(For the official edition, please read on Jinjiang Literature City. The entire novel is complete. Updates every other day while it's climbing the charts. My next novel, The Longevity Lock, is also fully written. If you're interested, please add it to your collection!)
The hero falls in love at first sight; the heroine falls in love after marriage
Yuan Yi didn't enter the capital until she was nine, thanks to her older brother. Born with immense strength, she had a fearsome reputation in the capital. The Grand Princess favored her, which made the people of the capital both hate and fear her.
Prince Jing, Ji Shi, was peerlessly noble and had won great military honors. He should have been a bold and brilliant young man, but the Astral Bureau predicted he would not live past twenty. Only a marriage to bring him good fortune could avert his fate.
They first met in the back courtyard of the Yuan residence. With his tall crown and neatly bound hair, sword-like brows, and bright eyes, he was a handsome young man indeed.
He teased her, and Yuan Yi was so annoyed that she punched him.
That afternoon, an imperial edict granting their marriage spread throughout the capital. Everyone envied them, but Yuan Yi's hands trembled as she held the decree, afraid it was revenge.
She had heard that people marrying to bring someone good fortune were supposed to avoid sex, lest they deplete their life force.
On their wedding night, Yuan Yi used dates to draw a boundary down the middle of the bed. He thought she despised him, so he slept fully clothed.
When they visited her family after the wedding, the household steward deliberately made him a bowl of nourishing tonic. He didn't understand why, but drank it all the same.
That night, he felt unbearably hot. Yuan Yi was a little scared, but still nervously reached for his sash.
His lips brushed her cheek, and his hand circled her waist as he tried to take a bath with her.
Just when things were about to go further, Yuan Yi got her period.
Their precarious marriage remained in name only until they went together to a temple to pray.
She had accidentally picked up a fertility charm instead of the safety charm she had asked for on his behalf. At last, he understood the strange looks Yuan Yi had given him during those days.
Back at the residence, he leaned over her, the clean scent of him filling her nose. "My dear wife, praying to this charm won't help. You should be asking your husband for this."
[A few tips]
1. This story is set in a completely fictional world, with no real dynasty as a reference. Please don't read if you expect historical accuracy.
2. This is not a strong heroine story. The hero will swoop in to save her from time to time, so please don't read if that bothers you.
3. The political intrigue is rather childish, and even a little ridiculous. Please don't read if that bothers you.
4. The hero falls in love at first sight without realizing it.
5. The overall tone is sweet, with no major emotional upheavals apart from the hero's time at war. It's mostly everyday life, so please don't read if that isn't your thing.
*
Next novel: The Longevity Lock [Coming after The Divine Record; fully written...]
(A story about an arrogant hero getting his comeuppance after falling for her)
Delicate, willow-like noblewoman x dashing young man
Wen Jinning and the eldest son of the Qi family had been betrothed since childhood.
She was as beautiful as Xi Shi, and just as frail, having been born with a weak heart.
As they waited for the wedding to bring good fortune, her unlucky fiance died in a palace coup.
The Qi family had no choice but to trick their younger son, who was stationed far away at the frontier, into coming home to marry in his brother's place and preserve the alliance between the two families.
But as the wedding date approached, the eldest Qi son, who should have been in his grave, suddenly appeared in the courtyard of her home, pressing her to choose between the two of them.
*
Qi Chang You, the younger son of the Qi family, was a young general with a string of military victories, unruly but highly valued.
Not long after the palace coup, the emperor ordered him to escort Prince An to the throne.
He rushed back to the capital day and night, only to learn that it had all been a trick to make him marry in his brother's place.
His fiancee was perfect in every way, except for the many wild bees buzzing around her.
He had just gotten rid of an outsider who had climbed over the wall to see her, when his elder brother came back from the dead.
Holding the marriage contract, he smiled slyly and said, "This farce of a younger brother marrying his elder brother's wife needs to end. When will you give my wife back to me?"
Qi Chang You looked down at Wen Jinning in his arms and kissed behind her ear, tightening his hold around her waist.
His warm breath fell against her face as he smiled and coaxed her. "Tell him, who is the husband you want?"
Theme: Cherish the one you have
