[A blunt, slow-to-react female official × a younger, scheming, devoted guard-dog type]
That winter, the snow came up to their knees. Chu Yu was out shopping as usual when she came across an unusual sight.
A battered boy lay helplessly on the ground, bound in chains and seemingly moments from death.
Frowning, she used all the silver she had to buy the filthy boy from a human trafficker.
The boy was like a young beast newly arrived in the human world, wary of everything around him.
When she tried to bandage his wounds, he grabbed her. When she tried to feed him, he bit her.
Chu Yu patiently soothed him, giving him warm clothes and enough to eat, and telling him he could stay without fear.
By the time all his bleeding wounds had scabbed over, he had become docile, lying at her feet and calling her “Big Sister” with bright, shining eyes.
Like two lonely birds warming each other, they built a home that was small but full of warmth.
Two years later, with the peach blossoms in full bloom, the boy was gone.
All he left behind was the celadon bowl Chu Yu had prepared just for him, spotless, as though no one had ever been there.
Three years later, Chu Yu, now a government official, was attacked while investigating a case at night. She was outnumbered.
At the brink of life and death, a shadow darted in front of her like a startled bird, driving back the assassins in an instant.
Her heart raced. Before the masked stranger left, he gave her a long look. His eyes were dark and bright, stirring a deep-seated feeling within her.
She didn’t have time to thank him before he disappeared.
Later, Chu Yu is ordered to suppress bandits, but is ambushed and abducted to their mountain stronghold.
The bandit chief steps out of the shadows, turning her official seal over in his hand. He teasingly brushes a finger over her lips. “Why don’t you stay here and be my bandit bride, my lady?”
Furious, Chu Yu draws her sword, but he twists her arm around and pins her onto the bed.
His rough palm presses against her skin. His scorching breath burns against the side of her neck as he whispers seductively, “Would you grant me that wish, my lady?”
As she struggles, Chu Yu’s gaze catches a scar behind his ear. She freezes for a moment.
*
Jiang Xun has been surrounded by killing since childhood, surviving by stepping over other people’s corpses.
Until he lost.
Battered and covered in wounds, he was taken in by a young woman who gave him warm clothes, good food, and a home.
At her side, for the first time in his life, he was treated with respect as a human being.
But when his former master arrived, he had no choice but to shatter that dream with his own hands and leave without a word.
He had no choice but to go.
Fortunately, fate was kind to him. He met the woman again and held her captive in his arms.
He gazes passionately at the woman he has never been able to forget, his eyes almost crazed. He raises a finger to wipe the blood from her face.
“Why don’t you be my bandit bride, my lady?”
He thought she would hit him or curse him, but he never expected her to say
“So it was you, you little brat!”
She still remembered him.
Joy spreads from the depths of his heart through his whole body. He knows she has the softest heart.
So he puts away his earlier arrogance, kneels on one knee, and carefully takes her hand. He rests his forehead against her wrist, his voice hoarse and aggrieved, as though he’s terrified of being abandoned again.
“You were the one who bought me in the first place,” he accuses softly, the corners of his eyes reddening. “You can’t… leave me again.”
Chu Yu looks at him, both annoyed and amused, and pokes him on the forehead. “I taught you to read and to know right from wrong. Was that so you could become a bandit and flirt with me?”
He holds tightly to her wrist and lowers his eyes, a hint of satisfaction flickering in them. “Then keep me by your side and teach me some more, my lady.”
[Reader’s Guide]
1. Younger man, both leads are each other’s first, happy ending.
2. Set in an alternate world where both women and men can hold office.
3. They save each other. This is not a strong, independent heroine story.
Theme: Become your most dependable ally
