Escaping a Clingy Suitor

Du Suihao was plump and beautiful, a famous beauty across all the surrounding villages. Before she had even come of age, matchmakers were already competing to find her a husband.

But no one knew that her father had secretly promised her to a wealthy merchant as a concubine, to bring him good luck.

And her father had no idea that his usually obedient daughter had secretly taken in a man behind his back.

Du Suihao had found him while gathering firewood.

He was gravely wounded and unconscious, so she treated him.

He was handsome and refined, with an air of nobility. It was obvious he came from a distinguished family. But no matter what Du Suihao asked him, he remained silent, his eyes full of suspicion toward her.

Du Suihao didn't mind. He stayed in the abandoned house for a few days, and she looked after him for those same few days.

As time passed, he was no longer as cold toward her. He even took over the farm chores at her home, though he still refused to say much.

As the piles of firewood around the house grew and the pigs and cattle grew fatter, Du Suihao became alarmed. Terrified that people would find out she was hiding a man, she urged him to leave at once.

But that night, the man who usually never let his emotions show pinned her to the bed and demanded to know why.

*

Lin Qizhao and the crown prince were both among the emperor's most valued sons, and they had fought for years. Lin Qizhao had caused the crown prince to fall gravely ill, while the crown prince sent men to take Lin Qizhao's life.

When Lin Qizhao was badly wounded, a farmer's daughter saved him.

He had met plenty of noblewomen in the capital and naturally looked down on her. Most of the time, he barely paid attention to her, but she came to see him every single day, never sparing herself the trouble.

Yet somehow, he became captivated by the way she spoke. At night, he thought of her so much he could hardly sleep.

He began to treat her kindly, claiming he was repaying her for saving him. But only he knew he was doing it just to get closer to her.

When she realized what was happening, she tried to make him leave.

But when Lin Qizhao saw her again, she had already married someone else.

So she'd driven him away for some sickly man?

Reading Guide:

1. One-to-one romance. The heroine is a virgin.

2. The heroine is widowed soon after her marriage, and the hero begins to take her by force.

3. The hero mistakenly believes she drove him away for another man, so even after that man dies, he is still often jealous.

Coming Soon: "The Second Wife"

Tong Yuan had been married into the second branch of the Shen family for over three years, but had yet to conceive. For that, she had endured her mother-in-law's disapproving looks more times than she could count.

She had tried to find a solution, but her husband was always extremely restrained in bed, as if he had some hidden ailment. By the time he died in battle, she still hadn't borne a child.

Tong Yuan became a widow, and the Shen family turned against her, swearing to drive her out.

But just as Tong Yuan was at the end of her rope, the first branch of the Shen family stepped in and took her in. Only then did she learn that the first and second branches had already agreed that she would marry into both, carrying on the family line for each branch.

*

Shen Songting had won military honors from a young age, becoming a commander and marquis early in life. Yet this great man had never married, because he and the son of the Shen family's second branch shared each other's sensations at night. Only the two of them knew about it.

They had agreed that if either of them married, they would avoid consummating the marriage at night. The strange thing was that the wife the second branch married was always causing trouble at night, making things difficult for Shen Songting, too. Gradually, he developed feelings of his own.

The arrangement for her to carry on both branches suited him perfectly. Still, he thought that once she became pregnant, he would probably lose interest.

But after their first night together, seeing Tong Yuan timidly turn her back to him left him feeling inexplicably stifled.

She had never acted that way with the man from the second branch.

1. The heroine is not a virgin, but the hero is.

2. Set in a fictional world, with all details invented.

3. The second male lead will return to compete with the hero for the heroine.

Theme: Never give up without a fight.