The One Behind the Curtain

[A lively second daughter who doesn't realize she's a flirt x A clear-eyed, dark-minded powerful official who falls willingly into ruin]

Blurb:

At the spring hunt in Shanglin Park, the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Revenue saves Princess Yongning, and the story becomes the talk of the town. But the honor of accompanying the princess as a study companion goes instead to the second daughter.

Chu Yuehua tries to run away, but fails.

She has no wish to enter the palace, much less seduce the emperor.

She hears that it was Wei Chao, the newly risen Grand Tutor, who personally presented her portrait to the emperor. Chu Yuehua is startled and bewildered.

But later, when she makes a mistake, she merely blinks her clear eyes beneath her lashes and says nothing.

That very night, the Grand Tutor, whose power reaches across the court, confines her in the library. His eyes rimmed red, he stares at her and asks in a hoarse voice, "Why didn't you beg?"

Wei Chao is the most outstanding disciple of Xifeng Mountain, hailed by the old emperor as a sage without equal in the world.

He becomes the Grand Tutor.

When that familiar portrait appears on the new emperor's desk, he shows kindness for the one and only time, hoping to help her marry into a powerful family.

But little by little, that kindness, expressed in daily portraits capturing her stubborn spirit, changes into something else entirely...

A little scene:

Inside a carriage in the diplomatic marriage procession.

"The chief envoy is overstepping his bounds." Chu Yuehua adjusts her wedding dress, suppressing the turmoil within.

The red dazzles Wei Chao's eyes. A mocking smile curls his lips. "What, afraid the 'husband' leading the procession outside will find out?"

She turns her face away, but a pair of warm, broad hands suddenly cup her cheeks.

The man bends close, looking into her clear eyes. "You saw me naked in my own home, and now you want to leave me behind..."

Their eyes meet. Her heart skips a beat, and she catches a hint of hurt in his eyes.

"That dress looks awful on you. Let me take it off for you... all right?"

1. A slow-burn romance, steady and gradual

2. A fake replacement, real rivals in love, and a groveling pursuit after the breakup

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Upcoming story: Jade Ring

Su Yuhuan is a hapless girl.

She loses her mother at three, is sent off to a country estate at five, and is ordered to marry at seventeen.

Who could have guessed that when the wedding veil is lifted, her husband, a son of a concubine, turns out to be a young lord who loves her legitimate elder sister?

Everyone says the young lord will surely send her back to her family, or shave her head and send her to a convent outside the city to spend her days with the Buddha.

Su Yuhuan thinks so too, and is so frightened that she lifts her veil and tries to run.

So when Jiang Ce pushes open the bridal chamber door and pulls away the red veil that has flown right into his face, this is what he sees:

A little "hedgehog" with her veil blown away, her eyes misting over in fright before she quickly dissolves into tears.

"D-don't come any closer!"

Jiang Ce freezes, then quietly hides the imperial edict he'd meant to use to threaten her behind his back.

Theme: Don't let outside forces control you. Live a brilliant life.