Delicate Hands Peel a Fresh Orange

"The imperial harem is the emperor’s great garden. He plants beautiful, clever young women there at will, letting them take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit, or leaving them to wither and die like dead branches and faded flowers. This is the beginning of many palace stories."

Su Tong, The Sandalwood Ball

After transmigrating, Yu Shaowei goes from an urban office worker to Consort Yu in the imperial harem. Just when she thinks this is the greatest joke heaven could play on her, an imperial edict arrives, making the palace’s most isolated fifth prince her adopted son.

The slender youth is brought before Yu Shaowei. His hesitant, timid movements instantly soften her heart.

Life in the harem is hardly peaceful, but fortunately she manages to get by. The fifth prince can be strange at times, but overall he is quite considerate. The warmth and care they share are even things she never experienced in her previous life... Yu Shaowei gradually feels that this life is actually quite nice.

Until his forbidden feelings are laid bare before her.

The young man kneeling before her is disheveled. She turns her face away, stunned. She has hit him and scolded him, so why is he still so stubbornly fixated on her?

A rustling sound comes from beside her. The young man inches closer on his knees, clutching the hem of her robe and glaring up at her as he demands, "Why don’t you dare look at me?"

Yu Shaowei’s heart clenches, and she closes her eyes in shame. He is right. She doesn’t dare look at him.

Of Emperor Qing’s many sons, the fifth prince, Qi Zhen, is the least favored. Orphaned by his mother at a young age and left without protection, he suffers hardship early and learns to hide himself, lying low as he waits for his chance.

An imperial edict makes the newly arrived Consort Yu his mother. Memories well up, and the youth sinks into thought.

If she can keep to herself, they can live in peace. If she cannot... Qi Zhen lowers his eyes, their depths icy cold.

But later, the thing he hates most is her keeping to herself.

The wounds of the past have made him instinctively wary of and hostile toward everyone. Yet everything becomes a tangled mess as he spends time with this "mother consort."

Again and again, he warns himself not to become attached to her little acts of kindness. Countless times, he despises himself for being unable to suppress his desire to get close to her. He knows full well that it is only because no one has ever been kind to him before.

Whether her feelings are genuine or false, as long as she keeps up the act, he is willing to give her everything she wants.

But what about what he wants? As she avoids his gaze more and more, he finds himself wanting more and more.

Sunshine-like but strangely eerie heroine × gloomy, ghostlike hero

The heroine is not a virgin; the hero is

The leads are six years apart in age

P.S. The romance only develops after the leads’ relationship as parent and child is formally dissolved.

Coming soon

Modern novel: Jiang Zhi’s Diary

Twenty-six-year-old Jiang Zhi comes across her diary from when she was sixteen.

Ten years ago, full of anticipation, she thought every road in the world would open up before her.

Ten years later, she is filled with uncertainty, not knowing where to go.

How much does the person you are now resemble the girl you once dreamed of becoming?

*

Jiang Zhi passes a charmingly decorated dessert shop. The owner is unbelievably handsome.

She finds herself going back again and again, and discovers that the owner is especially warm toward her.

Jiang Zhi’s heart races. Could he like me?

The thought torments her until she can neither eat nor sleep. One day, on impulse, she asks the owner, who is carrying a cake over to her, what she has been wondering.

The result...

The plate shatters, and the dessert gets dirty.

Jiang Zhi runs into a high school classmate she hasn’t seen in years.

Xu Yan explains, "We used to sit together. I thought you recognized me."

Jiang Zhi: "Oh, really? Haha, I knew that all along... Um, something just came up, so I should get going. Haha."

I absolutely will not come back! she solemnly swears.

A few days later, a message from Xu Yan pops up on WeChat: "We made a new dessert at the shop. Want to come try it?"

Jiang Zhi hesitates for ten seconds, then replies, "Sure."

Another ancient-style novel coming soon: Lotus Cove, "Last night I saw again the man who abandoned me and never returned."

Theme: Love takes many forms.