Orchid Behind Bars

A charming, quick-witted courtesan VS a ruthless, possessive eunuch in power

Forced possession | The pursuit after heartbreak | 8-year age gap | The male lead begs humbly for love

At sixteen, Yu Chuanglan was lucky enough to escape Rouge Alley.

But the price of escaping her lowly status was being married off into the palace, where she would be imprisoned for life.

Then the old emperor suddenly died that very night. To avoid being buried with him, she climbed into the bed of Fu Qihu, the powerful eunuch who controlled the court.

Fu Qihu seems gentle as jade, but in truth he is cruel and violent.

Yet the palace concubines scheme against her, while power struggles rage outside the palace.

Yu Chuanglan has no choice but to play the lovesick beauty, hiding behind a delicate and frail facade.

She uses the arts of seduction to slowly wear down the cruelty in his bones and consume his soul, hoping that once he grows tired of her, he’ll let her go.

She never realizes that her actions have ensnared his true heart.

Just as the crisis is resolved, a former lover lures her into eloping.

Fu Qihu’s eyes turn bloodshot. Like a lone wolf, he pursues them at full speed for miles, then shoots the man through the knee with an arrow.

He captures Yu Chuanglan and pulls her onto his horse, holding her tight as he kisses her temple.

“Your Highness, the play isn’t over. You can’t leave.”

Fu Qihu is skilled at reading people. Before he was thirty, he had already risen to the position of Chief Eunuch.

His bloodthirsty reputation strikes fear into the hearts of the court and palace alike, but Yu Chuanglan is the only one who doesn’t fear him.

Fu Qihu knows she’s acting.

He looks down on her in his heart, yet smiles and plays along.

He looks down on her, disdains her, and uses her to the fullest.

Yet he doesn’t realize that he is changing, and that her soft, honeyed voice has ensnared his heart.

He thinks it’s nothing more than a passing fancy, until the night she runs away, when he realizes he has long since fallen into her play.

Moonlight flows like the wine he brewed, washing over the stone table beneath the pavilion where they shared their tangled romantic scene.

Fu Qihu holds her moon lute tightly, as if he could claim her lifeline that way.

There is no power he cannot seize, no person in the world he cannot take.

Her eyes must see only him, and the play she weaves must be performed for him alone.

The pavilion’s gauzy curtains flutter, and her skirt trails along the ground.

Her moon lute, soaked with his clear wine, lies helplessly in the cool moonlight.

Fu Qihu braces himself against the stone table and leans down slightly. The night wind scatters his whisper:

“Your Highness, we’re both from the gutter. We’re perfect for each other.”

Later, he bathes the palace in blood, then personally lifts her hand and places her on the throne as Empress Dowager.

The dignified Chief Eunuch willingly becomes a servant beneath her skirts.

He grants her high rank, glory, and wealth.

But she no longer has the strength to keep acting.

He returns every trick he learned from her, hoping that once she is satisfied and happy, she’ll obediently stay by his side.

Little does he know that she has been plotting in secret all along, never giving up on escaping the palace.

The fragrance of zephyr lily fills the palace rooms, and her ankle chains jingle.

He draws her into his arms, carrying the faint scent of clear wine, and kisses her temple.

“Your Highness, I haven’t had enough of this play. Please look at me a little longer.”

In the end, they become trees leaning on each other, fish stranded in red waves, and doomed lovers in the palace walls...

Reader’s guide:

A fictional setting. The female lead is not a virgin; the male lead is a real eunuch.

Take a look at my upcoming novel:

Pseudo-incest | True stand-in

A beautiful princess with a quiet death wish VS a gentle, scheming top diplomat

Sang Rouzhi finally marries the man she has loved since she was young.

But the one who was supposed to marry him was her twin sister.

Sang Rouzhi serves him carefully,

not only to conceal her true identity, but also to wait for a chance to die together with the king who destroyed her homeland.

She is prepared to die, and intends to do what will get her killed.

Until she meets Si Feng, whom she hasn’t seen in three years.

Her adoptive elder brother, who left her homeland three years ago and is now famous across the nations, appears at her wedding.

He is the king’s adviser, and the one who arranged their marriage.

They recognize each other under their new identities, never imagining they would become so deeply entangled.

He impersonates the king and sneaks into her room late one night.

Later, they become lovers who must keep their relationship in the shadows.

By day, they treat each other with the respect of siblings.

By night, they cling to each other beneath the curtains.

Sang Rouzhi digs her nails into the scabbed-over scars on his back.

So her adoptive elder brother loves her sister this deeply.

*

After three years of traveling, Si Feng finally earns a reputation as the greatest diplomat in the world.

The day his wish comes true is also the day his homeland is destroyed.

Si Feng sneaks into the enemy nation and lays a plan that requires the princess’s help to bring down the enemy king.

Knowing the enemy king is the man Sang Rouzhi loved when she was young, he fears she might act rashly, so he arranges for her twin sister to marry into the enemy nation instead.

He never expected that the one who came would still be his Rouzhi.

Every day, he lives in fear, intervening just in time whenever the king comes up with another cruel scheme to humiliate her.

In the end, he becomes her brother by day and her husband by night.

The candlelight dies out. He covers her eyes, and they wordlessly understand each other.

Si Feng holds tight to the imperial sister he has hidden in his heart for five long years.

Why does she still love the man who humiliates her so deeply?

Theme: Even in darkness, keep your heart turned toward the light