Xiao Yao

Description

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Xiao Yao’s self-evaluation: obedient, sensible, and a proper lady.

However, in the eyes of others, she was mischievous, pretended to be well-behaved, and lazed around to get through the days.

Hey, hey, hey! This young lady is as beautiful as a flower—why isn’t anyone mentioning such a great quality?

Her family all nodded in agreement. “Yes, thanks to you being targeted by that little wolf cub, we have no choice but to become relatives of the royal family.”

Feeling aggrieved, Xiao Yao muttered, “I didn’t want this either…”

A certain man coolly responded, “My dear wife, what did you just say? I didn’t hear clearly. Could you please repeat that?”

Associated Names
One entry per line
Beloved Daughter Xiao Yao
寵女肖瑤
Related Series
N/A
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Recommendation Lists
  1. C TBR Reads
  2. CHINESE ROMANCE NOVELS WITH HIGHEST RATINGS
  3. Recent Palace and historical Dramas
  4. Like it
  5. Some of the novels I've read so far 4.0

Latest Release

Date Group Release
05/17/26 Shanghai Fantasy c237
05/12/26 Shanghai Fantasy c236
05/12/26 Shanghai Fantasy c235
05/06/26 Shanghai Fantasy c234
05/06/26 Shanghai Fantasy c233
04/30/26 Shanghai Fantasy c232
04/30/26 Shanghai Fantasy c231
04/22/26 Shanghai Fantasy c230
04/22/26 Shanghai Fantasy c229
04/15/26 Shanghai Fantasy c228
04/09/26 Shanghai Fantasy c227
04/09/26 Shanghai Fantasy c226
04/03/26 Shanghai Fantasy c225
04/03/26 Shanghai Fantasy c224
04/03/26 Shanghai Fantasy c223
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3 Reviews sorted by


nikreadss
nikreadss rated it
October 5, 2025
Status: --
One star for doting grandfather, adorable little cousin sister Ruyi, and cute twin brother Xiao Jun!

I find myself growing more and more disappointed with the historical novels I've read lately.

In my opinion, the description doesn't really match because Xiao Yao's self-evaluation feels true. She is overly obedient, a little too sensible, and a sickeningly proper lady.

... more>> I have a lot of complaints.

Too much emphasis on lady-like behaviour: From the age five, everyone keeps telling her to behave like a lady. Even those who dote on her either tease her about how she should act like a lady or scold her for not acting like a lady. If she plays in the water with her cousin sister and ML unthinkingly walks on her (when they are still children), it's unladylike. If she banters with someone, it's unladylike. Her mother has her studying one of those books for women in those ancient times since she's like four. I understand that, in a historical novel, the insistence on lady-like behaviour is almost crucial but she's a child. The age makes the whole thing seem so caricaturized. In other novels, you have female leads acting as children way up to pre-teens so this is just extremely weird.

Repeated mentions of marriage: Again, before she even turns eight, everyone is looking at her and going mad about marriage. Her grandmother thinks it would be good for her to be a concubine in the palace (Don't even get me started on her grandmother. She has a whole section dedicated to her). Prince Jing, he's a nice guy, but he also looks at her and thinks it's a shame she's "too young" to be married to his son. The emperor thinks the same. One of her grandfather's students, fourteen or fifteen, sighs over if the ages were different, he would've married her himself. A foreign prince (creepy little pe*vert) says no one can stop him if he wants her and she's considered beautiful enough to be his concubine. Mind you, she isn't even eight. Only her grandfather is good because he gets a promise from the emperor that his granddaughters would have their freedom to choose who to marry.

Grandmother: What a b*tch! I get internalized misogyny but she's on some other level. I kept wishing she kicked the bucket. She loves her grandsons while claims to love her granddaughters but thinks of them as tools to earn prestige for her. She's a royalty bootlicker. She sees her beautiful eldest granddaughter (I remind you, not even eight) and thinks "she's too careless and mannerless to be a consort or princess consort in the palace... it's great even if she could be a concubine." If you have read historical novels, you know what sort of future this unpleasant woman is dreaming of for her granddaughter. When her precious fourth son is made to marry a princess of neighbouring kingdom, she's like "why did you ask for a decree to give your granddaughters freedom to choose who they marry" "why didn't you ask for it for my son." This woman is genuinely so deranged. Luckily, this woman has no say in the family.

Inconsistent main character Xiao Yao: From the description, you're led to believe that you're going to have this confident hellion of a FL. She's not a hellion. She's only playful with her family. That's it. She's too docile, always acting like a delicate doll. Her attitude comes in rare spikes and feels more like tantrums. She transmigrated as a baby but somehow really fits in the ancient era with the way she doesn't fight back. Not only does not fight back against the social customs but she follows them to a T. She accepts undeserved punishments and bows and bends when people expect her to. What is the need for a transmigrated lead then if you're going to be so conventional and traditional?

Unnecessary misunderstandings: For at least first fifty to sixty chapters, the whole family conceals from the grandfather that his precious granddaughter suffers from internal injuries from a childhood accident when she was away, that she nearly died and falls sick from time to time since then, because they're afraid he will punish his grandsons from the accident. All of them are young. Even if he dotes on the granddaughter, it's not like he's going to kill his grandsons now, is he? Absolutely ridiculous! And then, another misunderstanding, the ML spends a long time going "is she angry with me""when will she stop being angry""what can I do to make her stop being angry" without considering it was his attitude that led her to believe that he hates her. They don't even know each other after their initial conflict but suddenly he cares about what she thinks of, why she's not paying him any attention, sending her gifts but never apologising. You are children, that's fine. Would it kill you to speak? It's cute for a short time and it's just ridiculous if you just keep thinking the same four questions for a hundred pages.

All adults in this novel are either marriage-brained, beauty-brained, or royalty-brained. And, everyone is spineless and useless!

Grandfather, you were the sole shining light of this novel! Ruyi, you were the cutest (you were what I imagined the FL would be in personality) ! Xiao Jun, you were the best clingy twin brother!

Dropped! <<less
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Onelazygirl
Onelazygirl rated it
July 6, 2025
Status: Completed
I didn't expect I would like it soo much. It has 354 chapters and honestly I thought there's no way I would like it from start to finish and well now I am at ch 241 and still loving it 😂

This story is about Xiao Yao and the xiao family. Till around 100 something chapters the xiao family as a whole is the focus. And as Xiao yao grows up she makes more apperances. It's a cute and fun novel more like a slice of life.

Romance is well..... the ML... more>> Yun Yichen falls for her and umm...I don't understand how he fell for her infact maybe even he doesn't know how he fell for her. There first meeting he antagonizes her and after that Xiao Yao doesn't want to do anything with him. She ignores his existence as best she can. And the more she ignores him the more he fell for her. Aside from 3-4 times where they might have interacted after that we don't see any interaction it's more like she ignores him and we are in his head and getting to know how he feels. In fact only by ch 200 something does he finally excepts and understands that he feels for her.

By the chapter I am now she is 13 and she has no feelings for him. Hell she thinks he hates her and she has never even thought or entertained the idea that he might like her. I am looking forward to the part where she falls for him.

My favourite character is Ruyi and the grandfather. I love Ruyi. I honestly find her very relatable and love how big hearted she is. It would be hard to live in house where your elder sister is the centre of attention not to mention event outside she is always the centre. But I love the sisters bond how much Ruyi loves and trust her sister and how much Xiao yao takes care of her.

My most disliked character would be the Grandma. Aside from the obvious villains she was the one who genuinely annoyed me a lot. Thankfully she doesn't have that much authority to make discussions in the xiao family nor does she have that much screen time or else I would have gone mad. Does she genuinely love her grandchildren?? I don't think so. Love with interest at heart isn't love. She favours boys because they will take care of her in old age. This novel is set in ancient china so her favouring boys over girls wasn't suprising but her thoughts about using her granddaughters in marriage for prestige is genuinely disgusting. She was almost ready to make Xiao Yao a concubine of a prince. Had she not been afraid of her husband getting angry she would have said yes. Being a concubine is almost the same as being a servant. A concubine has no rights and this woman has no problem sending her granddaughter to suffer just for prestige and power. Thank God others in the family love the girls more than enough. Thank God General Xiao got that promise from the emperor or I don't even know whose concubine Xiao Yao would have ended up being. She only loves boys more because of her interest. For her interest she is willing to marry anyone to her granddaughter I genuinely don't like this lady

Edit:-

Finally finished and I still want more. There is so many things I wanted to see. Like Ruyi and other sons of Xiao family getting married. And a bit more on the life of the married couple. I really loved and enjoyed the journey. 354 chapters and not a single boring moment. And I like how we see Xiao Yao slowly letting the ML in her heart. Her hesitation makes sense but I wish we got more of their sweetness. <<less
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Aimz
Aimz rated it
May 2, 2025
Status: Completed
Xiao Yao is a light and funny historical romance about a girl who just wants to live a lazy, peaceful life—but ends up married into royalty. The main character seems mischievous and carefree on the outside, but she’s actually smart, kind, and pretty lovable.

The romance is slow and sweet, with plenty of funny moments as the leads get to know each other. It’s not super dramatic or action-packed, but that’s what makes it relaxing to read. If you like chill stories with lovable characters and a warm, cozy vibe, this... more>> one’s worth a try. <<less
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