After I Took in a Maid

[My next angsty, taboo story is now open: The Parasitic Beauty's Husband-Murdering Revenge / 1V3 / All Villains]

"Clumsy Beauty Maid x Strong-Waisted, Scheming Master"

Qiao Wanmian was a shy young woman who had traded her wits for beauty, with a mind full of food and drink.

But her family of three couldn't put together a single complete brain, and even being reborn hadn't helped her prevent the family's decline.

With the family estate about to be swindled away just as it had been in her previous life, she refused to make the same mistake again. She wracked her brains and came up with only one solution:

Ask Xiao Yue, the Assistant Minister of the Court of Judicial Review who had secretly loved her in her previous life. That hateful man was terrifyingly fierce, but he could stand up for her family.

Unexpectedly, the price the Qiao family had to pay was signing ten-year indenture contracts for the entire family.

Qiao Wanmian lamented: 0.o Did I just get my whole family forcibly taken?

-

Xiao Yue was blessed with a face beyond compare, a strong waist and long legs, dressed in fine silks and riding fine horses,

But he was all show and no substance.

His smile never reached his eyes. He was violent, tyrannical, arrogant, and cold.

He had even once watched Qiao Wanmian die without lifting a finger to help. He was the person she feared most, in both her past and present lives.

Qiao Wanmian could never understand. He clearly had a secret crush on her,

Yet after tricking her into becoming his maid, he criticized everything she did.

Later, Qiao Wanmian finally understood how Xiao Yue's secret love for her showed itself:

Getting handsy and plotting to take advantage of her.

But little by little, Xiao Yue began giving her everything she wanted,

Offering her mountains of gold and silver and promising to spoil her without limit.

Qiao Wanmian, who had planned to bring a scholar into her family as a son-in-law, was moved. Maybe she could just settle for marrying Xiao Yue.

Until one day, after they woke up in each other's arms, Xiao Yue's attitude abruptly changed. He coldly drove her away.

Qiao Wanmian:

Fine, I'm going! I'm done serving you!!!

(`□′)╯┴┴

-

Xiao Yue was born into a prominent family and despised the decadent atmosphere of the current court. He was determined to fulfill his grandfather's dying wish and reclaim the lost territories.

But the maid who had been assigned to him kept stirring his heart, even though all he cared about was his career.

At first, Xiao Yue could watch her clumsy attempts at seduction coldly, sneering at her.

Later, in a moment of magnanimity, he decided to give the little maid a future once everything was settled.

But he never expected the little maid to take advantage of their few days apart and find herself a green-tea scholar to marry into her family.

Xiao Yue ground his teeth as he plotted his next move. No matter, the little maid is a complete sucker for handsome men. If I use my looks to win her over, she'll come around.

Little Scene:

The red candles burned down, and in the bed curtains, a pair of pale, delicate feet trembled as they pressed against the general's hot, sweat-dampened chest.

Covered in marks, the young woman sniffled. "Don't do it again... unless..."

His hoarse, teasing voice rang out. "Unless what?"

"Unless... you call me Master for once too..."

The general lowered his eyes, gently lifted the girl's foot, and reverently kissed the tip of her toe. "...Master."

-

Reading Guide:

1. 1V1, with love rivals competing for the male lead, SC, and a happy ending. Both leads are sexually inexperienced.

2. Also known as "The Growth of an Insecure Little Fool" and "A Handbook for Taming Dogs."

3. The female lead has no memories of her previous life, but occasionally dreams about it.

4. More or less a coming-of-age story about a strong, scheming older brother and a little fool who keeps falling for him, as they grow from awkward first love to shameless intimacy (not really).

5. Remember to turn on paragraph comments in the later chapters. Turn them on, turn them on, turn them on (three times).

6. The leads share a career-related storyline.

#The best kind of love isn't two people gazing at each other, but looking in the same direction together.#

My next story, "Why Worry About a Husband?", 1V1V1V1, please add it to your library.

[Delicate Parasitic Flower's Husband-Murdering Revenge, sequential 1V1 romances, all villains]

Jinzhao was the illegitimate daughter of a minor official, breathtakingly beautiful.

A slight tremble of her jade-white wrists could easily snare every greedy gaze,

But after being told her fate would bring ruin to her family, she grew up in a nunnery.

She thought she would spend the rest of her life accompanied by the monastery's green lanterns, until she met the incomparably noble young minister of great power, Pei Zhiyan, outside the convent.

He defied all opposition and married her.

-

Pei Zhiyan respected and protected her. At night, he would kiss the corners of her eyes over and over, asking if she was only crying for him.

But she always shook her head.

Her uncle's family, her elder brother, her parents, one after another, died unjustly.

All her beloved family and friends were gone, leaving only Pei Zhiyan.

Every night before bed, Pei Zhiyan would stroke the top of her head. "Don't be afraid, my dear. Your husband is always here."

Only by gripping a strand of his black hair could she close her eyes until morning.

-

Until one night, she woke with the space beside her cold. Jinzhao searched for her husband barefoot,

Only to see the husband who was usually as pure and refined as an immortal, dressed in white with his back to a bodhi tree, cutting into the servant who had helped her earlier that day, again and again.

A chill crept over her. The past came tumbling down like a row of dominoes, and the hidden thorns of the truth sprang up, bursting the delicate bubbles Jinzhao had desperately tried to keep before her eyes.

Her parents, brother, uncle, even her closest friend. Had she brought about their deaths, or...

-

With no one to rely on, Jinzhao could only hold back her trembling and continue playing the parasitic flower.

Until one night, as she was being taken without restraint, her gaze slipped through the carved wooden screen before her,

And met the eyes of her husband's cousin, his younger cousin Pei Zhixing.

She quietly shifted to block him from view,

Blooming like a white epiphyllum before her husband.

While her brother was away, Pei Zhixing smiled, his eyes glistening, and tenderly cradled Jinzhao's bare foot.

"Sister, you know now, don't you? Let me kill him for you, all right?"

Jinzhao gently pressed her toes against his cheek and whispered, "I hear you're close with the Crown Prince. If you could introduce me to him, that would be even better."

-

On the night the Pei family fell, a small sedan chair passed through the blazing lights and entered the imperial palace.

The Crown Prince, now emperor, lifted the last veil. "I've killed them all. There's nothing left between us now."

Theme: There will always be someone who can save you as you save them.