A Beauty Beyond Compare

"My upcoming novels, Concubine and Beautiful Maid, are introduced below. Please add them to your reading list!"

After transmigrating, Qin Zhaoyun became the third daughter of a marquis, born to a concubine and known to everyone as Third Miss Qin. She had no ambitions to conquer the realm or show off her talents. She only hoped to find a husband she liked and live a quiet, ordinary life.

Unfortunately, the emperor wanted to win over a powerful minister, so he betrothed her to Fu Yunting, the military governor of Jingzhou, who had earned great merit suppressing a rebellion. Fu was descended from a once-prominent but now fallen noble family. He had fought his way to success on the battlefield and become a rising star in the capital, handsome and refined, yet ruthless in his methods.

One was a noblewoman from an illustrious family, the other a rising star. They seemed well matched, but there was one problem: years ago, Marquis Qin had personally led the men who confiscated Fu Yunting's family estate. The two families had been enemies ever since.

The emperor's action was meant to turn hostility into friendship. It would be best if Fu Yunting could let the past go. If he couldn't, he could kill Third Miss Qin to vent his anger. Sacrificing one Qin girl to secure peace, even temporarily, was undoubtedly a good bargain.

The day the imperial decree of betrothal arrived, Qin Zhaoyun felt as if a thunderbolt had struck her. Her peaceful life of many years vanished overnight. The wedding was set for the third day of the seventh month.

Fu Yunting, meanwhile, casually lifted the decree with his longsword, his gaze turning cold. They thought one marriage could erase all the old grudges? The Qin family was dreaming.

In Fu Yunting's eyes, Qin Zhaoyun was alluring and silver-tongued. He treated her coldly, and though she tried every way to please him, the enmity between their families kept him unmoved.

Then, in November of that same year, Third Miss Qin went boating on West Lake. Amid lightning, thunder, and raging waves, a huge swell capsized her boat. Fu Yunting searched for over half a month, but found nothing. There was not even a body to bury.

Draped in mourning white, Fu Yunting stood expressionlessly before Third Miss Qin's coffin and gave her a lavish burial in the family graveyard. With that, the old grudges between the Fu and Qin families were considered settled, and they would have nothing more to do with each other.

The following March, Fu Yunting was on campaign in Suzhou when he came across a woman who looked just like Third Miss Qin. He stared at her in a daze, remembering how Qin Zhaoyun had smiled like a flower on their wedding day. He sent someone to investigate her identity, only to discover that she was his supposedly dead wife.

Amid a shower of falling blossoms, Qin Zhaoyun carried a basket home. The moment she stepped inside, someone grabbed her by the throat and pinned her behind the door. His eyes were bloodshot. With a face twisted by fury, he squeezed her neck hard and snarled, "Third Miss Qin, I almost wish you had died at West Lake..."

From then on, no matter how capable she was, she could never escape his grasp.

1. Upcoming novel Concubine. Please add it to your reading list:

When Song Heng was promoted and recalled to the capital, a minor official spent a fortune to give him a beauty as a gift.

She had skin like ice and jade and a face like a flower. Even Song Heng, a man with a heart as still as water who kept his distance from women, couldn't help being tempted, and kept her by his side.

But despite her gentle appearance, she had a fiercely unyielding spirit and a remarkably strong-willed nature.

Song Heng exhausted every means at his disposal before finally managing to tame her.

During an intimate moment, he gently stroked her raven-black hair and said with a hint of pity, "As long as you stay by my side and behave, I won't mistreat you in the future."

The beauty, usually so fiercely defiant, obediently wrapped her arms around his neck and softly answered him.

Half a month later, Song Heng was ordered to inspect the south of the Yangtze River. When he returned to the capital, all he received was news of the beauty's death.

For a long time, he was distraught and unable to recover. He even called off his arranged marriage and became so unhinged that he wanted to marry her memorial tablet.

Three years later, Song Heng made another trip south. By then, he had become a powerful prince from a family without imperial blood. To his surprise, he encountered a beautiful married woman.

She was breathtakingly lovely, her every glance radiant, and looked exactly like his dead wife.

A storm of fury stirred in Song Heng's deep eyes. If he had been able to tame her once, he could do it a second time.

One day, he would make her submit completely.

To Fu Qingyu, Song Heng was a cage she could never escape. No matter how hard she tried, she would never be free of him.

But she was no swallow trapped in his hand. Even if they both had to be destroyed, she would leave him for good.

Song Heng was born into privilege, enjoyed a smooth rise in office, and came to possess the realm. Yet when it came to love, he suffered every torment imaginable.

Even if Fu Qingyu hated him to the core, he would never let her go.

2. Upcoming novel Beautiful Maid. Please add it to your reading list:

One spring day, as apricot blossoms fell in a light rain, Xie Qingyan happened upon a maid on his way back to the residence. From then on, his heart stirred, and he couldn't stop himself from falling for her.

With her slender waist and lovely face, she strolled through the estate holding a pale yellow oil-paper umbrella and effortlessly caught his eye.

Perhaps she heard someone calling her from behind. The beauty turned with a charming smile, her eyes shining as she glanced back. She was so stunning that she seemed almost unreal, dimming the spring splendor of the whole courtyard.

From the shadows, Xie Qingyan watched her for a long time. The more he looked, the more intrigued and feverish he became. A wildfire blazed inside him, and he wanted to make her his.

Any beauty he set his sights on was his to claim, even if he had to use every means at his disposal.

After she transmigrated, Gu Mingyu became a maid serving a young lady in the household. Her mistress was mild-tempered and kind to the servants. Gu Mingyu was content with her quiet, uneventful life. Her only wish was to save enough money to buy her freedom and leave the estate, so she could live a free and unrestrained life.

But when the heir of the household was promoted and returned to the capital, he took a liking to her and demanded that she become his concubine.

Gu Mingyu was naturally unwilling. On a rainy day, she hurried to plead with him beneath her oil-paper umbrella, then knelt on the ground, weeping. "My lord, please understand. I will never become a concubine..."

But all she received in return was the cold, uncompromising reply of a man as beautiful as carved jade: "It's your good fortune that I want you. If you refuse, you can always take your own life."

In the end, Gu Mingyu cried for a long time, but could only resign herself to her fate. She thought that one day, she would escape from his side.

In Xie Qingyan's eyes, Gu Mingyu was nothing more than a caged bird. As long as he held on to her, she would never fly from his grasp. But he never expected that she would risk her life to get away from him.

After her escape attempt was exposed, Xie Qingyan stood by the dock, his cool gaze fixed on her thin figure. His eyes held nothing but absolute certainty that he would get his way. "Gu Mingyu, if you come back, I can let bygones be bygones..."

He had always firmly believed that she could never leave him.

But before he could finish, Gu Mingyu laughed coldly. "Xie Qingyan, keep dreaming. Every day and night I spent with you made me sick."

With that, she jumped into the churning river without hesitation. Her frail figure was utterly resolute.

For a long time afterward, Xie Qingyan dreamed of her resolutely leaping into the river. At last, he understood that she had never been a swallow trapped in a cage.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Theme: Perseverance and determination.