Luring Jade with Joy

The story is complete and being revised. “The Emperor’s Captive Pearl,” another novel by the author, is now underway. [Childhood friends + possessive pursuit + marriage first, love later] Chu Youlian, heir to the Prince of Tan, was about to be married when an assailant drugged him at a banquet. By sheer coincidence, he and Yan Yujiao, the daughter of the Right Chancellor Yan, who had also been drugged by someone’s scheme, ended up sleeping together. The Grand Princess caught them in the act, and the scandal shook the entire capital… Chu Youlian was beaten until his skin split by the Prince of Tan, then made to kneel in confinement for several days and nights without food or water. Yan Yujiao fared no better. Chu Youlian might look cold, handsome, and frail, but he was exceptionally strong… She slept for three whole days. Before his wounds had even healed, Chu Youlian went to break off his engagement and petitioned for an imperial decree naming his former fiancée a county princess as compensation. A few days later, he got himself dressed up, brought lavish gifts, and set off to the Yan residence with gongs and drums, scattering money along the way as he went to ask for Yan Yujiao’s hand. The two families had once been close, so Madam Yan couldn’t simply turn him away, but she angrily refused to agree to the marriage. The Right Chancellor Yan didn’t dare offend the heir to the Prince of Tan, but feared his wife even more, so he kept changing the subject and saying nothing. In the end, Yan Yujiao had to step forward and accept the marriage to protect her reputation. This marriage was hardly respectable, and Yan Yujiao thought that afterward she would have to face a cold husband, in-laws who disliked her, and cruel gossip from the outside world. Who could have guessed that the Emperor valued Chu Youlian and would also elevate her to county princess? Thanks to the former friendship between the two families, her in-laws treated her like their own daughter, and her husband was exceptionally caring and attentive. At the capital’s famous social gatherings, she heard nothing but flattery and praise, not a word of gossip. Yan Yujiao found that married life was even more comfortable than her days before marriage. Until one day, she heard that the men who had drugged them at the banquet had all been caught. Indignant, she hurried to tell her husband. Her husband happened to be discussing important matters with his subordinates. She had no choice but to wait beneath the eaves. But through the window, she heard her husband say in a calm voice, “Of course he refuses to confess. I was the one who drugged myself.” * Reading notes: 1. The hero is about to be married and the heroine is about to be engaged, but their respective enemies set them up, and a twist of fate leaves them with no choice but to marry. 2. Childhood friends, one-on-one, both are each other’s first. An outwardly cool and abstinent but inwardly dark and scheming heir × an outwardly gentle, delicate but inwardly cheerful and resilient young lady. 3. The drugging the hero mentions at the end of the synopsis isn’t the same as the drugging the heroine thinks he means. It’s a misunderstanding, but the hero really did scheme to make the marriage happen. A short, sweet story, no angst, all warmth and love. Theme: You have to pursue what you want if you hope to have it