A Spring of Broken Branches

Next book: Summoning the Painted Celestial Master

Blurb:

Unable to bear the thought of her elder sister getting married, Tang An held back her tears and hid herself to avoid the auspicious ceremony.

The matrons searched everywhere but couldn't find her. Only Xie Xingzhou picked her up and comforted her. Back then, he said, "Princess Xia Rong is marrying the one she loves, and their feelings are mutual. What a joyous occasion."

She looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, a few catlike tears still on her face. "Then if Tang An marries Brother Xingzhou someday, will that be a joyous occasion too?"

Her question left the boy speechless. He lowered his eyes without a word, his ears turning bright red.

His little childhood sweetheart always said the most astonishing things.

Later, he went to war in the northern desert. When he came to say goodbye, the little girl clutched his sleeve and wouldn't let go, until Xie Xingzhou himself placed the crabapple hairpin he'd made into her hair.

He pushed Tang An on the swing beneath the crabapple tree and coaxed her for a long while.

They made a pinky promise: she would wait for him to return in the capital.

Life was unpredictable. The Crown Prince was framed and implicated in a rebellion, and the entire Pei family, the Empress's maternal clan, was wiped out.

By the time Xie Xingzhou rushed back on horseback, all he found beneath the swaying swing was the shattered crabapple hairpin.

From then on, there was no more Princess Tang An in the world. No more betrothed who had been promised to him since childhood.

-

Six years later, the eunuch faction that had framed the Crown Prince fell from power, but the mastermind remained hidden in the shadows.

Xie Xingzhou entered the scheme himself and deliberately got poisoned, returning to Jiangzhou to recuperate. In reality, he was secretly coordinating with allies in the capital.

But he didn't expect someone to enter his residence as a maid.

There was something familiar about her features.

# Childhood sweethearts reunite after a long separation. The first half focuses on daily life, reunion, and romantic interactions. After they recognize each other, the story turns to political intrigue and revenge in the capital.

I'm not very good at writing blurbs, but I'll do my best to tell a good story.

1. A seriously injured, frail, youthful general (a gentle, smiling, calculating fox) x a resilient, clever, adorable kitten-like girl

2. One-on-one, both leads are each other's first, happy ending, mutual salvation, with a 60/40 balance of romance and plot

3. Some political intrigue, but fundamentally a sweet romance

Coming next

Summoning the Painted Celestial Master

A thousand years ago, the goddess Si Yan destroyed her primordial spirit to seal away the Kui Ghost.

She was the supreme deity of the heavenly realm Dream's Leaving, ruling over all the demon and monster paintings of the Three Realms, and was worshipped on divine altars by summoning painters throughout the world.

After the fall of Si Yan, supreme deity of Dream's Leaving, summoning painters who could vanquish demons and monsters and seal them into paintings gradually disappeared from the mortal world.

Then, a thousand years later, an ancient bell rang in the capital of the Qingling Kingdom, and people everywhere said the goddess would return.

With a blade of grass in her mouth and a small bundle slung over her shoulder, Si Miaoyin slipped into the crowd of summoning painters gathered in the Qingling capital. Unexpectedly, the ancient bell pulled her into a barrier. A flash of white light appeared in her mind

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself facing a pair of cold, distant eyes. White hair fell to the man's shoulders. He had long brows and a high nose, and was so handsome he hardly looked alive. Nine fox tails flickered into view behind him, yet he opened his mouth and called her "Master."

Si Miaoyin smiled brightly, then took out her paintbrush and lightly touched its tip. "In that case, I've picked up a disciple for free?"

She didn't know why she'd wanted to take him as her disciple at first sight, either.

--

A thousand years ago, a fox always followed the Supreme Goddess Si Yan. Everyone knew that the fox, Zhaobai, was her disciple, and the legend was that they were inseparable.

Zhaobai was the most sincere of young foxes, always trotting behind her and calling "Master" again and again. But one day, the Kui Ghost possessed him. The nameless evil ghost took over his body and personally caused the primordial spirit of the person he respected most in this life to be annihilated.

To make amends, Zhaobai was willing to scatter all his cultivation to send a remnant of her soul into reincarnation, and willingly slept for a thousand years.

What he didn't know was that after using up all his cultivation, he would lose his memories of those days.

Looking at the girl who had no idea of her place and had come over to touch his ears, Zhaobai's expression immediately turned cold. "Miss, choose your words carefully. Though I have lost my memory, I will not allow anyone to bully me."

A little scene from much later

"If you touch my tail again..."

"What then?"

"...I'll let you touch it a little longer."

Reader's notes:

1. Both leads have lost their memories. The story begins with them as ordinary summoning painters in their reincarnated lives. (Yes, overpowered experts are back in the beginner village, but this isn't a traditional power fantasy. Both leads are still strong.)

2. The heroine looks different from when she was a goddess, but she gradually changes as her cultivation grows. When she ascends, she returns to her original appearance. At her core, she is still the same person.

3. The hero's tails have minds of their own and are very protective of him.

Countless personal worldbuilding details. A wild flight of fancy.

# What do you do when your disciple has become a cold and aloof shizun after a thousand years? Asking online, kind of urgent

# But his tail still feels just as good to stroke (the disciple's tail keeps wrapping around her of its own accord)

# Two people who have both lost their memories each find the other familiar

Blurb screenshotted on 2025.8.29

Theme: The light of dawn can break through. Don't lose heart.