[Many Original Details] [Keeping Characters in Character as Much as Possible] [A Few Appearances by the Characters from The Lost Tomb]
The Smiling, Scheming Master of the Xie Family vs. The Perceptive Miss Xu
When Xie Yuhua's blossoms bloom in profusion, Xu Liyang's arrival brings chaos.
Beneath the glittering bustle of the capital, the undercurrents among the Nine Gates churn. Xie Yuchen wears a mask of exquisite poise, accustomed to navigating turmoil and commotion. His smile is always perfectly composed, his true feelings impossible to discern. He has long since learned to keep his heart carefully hidden, never letting anyone glimpse even a fraction of it. The world sees only the graceful, dazzling Xie Yuhua. Few know that beneath the mask lie years of caution and solitude.
Xu Ruoqing, whose courtesy name is Liyang, grew up behind the high walls of the Xu family estate, where the hibiscus garden bloomed season after season. She tends to the herbs and rice paper in the library tower, excels at fine brushwork, and has a keen eye for detail. From the briefest flicker of expression, she can uncover feelings deliberately concealed. She was meant to remain far removed from the strife of the Nine Gates, a ray of moonlight that Old Madam Xu had fought with all her might to shield from the storm.
But fate is not ours to command.
A knife on a city street cuts through the boundary between secluded estates and the martial world. She puts brush to paper and sees restraint beneath brutality. He plots at every turn, yet unexpectedly comes face-to-face with a gaze that can see through every disguise.
Fresh ink falls upon hibiscus paper, and old secrets awaken from the dust.
He is the storm of the Nine Gates, and she is the encounter that brings chaos in its wake. Their paths cross, and from then on, they share every storm and seek the truth behind every deception. It is fate, and it is a calamity.
