I Said He Wasn't Up to It

Xiaoman once saved a man of extraordinary beauty by chance. Resting her chin in her hands, she stared at him, entranced. "Wow, you're so handsome."

He leaned against the stone wall, otherworldly, noble and refined. He gave her a cool glance. "What do you want as a reward?"

Remembering the illicit book she'd peeked at the day before, Xiaoman glanced at his abs and blushed. "I want to leave this place. Can you take me with you?" Then, ever considerate, she added, "It's fine if you can't. I can wait for someone else."

The man's eyes shifted slightly as he watched her for a long moment. His voice was cold. "All right."

**

Only when Xiaoman saw the majestic, exquisite imperial dragon robe did she learn that the man was the emperor himself. Her heart, so easily swayed by good looks, immediately came to its senses.

The emperor looked down at her. Having seen plenty of women trying to climb the social ladder, he deliberately put her in her place. "What, you don't want to be my palace maid and serve me?"

Xiaoman stared blankly for a moment, then smiled sweetly. "It would be this servant's good fortune to serve Your Majesty."

When it came to choosing between staying alive and chasing handsome men, she knew where she stood. Fortunately, the emperor wasn't the only handsome man in the world, so she began turning her attention to the young officials at court...

She had a clever plan, and even used the emperor's authority to stop the noblewomen she'd always disliked from getting close to him.

The chief eunuch frowned. "How audacious!"

But the emperor merely said, "Let her be."

With that permission, she grew bolder and bolder, until one day she was distracted on duty and especially attentive to him.

The emperor watched her at his leisure, a faint smile appearing in his eyes. "What is it you want me to do for you this time?"

Xiaoman's eyes lit up. Suppressing her delight, she asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, could you grant this servant a marriage?"

The emperor's vermilion brush paused in his hand, and blood-red ink stained his fingers. He wiped it away slowly, his voice gentle yet chilling. "Who have you set your sights on?"

"The third-place candidate in the palace examination!"

The emperor fixed his gaze on her, then suddenly let out a laugh. His tightly pressed lips turned cold.

Xiaoman swallowed. "...Your Majesty, you don't look very happy."

"No."

"What?" Xiaoman didn't understand.

The emperor gripped her chin, his voice low and heavy. "Listen carefully. I said he's not an option."

Xiaoman felt a little regretful. If he wasn't an option, then she'd move on to the next one...

At last, one day, Xiaoman returned from a boat trip on the lake with a Hanlin Academy scholar. The emperor smashed a priceless ornament. She picked up the pieces, too upset to mourn its loss, when she heard him demand, fury barely restrained: "Will you be satisfied only when every civil and military official in the court has fallen at your feet?"

"I didn't..." Xiaoman's eyes welled up with tears, and she looked utterly wronged.

"Is having me alone not enough for you?"

"???"

A bright, lively, adorable, sweet-talking heroine who loves money and never overthinks anything vs. a cold, cunning, sharp-tongued, hypocritical hero who waits every day for the heroine to climb into his bed

Theme: Honesty and openness