-soaked head: the head of the Chan master who had just administered her vows on the platform.

"We agreed to be together forever. How could you cut yourself off from the world without asking me?"

-

For the many years that followed, Li Ji used every means at his disposal to keep Lai Niang by his side. Even when he humbled himself to the dust, he refused to admit that his fate was like that of an abandoned dog, cast aside by her again and again. It had been sealed on that cold night.

[⚠️ Reader's Guide]:

1. Old-school melodrama, powerful man and weaker woman, featuring possessive pursuit, she runs and he chases, a man picked up and taken in, star-crossed lovers, and a groveling pursuit. If these aren't for you, don't click.

2. The male lead is a brooding mad dog early on, and an aggressive simp later. Either way, he's a piece of trash. If that's not for you, don't click.

3. The palace intrigue is simplistic. The setting and religion are fictional, and the concepts of Chan nuns, Chan masters, and Chan teachings are all my inventions. The worldbuilding is entirely made up, so there's no need to fact-check it.

4. The master killed in the blurb is not an innocent, wrongly killed victim.

Next up, another melodrama, "Paying for a Wife"

★ Possessive Pursuit | Female Lead Is Not a Virgin, Male Lead Is

★ Honest, Gentle Wife 🌷 x Manipulative, Dark Ghost of a Man 👻

[Synopsis 📝]

Lan Wanzhen was born gentle and kindhearted. All she ever wanted was a peaceful, happy life.

But an accident led her to push her husband's superior's newlywed wife into a river, taking a life.

The superior took out his anger on her husband, and peace vanished from their home.

She cried all night, but the next day she steeled herself and went to apologize to her husband's superior, Qin Yuan.

Shrouded in the sorrow of a newly bereaved man, he seized her by the throat before she could finish speaking. "Can an apology bring my beloved back?"

Lan Wanzhen steeled herself. "What your wife could do, I can do too."

From that day on, she devoted herself to studying the things Qin's late wife had excelled at. She mastered tea, pastries, soups, needlework, and flower arranging, then made them all for him herself.

To her surprise, Qin Yuan truly spared her husband. His mood improved day by day, and even his gaze toward her gradually softened.

Then, after getting drunk, he pulled her into his arms while she wore his late wife's old clothes and kissed her passionately.

After the kiss, Lan Wanzhen fled in panic.

That very night, she begged her husband to invite Qin Yuan to a banquet, hoping to make peace as soon as possible and put an end to this absurd situation.

But at the banquet, the gentleman of impeccable reputation behaved completely out of character.

His gaze was wanton, almost taunting. "There's no need to ask forgiveness. If Madam Lan truly feels guilty, then repay me by becoming my wife."

-

At some point, a new, never-seen wife appeared in the Qin household.

Everyone was curious to know what manner of beauty she was, and what tricks she used to make an austere gentleman call for water night after night and cling to her endlessly.

But Lan Wanzhen knew that Qin Yuan had always been a madman.

Between them lay the grievance of his wife's death, yet

A gasp escaped before any hatred;

Desire came before forgiveness.

After completing her three-month agreement with Qin Yuan, Lan Wanzhen ran away.

She could no longer endure the nightly humiliation and torment, and she did not want to be treated as a mere stand-in for the dead, without any dignity.

But unfortunately, she was caught and brought back on the very night she fled.

On that rainy night, Qin Yuan was like a sinister river ghost, determined to drag her down into the abyss.

He locked her in a sealed chamber that had been closed for many years. Inside hung portraits of Lan Wanzhen at every age, from her childhood onward.

As she trembled, Qin Yuan leaned close and spoke softly into her ear, calling her rarely used childhood name: "He Nu, do you know now how many years I've spent planning for this day?"

Theme: Stand on your own feet and stay true to yourself.