The Banquet of Startled Branches

When Gu Qiao was seven, her family was raided in Youzhou. Her mother did everything she could to send her to live with her maternal aunt in the capital, where she became the third young lady of the Gu family.

But her good days didn't last long. Her maternal family fell from power, and her aunt's husband favored his concubines over his wife. To protect her frail aunt and uncover the truth behind her family's downfall, Gu Qiao had no choice but to find a way into the palace and become a female official.

She thought her aunt's husband would treat her aunt well out of consideration for this, but who could have guessed... A letter from the Gu family arrived, threatening her into marrying to repay their favor.

She had three options: become the concubine of a sixty-year-old high-ranking official, become the stepmother to two sons by marrying a widower, or marry a sickly man to bring him good fortune.

Gu Qiao chose none of them. Instead, one night she slept with the sixth prince, Prince Yan, who had just returned from a military campaign and had been specially permitted by the emperor to spend the night in the palace. She would carve out her own way forward.

Every family in the capital had its eyes on the position of Princess Yan, but no one imagined that Prince Yan would consider candidate after candidate only to choose the daughter of a fifth-rank official.

A friend asked Prince Yan, whose standards were famously high, "What do you see in Gu Qiao? She's certainly beautiful, but the capital is full of beautiful women, and her status is low..."

Yan Lan smiled without answering, looking inscrutable. The truth was, he had gone from being shocked after she slept with him to getting hooked on it.

People said Female Official Gu was cool and quiet, steady in all she did, and dull by nature. But he thought she looked dazzling when moved by passion. Though inexperienced and bashful, she still tried to act like a seductress when she tempted him, and he found it rather charming.

But how could the woman he had his eye on suddenly be about to marry someone else?