The main story is complete, and the extras are updating.
1
After moving to the prince’s estate with her mother, Zheng Yao found herself in an awkward position. With no one to confide in, she wrote down her troubles and tossed them into the clear stream.
【The food is cold and greasy.】
【My knees hurt, and my back aches too. Should I ask the doctor to come tomorrow so I can sleep in?】
As the twelfth lunar month approached, she wrote: 【I want a beautiful new winter outfit.】
When her mother was bedridden, she made a wish: 【May families across the land be reunited, free from sickness and disaster.】
At first, she had only been writing down her troubles to get them off her chest. Who could have guessed that within days, the estate would hire a new cook, and the steward would bring her fabric?
Then a physician with an otherworldly air came to visit, and her mother’s cough began to improve!
Zheng Yao was astonished to discover that the wishes she’d sent floating down the stream seemed to be coming true, one by one.
Perhaps there was a benevolent deity in the stream, one who liked helping people.
Living under another’s roof, Zheng Yao felt as rootless as duckweed. All her other worries paled beside the question of her future marriage.
So she tentatively made a request of the deity.
The next day, her cousin, the heir to the title, appeared out of the blue and summoned her. He was a man of rare talent, as radiant as the moon behind clouds, but had been living in seclusion at a detached residence ever since he was injured.
2
Xie You, heir to the Prince of Qin, was a man of exceptional talent in both letters and arms, with a brilliant future ahead of him. But a leg injury had forced him to leave court.
The once-favored son of heaven shut his doors to visitors, and rumors said he had become a gloomy, changed man. The families who had been discussing marriage with him promptly distanced themselves, while his younger siblings avoided him as well.
At the detached residence, the clear stream murmured, carrying a young woman’s private thoughts downstream.
They were small matters, easy enough to take care of.
Xie You: “Very well.”
Until, one day…
【All my sisters have found someone. I, too, hope to meet a good man, our families well matched, and spend the rest of my life without worries.】
Xie You: “…Hah.”
3
Zheng Yao looked at the young man pressing in on her and cornering her. She was on the verge of tears.
“Why has the deity stopped answering my wishes…?”
Xie You’s lips curled. He brushed a thumb over the tear on her reddened cheek.
“Yao Yao, now it’s your turn to fulfill your vow.”
Reader’s guide:
1) Sweet, gentle cousin staying with the family x refined, gentle gentleman
2) A sweet, everyday romance, with the plot serving the love story
Coming soon: Dreaming Together with a Nobleman from a Great Family. Blurb:
Jin was an unremarkable maid, but lately she thought she must be sick.
A girl who had always been timid, she kept dreaming about a lecherous man.
His hands were long and slender, his fingertips scorching hot, slightly calloused as they brushed against her.
His voice was low, grazing her ear and making her tremble, her legs going weak with pleasure.
He was impatient, too. They had known each other for less than half a month, and already he was insisting they meet.
Jin agreed, humiliated and resentful.
Late at night, she hid in the bushes and heard the familiar sound of footsteps.
She peeked out, but when she saw the person approaching, she suddenly swallowed her gasp.
What “lecher”? The man was the legitimate eldest son of the household, the cold, ascetic top graduate of the palace examinations!
He had been posted away from the capital, and Jin had never met him before.
…Much less seen him so obsessive and out of control in her dreams.
2
Xiao Yun was a steady man who never overstepped. He was always measured and proper.
Yet on the very night he returned to the household, he dreamed of spring.
A young woman was trapped beneath the bed curtains, her lips and cheeks flushed, tears glistening in her eyes.
The strange dreams grew more outrageous by the day. Unable to control himself, Xiao Yun suspected that someone was using sorcery to manipulate his dreams.
At first, he was furious at her audacity and wild imaginings. He even found the scent on her body irritating.
But every time he woke, he had forgotten her face completely.
To uncover the person behind it all, Xiao Yun pretended to give in and arranged to meet her: “Tomorrow, at half past seven, meet me by the artificial hill in the back garden.”
The young woman, her hairpins askew and her hair in disarray, answered sweetly.
But when he arrived as promised, no one was there.
?
Why hadn’t she come?
The cold, ascetic nobleman interrogated her with “severe punishments” in his dreams: “Was I not good enough?”
“Do you like this… or this?”
When he realized the dreams were no longer being controlled, he said, “Then let’s try them all.”
3
One day, a new maid bumped into the top graduate of the palace examinations and accidentally knocked over a potted plant. As she hurriedly bowed her head to apologize, he didn’t even look at her, only said calmly, “It’s all right.”
Her companions praised him, saying the top graduate was a magnanimous and kind gentleman.
That night, in a lavish bedroom, Jin knelt on the floor in her thin nightclothes.
Xiao Yun sat in a round-backed chair, his long legs crossed as he breathed in the faint gardenia scent at her neck.
When he saw her lashes trembling, he smiled slightly.
“Jin, you walked right into my trap.”
Theme: When there are no worldly troubles on your mind, every season is a good one.
It made me laugh so hard. I immediately discovered [dog head]. When I saw this word, I thought of maple leaves, flowers and autumn leaves.
Persimmon: Am I not your favorite brother? [Poor]
Kavin's wife is not a good wife [crying] [crying] [crying]
Ah ah, are you going to be locked up?
It's really delicious [shy][shy] faster and faster [please][please]
I was stunned. I waited until the end of the text to start reading. How come I tied it all of a sudden? ? ? [Crying]
[Orange candy] I got it [Orange candy] I got it [Orange candy] I got it
Persimmon is so shameless
[Milk Tea] Not to mention I haven't discovered this homophone yet
I can't be gentle, so how should I teach you next? [Dog head] [orange candy] I've eaten [purple candy] kswl