Reaching for the Crown Prince

★ Please add my next novel, "The Princess and the Imperial Tutor," to your reading list. ★ A sweet bedtime read. Fictional setting, no real-life basis. Sheng Xi is the daughter of a minor official in the capital. After her mother dies, her father takes another wife, who gives him a son and a daughter. From then on, he ignores Sheng Xi completely, treating her as if she were no daughter of his. But when he wants a promotion, he remembers her. He listens to his stepmother's instigation, drugs her, and has her carried in a small sedan chair to the Grand Commandant's residence, intending to trade her for a promising future. With the last of her clarity before the drug takes effect, Sheng Xi bites her tongue and escapes. In a daze, she sees a luxurious carriage stopped nearby and rushes over, grabbing the hem of the man's robe as he steps down. Amid a chorus of furious shouts telling her to stop, Sheng Xi looks up and kisses the man as if offering herself in sacrifice. Blood from her tongue stains Ning Cheng's lips. "Please save me. Take me away." Sheng Xi's voice is so soft it hardly sounds like her own. The most honored crown prince of the Great Yin, Ning Cheng, has just been kissed in the street by a woman of unknown origin. "Take her back to the residence." Ning Cheng touches the wetness on his lips with a fingertip and smiles. "My great general died, didn't she? Then make her my great general." Only later does Sheng Xi learn that the great general was the crown prince's beloved cat. The crown prince takes her home and dotes on her as if she were his most precious great general. But this little kitten has her eye on the man who saved her. She dreams of somehow marrying up and becoming Ning Cheng's woman, his crown princess. Please add my upcoming novel to your reading list "The Princess and the Imperial Tutor" Synopsis: Li Bao Yin is the Southern Zhou emperor's most beloved legitimate princess. The emperor and empress of Southern Zhou have no sons, and none of the concubines have children either. Little Princess Bao Yin grows up surrounded by everyone's adoration. At the time, Northern Chen's military forces are strong, while Southern Zhou cannot compete. Northern Chen therefore insists that Princess Bao Yin travel north to serve as a hostage. Bao Yin assumes that being sent to Northern Chen's palace as a hostage will be a terrible ordeal. But when she arrives in Northern Chen, she unexpectedly meets an old acquaintance. As a child, she studied under a renowned scholar, alongside his closed-door disciple, Xie Qi. Later, the scholar set out to travel the world and took Xie Qi with him. Looking at Xie Qi, now the imperial tutor to Northern Chen's young emperor, Bao Yin's joy at reuniting with an old friend gradually fades. Rumor has it that the Northern Chen imperial tutor is strict and exacting. Even the young emperor himself gets rapped on the knuckles if he can't answer a question. As a child, Bao Yin was very naughty. She often got into trouble and blamed it on Xie Qi, and his master beat him so many times his hands swelled up. Bao Yin looks at her own delicate hands and nearly cries. Northern Chen gives her the same treatment as the other hostages, so she has to study alongside the young emperor. If the young emperor can't answer, they'll all get beaten together. When Xie Qi's deep, unreadable gaze falls on her, Princess Bao Yin's heart turns cold. Is he going to take revenge by beating her hands until they're ruined? ○ Fifteen-year-old Princess Bao Yin has been pampered since childhood. She has never known how much it hurts to break the skin on her palm. She locks herself in her room and cries, like a little beast licking its wounds alone. Someone picks the lock. Princess Bao Yin looks up through her tears. It's Xie Qi. Xie Qi is six years older than her. When she was little, she always sweetly called him Brother Xie Qi. Now, gazing coldly at Xie Qi's somber face, she asks, "What business does Lord Xie have here?" ○ In public, Xie Qi is reserved and serious, a stern imperial tutor who never reveals his feelings easily. But when he sees the noble little princess he has treasured and protected since childhood, his jaw clenches, and his complex, deep gaze surges like turbulent clouds over a vast sea. Xie Qi comes over and embraces the little princess. When Bao Yin struggles, she touches the wound on his hand. Someone has beaten his hand until it's swollen. It hurts so much when she touches it that he sucks in a sharp breath, and Bao Yin doesn't dare move. She sees the red in his eyes. His voice is low and resolute: "Bao Yin, I'll take you home." You don't have to run away in secret. You don't have to compromise. I'll send you back to Southern Zhou openly and honorably. The treasure I once protected in the palm of my hand has been returned to me. No one can stop me from coming to you. [If you like it, please add it to your reading list from the author's page!] Theme: May I be like the stars, and you like the moon, shining together night after night