Settle Down—I’ll Let You Marry Up!

Completed. Not a power fantasy centered on an overpowered female lead. A relationship-driven story featuring transmigration from the womb, forced possession, extreme push-and-pull, anguish and sweetness, sex before love, one man and one woman, mutual chastity, and resistance to feudal oppression of women. Deliberate seduction versus clear-headed surrender. Transmigrating into a disastrous beginning where she is nearly drowned in a chamber pot of urine, Li Qu grows up beneath the crushing weight of son preference, a feudal society where the law does not reach the countryside, and a clan system that preys on households without male heirs. Against all odds, she turns her situation around, achieves financial independence, and ensures that her family never again has to worry about food and clothing. When she meets Xiao Cong, the Heir Apparent of Prince Yan of the Northern Lands, he regards her as an object in the palm of his hand and believes that offering her the position of an honored concubine is the greatest favor he can bestow. Li Qu firmly chooses not to become a concubine. She humors him, makes ruthless use of him, and escapes unscathed at sixteen. On her journey south, she encounters Zhou Jin, the legitimate third son of the Zhou family and the master of the empire’s grain-transport forces. With no other choice, she enters the game, deliberately seduces him, and deceives him about her feelings in pursuit of victory against fate itself. Zhou Jin’s requirements for a woman are simple: a clean background, beautiful looks, a well-proportioned figure, proper manners and sound principles, and the ability to treat him without ulterior motives or flattery. Li Qu catches his eye precisely when he begins to have designs on her. But she is unwilling. Zhou Jin: “I’m letting you marry up. Even if you don’t want to, you’ll have to!” High above her, he takes her by force without restraint or concern for appearances. He investigates her entire history, laughs as he watches her use the same methods against him that she once used against Xiao Cong, and makes her face reality just when she believes she is about to escape successfully. Later, he falls hopelessly in love with his canary and willingly gives way to her, step by step. Xiao Cong exhausts every means to find the caged bird who escaped from him, only to discover that someone has carried the cage and bird he painstakingly raised for six years straight home. Furious to the point of laughter, he says, “Uncle, taking what another man cherishes is hardly the act of a gentleman. Please return my beloved concubine.” The first to fall in love is the one who loses. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Settle Down—I’ll Let You Marry Up! — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠