Forced possession / powerful man lowering his head / explicit scenes / groveling pursuit after a breakup / age gap
Steadfast, resilient beauty ✖️ Feudal patriarch in a position of power
Jiang Zhi was born in the countryside. After she came of age, her family arranged a marriage for her. She and her betrothed, Song Yu, had grown up together and shared a deep affection.
But the day before their wedding, she was abducted for reasons unknown and slandered. Then family secrets came to light, revealing that her entire family had become lowly slaves. Song Yu hastily cut ties with her... As she struggled to find a way to survive, she saw again the general who had come to deliver an imperial edict that day.
Only then did she learn that he was Pei Yanpu, the dynasty's chief minister.
To find a way to survive, she climbed into his carriage.
Pei Yanpu's gaze swept down over her. He spoke coldly.
"Offering yourself to my bed. Shameless."
So when he pinned her against a screen a few days later, she was completely baffled... Why had he suddenly granted her wish?
From then on, she became his concubine. He was a man of deep schemes, and she endured no shortage of torment. But he protected her family, so she had planned to simply endure things day by day. Who could have guessed that the truth would come out: he had orchestrated everything.
Song Yu found a way to tell her all he had uncovered, including how he had once been framed and how he had cut ties with Jiang Zhi.
That night, at his request, Jiang Zhi cautiously tried to sound Pei Yanpu out.
But she had barely begun when Pei Yanpu interrupted with a soft laugh.
He fixed his gaze on her trembling lips, his brows drawing together, his eyes turning icy. In an instant, a chill crept up from Jiang Zhi's tailbone. She heard him ask,
"Who taught you to say that?"
*
Pei Yanpu schemed and plotted, wielding life and death, to settle the score from years ago.
In his eyes, Jiang Zhi was nothing more than a tool to be discarded whenever she was no longer useful.
That is, until she devised a plan to flee his side without looking back.
That night, his guards heard the usually restrained and composed Minister Pei kick the table beside him. After letting out a long breath, he coldly summoned someone to arrange everything. Then he sat alone in the Hall of Self-Discipline, motionless, until the first light of dawn.
The next day.
After safely sailing away from the dock, Jiang Zhi finally managed to catch her breath.
She looked back. Fog engulfed the ferry crossing, making it impossible to see clearly. But as she looked at her mother and Song Yu behind her, her heart gradually settled.
Then, in the very next instant, a sharp sword cut through the swirling white mist and grazed her ear. Blood gushed out behind her and splattered across her cheek.
Song Yu then crashed heavily at her feet, barely breathing.
The people around them scattered like startled birds. Jiang Zhi's mind went blank. Once again, she saw Pei Yanpu, his face cold and impassive.
He asked her, "Lost your way?"
(Content warnings)
1. Old-school melodramatic forced possession and groveling pursuit after a breakup
2. The heroine is tormented in the first half, the hero in the second
3. The hero is a feudal patriarch in a position of power. His lofty status, authority, personality, and other traits have warped the way he treats people and handles things. He is deeply controlling and behaves terribly in the first half.
Blurb written on September 24, 2026
Theme: All that matters is being happy!
