Raising the Delicate Golden Branch

Li Jiayue has skin as fair as snow, lovely brows, and pearly teeth. She is the most esteemed little princess in the dynasty.

The little princess loves fine clothes, delicious food, and, above all, beautiful men.

Any handsome man who catches her eye, regardless of status or station, is brought into her estate.

At the Qionglin Banquet, the emperor hosts the newly graduated scholars.

Seated to one side, the little princess chews on a spring pancake and comments, “The graduates this year are rather ordinary-looking. They’re nowhere near as handsome as the men in my household.”

Then Pei Ji, the third-place winner, appears in a scarlet robe with a flower tucked into his hat. His sword-shaped brows sweep toward his temples, and his bearing is so graceful and striking that no one can compare.

That night, in the emperor’s palace.

The little princess: “Father, I want him!! Aaaah, I want him!!! I want him, I want him, I want him!! I want him, I want him, I want him!”

The emperor: “All right, all right, my darling. The floor is cold. Get up and tell me properly.”

*

After years of hard study, Pei Ji finally passed the exams and was named the princess’s consort.

His colleagues all said he was lucky: double happiness, and a single leap to the top.

Thinking of the princess, who was said to keep ninety-nine peerlessly beautiful male favorites in her household, Pei Ji sneered inwardly.

On their wedding night, he looked peerlessly handsome in his dazzling wedding robes, but his voice was icy. “I cannot disobey the imperial decree, but Your Highness should understand that I have no feelings for you.”

The little princess: “All right, all right. Just don’t say anything yet.”

Pei Ji: “...?”

The little princess blinked. “You really do look better when you’re quiet.”

Pei Ji: “...”

Was there anything in her head besides handsome men?

*

Three years later, at another Qionglin Banquet.

Pei Ji unhurriedly picks fish bones from the princess’s meal. “Your Highness, is he handsome?”

The little princess: “Huh?”

Pei Ji: “Your eyes are practically glued to that third-place winner’s face. Why don’t you call him over so you can get a better look?”

The little princess: “Can I? o.0”

Pei Ji: “:)”

1. A shameless beauty-lover with max-level obliviousness x a cool, uptight, nurturing third-place winner

2. One couple, both each other’s first; marriage before love; face-slapping and then falling head over heels

3. The heroine is purely a face-con: she can’t look away whenever she sees a beauty

4. Please don’t invent extra details. Posts that derail, attack people, start malicious arguments, or make false warnings will be deleted. Friendly discussion is welcome. Let’s keep this a harmonious place to read!

Reposting is prohibited. Infringements will be pursued.

Please add my next sweet marriage-before-love story, The Commoner Princess, to your reading list

The Yu family has a daughter named A Li, blessed with the finest beauty for miles around, but also the most lowly and stigmatized background: she works collecting bodies for the mortuary.

She is already past sixteen, yet no respectable family has come to ask for her hand. Her grandfather, the only family she has, is worried sick.

One day, in a torrential downpour, the grandfather and granddaughter find a “corpse” dressed in fine clothes.

After struggling to bring him back to the mortuary, they discover in the middle of the night that he is not dead after all.

The man claims to be a wealthy merchant named Zhao, robbed by bandits while traveling for business.

To repay them for saving his life, he promises to grant the pair one wish.

Old Yu can’t refuse. “I’m an old man with little time left and no other wish. Could you find my granddaughter a suitable marriage? Not as a concubine, but as a wife.”

Moved by their deep affection for each other, Master Zhao takes out a white jade pendant. “I have five grandsons who are still unmarried. If Miss A Li likes one of them, I’ll arrange the betrothal gifts and formal rites, then send an eight-person sedan chair to welcome her as my grandson’s bride.”

Old Yu is tempted and looks at A Li.

A Li has no wish to marry, but to put her grandfather’s mind at ease, she accepts the jade pendant. “I’ll go with you, Master Zhao.”

Zhao Yuanyu, eldest legitimate son of Prince Qi and the fourth grandson of the founding emperor.

Handsome and refined, clever from a young age, upright and composed, he is the finest among the imperial grandsons.

One day, an urgent summons arrives from the palace.

He and his four cousins stand in a row in the hall.

A young woman in a green gauze skirt steps out from behind a screen. Her dark hair is piled high, her face is as lovely as an apricot blossom, her cheeks are rosy as fresh lychees, and her waist is as slender as a willow.

The imperial grandfather says to her, “A Li, come closer. Take a good look and choose carefully.”

She keeps a straight face and purses her lips as she slowly descends the steps.

Before she reaches them, she slips, and a white jade pendant flies straight at Zhao Yuanyu’s head.

[Reading Guide]

*A gentle, resilient little wildflower x a stuffy, refined imperial heir

*Marriage before love / everyday life / sweet romance / one couple, both each other’s first

*This work has been archived. Please don’t falsely claim ownership.

Theme: A fine day in spring, a match made in heaven