After Rejecting My Beloved

The original blurb wouldn't come to me, so I changed the premise. Sorry.

Headstrong princess x principled scholar-general | Nontraditional marriage-first, love-later | A match made in heaven

[Urgent! What do you do after refusing to marry the person you love?]

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Princess Yu Zhao of Guangyang felt as if the sky had fallen.

She was in love with a gentleman as pristine as ice and jade. Who could have guessed that her father, who had always indulged her, wanted her to marry Qi Ye, the General Who Guards the Distance?

Qi Ye had spent years defending the western regions. According to rumor, he was tall and burly, with a green face and fangs. He could charge into battle alone and shatter enemy ranks, or scare children into silence at bedtime.

Yu Zhao: ⊙﹏⊙∥

Worried sick, she went to the banks of Qujiang Pond to clear her head. When she looked up, she saw a handsome young man standing nearby.

The fields were lush and green beneath an endless sky, blue heavens hanging over water. He was a gentleman like jade, refined and elegant.

Now that was the man of her dreams!

If her father insisted on arranging a marriage without asking her, the Princess's residence was enormous. Surely it wouldn't be unreasonable for her to keep a male favorite?

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Emperor Qianyuan once summoned Qi Ye to the palace and asked about his marriage: "What do you think of Guangyang?"

The emperor smiled, but his presence was still imposing.

Qi Ye refused calmly and without deference. "The princess is, without a doubt, a peerless beauty. However, I already have someone in my heart."

Later, at the New Year's Eve palace banquet, Qi Ye froze. Why did Princess Guangyang have the exact same face as the woman he loved?

"May we be fortunate enough to meet at the Blue Bridge, where the jade pestle is offered first; may the moonlit letter and red thread prove impossible to undo."

1. The blurb is still being polished. The main story begins before the wedding, as they meet and get to know each other while using secret identities. It's a nontraditional marriage-first, love-later story.

2. A sweet little story with no cheating and a happy ending. Everything in the plot and setting serves the romance. The characters aren't perfect, so blame the author, not the leads. (

3. "May we be fortunate enough to meet at the Blue Bridge, where the jade pestle is offered first; may the moonlit letter and red thread prove impossible to undo" is from Hu Wenhuan's The Marriage of Bi and Yin in the Great Song. "The fields were lush and green beneath an endless sky, blue heavens hanging over water" is from Zhang Xian's Peony Pruning.

Theme: Seeing is believing; hearsay is unreliable