Winning the Nobles' Favor

[Scheming beauty x aloof, chaste paragon]

Gu Lanzhi loses her family and ends up in a brothel. Thanks to the little kindness her family once shared with the Fu family, she becomes a cousin of the Fu household.

With her bewitching beauty, she curries favor and showers him with attention until she finally wins the regard of Fu Yanqing, the young duke.

He combs her hair and draws her eyebrows. When the servants bully her, he stands up for her.

Gu Lanzhi thinks he has remembered her. But then Meng Lanyue, the woman who broke off her engagement, appears. Only then does Gu Lanzhi realize that Fu Yanqing treated her well because she resembled Meng Lanyue. Now that the real thing has returned, he has no further need of a substitute like her.

Gu Lanzhi is frantic with jealousy, but no matter how she explains, Fu Yanqing dismisses her as delusional. He gently coaxes her into marrying into the Wang family in Meng Lanyue's place, to repay their kindness for taking her in.

Fu Yanqing thinks that marrying into the Wang family is already a great match for someone of Gu Lanzhi's status, and that she should be satisfied.

Gu Lanzhi's heart sinks to the depths.

She refuses to accept it. She wants Fu Yanqing never to forget her.

One night beneath the red silk bed curtains, they become lovers, and everyone learns what happened. She can no longer take Meng Lanyue's place as the bride. And a man of Fu Yanqing's status cannot possibly take a woman from a brothel as his concubine.

He forces her to drink an abortion medicine, then abandons her in a side courtyard to fend for herself.

One moment, he holds her close, tender and affectionate. The next, he casts her aside without mercy.

Gu Lanzhi has already been abandoned once before.

At last, she gives up and no longer clings to the hope that they will stay together.

*

Fu Yanqing was harmed by his family when he was young and blinded in both eyes. A woman who smelled of orchids rescued him, and even sacrificed her chastity to help him detoxify.

He promised that when his sight returned, he would marry her.

Two years later, he thinks their reunion is nothing but a deception. He looks down on Gu Lanzhi for being a prostitute, despises her scheming, and scolds her for having no shame.

He confines her to a side courtyard and turns to marry his beloved, Meng Lanyue.

Meng Lanyue thinks she knows enough about their past to replace that shameless woman, never knowing how intimate they once were.

On his wedding night, Fu Yanqing sees the virginity mark on his bride's hand and is struck dumb. Then, like a madman, he rushes into the side courtyard.

But the woman he truly loves has already left, leaving behind only a shocking pool of blood.

When they meet again, she is dressed in red, carefree and playing with men's hearts, her beauty famed far and wide. Countless noblemen and officials have fallen at her feet.

That day, riding in the carriage of the Marquis of Wu'an's household, she faces the man she once loved and merely smiles seductively. "Young Duke, it has been a while."

Fu Yanqing, always aloof and dignified, clenches his fist, his heart in agony.

[Content warnings]

1. The heroine comes from a brothel and is cunning, not innocent. In the early chapters, she is a love-struck, humble doormat. After being hurt, she becomes hard-hearted.

2. A stunning, flirtatious beauty, talented and accomplished. She is no chaste, virtuous woman. If she stops loving one man, she'll move on to someone even more obedient. She wants money, power, and happiness, not love.

3. The medical details are based on traditional Chinese medicine textbooks, with fictional elements added. Please don't take them too seriously!

4. No getting back together after a breakup. The second male lead wins. Twelve-year age gap.

5. Please don't read if you require the heroine to be a virgin. Thank you.

Coming soon: A Friend's Wife. Please add it to your favorites!

Seduction and possession | marriage first, love later

Fragile, honest young woman x scheming, calculating nobleman

Lu Yan comes from a humble family, but has known the eldest son of the powerful Shen family since childhood. Their elders have even arranged their marriage.

As an adopted daughter, Lu Yan is timid and meek. Fortunately, her fiancé has never looked down on her background. He treats her gently, patiently, and with great consideration.

From the time Lu Yan is nine until she is seventeen, he remains just as devoted for eight years. Everyone around them can't help saying that Lu Yan is lucky. The ugly duckling is going to become a phoenix.

Everyone thinks Lu Yan will eventually marry him, but only Lu Yan knows that the fiancé who seems so tender and devoted has a beloved as bright as the moon. He keeps putting off their wedding for the sake of the woman he loves.

She thinks that if she can just wait a little longer, he'll come around and see her. But her parents can't wait. They drug her and force the two of them to consummate their relationship.

After that night, both families tacitly agree to move the wedding forward.

But on the day before the wedding, her fiancé hears that his beloved is pregnant and about to leave for a distant land. Without hesitation, he abandons Lu Yan and rushes out of the city after her.

Overnight, Lu Yan becomes the laughingstock of the entire capital.

Her future in-laws take the opportunity to put her in her place. The young ladies who used to look down on her kick her while she's down. Even her parents scold her for being hopeless. She has risked her chastity and still couldn't keep her man, so she might as well find a length of white silk and hang herself.

Lu Yan silently sheds tears, her heart dead.

Xie Tingjun, heir to the Duke of Dingguo, steps forward. His voice is calm. "Weren't you supposed to get married? If he won't marry you, I will."

Lu Yan raises her tearful eyes and stares blankly at the refined, handsome young man before her. She only remembers that he is her fiancé's friend, but they have never had much to do with each other.

-

Before meeting Lu Yan, Xie Tingjun considers himself a gentleman, pure of heart and free from desire.

Only when Lu Yan sneaks into his room in the dark on a rainy night and mistakes him for her friend does he realize that he's nothing but a depraved hypocrite, coveting his friend's wife and plotting to take her for himself.

Theme: Cherish the one you love.