After Marrying a Powerful Minister

[Novel Blurb]

Bright and willful young princess x scheming, tea-scented powerful official [marriage first, love later + extra sweet]

"I hear the army is returning to the capital!"

"Looks like General Pei and Princess Anhua will be wedding soon!"

"Not at all! I hear General Pei is going to break off his engagement to the princess!"

Gu Yanshu, Princess Anhua, received her title at the age of eight and was brought into the palace to be raised by the Empress Dowager herself. His Majesty the Emperor treated her like his own daughter, and for a time she was the most talked-about person in the capital.

Pei Yan went to war with his father and became a famous young general. He knelt in the palace hall, standing ramrod straight as he asked the emperor to arrange his marriage. But the person he asked to marry wasn't Princess Anhua! It was an orphan girl he had brought back from the frontier!

From that day on, the once lofty Gu Yanshu became a laughingstock in the capital.

Just then, an embassy from the southern frontier arrives to request a noblewoman of the capital's marriage, hoping to seal an alliance between their nations. Gu Yanshu doesn't want to be sent away to marry, so she has no choice but to find a way to settle her own marriage.

When she first meets Su Yumo, she thinks he is pure and refined as snow, his jade-like beauty beyond reproach. He lowers his eyes in greeting, cool and composed, without sparing her a glance. As he rises, however, a plain handkerchief slips from him by accident.

Gu Yanshu studies the handkerchief for a moment. It's been used for years. His family must be poor, and life must be hard for him.

On her wedding night with Su Yumo, Gu Yanshu speaks softly with him. "If you don't want this marriage, my lord, we can divorce once the commotion has died down."

After a moment, he says coolly, "The princess has certainly thought things through... thoroughly."

After the wedding, Su Yumo turns out to be nothing like she imagined.

One day, he gives her a hairpin. It's beautifully made, and clearly worth a fortune.

Gu Yanshu: He must have saved up his salary for ages.

The next day, several ingots of silver, each worth one hundred taels, appear on Su Yumo's study desk.

After coaxing him into a night of passion, Gu Yanshu feels bad about it and leaves a few gold ingots on his desk as well.

Their marriage has taken such an unexpected turn that she doesn't know what to make of it. When things start to seem amiss, she asks for a divorce.

Behind the gauze curtains, Su Yumo backs her into a corner of the bed. "Princess, you're truly heartless. Are you planning to use me and throw me away? Just lift your skirts and leave?"

Gu Yanshu: "Should I give you some more money?"

Su Yumo gives her an inscrutable smile. "How much money does the princess plan to pay me off with this time?"

Love is too expensive!

Only later does she learn that he is fabulously wealthy!

She's about to confront him, but before she can speak, he pulls her into his arms. "When it comes to money, A-Yan, I'm afraid you can't beat me. Why don't we talk about love instead?"

Reading Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are virgins, happy ending.

2. The male lead is a sly, tea-scented schemer.

3. Set in a fictional world.

Coming Soon: Jade's Embrace

Blurb:

Lively, forthright young princess x aloof beauty like jade [mistaking the aloof beauty for her fiance + extra sweet]

Han Wei has barely arrived in the capital when she hears about a juicy bit of gossip.

A young lady shyly confesses her feelings to Vice Minister Xue. As soon as she leaves, Vice Minister Xue tosses the sweet dumplings she gave him into the water to feed the fish.

So that dignified, elegant gentleman with his outstanding looks, the most renowned man in the capital, is the one standing right in front of her?

Han Wei looks at his cold jade-like face.

He certainly seems unattainable, cold-hearted, and indifferent.

*

Han Wei is brought to the capital to find a suitable match.

She chooses a gentle, refined young gentleman.

Who could have guessed that at her betrothal banquet, Han Wei would mistakenly drink a love potion? With no other choice, she drunkenly pushes her fiance into a private room.

When she comes to and sees the jade-like face before her, she recoils in alarm.

The man she spent the night with wasn't her fiance.

He was Xue Jin, the peerless young nobleman from Shengjing!

*

When Xue Jin first meets Han Wei, he sees her as lovely and charming, bright as the autumn moon.

But what she does is entirely improper: she hides behind a boulder to eavesdrop.

Later, Xue Jin realizes she's unlike the young ladies of Shengjing. She's irreverent, clever, and lively.

While looking for a husband, she goes boating with the third young master of the Yang family, her lovely eyes full of affection and her smile bewitching. The very next day, she accepts a jade hairpin from a young master of the Shen family.

Yet she goes out of her way to avoid him.

Since childhood, he has kept everyone at a polite distance and never crossed a line.

The one time he lets his guard down is that day.

As Han Wei embraces him, he still has some reason left. He grabs her mischievous hand and warns her, "You mustn't do this."

But when her red lips meet his, the last of his reason crumbles, and he can no longer push her away.

He never expects her to wake up in terror and abruptly shove him away.

"Why is it you?"

His eyes darken.

"If it wasn't me, who did you think it was?"

After they marry, she presses one hand against his chest and coyly tells him no.

He acts as if he hasn't heard her and lowers his head to kiss her fingertips.

"When you were enjoying such a pleasant conversation with him today, did you not expect that tonight might last longer than usual?"

Theme: Never leave the green mountain behind; stay together and face the world as one