The Phoenix Perches on the Branch of Longing

The most doted-on of the Great Xuan Dynasty’s seven princesses, Feng Jiuge has been secretly in love for years with Xie Qi, the legitimate daughter of the General Xie household. The problem is, Xie Qi is as thick as a plank. Childhood friends or sharing a bed, it makes no difference. Xie Qi just doesn’t get it. Three years apart: Xie Qi was away fighting, and Feng Jiuge spent all three years longing for her. Who could have guessed that as soon as they reunited, the emperor would issue an edict arranging their marriage, and somehow the whole thing would just happen? Feng Jiuge could hardly believe her long-held love had finally been requited. Xie Qi, however, was filled with guilt. All she felt for this naive younger woman, caught up in the power struggles of the imperial court, was concern. Unexpectedly, this matchmaking farce led them to fall in love over time. But they never found their happy ending, and all that remained was regret after regret. After their divorce, they were no longer as they had been. When the capital fell, that person still stood up to fight, whether for the greater good or for personal reasons. Feng Jiuge became the first empress in the history of the Great Xuan Dynasty, with the feared warrior Xie Qi at her side. No matter how many trials and hardships you face, you’ll come back to me in the end. Xie Qi: “Silly girl, if I’d never caught on, would you really have spent your whole life putting yourself through this, watching me be with someone else?” Feng Jiuge: “I once thought I could let go, but I underestimated how much you mean to me. When that day came, even if I had to steal you away, I would have kept you by my side.” There is no cure for longing, no medicine to heal it. The phoenix found a place to rest on the branch of her beloved Little General Xie. A phoenix rests on a branch; a branch shelters a phoenix. Fate brings people together, then parts them. Only the beloved remains as she was.