I Transmigrated Before the Warlord Turned Evil

[Cool, aloof warlord of a chaotic age × gentle, clever beauty who transmigrated]

Ji Wanlin was a woman from the future, a history student in a peaceful era.

For no apparent reason, she returned several centuries to a chaotic age, transmigrating into the body of a young woman from a fishing village who had drowned.

Since she was there, she decided to make the best of it. Ji Wanlin had hoped to live quietly, but in the fishing village she met a young Li Changchun.

At the time, Li Changchun was a gentle, sincere young man. He would bend down to sweep Ji Wanlin's courtyard, wade into the water to catch her sea snails, and patiently coax her to sleep.

But according to the history books, this man would one day brave the chaos alone, raise a rebel army, and rock the realm. Decisive and ruthless, he would leave rivers of blood and fields of wailing wherever he went.

The once sincere boy would gradually become violent and merciless. Though he would win countless battles, he would be condemned to death and denounced by all.

Ji Wanlin, who knew her history: ...

How did such a good person turn into that!?

[Little Scene 1]

Knowing what lay ahead, Ji Wanlin knew Li Changchun would soon follow his master to learn martial arts and begin a life of leveling up and slaying monsters, one slash at a time. She never expected that her arrival would make this young version of the warlord of a chaotic age want to give up fighting and stay home to cook, shutting out the world.

Ji Wanlin felt as if thunder had struck her heart. Terrified that one flap of her wings might make a founding hero of the Yuan Dynasty vanish from history, she watched him anxiously.

The two quietly looked at each other. Li Changchun knew nothing and thought nothing of it. He watched the little fisher girl look troubled one moment and utterly despondent the next. After a while, he reached out and rubbed the top of her head.

When she came back to herself, he asked softly, "Did I make you feel conflicted?"

His slightly low voice suddenly sounded beside the little fisher girl's ear. She heard him say, "Whatever the reason, I'll go, if that's what you want."

[Little Scene 2]

General Li had just finished defending the city for his lord and was hurrying back to his residence, still covered in the dust of battle. His wounds had yet to be treated, and his armor and underclothes were soaked with blood. His expression was stern and his presence imposing; everyone lowered their eyes and dared not look directly at him.

Li Changchun had hoped to avoid Wan Niang long enough to bathe and change out of his bloodstained clothes, but instead he suddenly met Ji Wanlin's gaze at the main gate.

The undefeated General Li's heart skipped a beat. ...This is bad.

His stern features crumbled beneath her increasingly red, swollen eyes. Ignoring his disheveled state, he pulled her into his arms and softly tried to comfort her.

The great general was touched by her concern, but then heard the person in his arms say, "Go make sure the prisoners are properly settled." Her voice was choked with tears, but her tone allowed no argument.

General Li's heart sank. ...

The strategist, who had repeatedly urged Li Changchun to treat prisoners well to no avail: I have a plan of my own.

[Now being serialized]

Brooding, abandoned-dog male lead vs. celebrated literary heroine

Blurb:

Wu Qingyi was a noblewoman of distinguished status, the treasured daughter of the Wu family, the leading aristocratic clan of the court. She had composed poetry since childhood and was renowned as a talented young woman.

No one knew that when she was young, she had brought home an abandoned boy she found outside. She raised Mo Yun, a wild, vicious dog of a child, in her household, where he played pitch-pot and recited poetry alongside the sons of aristocratic families.

Back then, the little prodigy was troubled day after day for reasons no one understood. At a spring banquet beside a lovely lake, she sat in melancholy. In early autumn, beneath the clear, high sky, she wept in the wind. Seeing the most cherished child in the family grow thinner by the day, the Wu family was frantic with worry. No one knew what could trouble a noble girl who had been raised in silks and fine food since birth.

To lift their sister's spirits, Wu Qingyi's brothers searched the streets, climbed the hills, and explored the lakes, bringing back all sorts of novelties to cheer her up. But the young prodigy dismissed them all, brushing them aside with her sleeve and sinking back into gloom.

Then the abandoned boy stepped out of the crowd and came to her side. No one knew what the boy did, but he made the young prodigy laugh through her tears and lifted the clouds from her heart. From then on, the two were inseparable.

Later, no one knew where Mo Yun had come from. He became the adopted son of Lord Li.

Later still, the times changed. A new faction emerged to challenge the aristocratic clans for power, and the emperor appointed one of its members as Vice Minister of the Secretariat, opening the struggle between the old and new factions. That official was no benevolent man. The shadows of contempt and malice in his eyes became blades aimed at the aristocrats. Like a male ghost that had long lain in wait, he was sinister and strange, and his ruthlessness made people's hearts tremble.

Before long, everyone knew the name of the Vice Minister of the Secretariat. The common people talked about Mo Yun's wolfish ambition and ingratitude.

Over the next few years, Mo Yun used his keen political instincts and ruthless methods to climb higher, step by step. He went from being the new faction's representative to its spokesman, and finally its leader. He overturned a century-old tradition of unchecked aristocratic rule. His methods were devious, his tongue honeyed and his heart full of poison, and generations of historians denounced him as a villainous minister.

Everyone said he was a man without a heart or feelings. Only a few knew how utterly lost he had been when he was first appointed Vice Minister. He had even sat for a long time in a pavilion by the road, trying to escape the grasp of fate, all because Wu Qingyi, the celebrated young woman of the Wu clan, had left him with the words, "We sever our ties."

[Little Scene]

They say the heavenly Registrar of Fates accidentally muddled the books of the mortal realm, causing strange occurrences to appear for centuries. In an era that prized propriety and marriages between families of equal standing, there was... there was actually a marriage so absurd that the world could hardly believe it. The woman was noble and extraordinarily talented, while the man... was lower even than a son of a poor family.

And yet, he rose to power amid the chaos, becoming a force to be reckoned with and climbing to the highest ranks of the court.

The history books describe him as politically astute and sinister. His actions on the way to power were despised by the scholar-officials. He was like a male ghost risen from the underworld. Later scholars felt a chill throughout their bodies just reading about him, as if they had narrowly survived a calamity.

More absurd still, historical records with supporting evidence claim that this ruthless minister and that renowned literary genius were a couple!

Serious scholars were reluctant to draw conclusions, and most people didn't believe it either. But the pair had such a compelling dynamic that countless modern-day fictional stories about them began appearing, even thousands of years later.

Until

Archaeologists unearthed a small book written by him. Its pages were filled with tenderness and unwavering devotion. Just reading it stirred a dampness and faint mustiness in people's hearts.

Only then did people realize that there really had been a love story here.

Theme: Women's liberation and opening pathways for social mobility