* Spirited and innocent x stoic, battle-hardened man
* Angsty, tender romance with a sweet ending | Lighthearted | Cozy farming scenes
The Assistant Prefect of Huizhou doted on his concubine and neglected his wife. As soon as his legal wife passed away, Jiang Yuyi was sent to a country estate by her stepmother on a trumped-up charge.
The pampered young lady suffered one indignity after another, and planned to escape back to her family home every day. The dozen or so guards and old servants assigned to her worried for her safety and kept watch day and night, never getting a good night's sleep.
Everything changed on a rainy day.
A burly hunter from Xinghua Village came back from the mountains and took shelter from the rain under the eaves. In the dark of night, he spotted a furtive figure and, thinking it was a thief, grabbed them.
"Who are you? What are you after?"
The young lady was so frightened that her face went pale.
The estate's guards hurried over, and her escape plan failed once again.
Jiang Yuyi glared at the hunter in humiliation. "My hairpin is missing. He must have taken it. Lock him up!"
But a storm brought down rocks across the mountain road that night, and by chance the hunter escaped disaster.
Jiang Yuyi came up with a plan and immediately used her favor to demand repayment. "I saved your life. Now I'm giving you a chance to repay me."
"Be my bodyguard."
The hunter stopped in his tracks. When he looked up, he met the girl's smiling eyes. "You must know these roads well. Take me out to have some fun."
The maid was horrified. "You can't, miss! He's a man!"
Jiang Yuyi's tone brooked no argument. "Why not? Am I not even allowed to leave the house now?"
It was spring, when the orioles sang and the mountain slopes were lush. The stones grew warm, and moss sprang up.
The young lady's bristling temper was gradually softened by the warm spring breeze. She stopped thinking about returning home to take revenge every day.
When she looked at the taciturn hunter, she would raise her chin imperiously and order him around.
The hunter was a man of few words. When he fell silent, he was as unyielding as a mountain, and he quietly did as Jiang Yuyi told him.
Except when it came to helping her leave.
As time went by, he learned the young lady's temperament. When she fussed about wanting the freshest iced treats, he even dared to pat her head and murmur,
"I'll go buy them now."
Then one day, Jiang Yuyi dropped her usual arrogance and said to him, "I'm going back. My father says he's found a husband for me."
At that moment, he clearly heard something inside him shatter, the sound ringing through his whole body.
The peachwood hairpin he had never given her pierced his palm. The spring breeze was warm and green, yet its chill cut to the bone.
The girl's bright smile returned, and she was as spoiled and willful as ever. "I order you to take me away. Now."
He trembled and lowered his head. For the first time, he disobeyed her. "Forgive me, but I can't..."
"You're a coward! I never want to talk to you again!"
The next day, Jiang Yuyi was hurriedly taken back to her family home.
A figure followed her sedan chair all the way and kept watch outside the Jiang residence for days. He learned that her future husband was the foolish son of the Prefect.
The Assistant Prefect wanted to climb the social ladder and planned to use Jiang Yuyi as a pawn.
For the first time, he hated how powerless and useless he was.
Luckily, the wedding was three years away.
From then on, the people of Xinghua Village were amazed. The usually taciturn hunter had started going to school to study. He was respectful, read by lamplight late into the night, and never slacked off, even through cold and storms...
No one knew that he was doing it for his bright moon, so he could earn the right to truly stand by her side...
Reading Guide:
1. The heroine was born to be doted on. In her world, everyone should revolve around her. She's spoiled and willful, but would never hurt anyone and has a kind heart.
2. Set in an alternate Northern Song Dynasty. The hero is a law-abiding commoner who can take the imperial exams. He's so tall and sturdy that people often mistake him for a mountain hunter.
3. Plenty of farming-life scenes. Sweet romance! One-on-one.
4. Blurb written on November 28, 2024
Theme: Love life
