Jade Locked in the Golden Hall

Arranged marriage to love / winning back his wife / possessive pursuit / bittersweet romance

[Ruthless, violent, ambitious emperor x warm, resilient beauty]

Everyone envied Lin Yuming when she married Prince Yan. He was handsome and powerful, had earned great military honors at a young age, and was a rare catch.

As the least remarkable daughter of the Lin family, Yuming had once spent sleepless nights eagerly imagining her future.

The wedding hall blazed with light, the red candles burned down, and she sat alone in an empty room all night.

Only later did Yuming learn that Prince Yan was at odds with the Lin family, and so he hated her as well. To make her life more bearable, she tread carefully in the manor and went out of her way to please him.

His moods were unpredictable, and he often teased and tormented her.

At last, Yuming gave up all hope, snuffed out her feelings, and kept her distance from him at every opportunity.

*

Who could have guessed that his gaze toward her would grow increasingly strange?

He even insisted on sharing her bed every night, using every trick he could think of to torment her when they were together.

After he kept her up half the night, Yuming could take no more. She gave him two extra doses of sleeping draught, then packed a bundle and slipped away under cover of darkness.

It was late, the night damp with dew, and she had not gone even ten miles.

A large force of armored soldiers surrounded her, their figures looming in the darkness. Their leader wore black and sat astride a tall horse. He smiled beautifully and called her by name with intimate familiarity.

Yuming trembled and looked back, biting her lip.

"Wife, you drugged me and ran?" he asked with a smile.

*

Chen Xuansi disliked the imperial marriage arrangement, and he disliked the Lin family even more. The first time he met her, he killed two assassins right in front of her.

She saluted him, her hair black as ink, her neck slender and pale, jade earrings swaying gently. When she looked up, her almond-shaped eyes were misty, and her soft voice trembled, though she still tried to appear calm.

He had never liked such delicate people. But as he kept her, he came to find her rather pleasant, and provided her with fine clothes and food every day.

He never imagined she would want to escape.

Chen Xuansi would stop at nothing to drag her back. He planned to make her empress when he ascended the throne, but after taking the throne, the news that reached him was that she had fallen off a cliff.

*

He searched for her for three whole years, sleepless every night, sitting alone until dawn as the water clock dripped on.

At last, during his southern tour, he saw her again.

Beneath a crabapple tree, she laughed and chatted with someone, as bright and carefree as ever. But her smiling eyes would never look at him again.

The emperor, high above all others, never imagined he would humble himself and plead so abjectly for someone.

All for the sake of one glance from her.

Winning back his wife / possessive pursuit / bittersweet romance / HE / both leads' first love

Meaning: Love is respect and devotion, not taking without giving.