Offering Spring's Charm

The Marquis of Yongning’s household kept a beautiful young woman. The marquis, scheming to use her as a femme fatale, shut her inside a beauty box and presented her to the new emperor, Xie Xuan, as tribute. Everyone said Wen Lizhu was so beautiful that no man alive could resist her. She thought the new emperor would be no different. But the first time they met, he turned her away. Wen Lizhu couldn’t figure it out. Could it be that the new emperor preferred men? Grinding her teeth, Wen Lizhu swallowed her pride, changed into a young eunuch’s clothes, and ambushed the new emperor on the path he took every night. * At first, Wen Lizhu only pretended to flirt with Xie Xuan to save her mother’s life. Later, as she watched Xie Xuan take one consort after another into his palace, her heart truly bled. An emperor’s heart was fickle, and she feared she was sinking deeper and deeper into her feelings for him. So she deliberately began to distance herself, yet still couldn’t help stealing glances at him from the crowd. * Xie Xuan had always known that Wen Lizhu approached him for reasons that were never pure. But watching her follow him time and again, carefully copying his mannerisms, he still couldn’t help smiling. When he read history books, Wen Lizhu began reading them too, doing her best to imitate him. When he spoke with restraint and coldness, Wen Lizhu secretly practiced speaking that way in front of her dressing table in the middle of the night. So he taught her to ride and shoot, and she learned in earnest. He taught her how to strategize, and she put it to good use. He taught her how to make a clean escape, and she put it into practice in no time. So quickly that even he failed to realize she had never loved him. But he forgot that Wen Lizhu was a rose he had trained with his own hands, and his influence was stamped all over her. * [Bonus Scene] The moon shone bright, but no lamps were lit in the hall. From behind the screen came the mingled breathing of the Empress Dowager and a monk. Xie Xuan hooked an arm around Wen Lizhu’s waist. “Are you scared?” Wen Lizhu taunted him. “What do you think the Empress Dowager would do if she knew that the man sharing her bed tonight wasn’t you?” Xie Xuan sneered. “I’d like to try sharing in their passion, too.” The Empress Dowager’s moans continued, and Xie Xuan’s lips gently came down on hers. Reader’s Guide: The new emperor is the Empress Dowager’s adopted son. They are not related by blood. The blurb has been saved as a screenshot. Theme: Follow your heart toward freedom, break your chains and become a light.