Hidden Jade [Gb]

[Carefree, brazen green tea princess x gentle, sickly older tutor]

Lu Heyu is the most popular instructor at the Imperial Academy.

He's handsome and gentle, and many of the female students secretly admire him.

Xiao Yue likes him too, of course, but she always feels that her affection is different from everyone else's.

Before she turned fifteen, Xiao Yue studied blades, spears, swords, halberds, statecraft, and military strategy. She had never studied poetry or literature. After entering the Imperial Academy at fifteen, she saw Lu Heyu for the first time and felt her heart race.

Unable to think of any sweet words to charm him, she only wants him to become her prince consort.

But... Lu Heyu refuses.

Not only does Lu Heyu refuse, but even her usually indulgent father says that Lu Heyu is someone she shouldn't set her sights on.

When her Crown Prince brother ascends the throne, Lu Heyu will have to help him govern. He absolutely can't be with a rough, reckless princess like her. She'd wear him down to nothing. After all, Lu Heyu is in very poor health and falls ill every few days. One slap from Xiao Yue could leave him unable to get back up.

She's strong as an ox, and, like her second and third brothers, she's destined for the battlefield.

It really does seem unsuitable.

*

Before Xiao Yue leaves for war, she secretly gives Lu Heyu a love letter.

He refuses to take it.

Xiao Yue has no choice but to lie and tell him it's the homework he assigned her after their last lesson.

Lu Heyu can only accept it. Looking at the crooked handwriting, he wears a calm expression, but his eyes are bright and clear. "Princess, actually... you can read and write, can't you?"

Xiao Yue doesn't answer. She only gives him a smile.

Then she whips her horse and rides away.

*

Three years later, with the border conflict over, Xiao Yue returns to the capital.

Her second brother stages a rebellion. Her father is deposed, her Crown Prince brother is thrown into prison, and Lu Heyu, once powerful enough to sway the court, plummets to rock bottom.

Her second brother orders Xiao Yue to choose a husband before the throne.

To everyone's surprise, Xiao Yue gives up Lu Heyu, whom she once went to great lengths to please and could now have at her fingertips, and chooses this year's newly appointed top-ranking candidate in the palace examination.

Her second brother smiles and grants the marriage.

Not long afterward, evidence of an illicit relationship is discovered in the home of the formerly aloof old tutor. The other party may even be a man... Lu Heyu's reputation is ruined overnight.

Xiao Yue never wanted to become emperor, but later she decides she might as well give the throne a try.

Pinning the man beneath her, eyes brimming with tears, she asks, "Teacher, you don't want anyone to find out that you offered yourself to me, do you?"

One-on-one, happy ending. The male lead seems gentle and easygoing on the surface, but deep down he's insecure and gloomy. He only has eyes for the female lead. The female lead believes in female superiority and will become emperor later.

Gender reversal, female top, no switching.

Theme: True love is right within reach