Why Does Lord Xie Favor Me So?

My next book will be A Peculiar Match. The blurb is at the very bottom. If you're interested, please add it to your reading list!

[The self-disciplined, propriety-bound head of an aristocratic clan × the sincere and stubborn son of a humble family, a soldier]

Xie Heng, head of the Lantai Xie clan, the foremost aristocratic family, and the youngest Left Deputy Director of the Secretariat in the Southern Dynasty, wielded power over the entire court.

With his jade-like looks and peerless bearing, he was the man in every young noblewoman's dreams in Guzang City.

But his parents died when he was young, and he had to shoulder the entire clan alone. Whenever he woke in the middle of the night, his fingertips digging into his palm, all he could think of were the four blood-red words: "the clan's rise and fall."

Xiao Jue, a military officer from a humble family, used nothing but his courage and remarkable military achievements to tear a breach in the iron walls of the aristocratic clans.

He was like a drawn blade that tasted blood at once. He believed neither in fate nor destiny, only in the spear in his hand.

One day, at the winding stream gathering at Orchid Pavilion, the young general wandered into a bamboo grove and encountered the head of an aristocratic clan in white, playing the zither.

One glance, and a lifetime of calamity began.

Xiao Jue offered up his sincere heart and awkwardly drew near:

"Deputy Director Xie, this is a northern dagger I captured. It's incredibly sharp. Please take it for your protection."

"Deputy Director Xie, snowy nights are hard to endure. This hand warmer... I warmed it against my body for you."

Xie Heng lowered his eyes, pressing a trembling note from the zither strings with his fingertips. His tone held the customary aloofness of an aristocratic heir. "General Xiao, please conduct yourself with restraint."

He personally suppressed Xiao Jue's report of his military achievements, cutting off his path to promotion.

At court, he watched coldly as the aristocratic clans ganged up on Xiao Jue, without saying a word.

In front of a crowd, he publicly humiliated Xiao Jue, calling him nothing more than a dog at the Xie family's gate.

But no one knew that Xie Heng sat alone in his study until dawn, burning every secret letter that could be used to frame Xiao Jue.

He suppressed the report of Xiao Jue's achievements because the emperor had already grown wary of him, and another step forward would bring a deadly disaster. And the insult that had slipped from his lips became a hidden wound that never healed.

Then the Northern Dynasty invaded, and political enemies tried to use someone else to kill Xiao Jue, burying the past, Xiao Jue, and his army at the border once and for all.

The entire court believed Xiao Jue was doomed.

At court the next morning, Xie Heng, who had always been disciplined, proper, and refined, faced the emperor's refusal and bowed before the jade steps with an aristocrat's elegance.

Calmly, he explained how he had persuaded the Wang clan to donate grain, how he had fomented unrest in the Northern Dynasty, and how he had staked the lives of his entire clan to vouch for Xiao Jue.

In the deathly silent hall, he advanced toward the throne and whispered to the emperor, in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Your Majesty, if you refuse my request today, tomorrow the history books will call you a foolish ruler who destroyed his own Great Wall. I mean what I say."

He had lived for his clan and been bound by propriety, until that man came like a wildfire and burned through half a lifetime of shackles.

If self-restraint and propriety could not bring peace to the realm, then he would topple the throne and create a prosperous age for them with his own hands.

[Sweet Bonus Scene]

The Xie residence hosted a banquet crowded with celebrated scholars.

After several rounds of wine, Xiao Jue drank freely at the table and was already seven-tenths drunk. With Xie Heng present, no one dared scold him to his face, so he stared all the more boldly at Xie Heng in the seat of honor.

Xie Heng was chatting with someone else and, as if without thinking, nudged the sweet soup by his hand half an inch forward.

It was their secret signal, meaning he should behave himself.

Xiao Jue noticed, raised an eyebrow, and not only failed to rein himself in, but picked up the plate of candied plum blossoms on his table, which he had barely touched, and set it neatly in front of Xie Heng for everyone to see.

The whole room fell silent.

Xie Heng lifted his eyes and looked at him quietly.

Xiao Jue grinned, his drunken eyes unfocused. "I'm a rough soldier. I can't appreciate the finer points of these sweets. I hear Deputy Director Xie has a sweet tooth, so please have these, before they go to waste."

The guests broke into a cold sweat, thinking the soldier was insolent enough to humiliate Deputy Director Xie in public.

But Xie Heng was silent for a moment, then picked up a silver spoon and calmly brought a spoonful to his lips, under the horrified gazes of everyone present.

Then he looked up at Xiao Jue, his gaze softening.

"Very sweet."

P.S. There are male-female side couples. All couples are exclusive to each other.

A and B:

Ji Nian: visual designer (woman) × Li Zhi: startup founder (man)

[More than mentor, more than friend, and... × a clear-eyed, stubborn lone crane]

Ji Nian came to City A at twenty-one. After sending out more than forty resumes, she finally got a job at Li Zhi's three-person studio.

He taught her color correction, took her on business trips, and kissed her amid the New Year's Eve fireworks.

She stayed by his side as he grew the tiny studio into a company with two hundred employees, going from calling him Little Li to Director Li.

She thought they had a future together.

Until she asked him when they were getting married.

He said they should wait a little longer.

Wait a little longer. And a little longer. Until a woman opened the office door.

He had lied to her for three years. The future she'd thought was waiting for them had been nothing but a mirage.

Later, Ji Nian thought the man really was something else.

By day, he taught her design at the office. At night, he went home and told his wife he was working late.

He lied to her and still had the nerve to act so self-righteous.

Who gave you the nerve? Liang Jingru?

She didn't cry or make a scene. She ended the relationship without hesitation, then stayed at his company for another six months.

Not because she still loved him, but because she wanted to put a period on what she had made with her own hands.

When they met again, she was the head of the branding design team, sitting at the head of the negotiating table in an ash-gray suit.

He sat across from her and watched her present the proposal. Her reasoning was rigorous, her case watertight. There was no trace left of the young woman who used to tear up at a client's comment.

When the meeting ended and they shook hands, his fingertips trembled slightly.

She clasped his hand steadily, as if he were no more than an ordinary business partner.

[Bonus Scene: Client and Contractor]

After the presentation, the brand's procurement director asked a tricky question: "Ms. Ji, your company has only been around for two years. Why are you confident you can handle an international brand overhaul?"

The conference room fell silent for two seconds.

Li Zhi sat across from her, leaning forward slightly. Everyone assumed he was about to step in and shield her.

But she had already begun to speak.

"Because I've completed comprehensive branding projects for forty-seven brands, eleven of which won Red Dot or iF awards. Because I've spent six years in this industry, and ever since I was revising the seventh shade of blue, I've known..." She paused, glanced at Li Zhi, then looked away. "Clients don't need what's best. They need what's right, and I know how to find it."

The procurement director nodded and didn't press her further.

After the meeting, Li Zhi caught up with her in the corridor. "Were you referring to me when you said the seventh shade of blue?"

Ji Nian stopped and turned her face toward him.

"Director Li, do you know what a designer should avoid most?"

"...What?"

"One-sided wishful thinking."

Theme: The people's will is Heaven's will. When a rotten order turns against the people's well-being, defying it while holding fast to the people-first ideal is the most righteous path.