The Husband I Picked Up Is Handsome and Kind

[Pure-Hearted Little Fox Demon x Sharp-Tongued, Soft-Hearted Handsome Husband]

The fox demon Yueya rescued an unconscious man by the river and brought him home. He was half-dead, but unbelievably beautiful.

She was captivated by his looks, so she married him that very night.

But when her husband woke up, he refused to acknowledge the marriage. He claimed he had lost his memory and mocked Yueya for taking advantage of him while he was helpless.

Heartbroken, yet unable to bear letting him go, Yueya tried every possible way to coax him into staying.

At first, he was cold and haughty. He insisted that without a proper wedding, they couldn't be considered husband and wife. He even refused to share a bed with her and insisted on sleeping on the floor.

Later, by a twist of fate, they consummated their marriage. When he saw her true fox-demon form, he became completely obsessed, loving to rub her ears and tail and spouting all kinds of dirty talk.

"Yue-niang, can I kiss you?"

"Yue-niang, I want to get inside your mouth."

"Yue-niang, you taste so sweet. Can I have some of your saliva?"

Yueya discovered that her husband was not only handsome, but learned as well.

He passed the provincial examinations with top honors, all because Yueya had once mumbled in a dream that she wanted to be the wife of an official. He studied from dawn until late at night just for her.

Their married life was sweet and harmonious, until the spring examinations that year, when her husband had to go to the capital to take the exams.

When he left, he swore that if he ever betrayed her, may the heavens strike him down. Once he earned his official title, he would surely return home and marry her properly.

Yueya saw him off. The child in her belly grew bigger by the day, but winter turned to spring and he still did not return. There was no word from him at all.

One day, she went into town and saw an imperial notice: The special palace examinations for the Dingwei year have concluded. Xiao Si, a candidate from Shaozhou, has placed first in the top tier and earned the title of Number One Scholar. The emperor is greatly pleased and has specially decreed that the new Number One Scholar be married to Princess Shouning, the Eldest Princess. The wedding is set for the auspicious date of the twentieth day of the fourth month. This is a national celebration. Let all know and rejoice. The notice is hereby issued to all prefectures for public display, so that the people may share in the joy.

Yueya stood frozen in place.

Xiao Si?

Wasn't that the husband who had left and never come back?

She had given him that name herself. On that New Year's Eve, before the hour of Si had passed, she had brought him home.

Yueya refused to believe it. She traveled all the way to Chang'an and watched him marry the princess with her own eyes before she could finally give up.

If he could be so heartless, then she would abandon him too. She would just treat all those years of love as a way to conceive a beautiful little fox baby, then find the child another father.

But on the boat home, he came looking for her.

When he saw her swollen belly and the newly graduated scholar protecting her, he flew into a rage on the spot.

He trapped her on the soft bedding in the cabin and ground out, "You're carrying my child, Yue-niang, and you still want to go off with another man?"

Yueya hated that he had acted like Chen Shimei, yet still put on this wounded expression. She steeled herself and deliberately provoked him. "Who says the child is yours? After you left last year, I got together with someone else, and..."

Her defiant words were cut off by his kiss, and she tasted salt.

His eyes red, he forced her to reveal her fox tail. Just as he had caressed her countless times before, he refused to let go, even tearing her dress.

"Is that so? Then tell me, Yue-niang, how did you conceive this child with someone else? Like this? Or like this...?"

-

Reader's Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads sexually inexperienced.

2. The heroine is a little demon at first, but will become powerful later.

3. The dynasty is a hodgepodge of eras. No historical accuracy intended.

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The following is a preview of an upcoming novel, "Flying Kites on the Spring Breeze"

[A Super-Soapy Novel Combining Coercive Marriage, Favored Concubine, Household Intrigue, Faked Death, Fleeing with Children, and a Husband's Desperate Quest to Win His Wife Back]

Yun Zheng was a dancer at the Yuxi House. After an accident, she spent one night with the heir to Prince Ning.

Although she drank an abortion-preventing potion afterward, a month later Yun Zheng was still diagnosed as pregnant.

To keep the scandal from becoming public, the heir secretly bought Yun Zheng out of the establishment and brought her into his residence. But somehow, the news still got out.

The emperor harshly reprimanded the heir for his improper conduct and sent him to guard the frontier.

Half a year later, with Yun Zheng's belly swollen, the heir returned to the capital after distinguishing himself in battle. He was ennobled and married.

On his wedding night, Yun Zheng went into premature labor. At the brink of death, her consciousness fading, she heard the heir angrily berating the midwife.

"What do you mean, save the mother or the child? That's absurd! How can one life be exchanged for another? Before the child is born, she is the living person! She is the one who gave the child life! Save the mother!"

Those words made Yun Zheng unwilling to close her eyes. She struggled back from the gates of death and gave birth to twins.

She had thought that with a husband like this, life would gradually get better.

But later, she was forced to give up her swaddled children, and the heir's wife tormented her with jealousy and hatred.

Yun Zheng realized that the heir could not protect her at every moment, but she had no way out.

Until the year the heir's wife died of illness, and Yun Zheng thought she might finally see better days.

Then came the news that the heir would marry another noblewoman.

She refused to believe it. After a night of passion, she deliberately clung to the heir and begged him to give her a proper title.

He seemed to take it as a joke, scoffing as he patted her flushed, sweat-damp cheek.

"You think someone of your status can be a proper wife? Don't entertain such unrealistic ideas. Your new mistress is kind-tempered. You must treat her with respect from now on."

Yun Zheng smiled too, laughing at her own foolishness.

Why spend the rest of her life as a kite held by someone else's string, bobbing up and down without ever being free? Better to drift away with the wind...

-

According to the people in the prince's residence, on the day the heir married again, he worried his favored concubine, Lady Meng, might be upset, so he allowed her to take the children out of the city to fly kites.

Lady Meng left happily, but when night fell, she still hadn't returned. The servants who had accompanied her came running back in tears, holding a broken swallow-shaped kite.

"Madam suddenly went mad. She took the young master and young lady, ran to the cliff, and jumped. They're gone..."

-

Li Xun had a gentle, considerate concubine. She agreed to everything he said, was delighted with anything he gave her, and did whatever he wanted at night.

He had thought she was soft-natured and would depend on him for the rest of her life. But one day, she disappeared.

Everyone said she had gone mad and jumped off a cliff with the children. They couldn't even find their bodies.

Li Xun smiled, the corners of his eyes wet. "You think I'd believe that? She loved those children so much. How could she take them to their deaths... She loved me so much. How could she bear to leave..."

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Reader's Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads sexually inexperienced.

2. The male lead isn't as heartless as the heroine believes, and the heroine doesn't love him as much as he believes.

Theme: Respect life and care for animals.