Rippling Beauty

(Complete. The main text has been revised, with several parts of the relationship further developed and additional descriptions added. Pirated copies may be incomplete or show an older version. I can only take responsibility for the official version. Thank you for your support!)

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Love and hate, melodrama, truly obsessive heroine x hypocritical hero

When Jiang Qiao was little, she often listened to her elder brother talk about the past: towering palace walls, splendid clothes, halls of white jade and pearls shining in the evening. As a prince and princess, they should have been cherished by everyone.

Later, the Great Zhou fell. They fled the palace and from then on had only a ruined temple and two sets of plain clothes. Penniless, they begged from place to place.

They became two little mice, filthy and disheveled.

But Jiang Qiao didn't mind. As long as her brother was there, she was happy.

Begging, getting into fights... Even when noble young ladies in the capital falsely accused her of stealing, she endured it for her brother's future.

She only wanted to be with her brother for the rest of their lives.

It didn't matter whether they were husband and wife or siblings.

As long as they were together, just the two of them, for a lifetime.

Until the day the Chancellor's youngest daughter, who had long loved her brother, was chosen to marry the Crown Prince.

She watched her brother spend the whole night in his study. When he came out, he said only one thing: he asked her to take the bride's place.

Only then did Jiang Qiao understand that she was no different from the gold, silver, books, and paintings. She was merely a tool in her brother's hands, to restore their country.

Nothing more.

*

Since coming of age, Jiang Bai had cared about only one great undertaking: restoring the Zhou dynasty.

For that, he could beg and grovel before his enemies. He could also make use of the innocent.

After all, he was a stray dog with no home. He didn't care about conscience or honor.

If so, sacrificing the younger sister who had depended on him for years was hardly out of the question.

But that day, he personally escorted her to the wedding.

His outstretched hand grasped nothing. The girl in red walked away without looking back, and he couldn't even manage one final word of advice.

He went to the Eastern Palace to ask for an audience and was turned away.

The dowry he sent afterward was returned untouched.

He heard that the beautiful bride was much loved by the Crown Prince, who favored her every night.

Jiang Bai listened, his heart torn to shreds.

*

Years later, the Emperor fell gravely ill, and the dynasty could change hands at any moment.

Outside the Eastern Palace chambers, long vacant of their master, the palace attendants held their breath and dared not listen in. The person whispering with the Crown Princess inside was none other than the Grand Tutor, her elder brother, Jiang Bai.

People had long said that the Jiang siblings' origins were suspect and that they harbored sinister intentions.

Some even claimed that the two of them had been involved in the Crown Prince's death.

Jiang Bai no longer cared about the rumors. He was simply grateful that he still had a chance to make amends with Jiang Qiao.

He loved her. There was no doubt about that.

He regretted what he had done years ago. He owed her an apology. But before he could speak, she murmured softly in his arms:

"My child must become the Imperial Grandson."

When he looked up, the familiar eyes and brows no longer held any trace of the innocent, carefree girl she had once been.

Jiang Qiao smiled. "Elder Brother, now it's your turn to sacrifice something for me."

Before You Read:

1. The male and female leads are not related by blood. Before their relationship was severed, they had not established a romantic relationship.

2. The heroine is not a virgin. She has a child with the second male lead.

3. The hero is a stray dog; the heroine is a black-hearted lotus.

4. Melodramatic, written for my personal tastes.

Here's a new project: interested readers can save it in the author's collection.

"Something's Not Quite Right About My Fiancé"

A year ago, Ji Chan transmigrated into the body of an orphan girl living under someone else's roof. Her elders showed her no affection, her cousin bullied her, and the servants looked down on her. Fortunately, she had a fiancé of noble birth. He was handsome, talented, and successful at a young age, and he treated her with great care and affection.

The only thing was that he showed no restraint in bed, like a man of the modern age, and often ignored propriety to sneak a taste of pleasure with her.

Ji Chan had no complaints at all.

But gradually, she noticed something strange.

Her fiancé, who had always kept his distance from women, once had a concubine whom he had treasured above all else.

That concubine was also an orphan from the countryside, yet she was literate and well-mannered.

She had said things like "class struggle" and "the power of the people," and seemed to be someone who had transmigrated.

The concubine died a year ago. It was said that Ji Chan's fiancé had killed her with his own hands.

On their wedding night, Ji Chan, dressed in red, finally rummaged through everything and found the diary the concubine had left behind. The moment she saw the familiar simplified characters, all her memories came flooding back. Just then, a familiar voice sounded beside her.

"A Chan lifted her own veil."

Jiang Qi approached her.

Ji Chan's palms grew sweaty.

Jiang Qi stopped one step away, wearing a faint smile. "A Chan has regained her memories." He tilted his head and asked calmly, "So this time, is A Chan going to leave me?"

The name on the diary's title page was unmistakably Ji Chan.

*

Sometimes Jiang Qi felt wronged. He truly loved someone.

She wanted a gentle, understanding fiancé, so he learned to act the part of a refined gentleman.

She wanted to play with him, so he played along, chasing her around. Even when she set a fire, faked her death, and changed her appearance, he indulged her.

Whatever Ji Chan wanted, he gave her.

The only thing he didn't indulge was their intimate life.

But she had once told him that when a man and woman were in love, they should take everything said in the heat of passion to mean the opposite.

When she said "no," she meant "yes."

When she said "I hate you," she meant "I love you."

How wonderful. She loved him too.

Until one day, Ji Chan called him a lunatic again, crying and screaming for him to let her go.

He was confused once more, and could only ask sincerely, "What does it mean to let you go?"

Whatever Ji Chan said, he would learn.

Theme: Cherish the people you love and hold dear