[A noblewoman who falls for looks at first sight x a sweet, vulnerable woman who's gentle on the outside but tough within]
Carefully laying her plans, claiming her for herself, and leaving nothing untouched.
P.S. A naturally seductive beauty is the perfect match for a lustful mad dog.
*
Zhou Qiyuan is the fifth daughter of the Zhou family.
Because she is an illegitimate child and not favored, her father plans to wait until she comes of age, pack her off with a few chests of gold and silver, and send her to a high-ranking official as a concubine.
Furious, Zhou Qiyuan steals her second brother's place at school in the middle of the night, takes a horse, and flees the city.
Five years later, news of a daughter of the Zhou family reaches Shengjing once more. Zhou Qiyuan, with her bright, handsome features, has become a renowned third-place graduate in the imperial examinations.
"A gentleman has three transformations: viewed from afar, he is solemn; approached, he is warm; heard speaking, he is stern." [Note 1]
"How is it that this young lady is nothing like that?"
A hairpin flower falls among the rouge and blossoms. At the celebration banquet, a willowy figure arrives, and the songs of Chu ring out again.
Zhou Qiyuan looks at the young lady playing the qin.
She's beautiful, with a slender waist. I want to take her home and lock her away.
Just then, someone in the Zhou family, unwilling to give up, comes to arrange another marriage for her, hoping to cut off her future options.
Zhou Qiyuan thinks it over and stays at Yuxiang Tower, listening to the qin all night.
Three days later.
The Zhou family lady rises to power, tears up her marriage contract, and turns around to bring Yuxiang Tower's top courtesan into her residence.
"I'll buy your freedom. Stay at my home for three years and help me keep up appearances."
Linglang waits three years, then three more, and ends up becoming the wife of Hanlin Academician Zhou.
"You... how could you deceive me like this...?"
By now, Lord Zhou has risen steadily through the ranks and become a respected, upright official. She sets down the eyebrow brush she had dipped in the inkstone.
Bending down, she bites the earlobe of the beautiful young woman.
Zhou Qiyuan chuckles softly in Linglang's ear. "What did I deceive you about? Isn't being with me nice?"
Content warnings:
1. Alternate setting, devoted couple, no angst.
2. The top is a reserved, scheming flirt who likes to secretly seduce her wife. She's a little crazy and bites anyone she can get her teeth into, but she's treatable. Her wife just has to coax her a little.
3. As always, don't break up the couples I write. All the wild scheming is in pursuit of a happy ending.
4. Note 1 is quoted from The Analects, Chapter Zizhang.
Theme: Though my belt grows loose, I have no regrets. For her, I grow haggard.
