After I Provoked My Aloof Younger Uncle

He Xianzhi was born captivatingly beautiful, with a waist slender enough to fit in one hand, and a bewitching charm that made men's knees go weak.

Unfortunately, she was cursed with a hard life. At eighteen, she was sold as a concubine to the impotent eldest son of the Man family. Less than a year later, her husband hanged himself, and her father fell gravely ill.

With no way out, she had to pretend she was carrying her late husband's posthumous child, then set her sights on her husband's younger brother as her protector.

She chose Man San, who looked easiest to ensnare. After a passionate, intimate night, she thought the deed was done, not knowing that she had made a mistake the night before.

*

The prestigious Man family had four sons in this generation. The second, Man Yu, was handsome and refined, exceptionally gifted, and had become a Grand Secretary in the Cabinet at a young age, bringing glory to his family and basking in all the limelight.

Rumor had it that Grand Secretary Man kept a portrait tucked in his sleeve, depicting a stunning beauty, the woman he loved.

The people of the capital wondered what kind of celestial beauty could make the flawless second son of the Man family fall so deeply in love that he would even risk refusing the emperor's arranged marriage.

Countless young ladies from noble families adored him, but He Xianzhi had always been wary of him.

She felt he was like an enlightened monk, while she was like a demoness with little cultivation. In front of him, all her tricks would be laid bare.

And yet, by a twist of fate, she still managed to provoke him.

One day, when she was falsely accused and surrounded in the street, a pair of long, jade-like hands helped her to her feet as she stood there in a wretched state.

"Long time no see. Has the injury on your leg healed?"

The person who had saved her was Man Yu.

After that, rumors in the capital grew even more outrageous. People said she was the woman in Grand Secretary Man's portrait.

*

Only He Xianzhi knew that on that damp, ambiguous spring night, the second son of the Man family, so proper and gentlemanly before others, had cornered her. His long fingers, usually occupied with a brush and turning the pages of books, clenched until his knuckles turned white. A deep, burning light seemed to smolder in his eyes, scorching her inch by inch.

His jade-like fingertips, stained with blood, gently brushed her trembling chin. His cool voice was as dangerous as a judge of the underworld's:

"You only want a fleeting affair, not a lasting commitment?"

She hurried to explain, "Our status is so different. We could never become husband and wife..."

His cool, thin lips descended, forcefully claiming her tears and softness, just as they had on so many nights before.

"What if... I'm the one who wants more?"

Jade stained by dust, a fire that burns the one who stokes it.

Reader's guide:

1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced, one-on-one romance.

2. The heroine is not a saintly paragon, but a wretched woman struggling to survive.

3. While the leads are still in an uncle-and-sister-in-law relationship, they have no intimate contact. Their romance begins after that relationship ends.

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Advance preview: After the Heartless Heir Bows

The Duke of Ning's household was confiscated, and overnight, Chi Yun Zhao fell from the clouds. Once a proud young lady of a noble family, she became the daughter of a convicted minister.

Her childhood sweetheart went to the borderlands to save her and vanished without a trace. His fate was unknown.

Night after night, she awoke from nightmares, her parents' dying words echoing in her mind.

"Jiaojiao, only the Lu family can save you."

"Jiaojiao, your clan's survival rests on you. Please, live..."

Her back bent under the burden, inch by inch. Gritting her teeth, she could only look that good-for-nothing playboy squarely in the face and offer him a gentle, docile smile.

*

Lu Ji, the capital's most prominent young heir, was notorious for his fickle ways. Countless women had wept themselves dry over him. At the gambling table and in matters of the heart, his favorite line was always, "Once you've placed your bet, don't complain about losing."

Until one day, he made a wager with someone: could he make Chi Yun Zhao fall for him within a month?

He had met Chi Yun Zhao before. She smiled with gentle, bashful sweetness, no different from the women who had fallen at his boots.

"She's just the daughter of a disgraced minister. How hard can it be? Don't worry, I'll have her completely smitten with me within a month."

With disdain, calculation, and mockery in his heart, he arrogantly began approaching this seemingly dull and unremarkable woman.

*

Everything went just as they had planned.

Until the day the wager was exposed. Looking into her bloodshot eyes, filled with bone-deep hatred, Lu Ji felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. For the first time, he tasted heartbreak.

Lu Ji regretted everything and resolved to win her back.

But Chi Yun Zhao knew this was a play within a play, with her as the bait, set to make him trap himself.

Yet later, he truly laid his whole heart at her feet, his eyes brimming with smiles, half ardent and half shy.

"Jiaojiao, I've finally waited for you."

Reader's guide:

1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced, one-on-one romance, happy ending.

2. The overall tone is sweet and lighthearted.

Theme: Handle love with care