After the Female Lead Discovered She Was Being Courted

[Gloomy Young Commandery Princess vs. Cool-Hearted Conquest Target] [Updates Whenever, Slow Progress]

A rumor ran rampant through Yunjing, the capital of Great Yan.

It said that Commandery Princess Jiahe, Meng Ruosheng, was born with evil energy inside her, had little affinity with her family, and would bring about her husband's death. She was a born calamity.

Meng Ruosheng shrugged and made no denial. After all, another one of her pursuers had died just a few days ago.

Oh, “pursuer” wasn't quite the right word.

She glanced at the man walking toward her. A fuzzy voice from another world seemed to ring in her mind:

[Host, Host, the female lead is looking at you!! Put on a good show! Three, two, one! Smile!!!]

He was a conquest target.

[None of the previous conquest targets ever succeeded! They all deleted their accounts and “died”! You'd better make me proud!!]

Looking at Duan Min's eyes as he blinked up at her, Meng Ruosheng felt she ought to roll her eyes along with him.

…

When she recalled the first time she met Duan Min, Meng Ruosheng had only two thoughts:

First, there was something off about this man. His behavior was strange. She had to kill him.

Second, something felt off about meeting him. Her heart was racing so fast. It was so strange. She definitely had to kill him.

Always ready to run away, too lazy to pretend to be a harmless pig and take down a tiger,

a gloomy young commandery princess who always takes the middle road

vs.

a born cold-hearted, ruthless bad seed, hopelessly lovestruck and a total stalker,

a sinister, scheming player working her way through a series of challenges

The romance, in a nutshell:

A clash between humanity and the inhuman. Each looks at the other and thinks they're doomed.

The plot, in a nutshell:

What can you do when the times push you along? Run! Fight! Run and fight at the same time!

A story about a heroine holding a plot script about escaping with her life, and a hero holding a romance script about winning her over.

Also known as The Golden Fruit Season: “She said golden fruit had many meanings, but where she came from, they mostly meant oranges. I asked her when oranges ripened, and she said in autumn.”

…

[Reader's Guide (Please Read)]

1. None of the characters are perfect. The child's background involves spoilers, so I can't explain it. All I can say is that the child is not related to the heroine by blood.

2. The story's pacing is Schrödinger's slow burn. There are quite a few clues and foreshadowing, so I recommend not skipping too many chapters.

3. The plot and romance each get about half the focus. The first arc has very little romance, but it is extremely important.

4. The heroine has a clear character growth arc throughout, and the hero is there to serve the heroine.

5. No fantasy elements. This is mainly about “people” in a chaotic era. I can't write a blurb, so that's that. (wry smile)

…

6. May everything go smoothly.

7. This is not a conventional or traditional historical romance setting. I have no brains, so this is my own made-up ancient setting. Please don't nitpick the details.

[If you're interested, check out this trash author's page! Unfinished novels, fantasy, xianxia, and fanfiction, there's something for everyone!]

[Blurb for the upcoming novel He Said He'd Buy Me a Mechanical Arm. A post-apocalyptic story about a tough woman and her devoted younger man. Feel free to add it to your collection.]

In the summer of Year 307 of the Tree Calendar, heavy rain battered us more often than in previous years. My left arm hurt more and more in that damp, humid season.

After we made love, he said he was going to make a better future for me and buy me the latest mechanical arm from the technology expo in Tree Zone One.

I told him he had only just returned from the wasteland, and he could wait a little longer, until the insect invasion season was over.

He said he couldn't wait.

Then the next day, he left the tree zone for the wasteland.

He never came back.

I waited for him for two years in our home in Tree Zone Fifty-Three.

When monsters overran Tree Zone Fifty-Three, I joined the refugees and made my way to Tree Zone One, the heart of the empire

And saw him.

I saw him standing at the center of the front ranks of the imperial army, the highest-grade imperial star insignia pinned to his shoulder.

“…”

“…”

*

A few years earlier, a bad-tempered woman who had left the army because of her health and planned to eke out a living in some remote tree zone found a poor little amnesiac on the battlefield.

Then they fell in love.

*

A gloomy girl who can't get her own life together

vs.

a smug show-off who's had a crush on her for years and loves competing with other men

My love, in this age when all things are withering away, please hold my hand tight.

…

Theme: Be as resilient as wild grass.