Ballad of Golden Temples

[This novel has been revised many times. Pirated versions are incomplete and jumbled, so I take no responsibility for them. Please support the official version!]

Ming Ying was graceful and slender, with skin as smooth as jade. Born into the life of a trained courtesan, she was fortunate enough to be redeemed by Pei Xiao Yun, the eldest young master of the Pei family, who kept her in his chambers to serve him.

Grateful to him, she decided he would be the one she relied on for the rest of her life.

He loved listening to pipa music and watching dances, so she would dance all night in the cold wind. He had peculiar tastes in bed, so she swallowed her shame and served him.

But all her admiration for her master was stifled by his words: "Who do you think you are? Don't forget your place."

She knew her status was low and did not dare hope for more. As long as he could still tolerate her, that was enough.

Once, she heard him promise his childhood sweetheart, the county princess: "I pity her frailty and helplessness, so I'll raise her to the status of a concubine. Just think of her as a cat or a dog. Don't make trouble for her and upset yourself."

So she was only a cat or a dog, not even a person.

That night, thunder roared as she suffered a hemorrhage during childbirth. She heard a servant tell the doctor, "Before the master left, he said that if the birth went badly, the child in her womb must be saved at all costs."

Ming Ying's tears turned cold.

The man's callous hypocrisy made her finally see the truth.

Even if she had been born beneath everyone else, she did not want to spend her whole life as his plaything.

She smashed the pipa she had used to please him and left.

*

Pei Xiao Yun, eldest young master of the Pei family, often went to a certain villa, where he would stay the entire night. When people teased him about keeping a beauty hidden away, he merely smiled. "She's just a plaything I happen to like."

When his marriage to the county princess was arranged as promised, he brought Ming Ying back to the estate. He would marry his principal wife and make Ming Ying his concubine. Given her status, becoming a concubine was already a blessing beyond her wildest dreams.

He knew she was bullied and tormented in the women's quarters. He stood up for her, then told her, "Don't be so delicate. Just put up with it."

That was simply her nature. She could bear hardship and swallow her tears. A little coaxing would set things right.

After three months away from the estate in the south, he returned to find she had given birth to his child.

But he could not find her anywhere. Everyone in the household said she had died from a hemorrhage during a difficult delivery, and that even her remains had been buried.

He refused to believe it, but searched like a madman and still could not find her.

For many nights afterward, she was no longer by his side. All that remained was a cold, lonely bed.

*

Three years later, Pei Xiao Yun headed south once more. His maternal uncle's son was getting married, and while inspecting Jiangnan Circuit, he was invited to the wedding feast. Drums and gongs filled the estate.

When the bride's fan was lifted, he saw the face he had yearned for day and night and was stunned. Ming Ying was someone else's wife, standing alive before him and holding his cousin's hand. Her bridal makeup was fresh, her cheeks as rosy as peach blossoms.

When the newlyweds came to offer him a toast, he stared fixedly at Ming Ying.

Ming Ying presented him with a cup of wine and smiled gently. "This is my first time meeting Second Young Master, so naturally we aren't familiar. I should be the one to offer him a toast."

The warm wine slid down his throat, but Pei Xiao Yun's heart burned with bitter anguish.

On their wedding night, armed guards stormed into the estate and forcibly tore the newlyweds apart.

He gripped Ming Ying's hand and, right in front of her husband, forced her into the bridal bed. "First time meeting? You were my cousin's sister-in-law, and you already bore me a child. And you still say we aren't familiar?"

1v1, both leads are sexually inexperienced. Fair warning: the male lead is awful, truly awful, at the beginning, just as the blurb shows.

Over-the-top, old-fashioned dog-blood drama with a forceful pursuit. If that's not for you, proceed with caution.

Coming next: Don't Become My Late Husband's Brother's Concubine. Please add it to your collection. It will be my next book!

[Sharp and clever transmigrated woman x Cunning elder brother-in-law who always has the upper hand]

Yun Qi was born into a modern family of herbal medicine practitioners. In a single moment, she transmigrated into the widow of the second young master of the Duke of Sui's household.

The household looked down on her humble rural origins and accused her of using her charms to marry into a prominent family. They bullied and oppressed her in every way.

On the surface, Yun Qi acted sweet and obedient, smiling as she served her elders. In reality, she was constantly plotting her escape from the grand estate.

At last, her chance came. With a carefully laid plan, she managed to escape the estate under cover of night.

On the boat leaving the capital, authorities were searching for political rebels. Yun Qi accidentally boarded a pirate ship and was mistaken for a traitor. Bound from head to toe, she was taken to prison.

The official assigned to the case turned out to be her never-before-seen "elder brother-in-law," Xie Xia, heir to the Duke of Sui's household. After three years inspecting Jiangnan, he had been summoned back to the capital and, though not yet thirty, had risen to the position of deputy chief minister.

To save her life, Yun Qi had no choice but to reveal her identity and plead desperately, "I'm innocent! Please, sir, save me."

*

After confirming who she was, Xie Xia eventually took her back to the estate.

Her escape had been exposed, and from then on Yun Qi had to tread even more carefully.

By chance, she heard that Xie Xia had developed a debilitating headache after being poisoned. Hoping to secure his protection for the time being, she promised she could cure him. Once he recovered, he could decide to open the ancestral hall, repudiate his brother's widow, and set her free.

Xie Xia didn't take her promise to heart.

A penniless country girl who had used every trick to bewitch his second brother, then fled with all her belongings. She really was a calamity.

As it happened, he was troubled by his illness and wanted to see what this woman was capable of. With a faint, unreadable smile, he agreed. "If you don't want to stay, our family won't force you."

So Yun Qi got her wish and moved into the Chixue Garden. From then on, she had warm charcoal at night, and her roof no longer leaked. To earn her freedom, she prepared medicine for Xie Xia day and night, attended to him diligently, and endured every difficulty he put her through.

At last, Xie Xia recovered, and she eagerly asked him to let her leave the estate.

Xie Xia replied casually, "It's fine if you don't want to remain a widow for him. I'll keep my promise and decide the matter myself."

Yun Qi was overjoyed, but Xie Xia reached out and patted her cheek. "From now on, you'll be my concubine."

Yun Qi was instantly struck as if by a bolt of thunder.

*

At first, Xie Xia detested Yun Qi. She was vain and flirtatious, and he thought his second brother had been foolish to marry a woman like her.

But when he saw her stay up all night with bloodshot eyes to prepare his medicine, and effortlessly cure his strange poison, he realized she wasn't just cunning. She had genuine talent, too.

With the right discipline, perhaps she could change her ways.

His family said she was unconventional, so he would teach her properly how to be a virtuous wife.

He proposed that she become his concubine. Although she was unwilling, she eventually agreed.

That night, he drank the medicinal soup she brought him and fell asleep.

When he woke, she had done the same thing again and escaped.

Seeing the lingering lipstick mark on the pillow beside him, Xie Xia flew into a rage.

He had reached the highest ranks of the court and enjoyed boundless power and glory. Whatever he wanted, countless people would eagerly bring it to him.

Only Yun Qi, a mere woman, dared to defy him again and again.

He would lay an inescapable trap and drag her back, no matter what it took.

Notes: 1. The female lead transmigrates. Her original body had a husband, so she is not sexually inexperienced. The male lead is.

2. 1v1, happy ending.

3. The original body's husband dies at the beginning. The leads only develop feelings for each other later.

[He runs, she chases; an overbearing patriarch in a feudal society uses force to take what he wants. A genuinely feudal, powerful minister. He will change, but only when he has to win her back. The male lead is truly awful at first, with an outrageous amount of dog-blood drama. If that's not for you, proceed with caution!]

Theme: It's never too late to turn back.