Spring Waters and a Slender Waist

Updates daily at 6 p.m. Next book: 《The Heavens' Bright Wish》 Yangchun is a maid to Miss Zhou. A maid's position comes with good treatment and plenty of perks, but the work is exhausting and her status is low. She keeps her head down and works hard, says little, and plans to run away once she's saved enough money. When the eldest Miss Zhou gets married, custom dictates that a maid be sent to the groom's home for ten days to test the marriage, chiefly to see whether the new groom is up to the task. The residence is full of seductive maids, so Madam Zhou chooses the dependable, simple-minded Yangchun. As a maid, Yangchun has no say in her fate, so she grits her teeth and agrees. Night falls, and the red candles burn bright. The new groom is elegant and poised as he presses down on her. On the bed, Yangchun endures it and plays along. - The new groom is the current Grand Secretary, a young man of great power and promise. The trial marriage goes well, and Miss Zhou marries him without a hitch. The couple are perfectly harmonious. Yangchun has fulfilled her duty. She wipes away her cold sweat and gets ready to pack up and leave. Just then, the groom, who is painting his new wife's eyebrows, points at her. “That maid served me fairly well. Keep her as a concubine.” Yangchun is struck as if by lightning. - Becoming the Grand Secretary's concubine is an immense stroke of fortune. Everyone envies Yangchun for rising from the branches in a single day. Xie Zhaoxun thinks so too. After that night, he can't get enough of her. But Yangchun yearns for the world outside and longs to breathe more freely. She refuses to accept this fate. Weibo: Traveler's Cloak, Xiaohongshu: Traveler's Cloak 【Reader advisories】 1. Both leads are virgins / groveling pursuit / abduction and domination / status difference. 2. A plainspoken maid vs. a villainous, feudal, cold-blooded, level-headed, clever scholar-official. 3. Updates every day at 6 p.m., rain or shine. Completed stories with similar abduction-and-domination themes: 《The Wolf's Deceit》, 《A Concubine's Heart Cannot Be Broken》, 《The Maid Behind the Vermilion Wall》, 《Sighs from the Golden Cage》, 《A Fine Son and a Fine Wife》 Upcoming book 《The Heavens' Bright Wish》. Please add it to your collection! The Empress married the Emperor at the age of eighteen. The Empress Dowager believed the young Emperor would be difficult to control, and hoped an arranged marriage would give him an emotional tie to the Empress. But the Emperor was perceptive and astute, and most of all, he abhorred the influence of his wife's family. There was little affection between them after the wedding. Every night, the Empress felt the cold beside her pillow, like an autumn wind sweeping past. For years, the Empress endured humiliation and fulfilled her duties as mistress of the inner palace. One consort after another bloomed in the harem. The Emperor doted on them, yet treated her with suspicion and indifference. When she fell gravely ill, the Emperor forbade her family from visiting, claiming he was “afraid her relatives might usurp power.” Living in seclusion in the cold palace, the Empress gazed at her reflection in the bronze mirror, watching her youth fade away, as if her innocence and dreams had faded with it. The Empress languished in bed for three years before finally passing away. After her death, the Emperor wore only black, arranged a hasty funeral, and kept his eyes away from the matter. He left a verdict calling her “a woman long detested,” reducing years of kindness and loyalty to nothing. The suona sounded. Eight bearers carried the coffin. Paper money covered the palace hall, and a few scattered sobs could be heard. Ironically, she had passed through the Great Ming Gate only twice in her life: once to marry, and once for her funeral. When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the days before her marriage. Given another life, she finally understood. She would never again imprison herself in the depths of the palace. Before the imperial decree selecting an Empress arrived, she completed the betrothal rites with someone else. “Brother Emperor, I've found you a bride from the Cao family. You have to treat her well, okay?” The Emperor's brush suddenly stopped. Slowly, he asked, “Then what about you?” She smiled faintly. “Me? I already have a home. It's just not in those deep palace chambers.” #She finally understood: though caged birds sing, they cannot compare to the free cries of birds in the forest# * Groveling pursuit + abduction and domination * Both leads are virgins; fictional setting modeled on the Ming dynasty Blurb dated January 7, 2025 Theme: There are no hopeless situations in the world, only people with hopeless mindsets.