A Beauty Chooses Her Branch

When the princes of Great Jin choose their principal consorts, they traditionally select from the families of officials below the sixth rank. Xu Lingyu is the daughter of a minor official. She has no grand ambitions and wants nothing more than a simple, peaceful life. To avoid being chosen, she wants to find a man she likes and marry as soon as possible.

As luck would have it, a scholar moved into the house at the end of the alley. He had no parents or siblings and was all alone. His family background was spotless, and even in plain clothes he looked refined and distinguished. He was also good-tempered.

Xu Lingyu decided: That's the one!

The matchmaker came to call, and he wouldn't even have to marry into her family. Xu Lingyu thought it was a done deal, but to her surprise, he turned her down!

Quick-witted Xu Lingyu produced "proof" that their families had arranged their marriage when they were infants, and the local authorities drew up their marriage contract on the spot.

After a year of marriage, her husband, Jia Qinggu, went to the capital to take the imperial exams. Xu Lingyu expected him to fail and come home to work as a teacher, where he could spend his days with his wife and raise their children.

Instead, her husband passed the highest exam and didn't come home, while her parents-in-law, whom she thought were "dead," arrived in disguise.

The Empress asked, "I hear your mother and I were old friends. Did we once arrange for you and Qingjia to marry as infants?"

Jia Qinggu, Gu Qingjia?

Xu Lingyu understood, panicked, and then chickened out. Sucking in her stomach, she said, "How could that be? Someone must be abusing their power to get revenge on me and making things up!"

Her mind raced. She had to find a son-in-law to marry into her family as soon as possible and hide her pregnancy.

Reader's Notes:

1. One-on-one romance, with each other's first love

2. The male lead starts out as the second prince and later becomes crown prince

Check out my completed historical romance novels on my author page~

Coming soon: The Spring Splendor of the Jade Palace. Please add it to your favorites! Here's the blurb:

Cheng Fangnong is the Empress Dowager's only niece. A breathtaking beauty, graceful and alluring, she is named empress by imperial decree and married to the ailing emperor.

They say the emperor won't live three months. The Empress Dowager orders her to conceive an heir as soon as possible, so that Great Jin will belong to her and her child.

Cheng Fangnong doesn't want to be anyone's puppet, but she is drugged and left with no choice.

Behind the soft curtains, the lingering scent of medicine mingles with the seductive fragrance of Fangnong's body. Dizzy and disoriented, she wraps her arms around Emperor Xiao Sheng, who uses the last of his strength to push her away.

Xiao Sheng summons his personal guard to help her overcome the drug, mercilessly crushing the Empress Dowager's and the Cheng family's dreams, then threatens her until she cannot speak out.

By day, Xiao Sheng dotes on her and even teaches her to review memorials to the throne, but it's all a performance for the Empress Dowager and the Cheng family.

By night, he cruelly sends her off to the strong, burly guard to vent his anger.

The day the Cheng family falls, Cheng Fangnong finally learns that the emperor has been pretending to be sick. He's gone to great lengths to bring down the powerful clans.

Knowing she can't escape death, when he sends that guard to humiliate her once again, Cheng Fangnong acts out of character and sweet-talks him into assassinating the emperor.

She thinks her plan is flawless and certain to succeed.

But when she wakes at dawn, the guard who should have completed the assassination is still there, wearing Xiao Sheng's handsome, dashing face.

Theme: There's always a way, no matter the difficulty