The Twenty-Third Year

Blurb One:

Ming Jia returned to the Ming family when she was two. According to her grandfather, Chen Congnan had even held her in his arms back then.

By that reckoning, she had known Chen Congnan for twenty-three years. A human life lasts no more than a hundred and eighty years, fleeting as a white colt glimpsed through a crack. Slowly, she came to understand many things.

On the day of Mr. Chen's birthday celebration, the Chen and Ming families brought up the marriage alliance again. Ming Jia replied gently, "I honestly don't have any particular thoughts about it."

He was three years older than her, and had walked through this world three years longer.

In the past, there had always been three years between them, again and again. It seemed she, too, had become trapped in that three-year gap, never willing to accept it, always longing for a perfect ending.

She had always thought her life was full of regrets. But one day, she remembered the words, "Why fret over gains and losses? In the end, a little fullness is better than perfection," and suddenly felt at peace.

And so, in the twenty-third year of knowing him, they became husband and wife.

Blurb Two:

One day, a few friends got together for a casual visit, and Ming Jia came up in conversation. A friend was quite curious.

He asked Chen Congnan, "You and Ming Jia have known each other for so many years. If you had to describe her, what would you say?"

Chen Congnan paused, then smiled warmly. "She's like a book that leaves you with a lingering aftertaste even once you've finished it, one worth rereading and treasuring."

She had a thousand different facets and could never be confined to just one. He wanted to be the person who understood her best.

sc/he

Screenshot saved on 2025/11/26

Next novel: Mountain Rain

Blurb One:

At twenty-four, Kong Qing married Liang Huaiqin.

At the time, Kong Qing still considered their relationship distant and unfamiliar.

Many people said she was a woman who owed her status to her mother. After hearing it so often, she would only smile. When she recalled certain things, she had to admit they weren't entirely wrong.

It was 2015. Seventeen-year-old Kong Qing saw her mother, Jiang Mei, again.

That same year, Jiang Mei brought her to Xian. By then, Jiang Mei had remarried, becoming the wife of Tan Yin, head of the prestigious Tan family.

And so Kong Qing went from being a country girl from a remote mountain village to the Tan family's stepdaughter, then used the Tan family's connections to marry into the even more prominent Liang family.

On the day they registered their marriage, Liang Huaiqin said, "When it comes to ruthlessness and scheming, I'm nowhere near as good as you."

Blurb Two:

One day after their wedding, Kong Qing went with him to the Liang family home for dinner.

After the meal, the elders gathered to chat. When they brought up the couple, Huaiqin's grandmother teased her, "Huaiqin has always doted on you. It's a fine match indeed."

Kong Qing simply smiled and let the remark pass.

On the way back, Liang Huaiqin suddenly said, "Grandmother isn't one to make things up."

His tone turned a little aggrieved. "You just hate me and have so many prejudices against me."

She was at a loss for words. Some things had taken her years to understand: it wasn't him she hated, but that rainy day.

Theme: At every stage of life, allow your imperfect self to exist