Snow Tonight

[Alternate History + Ensemble Cast + Martial Arts + Aristocratic Families + Coming of Age + Light Comedy]

Me, Mo Yu: after transmigrating as the young master of a prestigious family, my ideal life was to eat well, wait to die, and stay out of trouble.

Until trouble came knocking, one visitor after another

My unlucky pal, Wang Sheng, waving a fan emblazoned with “Lose Yourself in Nature”: “Mo Yu! The Yihong Brothel just got a new star courtesan. Her zither playing is incredible!”

(Three seconds later, his sister dragged him away by the ear.)

My swindling creditor, Xu Xu, counting copper coins: “Brother Mo, your fate is most unusual. It's beyond the reach of heaven's secrets... Ten taels for the reading, payable now.”

(Then he moved into my west wing for the sake of a jug of wine.)

The monk who sweeps my house, Chen Mo, polishing his blade: “Young Master, today's lessons are Volume Three of the Poison Sutra and the seventh stance of the Azure Origin Spear Technique.”

(Only later did I learn that he once had another name: Bloodthirsty Demon.)

And my unfathomable parents, smiling: “Yu'er, our family motto is ‘Keep a low profile.’”

(Then one night, the hundred shadow guards in our household showed the whole city what “keeping a low profile” really meant.)

This world of martial arts is a paradox:

The most dissolute are often the most loyal, the biggest liars are sometimes the most sincere, the gentlest can turn vicious in an instant, and the person most eager to kill you may end up protecting you most fiercely.

The world is a blade of ice, made to cut down the hot-blooded.

And we

will protect our most innocent convictions in the most absurd ways.

A word of warning before you read:

You'll laugh until your abs hurt, and laugh until you cry;

you'll see the absurd, and the tender;

you'll call us crazy, then hope we never stop.

After all, on a long, snowy night, wherever there's a fire, there's a story.