The Song of the Chile Tribe

Pre-release: After Pledging Herself to Her Third Uncle, a 1v2 Love Triangle Between a Ruler and His Minister, and Their Close Friend as They Compete for Her / A Faux Uncle-Niece Romance with Male Lead 1 / The Ruler Steals His Minister's Wife with Male Lead 2 / The Story After This Novel

Brothers' Rice Bowl, 1v2, both male leads are virgins / foreign tribe / height difference / an arranged marriage that turns to love with Male Lead 1 / Male Lead 2 forcibly claims her / bittersweet, melodramatic romance

/ Former title: Married to a Foreign Prince

Bright, spirited noblewoman from the Central Plains x reserved, cool-headed father figure x obsessive, deceptively sweet wolfdog

Male Lead 1 is eleven years older; Male Lead 2 is one year younger / faux uncle-niece vs. wolf and rabbit

Male Lead 2's perspective:

On a rainy night, when Li Hong first arrived from the grasslands at the border of Da Ning, he was caught off guard by a plot from his political enemies and poisoned with a love drug.

As the agony of the poison scorched his body, a faint scent of plum blossoms soothed his restless heart.

A woman risked her life to save him, then took advantage of the chaos to flee.

After the poison was cured, Li Hong searched everywhere for her in vain. He could only pick up the magnolia hairpin she had left behind, carefully keep it close to his heart, and stare blankly at the moon.

Though the Northern Yan prince faced many obstacles in marrying a woman from the Central Plains, he was determined to find her and take responsibility for her.

Otherwise, he would end up like his second brother, unmarried for life.

Li Hong saw the face he had longed for once more, but only after his second brother's wedding.

The sight of her standing beside his second brother pierced him to the heart.

So she was the Marquis's legitimate eldest daughter from the rumors, the woman whose family had deceived her and sent her to marry into Northern Yan in the princess's place... The marriage between Da Ning and Northern Yan had brought about this tragic fate.

Now that their identities stood between them, all he could do was bury his feelings deep within.

If he had not once spied on them outside the study and seen his second brother and sister-in-law entwined in passion in broad daylight...

Li Hong had thought his second brother incapable of love.

His second brother, Li Zhan, had reclaimed lost territory and quelled rebellions in his youth, winning resounding victories that would go down in history.

A man so cold and imposing, who never smiled, had spent years alone and isolated.

Yet once he fell in love, he too could not restrain his feelings, gazing at someone with such tenderness.

After his second brother left the study, Li Hong slipped inside, intending to leave something and go.

Afraid his sister-in-law would notice him, he covered her eyes to conceal his identity.

Who would have thought she would mistake him for his second brother and wrap her arms around his neck?

At that moment, Li Hong suddenly remembered... On the rainy night when the two of them had embraced, he had glimpsed the pale beauty mark at the corner of her lips.

Later, his second brother died in battle, and Li Hong hurried back from the border to mourn him.

Outside the mourning hall, his sister-in-law avoided him. As she turned away with resolve, the sash of her mourning robes fluttered in the wind, stirring the forbidden desire in his heart.

His gaze locked onto her slender back, and the dark feelings in his eyes grew wildly.

What did it matter that she was his sister-in-law? What did ethics matter? He did not care.

Even if he had to resort to a shameless love potion...

All he wanted was for A Ling to forget the past and love only him from then on.

The female lead's perspective:

Under Northern Yan's old custom of succession, in which a younger brother inherits from his elder brother and a son from his father, Chen Xiaoling was forced to marry her younger brother-in-law. She had long known he had ulterior motives, so she disguised herself and fled under cover of night.

Li Hong and his guards drove her to the edge of a cliff. She resisted to the death and slapped him twice in front of everyone.

"I'd rather die than marry you..." Then, facing her homeland, she jumped off the cliff without hesitation.

Li Hong leaped after her without a moment's hesitation.

Years later, she had two kindred spirits by her side. They would spend their evenings together and ask if the porridge was warm.

Now and then, she would think of the helplessness she felt as she fell, and of the arms that had clung to her as if they would rather die than let her go...

If she had truly died at the foot of that cliff, would she have been spared a second marriage, a mistaken love, and the tangled passions and resentments between brothers?

The Male Lead 1's perspective:

Li Zhan survived one narrow escape after another, fighting his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood to seize the throne. He did it all to return to his wife's side.

Everyone said he was as pure and noble as moonlight, untouched by worldly concerns.

When he learned that the woman he loved wanted to leave him, the dark thoughts in his heart nearly drove him mad.

He used a scheme to send his seventh younger brother away from the capital, rescued his wife, and kept watch over her day and night to put an end to her thoughts of escape.

After the plan was exposed, Li Hong forgot all danger and pounded on the palace gates through the night, kneeling in the rain for two days and nights just to see her.

Under his pressure, Chen Xiaoling ignored everyone's objections and went out into the rain.

Beneath the palace gates, she was caught between the brothers' dispute, exhausted in body and mind. The worries that had plagued her for days overwhelmed her, and she suddenly fainted.

The brothers were startled. Both were heartbroken, and each took one of her hands to feel her pulse.

When their gazes met, they reached the same conclusion:

"She's pregnant."

Reader's Guide:

1. Both male leads are virgins and devoted to the female lead in both body and heart. Neither has a romantic past, a childhood sweetheart, or a betrothal. They are love-struck, possessive men who are utterly infatuated with her.

2. Male Lead 1 takes in an adopted son at the request of his dying brother. The son also likes the female lead.

3. This is a melodramatic 1v2 romance. The female lead is mildly adored by everyone, and she has been married to both brothers. Her relationships with them include all the intimacy expected of spouses. The three of them get a happy ending.

4. The worldbuilding is highly fictionalized. Northern Yan is a grassland people, but after centuries of adopting Han culture, they no longer depend on nomadic herding for a living. Influenced by Central Plains culture, they are in a period of transition.

5. While married to Male Lead 1, the female lead has no intimate relationship with Male Lead 2.

/Set in ancient times. The characters' thinking is shaped by the limits of their era.

🥰 Thanks to the reader who made the character cards on page 2.

Synopsis written on 2024.05.24, with a screen recording as proof.

💙 Pre-release: After Pledging Herself to Her Third Uncle

(A story set after The Ballad of the Chile Tribe, but can be read on its own 🥰 The full manuscript is underway.)

- Age gap / 1v2 love triangle between a ruler and his minister, and their close friend, as they compete for her / one woman and two male leads / faux uncle-niece romance with Male Lead 1 / the ruler steals his minister's wife with Male Lead 2 / bittersweet, melodramatic romance

- Arrogant, cool beauty with a seductive charm x gentle, proper gentleman x calculating, obsessive ruler

Synopsis:

In early spring, the princes and nobles of Northern Yan held their customary spring hunt banquet.

On the night of the feast, ruler Li Xiutan was lost in thought, remembering the bright beauty of the grasslands. In his heart, he had drafted the marriage decree that would make her his queen many times over.

As he reached his close friend's tent, he planned to discuss the matter with him. He and Chi Minglan were as close as brothers, and the woman he wanted to marry was his friend's niece.

By the flickering lamplight, it seemed there were two people embracing inside the tent.

With the shadows as his guide, Li Xiutan could almost see everything inside clearly.

"Uncle..." The girl pleaded sweetly with him, then kissed the man's face.

"Jing'er, you mustn't... This is improper."

The man was not resisting so much as helplessly indulging her.

Li Xiutan coldly watched their shadows on the tent, had someone announce his arrival, then went inside as if nothing were amiss.

After the customary questions about official business, he suddenly noticed a faint pink mark on the other man's profile. It looked like a lipstick stain.

As though someone had just kissed him.

To confirm his suspicion, he casually brought up the man's niece:

"Your eldest young lady is of marriageable age. Is there anyone suitable?"

"Jing'er is still young and doesn't know the rules. She can wait until her elder brother, sister-in-law, and I have taught her for a couple of years before she marries." Chi Minglan's expression was calm, but the shadows in his eyes betrayed his feelings.

Li Xiutan looked toward the screen. A corner of a pink skirt had not been hidden in time. His gaze darkened, and he understood.

So the uncle and niece were already in love. He was the one left out.

But... when the ruler wants his minister's wife, how could the minister refuse?

After their secret relationship was exposed, Chi Yujing was sent to a country temple in the wilderness, confined there under the pretext of helping her clear her mind.

To protect themselves, the elders of her clan added an aphrodisiac to the incense burner, intending to offer her to the ruler.

Li Xiutan was tricked into coming there. Just as he anxiously burst into the inner room, a pair of hands pulled him behind the curtains...

As the drug took effect, Chi Yujing's thoughts grew confused, and she touched his cheek.

"Uncle... I heard my uncle and father beat you. Does it hurt?"

Before he could answer, her lips pressed against his.

One mistook the man before her for someone else; the other chose to play along.

After a night of passion, Li Xiutan looked at the fear in her eyes, took her hand, and said almost humbly:

"You and him can never be accepted by the world..."

I will love you more than he does.

Chi Yujing steadied herself, then slapped him.

"Please show some respect. I will marry no one but him in this life!"

The young woman was as beautiful as snow. Even with red plum blossoms scattered over her, she carried a pride that could not be profaned.

Her dark hair, stirred by the evening breeze and scented with jasmine, awakened the obsession in his heart.

Li Xiutan suppressed the bitterness in his heart, his gaze dark and heavy.

You will marry no one but him?

On that stormy night, the uncle and niece who had pledged themselves to each other rode away from Yan Du under cover of darkness.

Beneath the low-hanging black clouds over the grasslands, ruler Li Xiutan personally led his soldiers to stop them, bringing two decrees:

The first: strip Chi Minglan of his rank and make him a commoner, then imprison him in the death cell to await execution.

The second: make Chi Yujing queen, with the wedding to take place three months later.

The ruler's personal guards forcibly separated them. Chi Yujing watched her uncle collapse unconscious, coughing up blood, her heart twisting in pain.

"Please spare my uncle. I'll do anything..."

Li Xiutan helped her to her feet and kissed the crown of her head.

Then he raised his eyes, his gaze turning ice-cold in an instant. "Blind him."

Chi Yujing struggled like a madwoman, but the man held her tightly in his arms.

"If Jing'er keeps entangling herself with him, I will cut off his hands and feet and turn him into a complete cripple."

Reader's Guide:

1. This is a 1v2 love triangle. Both men are male leads and official love interests. They are virgins, devoted to the female lead in both body and heart. The third uncle is nine years older; the ruler is ten years older.

2. The female lead and her third uncle are not related by blood. Everyone in the family knows he was adopted.

3. The ruler has an adopted son, an innocent puppy-like boy who also likes the female lead.

4. The female lead has been married to both male leads, and has children with them. The three of them get a happy ending.

Theme: Great ambitions are born from great sacrifice; dare to make a new world beneath the sun and moon.