A Priceless Jade

[Coming soon: A Chaotic Heart. Please add it to your library. The little princess keeps rejecting her prospective husbands, one after another, while the "examiner" only wants to take the position himself.]

---Novel Blurb---

◎ A master craftswoman of a fallen kingdom x a warlord of a chaotic age whose kingdom was destroyed

◎ A bond forged in a chaotic age, where "holding her is a crime, but putting her down would break her" (the treasure in his arms is more than a person: it includes books and a legacy) | Mutual hunting | The God of Slaughter bows his head

On the night Xizhu fell, Crown Princess Nan Chu had just crawled out of a pile of corpses when a cold spear pressed against her throat.

She followed the spear's point with her eyes and saw a man in armor, weapon in hand, standing in the flames. His gaze was colder than the spearhead. He was Xiao Chong, a military governor of Daliang. He grabbed her by the throat, dragged her out of the corpse pile, and threw her onto his horse.

Rumors in the army had it that she was the pet canary kept by a living devil. But Nan Chu knew what Xiao Chong really wanted: the Kaiwu Zhi, a priceless work containing generations of her family's knowledge and the most treasured artifact of the realm. To keep it from enemy hands, the entire Nan clan had burned the book and died with their country. She was now its only living copy.

He shattered her faith in her country and its rulers, scheming against her at every turn and gradually breaking her to his will.

She fought desperately to survive. To save craftsmen and the people of her fallen kingdom, she was forced to help him open an underground palace and retrieve its treasures, repair canals and cultivate fields, and stabilize the land and bring peace to its people. Every task was a painful struggle that tore her apart.

Yet when the imperial court of Daliang nearly killed her, he risked both his life and his future to storm the palace and seize her back.

She had always believed she was merely a public resource he coveted. Then one night at a hot spring, the man she had outmaneuvered appeared and locked her in his embrace, demanding in a husky voice, "Your book records every craft and marvel under heaven. Does it have a page that teaches you how to tame a man who's... let his thoughts run wild?"

Only then did she understand that she had long since become his private treasure, protected in his arms.

**

Xiao Chong conquered Xizhu both to claim the Kaiwu Zhi and to avenge the old grudge of his father, whom the Nan clan had framed.

He never expected the Nan clan to burn their books and die for their country. All he managed to capture from the corpse pile was Nan Chu, who had clung to life. He thought he had caught a delicate little bird who would submit after a little pressure. He didn't expect her to be so fragile in appearance yet so unyielding in spirit. After clashing with her several times, he was the one who lost his footing first.

He taught her politics and strategy, shielded her from blades, and held a tiger tally hostage to force his way into the palace. He made exception after exception for her. After half a lifetime of warfare and flawless calculations, the one thing he hadn't accounted for was falling to her.

The Nan clan owed him a family reunion, and she had repaid that debt with herself.

He owed her a kingdom, so on a night when spring returned to the old lands, he held her close and murmured, "I'll give you back... spring floods, summer harvests, autumn granaries full, and warm winter nights."

With each phrase, he held her tighter, turning her embarrassed, coquettish replies into heated gasps.

[Nan Chu: What floods and harvests? Speak plainly. Xiao Chong: ...I'm working on it.]

[Bonus Scene]

Nan Chu: If you're going to dance with a wolf, you'd better find a way to get hold of a few of his weak spots.

Xiao Chong: (lifting his clothes) This one's handy. Grab this one.

[Reading Guide]

◎ This isn't a wish-fulfillment novel. If you like fast pacing, immediate face-slapping, and a hero who spoils the heroine unconditionally, this book may not be for you. The heroine's kingdom has fallen from the start, and she has to claw her way up from the ruins at rock bottom. She won't be trading witty barbs with a hero and conquerors who could crush her at any moment, and there are no scenes where she slaps someone in the face within three steps.

◎ The hero doesn't brood or angst, so don't expect him to mope around in the shadows over unrequited love. At heart, he's an open and direct warlord of a chaotic age, shameless and skilled in open schemes. At first, he's all about testing, taming, marking, and using her. Later, it's "Mine, mine, mine," with his tail wagging.

◎ It begins with a forced conquest, but the story aims to turn that into a tale of sacrifice that rejects conquest. Expect both heartbreak and sweetness. The tone leans serious. One-on-one romance, happy ending, with an age gap of around seven or eight years.

[Blurb saved 2025.12.06]

-----Next up: A Chaotic Heart. Please add it to your library------

[The little princess keeps rejecting her prospective husbands, one after another, while the "examiner" only wants to take the position himself.]

◎ Naive, bold, and charming imperial princess x powerful minister and general who steals what he is supposed to guard

Changning was the most doted-on little princess. Her life went smoothly until she came of age, when she ran into one obstacle after another trying to choose a husband. Every prospective son-in-law she picked ended up being rejected.

After a few rounds, the entire court lamented her unfortunate romantic fate. Only she began to grow suspicious of her maternal uncle, Gu Yanzong, a powerful general who seemed to be taking such great "care" over her marriage.

Her uncle gently stroked her hair and comforted her. "Don't worry, Ning'er. I'll find someone even better for you."

But gradually she noticed that those "better men" he presented all had features, temperaments, and talents that resembled him, though never too closely.

She judged them by his "measuring stick," and not a single promising young man at court passed muster.

Then one night, with the palace water clock tolling in the deep hours, she ran barefoot into the room where he was on duty. Her eyes damp, she called him "Little Uncle," and the restraint in his eyes crumbled.

Only then did she believe that those so-called "suitable matches" were nothing but a pretext he couldn't bring himself to explain.

He put one forward only to ruin another because he couldn't bear to hand her over to someone else.

--

In the eyes of outsiders, Gu Yanzong was a decorated general, a powerful minister, and a dignified member of the imperial family.

Only he knew these identities were borrowed swords. He had a target of his own to strike. He simply hadn't expected to make a "mistake" with the little princess he had raised himself.

He had protected that little bundle from her first cries in the cradle all the way to her coming-of-age ceremony. If she wanted the moon, he would build a ladder to the heavens. But when she wanted a "husband," he hesitated. An emotion he couldn't put into words gnawed fiercely at his heart.

At a palace banquet, he watched her drink the "fruit wine" offered by an admirer, his gaze growing dark. In full view of everyone, he scooped the dizzy, disoriented little princess into his arms and carried her away without a word.

The curtains fell, and the world turned upside down.

Outside the door, the emperor and empress pounded and demanded answers, furious and frantic. He kissed her flushed cheek and soothed her in a hoarse voice: "Don't be afraid. I'll go ask for a title for you."

[Reading Guide]

1. The leads are not related by blood, and have an age gap of about ten years.

2. Both virgins, one-on-one romance, happy ending.

Theme: Grow proud and strong amid the ruins, and keep a true heart beneath the power.