Jasmine Blooms in the Golden Mountains [Western]

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[Tsundere Undercover Police Inspector x Two-Faced Heiress]

"Keep your filthy deference to yourself!"

Cen Biyun's furious scolding and kick landed together on the front seat.

Her bodyguard, Yan Shu, was sitting there.

This man was the boy she'd bought out of a dog cage when she was twelve, and now he was the gang's lackey she despised most.

Cen Biyun, daughter of a wealthy Chinese merchant, lived by just one word: respectability.

When she first arrived in Goldgate City in early 1914, she had to endure her clumsy English, awkward dancing, her father's neglect, her stepmother's cold glares, her siblings' mockery, and the casual trips her white classmates made to trip her up. She tasted all the hardships of being Chinese.

So a few years later, she used her outstanding grades, fluent English, flawless tango at dances, most generous donations at charity banquets, and magnanimous conduct toward those who wronged her to prove to the white world that Chinese people deserved respect.

But she knew that respectability was gilded on the outside and rotten within.

The fate of both her and her entire family rested in the hands of the aristocratic young master, Emery Winston.

Goldgate City looked up to him, praising his approachability, nobility, and gentlemanly manners. Only Cen Biyun knew that beneath that elegant facade lay an arrogance capable of molding her to his whim.

Just as Chinatown lay prostrate beneath Golden Summit Mountain, she was firmly under his control.

After Emery left Goldgate City, she could finally breathe. She thought he had grown tired of the game.

Until that night, when Emery appeared again at a charity banquet. He merely gave her a faint smile, and Cen Biyun instantly felt suffocated.

He courteously offered her a glass of red wine, his voice soft and unhurried.

"I hear you're going to marry Mr. Fu?"

Fu Canzhang had come to Goldgate City with her when they were both twelve. They were childhood friends, and he should have been the most respectable and suitable match for her.

Cold sweat seeped down Cen Biyun's back. She managed to force out a stiff smile.

After the banquet, all the humiliation she'd bottled up finally burst out. She suddenly kicked the seat of her silent bodyguard, Yan Shu.

"Keep your filthy deference to yourself! You gang lackeys who only draw your knives against Chinese people, how are you any different from beasts in cages?"

In the rearview mirror, Yan Shu gently brushed his fingertip over his collarbone.

A silver dollar she'd tossed to him seven years ago hung there on a cord.

Cen Biyun didn't know that the gang lackey she despised was the Chinese boy she'd bought out of a casino's dog cage with every penny of her spending money when she was twelve.

She knew even less that he was now the right-hand man of the head of Qingyun Hall, Chinatown's largest gang.

And she would never have guessed that he was also the undercover police inspector codenamed "Cloud" in Goldgate City's police department's top-secret files.

Yan Shu remembered.

He remembered being fifteen, chained in a casino dog cage by his white adoptive father, when she threw down a purse of money and shouted, "Let him go! Send him to school!"

He also remembered the day he became her bodyguard by sheer coincidence, and how, when they were alone, she kicked the back of his knee and arrogantly snapped, "Keep those dog eyes shut!"

At first, he thought she was a light shining into hell.

Later, he realized she was nothing like the innocent girl he remembered.

In public, she was an heiress who did everything she could to maintain a respectable image. In private, she was imperious and heartless toward him.

Later, he asked Miss Cen,

"Why did you buy me at the casino back then and send me to school?"

"When I was twelve," she murmured, leaning down, her breath brushing his lips, "I bet you could climb out of hell and become a legend for me."

The next second, she kissed him.

[Reader's Guide]

1. Fictional setting: The story is set in the early twentieth century. Details serve the plot, so please don't get too caught up in historical accuracy.

2. Both leads are chaste and devoted only to each other, in body and heart.

3. About the heroine: Respectable in public, hot-tempered in private, and unpredictable. If that's not your thing, please don't read.

If you're interested, check out this upcoming story. It's a safe bet! (#^.^#)

Marriage first, love later | Heroine starts out frail and grows stronger | Bickering enemies-to-lovers daily life | Hero thinks he's beaten his cousin, but ends up losing his own heart

[Stubborn, Handsome General x Scheming, Frail Beauty]

Zhen Chanruo, daughter of the Vice Minister of Rites, was born with a sickly constitution, as fragile as a flower in the wind. She was frail and cold-sensitive, born under an intensely yin fate, timid and easily frightened, and no medicine could cure her.

Then one day, a wandering Daoist gave her a hint: "Your illness cannot be cured by medicine. You need someone with abundant yang energy by your side. That might change your fate."

"Who in this world has the most yang energy?"

"The young general, Nie Xun."

To save her own life, timid Chanruo summoned the courage, for the first time in her life, to carefully stage a runaway-horse accident. Sure enough, he came to her rescue.

And, as luck would have it, she disrupted his elegant, refined matchmaking meeting.

Nie Xun was exactly as the rumors described: famed for his military achievements, with swordlike brows and bright eyes, and an imposing presence even when calm. But he was utterly clueless about romance and spoke his mind without a filter. He was a block of wood who could make her angry enough to spit blood!

What astonished her, though, was that Nie Xun's father, the great general, and his mother, a grand princess, treated her, the daughter of a mere vice minister, as if she were their own, showering her with affection.

On their wedding day, the bridal candles blazed as she married the cure that had saved her life.

Until a figure who should have been sealed away in her memories appeared in Daoist robes, smiling as he entered the wedding hall.

"It's my cousin's wedding day. Why didn't you invite your older cousin over for a celebratory drink?"

Xiao Jingze's cool gaze swept over the bride's pale face. "What, were you afraid I'd steal your bride?"

The nuptial wine slipped from their hands and crashed to the ground.

Nie Xun silently moved to shield Zhen Chanruo behind him.

Xiao Jingze waved his fan. "I told you when you were a child not to set your sights on your sister-in-law. It seems my dear cousin didn't listen to a word."

His cold gaze fell on Zhen Chanruo, standing behind Nie Xun in her wedding dress.

Since childhood, Nie Xun had lived in the shadow of his cousin Xiao Jingze, the heir to Prince Shu, who had once dazzled the capital. In literature, horsemanship, archery, and strategy, he seemed to outdo Nie Xun in everything.

Now, by a twist of fate, Nie Xun had married the woman Xiao Jingze had once treasured above all else. He couldn't deny the secret satisfaction he felt at finally coming out on top.

But he never imagined that the wife he'd won would turn out to be a hot potato. She was not only spoiled, but had a whole string of twisted arguments ready whenever they quarreled. Worse still, this hard-hearted man seemed to have softened first.

Just as Zhen Chanruo thought she'd found a good husband, she happened to bring food to Nie Xun's troops and noticed that one of his centurions looked familiar. It was the wandering Daoist from back then.

Wait, who was the real prey?

A few phrases drifted through Zhen Chanruo's mind:

Luring someone into a trap, catching a turtle in a jar, walking straight into a snare, already caught in the net...

[Bonus Scene]

Nie Xun returned from court and had just stepped into the courtyard when he saw Zhen Chanruo bundled in a thick cloak, gazing longingly at the sun.

He paused, then walked over. His tall figure promptly blocked all the sunlight in front of her.

Zhen Chanruo: "..."

Her sun was gone.

She sighed mournfully. "Husband, you're blocking me from absorbing yang energy to replenish my yin."

Nie Xun heard her and furrowed his swordlike brows. He bent down and scooped her up in his arms.

"Ah!"

Zhen Chanruo cried out and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.

"It's windy outside. You'll catch a chill."

Carrying her, he strode toward the house. "According to medical texts, close bodily contact transfers yang energy, and its medicinal effect far surpasses sunlight."

The door slammed shut.

That yang-energy treatment nearly sent her to her grave.

Core message: Build confidence in our people.