Begonia Blossoms Drunk in the Sun

My next book is a forced-love story, The Debt of Romance. Please add it to your reading lists, everyone!

The forced-love plot begins in Chapter 21 | Ruthless, domineering emperor vs. patient, clever beauty

After Crown Prince Zhao Mingfei was deposed, he naturally had no affection for the wife forced on him as a substitute.

But Jiang Niantang loved him wholeheartedly. She secretly watched him practice swordsmanship, took care of everything in the cold palace for him, and spent night after night sewing his clothes.

When she looked at him, her bright eyes reflected a sky full of stars.

Zhao Mingfei looked down on her inwardly, but said gently, “Our marriage arrangement no longer counts. You don’t have to do all this.”

The star-brightness in Jiang Niantang’s eyes instantly faded.

Yet she was still willing to die alongside him.

Zhao Mingfei was fair in his rewards and punishments, and made an exception to teach her painting.

She liked painting him, and said she liked seeing him smile.

He lowered his eyes to study Jiang Niantang’s focused profile. His heart felt as if a brush tip had swept across it.

Until the night of the empress’s enthronement ceremony, when she lay in his arms and called out another man’s name.

Zhao Mingfei’s gentle expression turned vicious and terrifying in an instant.

So the man she painted wasn’t him.

And the way he smiled was what reminded her most of the man she loved.

In a dim prison cell, Zhao Mingfei pressed Jiang Niantang into a damp corner.

Not far away, the man she loved, risen from the dead, lay on the floor, barely alive.

His eyes curved slightly, a cruel smile appearing on his face.

“Has he kissed you?”

“Can he make you cry like this?”

“Can you tell the difference between him and me now?”

[Bonus Scene]

The man Jiang Niantang loved returned in triumph, his military achievements renowned.

On the day the army entered the capital, the emperor and empress went up to the city gate to welcome them.

Across the tall wall, Jiang Niantang and the man she loved gazed into each other’s eyes, their words left unspoken.

Zhao Mingfei watched coldly, then casually reached over to brush a loose strand of hair from his wife’s ear.

He thought impassively that they had been childhood sweethearts, innocent and devoted. If they had married, they surely would have been a couple everyone envied.

But life offered no what-ifs.

She was already his wife. They would share a bed in life and a grave in death. There was no other way.

[Read Before You Start: Content Warnings!]

1. This is an old-school, melodramatic novel packed with tropes: marriage before love, forced love, faking death and running away while pregnant, and the hero’s long road to winning her back. The melodrama is dialed up to the max. [Not a fluffy romance!] Happy ending! Only one partner!

2. Everything in the story serves the forced-love plot. If you haven’t read this kind of story before, proceed with caution. If you have, jump right in!

3. If you’re here for the heroine, this book isn’t for you. If you don’t like it, please stop reading; no need to tell me you’re dropping it. Don’t ignore the warning and then complain that the heroine is being mistreated. Not a single word in this blurb says this is a sweet romance. No one is forcing anyone to buy or subscribe to the whole book.

4. If you read pirated copies, don’t comment. I’ll delete your comments. I write for my own tastes and only want readers who enjoy this kind of story. Please respect people’s preferences.

Recommended completed forced-love story: The Bright Moon Shines on Jiuzhou

My next book is a forced-love story, The Debt of Romance.

[Ruthless, unscrupulous warlord vs. resilient, unyielding beauty]

Ever since Su Muyao learned that the new Commissioner was named Wei Linyan, she had suffered nightmares every night.

Back then, to protect the future of the man she loved, Su Muyao concealed the truth, leaving Wei Linyan to take the blame and suffer severe punishment.

As he was driven out of the academy, the boy, covered in wounds, shot her an impassive glance.

Several years passed, and Wei Linyan became a powerful general.

Every aristocratic family that had once offended him was either executed in its entirety or imprisoned and exiled. No one escaped.

Su Muyao prayed day and night that their paths would never cross again.

Now the Su family had fallen into decline, and she was dependent on others. If he came to take revenge, crushing her would be as easy as stepping on an ant.

Who could have guessed that Wei Linyan would arrive with a sword at an ordinary family banquet?

The guests trembled as they welcomed him.

But he parted the crowd and walked toward Su Muyao, his eyes dark.

Wei Linyan smiled. “It’s been so long, Miss Su. Won’t you invite me to a drink?”

In the shadows, the cold hilt of his sword pressed against Su Muyao’s slender lower back. Through her thin spring gown, it slowly ground against her spine, inch by inch.

Her stiff fingers could barely hold the wine cup.

Seeing her frightened face, wet with tears, Wei Linyan smiled even more deeply.

As their cups touched, he leaned close, his voice husky.

“I’ve come back. Are you happy?”

*

After gaining power, Wei Linyan sent his enemies to their graves one by one.

The moment he entered Lingcheng, he came across one fish that had slipped through the net.

Su Muyao wore coarse clothes and a gray skirt, fallen into dire straits.

He inwardly scoffed at life’s twists and turns. He had climbed the ladder to success, while she had sunk into the mud of the ordinary world.

He heard that she had spent these years dependent on others and suffering one indignity after another. She wasn’t even worth the effort of dealing with.

But at their reunion over a banquet, the moment those clear, dewy eyes settled on him, his numb heart stirred for the first time in years.

How could he let an enemy go so easily?

[Reading Guide]

A forced-love story to treat yourself.

One-on-one, equal parts plot and romance. You could call it sweet (I’m laughing as I type that).

Theme: Have the courage to face your own heart.