He Du's Lucky Draw

[Delicate princess × rugged hostage prince]

The Noble Consort only wants to find her daughter a promising husband. She ends up keeping Chu Rongyu unmarried longer than any other princess of marriageable age.

Under her mother’s repeated pressure, Chu Rongyu has no choice but to visit the most renowned temple in the capital and pray for a good match.

Perhaps she wasn’t sincere enough. A rough, ill-mannered man bumps into the fortune-stick cylinder, knocking it to the ground.

But, as luck would have it, the fall produces an exceptionally auspicious fortune.

The Noble Consort is overjoyed, thinking her ideal son-in-law is just around the corner. Instead, an imperial edict of marriage arrives, declaring that Princess Qingyang is to marry the young lord of the Wei family.

Who are the Wei family? Nothing but the rulers of a remote border principality, a barbarous land and an uncivilized people.

Yet Chu Rongyu is quite satisfied. There’s only one reason: he seems honest and simple-minded.

On her wedding day, she’s dumbfounded to discover that her groom is the very man who knocked over the fortune-stick cylinder.

He’s tall and burly, all muscle and sun-browned skin, nothing like the refined gentlemen admired by women in the capital. She finds that deeply disappointing.

But later, Chu Rongyu realizes that his sturdy build does have its advantages. After all, she can never get enough of feeling that firm waist...

*, *, *

Wei Shuo came to the capital to learn new skills, intending to return and lead his people in developing agriculture, promoting trade, and becoming self-sufficient.

Who knew that before learning anything, he’d receive an imperial decree of marriage and a delicate Central Plains princess?

Looking at the princess’s soft, tender skin, he feels a headache coming on.

Their people on the grasslands admire strength and vigor. In his tribe, a frail woman like her would never find a husband.

But later, Wei Shuo realizes how shallow he’s been. This woman is a master at tending fields, exactly the kind of person his tribe needs most.

To revitalize his tribe and secretly learn her skills, Wei Shuo becomes the very thing he once despised: the devoted lapdog of a delicate woman.

His daily duties include, but aren’t limited to, carrying water for the princess to irrigate the fields, carrying her over muddy ditches, and keeping watch for her at night...

But after all that effort, all he gets is the delicate princess’s merciless scorn: “The servants can do all that. My consort is just making unnecessary trouble.”

So, on a cold winter night, Wei Shuo steels himself and climbs into the princess’s bed wearing nothing but a thin undergarment.

No one’s going to fight him for the job of warming her bed, right?

*, *, *

[Bonus scene]

The capital is stiflingly hot. Wei Shuo is sweating buckets from working, so he simply takes off his clothes and bares his chest.

Chu Rongyu hurriedly turns away and scolds him over and over. “This is the capital, not your barbarian homeland.”

Wei Shuo raises an eyebrow. “Is that so? You were peeking through the crack in the window. I thought this was what you liked.”

(Arranged marriage to love, both leads’ first, one-on-one romance, happy ending)

Next book: My Husband Is Mad and Lovesick, Please Add It to Your Reading List

[Bold beauty × mad, deceptively innocent schemer]

Shen Yan has nothing but the clothes on his back, yet he has a remarkably handsome face. Landowners’ daughters from miles around have sent matchmakers to ask for his hand, but he’s turned them all down with disdain.

The villagers say the poor boy has big ambitions and is surely set on marrying into an official’s family.

But the very next day, he’s kidnapped and dragged up a mountain by a notorious female bandit.

Jiang Fulan gently strokes the young man’s smooth face, thoroughly pleased.

Tsk, tsk. With looks and a figure like his, he’ll surely give her a cute, fair-skinned baby.

The young man has been worn out until he’s pale, yet he still pretends to be mature beyond his years. “Let me go. Once I pass the imperial examinations, I’ll repay you with a hundred taels of silver.”

“What a tempting offer... Unfortunately, I don’t need silver. I need a man.”

She lifts his handsome chin. “Passing the exams can wait. A wedding night tonight is much more practical.”

Shen Yan grits his teeth. “Name your price. What will it take for you to let me leave the mountain?”

“Easy. Just give in to me, like a good boy.”

The young man blushes scarlet. “You... You’re shameless! You’re vulgar! You...”

Jiang Fulan toys with the loose sash at his waist. “I suggest you save your words and your strength for tonight, when you can cry out all you like.”

But later, Jiang Fulan realizes that although the young man is beautiful, he’s far too calculating. Keeping him by her side will only bring trouble sooner or later.

So she decides to get rid of him once and for all, and throws him out.

She thinks they’ll forget each other and go their separate ways. Then, one careless mistake later, she’s captured by the enemy.

The white-robed gentleman she hasn’t seen in ages binds her to the bed with cold iron chains.

“You promised I’d be your only military adviser for the rest of your life. Why have you broken your word?”

His cool, thin lips brush against the most vulnerable part of her neck.

“If you break your word, you deserve to be punished.”

#After being heartlessly abandoned, the sweet puppy turns into a mad dog.

Theme: When people have enough to eat, the world is at peace