Jade in the Bedchamber

The next novel will be The Mad Dog Beneath Her Skirts. Its blurb is at the end. Feel free to add it to your collection~

*

(Cold and aloof noblewoman x brooding, unhinged powerful minister | A sea of hate and passion | Coercive possession)

Pei Lingyu, the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites, is renowned throughout the capital for her beauty and talent.

Though she is breathtakingly beautiful, the young noblemen keep their distance. She is aloof and cold by nature, with impossibly high standards, and has eyes only for the emotionally distant Vice Minister of Justice.

It is equally well known, however, that Wei Ju does not like her.

Whenever she sets aside her pride and makes advances, he turns her down with a cold expression. Pei Lingyu has long since grown used to it.

Who would have thought that at a spring banquet, Wei Ju would pick up the sachet by her feet of his own accord? His long, narrow eyes fixed on her as he asked, "Lady Pei, is this sachet meant for me?"

His frank, clinging gaze lingered on her. Meeting his dark, ominous eyes, Pei Lingyu felt her legs go weak.

He seemed... a little different.

*

She didn't believe he had truly changed his mind, so she tested him, pulled back, and wavered again and again.

Until one day, memories from the past came crashing back.

And with them came that shameful past...

In her previous life, the Pei family fell from power, and Wei Ju, who controlled the judicial system, forcibly brought her into his household. She became a concubine kept hidden from the world.

For years, she was confined in the Wei estate, unable to bear his endless tricks and methods, with nowhere to escape. So one night, while they were intimate, she drew a knife.

After remembering everything, Pei Lingyu finally gave up on him.

Rather than return to the Wei estate and become a plaything trapped in a cage, she would be better off accepting the marriage her family had arranged for her.

*

Wei Ju presides over the courts in his corner of the realm. He has seen countless vicious criminals and witnessed far too many brutal punishments. He considers himself cold and unfeeling, with no interest in romance.

Until one day, he awoke from a dream.

She was still the high-born daughter of the Pei family. She had not yet fallen into his hands and become a guilty concubine forced to bow and scrape, but she no longer wished to be his wife either.

"My marriage is settled. Take your betrothal gifts and leave the Pei estate."

Her icy words fell one by one. Looking at the other man's name on the wedding invitation, Wei Ju learned for the first time what love was, and what it meant to regret.

On the night the Pei family gave their daughter in marriage, in the rear quarters of the Wei estate.

Red candles flickered on the table. Behind the drooping red curtains, a woman sobbed until her face was streaked with tears, her muffled cries coming in fits and starts.

Wei Ju's gaze swept over her flat abdomen, and he smiled cruelly.

"You've even carried my child. Who do you think you can marry now?"

Since they had once shared a bed until death in their previous life, they should be born beneath the same covers and buried in the same grave for all eternity, never to be parted again.

*Both leads are each other's first and only partners. Happy ending. The male lead remains pure in body and heart in both lifetimes.

*Both leads are flawed characters. The male lead loves being her lapdog, and periodically loses control and goes mad.

The blurb for the upcoming novel The Mad Dog Beneath Her Skirts

The first time Qu Lingyi softened toward Yan Heng was on a night of driving wind and rain.

After seeing off the matchmaker, she hurried toward the side courtyard. Through the curtain of rain, she spotted a young man kneeling outside the ancestral hall, drenched in blood.

As a young lady staying under someone else's roof, Qu Lingyi had always been careful. She should not have felt pity for a bastard son who had done wrong and was disliked by everyone.

But he was kneeling alone in the cold rain, young and pitiable. He reminded her of her little brother.

He was only a child, too young to know better. Wasn't it only right for an older sister to look after him a little?

So, after a moment's hesitation, she wrapped some medicine for his wounds in a soft handkerchief and took it to him.

*

From that day on, Qu Lingyi often saw him being punished.

The Duke disliked him, his legitimate mother beat and berated him at the slightest excuse, and besides, he truly was disobedient.

Unable to bear the wounded, tearful look in his eyes after he was beaten with a cane, she let him come to the side courtyard for medicine, and took the opportunity to teach him right from wrong.

Until he secured an official post at court, and her mourning period ended. It was only right that she marry.

When the matchmaker came to tell her the wedding date, Yan Heng lowered his eyes obediently and offered his congratulations in the gentle tone she had taught him, as well-behaved and compliant as ever.

But that very night, he pressed her down onto the desk.

The young man's limbs were strong and powerful. His dark gaze traced her snow-white skin inch by inch, his breathing heavy and clinging.

Qu Lingyi was trapped in his arms, her voice trembling. "...I'm your older sister."

His solid waist pressed against her from behind. His long, pale fingers traced her lower belly inch by inch, his obsessive tone almost deranged.

"But don't you think that if you had a child here, it would call me Father?"

*

At first, Yan Heng used every means at his disposal to climb the ranks just to possess one person.

But later, after he got what he wanted and tasted the power that came with his position, he would not let anyone criticize his relationship with his older sister.

When a sudden upheaval struck, he came drenched in blood, stepping over corpses strewn across the ground. He bent down, lowered himself to his knees, and slowly knelt at the hem of the woman's pale skirt.

Qu Lingyi backed away in alarm, but he gripped her slender waist, leaving her nowhere to run.

"They're dead. Now no one can separate me from you, Sister. Isn't that wonderful?"

Yan Heng lifted his head. Seeing the color drain from his sister's beautiful face, the sinister look faded from his eyes. His burning breath brushed her ear, and his kiss landed fiercely, though his voice sounded deeply wronged.

"You won't abandon me, Sister, will you?"

*One-on-one romance, happy ending, both leads are each other's first and only partners (the male lead is chaste).

*An older-sister-and-dog romance, just as the title suggests. The male lead is very crazy, but also extremely devoted.

*Four-year age gap. From the start, the female lead is 22 and the male lead is 18. They are not related by blood.

Theme: Love yourself before loving someone else.