The Lonely Gu

[Flirtatious, pessimistic healer × Sunny, proud puppy; cool exterior, adorable inside × warm and shameless]

Ni Yuming will stop at nothing to get revenge. She watches the world's joys and sorrows with cold indifference, planning ahead only to see her vengeance through.

Yet someone insists that beneath her world-weary exterior lies compassion for all living things.

That someone is the Grand Judge of the Court of Judicial Review, a ruthless and decisive man feared by everyone in the capital. When they first meet, he gives her a stern warning.

“Anyone who practices Gu magic is to be killed on sight.”

Ni Yuming is an angler casting her line from on high, never easily revealing her feelings.

She approaches love as if she were raising Gu: casually casting out bait, luring her prey into a trap they know is there, yet willingly fall into all the same.

In this game of revenge, each of them seeks something for themselves. All she wanted was to use him as a blade to eliminate her enemies, then walk away.

She never expected him to be so willing, or to boast to his friend:

“Why does she use me and no one else? Doesn't that prove I'm useful to her? I only want her. Even if it's an abyss, she must have prepared it just for me.”

Everyone knows the Grand Judge as cold-blooded and ruthless. What they don't know is that on his wedding night, the terrifying official sobs as he complains:

“You once said you'd cast a Gu spell on the person you love. Why won't you cast one on me? Is there someone else you love more?”

“Who is it? Have you still not forgotten the person who made osmanthus cakes for you by hand? Or...”

He doesn't want her to see how wretched he looks. His hot breath brushes her neck, and warm tears fall against it as he says, aggrieved, “You took my innocence. You've seen and touched my body. You can't take me and then abandon me, and you can't give me a letter of divorce.”

Ni Yuming smiles. “I couldn't bear to cast a Gu spell on you.”

That one short sentence leaves him overjoyed.

*

1.

“You cast a Gu spell on me. My life is in your hands. You said that even if we couldn't live together, we could die together. Doesn't that mean we're fated?”

“No. Even if I die, Your Lordship can live another month without the antidote.”

Xiang Qingcheng laughs. “Hey, Ni Yuming, do you want me to die for love?”

2.

Xiang Qingcheng never expected Ni Yuming to step in front of him. He gazed at the bright moon on the horizon and curved his lips into a smile.

“What are you smiling about?”

Xiang Qingcheng gestured toward the moon and sighed. “The bright moon hangs high, shining only on me. Shouldn't I be happy?”

Mingyue was her childhood name. Ni Yuming didn't know which Mingyue he meant. She decided Xiang Qingcheng must be a Gu-cultivation prodigy. Otherwise, why did she feel as if he'd cast a spell on her?

Theme: Hard work brings success