Spring Locked in the Mad Mountain

[Gentle reminder: the blurb gets intense]

Ji Huan was born into the prestigious Qinghe clan. For years, he strictly upheld propriety and conducted himself with impeccable decorum.

Until, at a spring banquet, he was tricked into marrying a woman of humble birth.

Xin Yi was that woman.

Though their marriage came about through a twist of fate, only Xin Yi knew that she had long yearned for it.

For two years after their wedding, she and Ji Huan treated each other with icy courtesy.

Whenever she saw her father looking as though he wanted to say something, Xin Yi would smile and say, "Xingchu will have no wife but me in this life. Given time, he'll come around."

Xin Yi's dream shattered on a cold night.

That night, a coup broke out in the capital.

Xin Yi turned back to retrieve her mother-in-law's belongings. When she came out, she was told that Ji Huan had left with his troops an hour earlier.

Watching the rebel army break through the city gates, Xin Yi's eyes filled with despair. So Ji Huan didn't care about her at all!

Not even a little...

Ji Huan hated a marriage born of scheming. He hated his wife, who was unfit for polite society. He hated her so much that he didn't even notice when she was missing from a crowd.

One day, while attending a banquet, Ji Huan suddenly heard:

"The rebels entered the city. The Deputy Governor's wife's corpse was hung up in the city and left exposed for three days."

Ji Huan's heart skipped a beat.

The Deputy Governor of Jizhou was Ji Huan.

From then on, the image of Xin Yi in his dreams grew ever more entangled with the tragic sight of his mother, abandoned and left to die.

Waking once more from a nightmare, Ji Huan buried his shock and obsession deep inside, telling himself that Xin Yi was merely a lackey of the puppet court and deserved such an end.

Years later, Ji Huan was ordered to inspect Yangzhou.

Beneath a bodhi tree, he saw the wife he thought had died five years ago. She held a little girl in her arms, smiling happily as she leaned against a man. The family of three looked blissfully content.

In an instant, anger and jealousy began to grow wildly within him. The nightmare that had tormented him for years could no longer be suppressed.

He would have Xin Yi, no matter what it took...

1. One-on-one pairing. The heroine is sexually inexperienced at first, but later has a past while the hero doesn't. Happy ending.

2. A melodramatic story: forced possession and a groveling pursuit of the wife on an epic scale.

3. The heroine does find love again and has a child. If that's not your thing, don't read. Of course, she won't punish herself for the hero. She needs to emerge from the shadows and accept warmth.

4. The characters aren't perfect. The heroine is a bit of a lovesick fool when she likes the hero early on. The hero is crazy and awful, and isn't a good person either. The hero will not be changed. Also, the heroine will run away many times.

5. Set in a fictional world with a mix of everything. Don't overanalyze the details.

6. Six-year age gap.

◆ Coming soon in my collection: After Mistaking My Enemy's Daughter. Please add it to your collection! ◆

In the sixth year of the Tiance era, the old Marquis Dingyuan was framed by a treacherous minister and died in battle. From that day on, Wei Qi hated the minister who had set up his father.

Then an imperial edict ordered Wei Qi to marry his enemy's daughter, Du Lanxi.

If the treacherous minister was a silver-tongued, unscrupulous schemer, his daughter couldn't be any better.

Though Wei Qi had no interest in entangling himself with a woman, he wouldn't let Du Lanxi off lightly, nor show her the slightest tenderness. Even in bed, she would have to endure whatever humiliation he dealt her!

Once his great revenge was accomplished, Wei Qi looked at the limp body in his arms, and his heart softened a little.

"Since you're so virtuous and well-mannered, I'll let you stay and atone for your father's sins every night."

"But given your status, don't you dare imagine you'll bear my child."

The woman in his arms trembled and meekly agreed.

*

Du Lanxi was born to a prestigious scholarly family. The youngest daughter in her household, she had been cherished since childhood.

Had things gone as they should, she would have shared a loving marriage with her childhood sweetheart.

Until everyone said her father had done wrong, and that she would be handed over to Wei Qi to appease the fury of the Marquis Dingyuan's household.

She had never met a man as rough as Wei Qi, so utterly lacking in tenderness. Du Lanxi loathed him, yet the feud between their families bound her to him, leaving her no way to escape.

If the Du family didn't owe him, she'd rather die than marry a boor like Wei Qi!

*

One day, Wei Qi found an unopened letter in Du Lanxi's room. It revealed that someone else, not the Du family, had caused his father's death, and urged Du Lanxi to divorce him and marry into the Ru'nan Jiang family.

The letter was signed by the eldest son of the Ru'nan Jiang family, her former fiance.

The letter crumpled to shreds in his hand. Looking at his wife, who had just miscarried, Wei Qi felt completely at a loss for the first time.

He could never let Du Lanxi see that letter...

1. One-on-one pairing, both sexually inexperienced, happy ending.

2. A terrible man grovels to win his wife back.

3. A well-bred, sensible noblewoman vs. a rough, cruel bastard.

[Blurb archived on February 2, 2025]

Theme: Sincere love is the way to win true love.