An ambitious model of a proper young lady vs. a sharp-tongued, secretly caring power broker
Cheng Zhi, the daughter of an imperial merchant, is both beautiful and talented.
With her wedding approaching, she doesn't want to become a resentful housewife. Just as the imperial examinations for women are introduced, she uses the exams as an excuse to break off her engagement at once.
She has barely ended one engagement when her mother starts urging her to marry again.
Fortunately, a man who claims he "won't take concubines, keep maidservants, or maintain a mistress" comes calling. He is Lu Huaishou, heir to the prestigious Lu family and Minister of Personnel.
Cheng Zhi has always been a careful planner. Thinking this opportunity might not come again, she agrees, though not without some doubts.
But her future matters more. Cheng Zhi doesn't want people to mistake her efforts for something achieved through her relationship with Lu Huaishou, so she keeps their arrangement a secret.
Lu Huaishou is frustrated, and half willingly becomes Cheng Zhi's secret lover.
He thinks everything will work out, but instead of a marriage contract, Cheng Zhi gives him a final goodbye.
"I don't want to be with you anymore."
Reading guide:
1. The setting is fictional and includes invented elements. Please don't scrutinize it for historical accuracy.
2. Both leads are virgins, one-on-one romance.
The blurb for my next book, Empress of the Central Palace:
Clear-headed, gentle noblewoman × sweet-faced, scheming childhood friend turned emperor
She gets to marry her childhood sweetheart, only to discover that his first love is her own brother?
Yun Zhaowan's father is the prime minister, and her aunt is the empress dowager. From childhood, she has been the designated future empress.
After three years of waiting, she finally receives word that the emperor has returned to the capital to marry her.
When her brother's death creates a rift between her family and the new emperor, she volunteers to marry her cousin in Jiangnan instead, leaving the new emperor humiliated.
But under pressure from those in power, she ultimately takes her place as empress.
The palace servants all say the emperor indulges the empress far too much.
Only Yun Zhaowan knows this kindness comes from the new emperor's promise to her late brother.
She tugs at the sleeve of his dragon robe and quietly bargains, "For my brother's sake, Your Majesty, please don't hold it against me for trying to marry someone else."
"I promise to fulfill my duties as empress and be a virtuous consort. I'll keep Your Majesty's harem peaceful, and there will be no fighting for favor, framing, or harming the imperial heirs."
Xuan Zhaoheng can only smile helplessly without a word. She is the only one in his harem. Who would fight her for his favor? And as for imperial heirs, he glances at Yun Zhaowan's flat stomach. There don't seem to be any yet.
Yun Zhaowan assumes the new emperor is simply aloof.
Until one day, she finds him lost in thought as he gazes at her brother's keepsakes.
She discovers a huge secret: the emperor has someone he loves, and that person is her brother!!!
Yun Zhaowan: All he cares about is the trust her brother placed in him.
Xuan Zhaoheng: All she cares about is her family and her duties.
The thing Xuan Zhaoheng regrets most in his life is confessing his longing while looking at her brother's keepsakes that year.
*
Yun Zhaowan learns a little trick for calming the emperor down. "Your Majesty treats my brother so well. Whenever we talk about him, you stop being angry."
Xuan Zhaoheng: Am I angry or not?
He sighs. "Fine, I'm not angry."
As if. He uses his imperial brush to reject the Yun family's memorial and cancel the empress's pastries for the next day.
*
"Your Majesty is holding my brother's scroll. Are you missing him?"
Xuan Zhaoheng laughs in exasperation and unfurls the scroll.
It shows Yun Zhaowan as a child, swinging in the imperial garden.
Reading guide:
1. The setting is fictional and includes invented elements. Please don't scrutinize it for historical accuracy.
2. Childhood sweethearts, mutual pining, emperor and empress CP, both virgins, happy ending.
3. Sweet, doting, and healing, with no angst.
Theme: Do you know how deeply I long for you?
