Lotus Blossom Joy

Qi Huan first met Pei Yu at a temple in town.

The man knelt in devout prayer, palms pressed together, long lashes lowered and ink-black hair cascading loose. Clad in white, he looked like an immortal who had descended to earth through the incense smoke.

When he lifted his eyes and looked her way, Qi Huan marveled.

He had a woman's beauty, with an exquisitely lovely face like Guanyin's.

Qi Huan wanted him.

She wanted him so much that night after night, she dreamed of that beautiful Guanyin face, overcome with passion.

Qi Huan soon learned that the man's name was Pei Yu, and that he was the second son of a wealthy family. His bride had died on the eve of their wedding, and he had been sent here so the Buddha's radiance could suppress the thing possessing him.

Qi Huan felt that even Heaven was helping her. He was a widower, and she was a widow. They were a perfect match.

She gritted her teeth and bought pretty clothes, perfumed herself, and went to the temple every few days.

She would deliberately leave things behind, bump into him, or act pitiful and aggrieved, but each time he treated her with the propriety of a gentleman and never overstepped.

He wore that Guanyin face, untouched by earthly desires and untainted by the mortal world.

Qi Huan wanted him even more.

Two years had passed since her husband died. She had raised her daughter alone and hadn't touched another man since. She was nearly forgetting what it felt like.

The day she finally got her way, she cupped Pei Yu's face and coaxed him to call her, "Pei Lang, call me Huan-niang. Huan-niang."

The man parted his lips and repeated the words, confused but obedient.

"Huan-niang..."

Qi Huan loved seeing him, so cool and otherworldly, stained by desire.

At last, she had dragged this Guanyin down into the mud, where he became filth that could never be washed clean, just like her.

After that, whenever the evening glow arrived, the cramped meditation room would fill with cloying incense.

She would leave after sunset, leaving him behind, at a loss.

Then she was discovered having an affair with Pei Yu. She didn't care about her own reputation, but for her daughter's sake, she needed a title that could silence the rumors.

She asked Pei Yu to marry her.

The man lifted his head from her neck and withdrew the hand buried in her hair, gently shaking his head.

"Huan-niang, I can't."

Qi Huan left town with her daughter.

Before long, people noticed that the "male Bodhisattva" from the temple had disappeared.

Extra scene:

On the night she settled into her new home, a torrential rain began to fall outside. Someone knocked on the door, unhurried and steady.

Click. The door opened.

That Guanyin face, pale and glistening with rain, appeared before her.

"Huan-niang, why did you leave?"

The man gave her the smile she loved. Soaked through, he stood in the darkness like a beautiful ghost.

"I've come to find you."

[The woman takes the lead; she is three years older than the male lead.

The heroine has a three-year-old daughter. The male lead has never consummated his marriage or touched another woman. His betrothal was arranged by his parents, and there was no love between them.]

[Before meeting the heroine, the male lead had no idea what romantic love was, and his thought process was a little abnormal.]

[The heroine takes the lead at first; later, the male lead becomes a sinister, ghostlike obsessive.]

A recommendation for my upcoming story, The Princess Who Knows Nothing

Blurb:

When Ji Qianzi went hunting beasts, she saw a rabbit boy.

The rabbit boy was covered in wounds and huddled up, looking so pitiful.

But his eyes were bright red, like rubies, and she loved them, so she rescued him.

She had her people wash him and gave him the name Little Rabbit.

Little Rabbit sobbed as he leaned against her knees, his eyelashes trembling and his eyes red as he thanked her for saving him.

She gave him the finest clothes and pills, raising him until his fur was snow-white. Whenever she felt like it, she would turn him into a little rabbit and rub his fluffy coat. She took him out for walks whenever she had time.

He was very dependent on her. He would turn into a little rabbit to sleep and needed a kiss from her every night before he would settle down. At some point, he began kissing her in human form.

And Ji Qianzi had grown used to being so affectionate with Little Rabbit.

But her older brother told her to throw Little Rabbit away, and even her childhood friend said the same.

Ji Qianzi didn't understand. She'd gone to so much trouble to find such a cute rabbit. How could she throw him away?

Later, Little Rabbit changed. He didn't just want to stay by her side forever. He wanted all of her, body and soul, to belong to him alone.

Confused, she asked him why.

Little Rabbit gazed at her with his red eyes and kissed her, then asked if she liked him.

Ji Qianzi thought carefully and said that she did.

He smiled and said, "If you like me, then you can only belong to me."

Ji Qianzi still didn't understand. "But I like my older brother too, and he never said I could only belong to him."

Fu Ying went blank. This wasn't the kind of liking he wanted. She had no idea what he meant by love.

*

Fu Ying's people were almost completely wiped out by the royal family. He was the only one who survived, rescued by Ji Qianzi while fleeing.

Ji Qianzi was a princess of the royal family, his enemy.

He should have taken revenge, but her tenderness bewitched him, and he sank deeper and deeper.

He hated that she didn't understand love. So many people around her looked at her with covetous eyes every day, and she never noticed.

Her older brother said his status was too low for him to deserve her. Her childhood friend called him filthy and shameless for daring to desire the princess.

So he overthrew the royal family and seized the throne. He wanted all the old royals to watch in furious humiliation as he married their precious princess.

The new king, who had risen from slavery to the throne, knelt beside her knees and guided his princess's hand to stroke his cheek. His eyes shone like rubies as he gazed deeply at her.

"Master, I like you."

"Master, please like me too."

Bright and sunny, clueless little princess and a poor, love-addled boy who would become a rabbit for love

Theme: Go forward fearlessly