[Fragile yet Clear-Eyed Brothel Courtesan x Sickly, Obsessive Young General]
[Abduction and Domination / The Long Road to Winning Her Back]
At twelve, Su Yao'er’s family fell into ruin, and she was sold into servitude.
Fortunately, her patron treated her gently.
It wasn’t so hard to bear.
One drizzly day, a servant brought her a new invitation.
The young general strode in, his black robes billowing, a sword at his waist that seemed to carry the frost and snow of the frontier.
He gazed at the woman playing the zither before him, his Adam’s apple bobbing. After a long moment, he finally said, “I hear you play ‘Phoenix Seeking Its Mate’ beautifully.”
As Su Yao'er served him tea, she caught sight of the vicious scar across his sword hand and couldn’t help feeling a little afraid. She never imagined that those hands, which wielded a sword, would that night do no more than tuck a purple magnolia into her hair.
He was restrained and courteous, treating her unlike a customer.
He seemed more like a lover.
After that, on the seventh of every month, she would see the hem of his black robe pass the vermilion railing by the entrance.
Sometimes he brought her imported eyebrow pigment from the Western Regions; other times, a sable fur coat newly presented from the northern frontier.
Until one day, the madam grinned so broadly that the creases at the corners of her eyes blossomed like flowers.
“Young General Gu has paid to keep you. From now on, you need only serve him.”
The music from Su Yao'er's zither snapped off like torn silk.
How could this be?
Her heart lurched in panic.
Though she was a woman of low status, her heart already belonged to someone. He had been her first patron, a gentle and handsome young gentleman.
She had long since sworn in her heart that she would marry no one but him.
*
But the truth could not be kept hidden forever.
That night, when General Gu arrived, his knuckles were clenched white. He kicked the bronze incense burner over, scattering the agarwood ashes across the floor.
The next day, Su Yao'er knelt before the madam, pressing her forehead to the blue bricks as she begged, “Please, Madam, give me a way out.”
“Three months,” the brothel keeper promised her.
“If you can keep the young general coming back day after day, I’ll return your contract of sale.”
So she learned how to please him in every way.
Pinned against the fragrant curtains, her delicate body offered up to him, she said, “If you grant me my freedom, General, I’ll do anything.”
He sneered. “Anything, you say?”
From then on, red candles burned late into every night, and the embroidered bedding churned like waves.
Her eyes were bound with silk. The hands of strange men and their heavy breathing crushed her, inch by inch.
She bit her lip and endured it, while all she heard by her ear was his icy mockery, every word piercing her heart.
“With a body that’s been used and ruined, you still think you can become respectable? Does the man you love know how you spend every night pleasing someone else in his bed?”
Her nails dug into her palm, and her tears fell without a sound.
Yes… who could ever want someone like her?
*
When the deadline arrived, she rushed out the door.
Beneath the vermilion lanterns stood a familiar figure.
The young man carelessly tore a sheet of thin paper to pieces, the scraps fluttering down around them.
“Your contract of sale?” Dark currents roiled in his eyes as his long, elegant fingers meaningfully brushed her sash.
“If you want it, beg me…”
Reader Advisory:
1. A fragile yet clear-eyed brothel courtesan x a sickly, obsessive young general.
2. Happy ending, the heroine is not a virgin but the hero is. Short story. The hero is unhinged; the second male lead is a gentle, unattainable love, but cowardly and no match for the hero. The heroine falls for the second male lead at first, then the hero abducts and dominates her.
3. The dynasty is fictional, so please don’t nitpick the historical details.
Theme: Be self-reliant and keep striving.
