A Household-Born Daughter (Female-Dominated World)

An old-school, melodramatic gender-swapped version / pregnancy and escape / angst first, then lots and lots of sweetness

One-line summary: He runs, she chases, and neither of them can get away.

Blurb:

If household slaves were ranked from high to low, Chenggui was the lowliest kind, born into servitude.

Because he had a handsome face, an outsider praised him while he was serving his master. That very night, the young master clawed his face and sprinkled it with some unknown powder, laughing at him.

The young master watched as Chenggui writhed and rolled on the ground in pain, mocking him without restraint.

He laughed at Chenggui for trying to climb the social ladder, and for being born with a slave's fate.

That was when Chenggui understood: he had been born a slave, an object for the young masters and young ladies to amuse themselves with.

His father had arranged a marriage for him long ago. He had spent his life anxiously making it to the age of sixteen, waiting to marry the female guard in the household at year's end. He would have a child and remain a household slave, repeating the same fate of servitude.

But on the day before his wedding, his master summoned him and ordered him to become the young master's companion, accompanying him when he married into the Marquis's estate.

Everyone in the capital knew that the young lady of the Marquis's estate was vicious by nature and especially loved tormenting men for amusement. Two young male attendants had already died in her bed.

To escape being tormented to death, Chenggui gritted his teeth and did the boldest thing he had ever done.

He climbed into Third Miss's bed. Looking at the gentle, refined woman beside him, Chenggui wept as he untied his clothes, revealing his slender, pearly-white waist, and pressed close to her with a soft voice.

"I have long admired you, Miss."

"Please be kind and save my life."

He had thought he was escaping hell. Chenggui never imagined that Third Miss would be far more frightening than the young lady of the Marquis's estate.

Everyone knew that the Ning household had three young ladies. The first two held official positions at court and were outstanding women. Only the third, Ning Zhiyu, was frail and sickly, a medicine jar who never left the house. In her spare time, she simply drank tea and read in the courtyard.

Ning Zhiyu's quiet life was suddenly disrupted by a household slave. She found him interesting, so she kept him like a pet cat.

He was lowborn and timid, yet he had used his pretty face to climb into her bed. When it rained and thundered at night, he would crawl into her arms. He trembled in fear at the sight of the people in the rear courtyard.

He carefully, clumsily tried to please her. Ning Zhiyu thought there was no harm in keeping a little cat for the rest of her life.

But the cat was disobedient. He secretly got pregnant and even ran away in the middle of the night, trying to give birth to her child in some desolate backwater.

How could she allow that?

Ning Zhiyu caught the cat and locked him in a cage, clipping his claws and keeping him in the courtyard for her amusement.

Later, holding her two children, Chenggui thought that even if he had no title, he should at least ask for one for the children. He didn't want them to be bullied anymore, and he especially didn't want them to become slaves.

As he stopped outside the study, he heard the woman speak in a cool, contemptuous voice.

"He's just a household slave. Letting him be a male attendant is already showing him great favor, and he still dares to hope his daughter will raise his status."

Content warnings:

1. The female lead is not frail; she's a formidable figure in disguise.

2. The female lead is not a virgin; the male lead is. The male lead is treated very cruelly early on. His status is extremely low, and he suffers terribly as many people bully him.

3. The female lead has a male bedmate, and there will be rivalry for her favor.

4. The male lead is a bit of a scheming green tea, but not much.

5. Please, please, everyone, add this to your favorites. Sob.

Blurb written on 2023/11/9

Theme: Everything that came before is merely a prelude.