The Moon Shines Softly Over the Pear Blossom Courtyard

No paid chapters until the story is complete; updates whenever inspiration strikes

[Willful, free-spirited princess x aloof, world-weary top scholar]

Princess Xiao Ying of Changle was pampered and cherished from childhood.

The day she first saw Shen Que by the Qujiang Pool, with fresh spring willows swaying by the shore, none of the hundred or so successful candidates could match the top scholar's brilliance.

She loved beautiful things, so she chose him as her prince consort. She never expected that after just half a year, their incompatible temperaments would leave them unable to stand the sight of each other.

She was plotting a divorce when, by a twist of fate, she slept for three days and awoke believing they were the married couple in a storybook she'd recently been reading.

The kind who were inseparable and deeply in love.

When she heard he was staying in the front courtyard, she stomped after him. "We're married, yet we live apart. How is that any different from being a widow in all but name?"

"I can put up with anything, but I won't put up with this!"

Shen Que, the new top scholar, was dazzlingly talented, refined, and charming.

Those who befriended him felt as if they were basking in a spring breeze, but no one knew how cold and indifferent he was beneath that moon-bright elegance.

He was sick of this mundane world of fame and fortune, yet had no choice but to navigate it. Just as everyone had taught him, he tirelessly schemed and strove, all to clear his family's name.

He despised himself. Simply "living" each day was already more than he could bear.

Until one day, a girl who was usually picky and arrogant ignored the mess around her, held him tight, and told him, "You're wonderful. I love you."

He despised romance and had extinguished his own desires.

But she kissed him. "Love isn't desire."

[Bonus Scene]

Shen Que had always known that Xiao Ying had merely damaged her mind with a fever. Whether she recovered or not made no difference to him.

She was so delicate, naive, and shallow.

Naturally, there was no way he could like her.

Even if he showed her tenderness now and then, it was only an act, or a way to use her.

On their first night in the same bed, he deliberately kept his distance, but she treated him like a human hand warmer. In the middle of the night, a pair of jade-white arms wrapped tightly around him

Shen Que opened his eyes without a trace of emotion and stayed awake all night.

The next day, he still changed into a thicker silk sleeping robe.

When Xiao Ying came out of the bath, she saw the top scholar dressed in a Daoist robe, which made his face look even more exquisitely handsome. Pleased, she leaned in and gave him a loud kiss, then put on a debonair act. "Where did this handsome little Daoist come from?"

Shen Que: "..."

Winter gave way to spring, warmth returned, and the animals stirred from hibernation. Shen Que bathed early in the morning and changed into the sleeping robe Xiao Ying had praised the day before, but she never came.

He walked toward the adjoining room and saw Xiao Ying under the lamplight, her expression shifting as she held the divorce agreement he'd hidden away earlier.

In that instant, the heart that had always been as still as an ancient well came crashing down.

Reading guide:

1. A phony x a straightforward sweetheart, both leads' first, happy ending

2. At heart, it's a romance. Not a typical groveling-for-forgiveness story, with a supporting character who transmigrates.

Completed works: Spring Comes in Ying Shi and Alone in the Spring Boudoir, sweet historical romances for your enjoyment.

Theme: Though worn down and battered, he became a man of unmatched integrity