The Female Painter

[Secret identities + | top disguises herself as a man later on + | political intrigue and an ensemble cast + | four protagonists]

The bonus chapters aren't out yet. I've organized them into a 200,000-word collection, with chapters for every volume. The story only feels complete when read together.

· [Mute noblewoman bottom vs. female painter top] +

[Empress of one dynasty bottom vs. female emperor of an enemy kingdom top]

· You can save the map from Weibo.

· The bottom can't speak in the early chapters.

Born into a prestigious family in Yingnan, the legitimate daughter entered the palace at seventeen and became a hostage. She prepared herself for a lifetime shut away in the inner palace, but on the day she arrived, she met the female painter Shi Jiu during an assassination attempt...

Shi Jiu entered the palace at nine and became a famous painter at ten. She was a heaven-sent genius in the eyes of literati across the land.

But only Ruan Qingzhu knew what sort of person this female painter was when she held a brush.

Yet Shi Jiu still made this young noblewoman lose her composure in the art gallery...

She had thought Shi Jiu was merely a court painter. She never expected that Shi Jiu was actually Chen Jin, the “Sixth Prince” raised in another country.

The empress raised by the military Marquis Meng family was as beautiful as an immortal. She ascended to the throne at fifteen and was known in the palace as the “Young Empress Meng.”

The vermilion palace walls had made her dignified and gentle, warm and reserved.

The year her father died in battle, the Meng family fell. She went to the battlefield to recover his body, only to be ambushed.

She was about to be violated and become a laughingstock across the land.

Unexpectedly, a woman from the Kingdom of Jing saved her. Without learning her name, she hurried back to the palace.

Later, at a reception banquet in the palace, she discovered that her savior and the Empress of Jing were one and the same...

A friend's book, with the same political intrigue theme. Give it a try:

Inner Court Official by Jing Xian

[Synopsis]

There was an inner court official in the Princess's residence named He Ling.

He Ling entered the residence disguised as a woman and lay low for over a decade. When she finally seized control of military and political affairs, rumors spread throughout the court that He Ling had secretly taken Princess Tang Yun hostage and kept her confined in the Princess's residence for years.

What outsiders could not know was that, in reality...

The inner court official who stained herself with blood outside always had to bathe herself again and again until she was clean before daring to visit the frail treasure in her heart, the beauty in her bedchamber.

Ruthless and fierce inner court official + X + sickly, scheming princess

Theme: May we uphold the elegance of the ancient way.