Spring's Fading Glow

Going premium on April 17, 2024. Please add my upcoming novel, Soft Jade in His Embrace, to your reading list. Blurb below~

After An Lezhao died in a sea of flames, she was reborn at the age of fifteen.

In her previous life, she and her cousin, the Crown Prince, had grown up together and fallen in love. But someone schemed against them, and she lost her chastity to Prince Jin.

Prince Jin plotted to marry her, using honeyed words to deceive her father and win the support of the Duke of An's household. With their connections in hand, he got what he wanted and brought down the Crown Prince. But once he had used the Duke's household, he abandoned them, framing them for treason and wiping out her entire family.

An Lezhao was consumed by grief. After her attempt to assassinate Prince Jin failed, she was placed under house arrest. Unwilling to endure the humiliation or keep living in misery, she set a fire and perished in the flames.

Reborn, An Lezhao looked at all that was familiar and resolved not to repeat her past mistakes.

She showed no hesitation in driving out the maid who would betray her in the future, ignoring her tearful pleas.

When distant relatives who would later join forces with Prince Jin came to seek her family's help, she showed no mercy when they made a scene and insisted on staying, ordering the household guards to throw them out.

When Prince Jin came to ask for her hand in marriage, she stormed over and slapped him across the face before he could react, then slapped him again with her other hand.

Rumors spread through the capital that the Junzhu Lezhao of the Duke of An's household had changed overnight, as if she had become a different person.

Before long, she had a terrible reputation.

Some said she had gone mad.

--

When Yun Chuanheng returned to the capital after overseeing disaster relief, he hadn't yet seen his cousin, but had already heard of her sudden change in reputation.

In the garden of the Duke of An's residence, An Lezhao stood beneath a magnolia tree, butterflies fluttering around her. She looked like a scene from a painting.

An Lezhao turned her head and saw Yun Chuanheng. Her usually cool expression instantly melted into a tender smile, like snow turning to spring water beneath a gentle breeze.

She called softly, "Cousin."

Yun Chuanheng thought the stories circulating in the capital had to be nothing but rumors.

--

When Yun Chuanheng petitioned to marry An Lezhao, the Emperor of Yun and the Empress exchanged a meaningful glance.

The Emperor asked him, "Crown Prince, have you really thought this through? You do know this is An Lezhao we're talking about?"

Yun Chuanheng replied firmly, "Father, Cousin Lezhao is intelligent and kind, gentle as water. She is the perfect match in my heart. I beg you to grant our marriage."

The Emperor and Empress fell silent for a moment, their expressions helpless. Was something wrong with the Crown Prince's eyes? Was he really talking about An Lezhao?

[The slightly unhinged Junzhu after being reborn and the Crown Prince with an impossibly thick cousin filter]

-Reborn from the start; the leads are devoted to each other; the male lead appears in Chapter 7

Please add my upcoming novel, Soft Jade in His Embrace, to your reading list~

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Shi Qinghuan's mistress, Consort Dan, offended the Empress and was banished to the Cold Palace. The Cold Palace was remote, and they had barely enough food, clothing, or other necessities. Consort Dan grew despondent and died of depression less than two years later.

Shi Qinghuan didn't want to wait to die in the Cold Palace. She picked a date, bribed the guards on night duty with jewelry, and planned to leave the palace under cover of darkness to make a life for herself elsewhere. But then someone stumbled into the Cold Palace and took her by force.

She was furious, but from his clothes she could tell he was a man of wealth and status, someone she couldn't afford to provoke. She obediently played along, then hurried to pack her things as soon as he left and escaped the palace that very night by the route she had planned, making her way to Jiangnan.

Three years later, she had become a lotus picker in a small town in Jiangnan.

While picking lotuses in the pond, she was standing in her little boat, leaning down to pluck a lotus pod, when another boat suddenly bumped into hers.

An apology was on the tip of her tongue, but when she looked up, she met a pair of deep, dark eyes.

A tall, handsome man stood on the other boat. He lowered his eyes and said, "I've found you."

Shi Qinghuan: ...?

Xiao Lingxu was drugged in the palace as part of a plot to bring him down by accusing him of defiling the imperial harem and violating one of its consorts.

He struggled desperately to break free, then stumbled in a daze into the Cold Palace.

Beneath the cold moonlight, a woman in plain white appeared before him.

The drug's effects overwhelmed him. Unable to think of anything else, he used her to relieve the poison.

Afterward, he said he would take responsibility for her.

But when he was finally ready to go to the Cold Palace and bring her back, the place had been deserted.

He saw her again three years later, at a lotus farm in Jiangnan.

A woman was punting a little boat as she picked lotuses, with a little girl sitting obediently beside her, clutching a lotus pod. Xiao Lingxu recognized the woman from that night at once. The adorable little girl had features strikingly similar to his own.

Shi Qinghuan had assumed that Xiao Lingxu's promise to take responsibility for her had only been something he said in the moment. She never expected him to spend three years looking for her.

After she returned with him to the capital, she moved into Prince Ling's residence, where everyone treated her as the Princess Consort. Within a month, preparations for their wedding were underway.

Looking at the festive red decorations throughout the residence, Shi Qinghuan asked, "You're really going to marry me?"

Xiao Lingxu nodded. "I am."

"Why?" Shi Qinghuan asked.

Xiao Lingxu said, "There's plenty of time. You'll understand my feelings someday."

[The taciturn Prince Ling and the resilient lotus picker]

Theme: Stop dwelling on yourself and live happily