A wuxia short story: Wind, Flowers, Snow, and Moon Night: Evening Moon
Zhou Ruoyao, the second young lady of Sword Mountain Manor, meets Crown Prince Li Yinghuai by fate, and the two fall in love.
She marries into the palace, leaving behind her carefree life as a wandering martial artist to become a gentle, virtuous Crown Princess and the Crown Prince's capable partner.
Freedom lies just beyond the palace's red walls and green tiles, no farther than one leap away for Zhou Ruoyao.
Yet, because she loves Li Yinghuai deeply, she willingly binds herself to the palace.
But a wild goose born to soar can never become a canary in a cage.
"Your Highness, you have duties to bear as a member of the imperial family, and I have the stubborn pride of a child of the martial world. In the end, we walk different paths and cannot work together. Since that's the case, there's no need to force it. In this life, I have wronged you, A Yao."
Zhou Ruoyao grips the famed sword Evening Moon. Before her stand layer upon layer of pursuers, and the person she loves most in this life.
"A Yao... are you leaving me...?"
Coming soon: A Dream, Then Suddenly the Summer Wind Blows
Thirteen years of friendship turn to love | Bickering couple | A push and pull to the limit
A clingy golden retriever who always wants his wife's attention x a haughty cat who thinks the golden retriever is an idiot
During military training at the start of her first year of high school, Jiang Yu is invited by a classmate to go see the school heartthrob.
But the avenue is packed with people, and after wandering around for ages, she still can't get a look at his face.
Only later does she learn that the heartthrob she strained to see was the idiot Xu Muyuan, sitting right beside her.
Xu Muyuan is her closest friend in high school.
He's also the secret crush she can't bring herself to confess.
Her winter thermos is always full of hot water. She never has to take out the overflowing trash when it's her turn for classroom duty. Fruit and yogurt are always there when she reaches for them, and the cans of Want Want milk could build a whole wall...
Even though Xu Muyuan always says, "You're my best friend. It's only natural."
Jiang Yu, who receives all his special attention, also believes that Xu Muyuan likes her.
After the college entrance exams, she gathers all the courage she has as a young girl and writes him a confession letter. But then Xu Muyuan, drunk out of his mind, calls another girl.
After that, Jiang Yu decides to hide all her feelings. She digs a hole, buries her secret, covers it with dirt, then pours a layer of reinforced concrete over it so it will never see the light of day.
*
Years later, Jiang Yu returns from an overseas assignment, and she and Xu Muyuan cross paths again.
Xu Muyuan is still an idiot, and she still plays the part of his "best friend" flawlessly.
Even the special attention he once gave her hasn't changed.
Xu Muyuan replies to her messages instantly and comes whenever she calls.
He takes her to try every kind of delicious food, goes out to buy her barbecue in a suit, picks her up from work in the middle of the night, pesters her to meet several times a week, and does everything he can to make her happy...
He even takes her hand during an escape-room game.
But Jiang Yu, who already knows the right answer, won't believe it again.
A mistaken impression is still just a mistaken impression.
There's nothing wrong with being "best friends."
But this time, Xu Muyuan can't agree.
"I've fallen for a very, very good friend."
In their thirteenth year of knowing each other, they cross the Milky Way called "friendship." A thousand words become just one: "Merry Christmas."
*
"If we're still unmarried at thirty, let's just settle down together."
Surely many people have made an agreement like this with someone during their student years, half in earnest and half in jest.
This isn't giving up or settling. It's simply a summer that arrived much too late.
Theme: Nothing is impossible if you put your heart into it
