After Pretending to Be the Marquis's Cousin

[Currently building a backlog, updates resume at the end of the year]

[A selfish, dark-hearted beauty who's cruel to others and even crueller to herself x a damp, brooding white moonlight who only pretends to be a gentleman]

Zheng Hu is the newly arrived cousin-gentlewoman at the Marquis of Wu'an's residence.

Beautiful as a flower, she knows just how to behave in every situation.

But no one knows she's an impostor.

Her real identity is Daoyue, Zheng Hu's personal maid.

But that doesn't matter. As long as the Old Madam acknowledges her, she's the real Zheng Hu.

She thrives in the capital, captivating the young noblemen of Wuling. Among them is Wu Nian, the dazzling young master of the Wu family.

But Daoyue doesn't like him.

She was born to toil like an old ox in the fields, and has never liked the blazing sun.

What she longs for is the dream lover of the capital's young ladies: Li Duanyu, the only son of the Grand Princess.

The moon is mysterious, gentle, and bright. That's what she likes.

But everyone in the capital knows that he and Wu Nian are as close as brothers. He would never so much as look at anything Wu Nian liked.

She and Li Duanyu were never meant to be.

But later, at the Chaohua Banquet, when he collapsed in her room, drenched in sweat,

Daoyue thought that the moon in the sky and the old ox on the ground were worlds apart,

but no one had ever said

the old ox couldn't pluck the moon from the sky.

Before long, Daoyue's identity was in danger of being exposed. She decided to act first and ask questions later, making up an excuse to take him to the outskirts and deal with him, but in the confusion, he got away.

When she found him, Li Duanyu was standing beside him.

He leaned against a tree trunk, smiling in a way she had never seen before. His tone was full of curiosity. “Cousin, weren't you going to the temple to burn incense today?”

Daoyue was startled. How did he know?

Li Duanyu knew she was an impostor. He'd known for a long time.

But he didn't care.

All he wanted was that bright moon growing over the rice fields.

Even if she was just a reflection in the water, a flower in a mirror, he would scoop up that reflection and hang it in the sky for all to admire.

Reading Guide:

* Neither a powerful female lead nor a strong heroine. The plot serves the romance. No rebirth, 1v1, both leads are each other's first and only, no angst.

* Neither lead is a good person. The heroine is a maid posing as a noblewoman, with no special circumstances concealing her origins.

* A sickly woman x a brooding man. He is four years older.

* Entirely fictional setting, with no real-life models. The blurb has been screenshotted.

Theme: Be self-reliant and love life