The Ex-Husband's Daily Face-Slapping

Gu Yao is a farmer's daughter, yet she marries the village's handsome, wealthy private tutor, Mr. Fang.

Mr. Fang is gentle and attentive to her. He teaches her to read and write, and doesn't even ask her to bring a dowry. Everyone says she's blessed, and she thinks so too.

But by chance, she learns that Fang Jiyu's kindness toward her is all a ploy. Even the nourishing soup he gives her every day is actually a contraceptive decoction.

He's not the son of a merchant fallen on hard times, either. He's a young master from a wealthy family in Chang'an.

She's nothing but the concubine he keeps to conceal his identity.

The woman he truly loves is also his betrothed. They're a perfect match in family background, and she comes from a distinguished family.

Now that his father and grandfather have been cleared of false charges and reinstated to their posts, he has to return to Chang'an and reclaim his true identity.

Out of kindness, Gu Yao secretly gives the contraceptive decoction to a friend. By a stroke of luck, she ends up two months pregnant herself.

After several days without food or water, her eyes swollen from crying, Gu Yao finally understands one thing.

If she can't have Fang Jiyu's heart, his money will do.

So she refuses to go back to Chang'an with Fang Jiyu and decisively takes the money and her bedding before leaving.

*

After Gu Yao leaves, Fang Jiyu thinks he'll quickly get used to life without her.

After all, he never planned to stay with her for long when he married her.

Now that she's chosen to leave, they can each return to their former lives. It doesn't matter much.

He soon faces the consequences of that belief. Without Gu Yao by his side, he tells himself to keep his distance, but her image is everywhere in his mind.

Later, Gu Yao settles in the Fang household under another identity. Only then does Fang Jiyu realize she ran away while pregnant.

His own child is right there, yet he can't acknowledge them. And Gu Yao treats him with nothing but coldness and distance.

Every day, Fang Jiyu teeters on the brink of madness, or a step away from it.

His sincere devotion still can't win Gu Yao's forgiveness.

Only after falling into a villain's trap and finding Gu Yao in danger does he throw himself in front of a sword for her. At the brink of death, he is finally forced to confess his feelings for Gu Yao.

"One glance was all it took. I'll cherish you for the rest of my life."

A little scene:

After learning that Gu Yao is pregnant, Fang Jiyu comes to confront her.

Gu Yao remains unmoved and says calmly, "You, the child's real father, were the one who chose not to keep them. I found them a stepfather. What's wrong with that?"

"Of the thousand taels of silver you gave me, five hundred were for my future husband."

"Your child is being raised by my future husband. You paid five hundred taels for it, so that's only fair."

"I never thought the person I found would turn out to be someone who's already dead. So you can have the five hundred taels back, but the child will never acknowledge you as their father."

As the child grows older, Fang Jiyu has to endure a fit of fury every year as his child kneels at a grave and calls out, "Father."

The child's biological father can only watch helplessly from behind as it all happens.

Reading Guide:

1. The tables turn fairly in this story. The heroine gets her heart broken first, then the hero gets his turn.

2. The male lead doesn't change.

3. Once she comes to her senses, the heroine turns into a prickly warrior.

Upcoming story: The Heir's Rescued Mistress

Wen Xiaojiu is one of the women the steward picks as a mistress for their heir. Of them all, she's the least noticeable.

She's naive, simple-minded, and quiet, with the lowest status of the group.

The others, at the very least, are daughters of merchants born to concubines.

She's the only one the heir found in a ruined temple.

From the others, Wen Xiaojiu learns that the heir has been suffering from an old illness that won't improve, and his mother wants him to have an heir.

To climb into this prestigious household, the women do everything they can to win him over.

But the heir is difficult to get along with. He seems mild-mannered, but in truth he keeps people at a distance.

He doesn't like them coming near him, and every time the women reach his door, he has them thrown out.

Seeing how difficult it will be, Wen Xiaojiu gives up on becoming his mistress and starts working as a maid instead.

Yet in the end, she's the only one who successfully becomes the heir's mistress.

Later, the heir's health improves, and he has to return to the southern capital. Reluctant to part, she gathers her courage and asks, "Can I go back to the southern capital with you? I want to see you every day."

The heir freezes. After a moment's thought, he coolly refuses. "You should know your place."

At that moment, Wen Xiaojiu's heart aches as if it were pierced. She finally understands that she's the only one who has fallen for him amid all their intimacy.

Six months later, when the heir returns, he hears that Wen Xiaojiu has eloped with a servant. His chest tightens until he can barely breathe.

He can't help wondering if Wen Xiaojiu's devotion to him was all fake.

How could her heart change so quickly?

-

Upcoming story 2: Fists of Fury, Sweetheart

Ruan Jiaojiao is a courtesan at Mingyue House, and the madam's pick for its future star. The madam spends a fortune training her.

But years pass, and she has no talent worth showing off.

Instead, she secretly learns martial arts at the school next door. Any client who dares approach her gets a bruised face at best, and a broken limb or two at worst.

When the madam learns that the culprit is the martial arts school next door to the brothel, she wants to end it all on the spot.

Ruan Jiaojiao goes from everyone's favorite to everyone's least favorite.

But that's far from the only trouble she causes the madam.

When she discovers that her fiance tricked her out of her money and married someone else, her stubborn nature kicks in. She doesn't shed a single tear. Instead, she beats her fiance and his new wife until they're both bawling.

The madam is so furious that she dumps her at the county yamen and abandons her.

The newly appointed county magistrate, Qi Siyuan, happens to need a scullery maid, so he takes her in.

But she refuses. She insists on becoming Qi Siyuan's concubine.

Only because it means five more taels of silver each month.

From then on, Qi Siyuan's household becomes his nightmare, and he avoids setting foot there unless absolutely necessary.

He won't even spare a glance at the several beautiful young women he had before.

Later, Qi Siyuan is promoted and returns to the capital. He thinks he can finally get rid of Ruan Jiaojiao, his burdensome tagalong.

But just then, she loses her memory and her martial arts skills.

When she sees him leaving, she cries like a flower in the rain. The way she repeatedly calls him "husband" unsettles Qi Siyuan, and in a moment of weakness, he takes her with him.

Who could have guessed that once she finds someone else, she would toss him a few banknotes and say generously, "You and I shared a bed these past two days. Use this money to build up your strength."

Her manner and tone are just like those of the male customers at the brothel when they speak to a courtesan before leaving.

Qi Siyuan is so furious that he nearly chokes.

*

As a concubine-born son, Qi Siyuan survived the first wife's attempts on his life by being ruthless.

He never expected that the person even more ruthless than him would be the one woman he was willing to share a pillow with: Ruan Jiaojiao.

She's not only impossible to tame, she's been playing the fool all along.

It takes another man stealing her away right under his nose for him to see her true colors.

How could he let Ruan Jiaojiao, who has thwarted him time and again, get away?

While she and her next man are spending their wedding night together,

he knocks out the groom, snatches her away, and ruins their marriage.

Reading note: Both leads are sexually inexperienced.

Theme: Be a clearheaded, perceptive woman