Twelve Flowers and Moon Order

Outline of the novel: "Sui Hua Ji·Hua Ling" 1. Core Theme · Surface theme: In the whirlpool of power and conspiracy, how do women find a foothold in the male-dominated court and darkness through self-refinement, complete their missions, and seek to realize their self-worth. · Deep theme: Two extremely similar souls, in the dialectical relationship between "persistence" and "change", reflect each other and understand each other, and finally transcend the boundaries of identity and position to achieve soul resonance and redemption. Discuss the interpretation and practice of "the way of a gentleman" in different situations. 2. Story summary In the 66th year of Yamato, the imperial court's secret organization "Twelve Flowers and Moon Order" selected and trained six women headed by Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao in Jinguancheng Sanatorium. Here they hone their character and refine their skills, preparing to become the sharp blades in the dark side of the Empire. Six years later, in the 72nd year of Yamato, a heated debate broke out between Shi Miao and Zhang Mingde, a rising figure in the DPRK, over the reform of national policies. However, behind this public debate, there is an undercurrent, and the fate of Shi Miao and her classmate Chu Jiaojiao are drawn into a deeper whirlpool. As the secret mission of the "Flower Moon Order" unfolds, the two gradually discover each other's hidden sincerity while being friends and enemies, testing each other, and jointly explore their own "Tao" amid the intertwining of family justice and personal emotions. 3. Brief biographies of main characters · Shi Miao (Plum Blossom Order of the First Month): 24 years old (when entering training) → 30 years old (when the story is main line). On the outside, he looks cold and aloof, like a cold plum blossom proud of the snow, but on the inside, he sticks to order and the old system. He is extremely talented and is good at chess, calligraphy and painting. She has a very noble definition and pursuit of "gentleman" and believes that "restraining oneself and restoring propriety" is the cornerstone of maintaining national stability. · Chu Jiaojiao (May Liu Hua Ling): 21 years old (when entering training) → 27 years old (when the story is main line). Bright and warm, like pomegranate flowers shining in the eyes, it seems casual and free, but in fact it is thoughtful and insightful. She agrees with the need for change, but with a more sophisticated approach. She has her own unique understanding of "gentleman" and believes that "doing what one wants without going beyond the rules" is the highest state. · Wu Guiping (general person in charge of training): 68 years old. She may seem like a kind mother-in-law, but she is actually the soul mentor of the Twelve Flowers and Moon Order, and is well versed in human hearts and intrigues. The disciples she selected all have the potential to become the mainstay of the empire. · Doctor Xu (technical instructor): sanatorium doctor. Responsible for teaching chess, calligraphy and painting in order to hone the temperament and structure of the players. He is an important guide for Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao to improve their skills. · Zhang Mingde (a rising star in the court): A radical official who advocates reform, he is Shi Miao's main opponent in the court and a key external force that drives the development of the plot. · Li Chun (February Xinghua Ling), 30 years old: Born in a family of imperial doctors, his family declined due to his involvement in an old court case. She is proficient in medical skills and toxicology, and looks as gentle and virtuous as apricot blossoms and spring rain, but in reality she has the deepest thoughts and is burdened with the obsession of overturning the case for her family. She is everyone's trusted "intimate sister" in the nursing home, but secretly she has been collecting clues about old cases. · Hua Juan (July Hollyhock Order), 36 years old: The eldest of the six members of the order, came from a family of military generals. Her husband died in battle and her only son died in infancy. She is as calm and determined as a hollyhock, good at using whips and hidden weapons, and is an action person. On the surface, he looks down on worldly affairs, but in fact he regards his peers as his new "family" and protects his shortcomings to the extreme. She is both loyal and resentful towards the court, and is internally conflicted. · Bai Lu (October Furong Order), 28 years old: She was originally the only daughter of a wealthy businessman in the south of the Yangtze River. Her family was falsely accused of "collaborating with the enemy" and confiscated, but she luckily escaped with her life. He is good at disguise, disguise and spying. He changes three times a day like a hibiscus, making him unpredictable. She seems to be charming and smiling, but her heart is as cold as ice. She is full of hatred for the imperial bureaucracy. She entered the Flower Moon Order in order to "revenge from within." · Wu Bu Bandi (November Shancha Order), 38 years old: The most mysterious person, who calls herself the "Mountain Witch" and is proficient in Qimen Dunjia and astrological divination. Her crazy words and deeds are often mistaken for madness, but in fact she is very wise and foolish. She was the first among the six to see through the true nature of the "Twelve Flowers and Moons Order", and she was also the first to notice the affection between Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao. Her existence is like a camellia, blooming silently in the cold winter, and is the "eyes" and "retreat" of the team. Volume 1: Jinguanhua blooms (Yamato sixty-sixth year - Yamato sixty-seventh year) · Chapter 1: Sanatorium Spring · Shi Miao was admitted to the hospital and met Chu Jiaojiao for the first time. Six women gather together for the first time. · New branch plot: Wu Bu bandit made crazy remarks on the first day to expose Hua Juan's identity as a military commander. Hua Juan was furious and the two formed a feud. Bai Lu secretly observed everyone and recorded everyone's words and deeds in secret notes. Li Chun took the initiative to check the pulse of Shi Miao, who was feeling unwell. Shi Miao noticed that there were thin calluses on his fingertips from holding needles all year round. · Chapter 2: July Fire · Summer outdoor survival training, Chu Jiaojiao showed delicacy, and Shi Miao showed decisiveness. · New branch plot: Someone "accidentally" fell off a cliff during training. Hua Juan caught the opponent with a whip and rescued him. Afterward, she warned Bai Lu alone, "Don't play tricks in front of me" - Bai Lu's "accident" was actually a test of the team's bottom line. When Li Chun was treating the injured, her fingertips trembled slightly, and she recognized that the injured was a guard who had confiscated her home. Wu Bugui divined in public and calculated that "someone among the six people came from the wrong way", and his eyes faintly glanced at Li Chun and Bai Lu. · Chapter 3: Winter Plum and Pomegranate Flowers (Winter of Yamato 67th Year) · Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao walked through the snow to look for plum blossoms, and gave each other paintings, and their relationship warmed up. · New branch plot: On New Year's Eve, six people rarely get together to watch the New Year's Eve. Hua Juan lost her composure after drinking, clutching her husband's belongings and crying bitterly. It was rare for Wu Buduo to be quiet, so he put a cloak on her and said, "The dead don't look back, the living look forward." After everyone went to bed, Li Chun got up alone and took out an unfinished secret letter from under Bai Lu's pillow. The letter said, "Within two years, the head of the Minister of Civil Affairs will be taken away" - that was the chief judge who confiscated Bai Lu's family property. Li Chun silently put the letter back, and the two of them understood each other tacitly across the screen. Volume 2: Wind and Thunder in the Court (72nd Year of Yamato) · Chapter 4: Six-year Agreement · Time jump. Shi Miao and Zhang Mingde argued in court, but Chu Jiaojiao came to the rescue. · New branch line: The first secret contact between six people after they were separated. Hua Juan was incorporated into the Gyeonggi garrison as an instructor, and Wu Bupi entered the Qintian Prison as a "consecrate". Li Chun joined Tai Hospital as a female medical officer and secretly checked old case files and discovered that the family case involved a prince who was still in the court. Bai Lu runs a teahouse, which is actually an intelligence transfer station. She finds a "hunting list" in the secret compartment of the teahouse. Shi Miao's name is clearly on the list, and the signature is "Zhang" - the force behind Zhang Mingde. · Chapter 5: Dark chess game · Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao played a chess game and decided to cooperate to break the game. · New branch plot: Bai Lu met Chu Jiaojiao secretly and voluntarily handed over the "hunting list", but put forward the condition "I want the head of the Minister of Civil Affairs". Chu Jiaojiao did not agree and only said, "It will be done according to the law." Li Chun took advantage of the Imperial Hospital to add "Tuzhen Powder" to the calming tea at Zhang Mingde's residence, and overheard conclusive evidence that he had a secret conversation with the Dongyi envoy, but his whereabouts were also exposed. Hua Juan led people to sweep the hidden stakes in the capital overnight to buy time for Li Chun to retreat. · Chapter Six: Night Quest · Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao entered the cabinet treasury at night, and Chu Jiaojiao was injured. · New branch line: On the same night, Li Chun sneaked into the historical medical record library of Tai Hospital and found the pulse of the diagnosis and treatment of a key witness in the family case. The time when the witness "died" was inconsistent with the actual situation - proving that someone had done something wrong. On the Qintian Prison Star Observation Deck, Wu Bugui saw "the purple star is dark, and the guest star is the master", and murmured to himself, "This chess game is about to be closed." She burned a letter overnight, and the ashes fell into the wind. The signature at the end of the letter was the late Granny Wu Guiping - it turned out that she had been acting in accordance with Granny Wu's last secret orders. Volume 3: Flower Ling Like a Knife (Winter of the 72nd Year of Yamato - Spring of the 73rd Year of the Yamato Year) · Chapter 7: Assassination and Flower Protection · Shi Miao was assassinated, Chu Jiaojiao was seriously injured to protect her, and the two became romantically involved. · New branch line: Hua Juan led the Gyeonggi garrison to encircle and suppress the assassin's nest, and discovered that these assassins were actually a mixture of Dongyi dead soldiers and secret guards of a certain prince's palace in the DPRK. After she killed an assassin with her own hands, she pulled out a token from his lapel - a token from her late husband's old ministry. Hua Juan knelt down on the spot and cried bitterly for the first time in three years. It turned out that her late husband's death was not a "death in battle", but that the prince's rebellion was discovered and silenced. Wu Bugui appeared behind her and said calmly: "That's why I say that the living should look forward - only by looking forward can they seek justice for the dead." · Chapter 8: Sophistry in the court · Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao teamed up to overturn the situation, and Zhang Mingde was jailed. · New branch line: On the day of the confrontation in the court, Li Chun, as a female medical officer, presented irrefutable evidence of the Shangmai case, accusing the prince of being involved in the old case. Bai Lu simultaneously intercepted the last secret communication between the prince and Dong Yi at the teahouse and delivered it to the palace using a carrier pigeon. Hua Juan used the power of the garrison to block the nine gates to prevent the prince from escaping. In Qintian Prison, Wu Bugui used the "celestial phenomenon as a warning" as an excuse to advise the emperor "not to be too involved" - in fact, it was to protect Shi Miao and others from being excessively purged, and to pave the way for subsequent moderate reforms. The six people each perform their own duties, just like the six gears of a precision machine. · Chapter 9: The plum blossoms fall silently · Wu Guiping's mother-in-law died of illness. Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao got the mandarin duck jade pendant, and Shi Miao began to reflect. · New branch plot: Before Granny Wu died, she summoned Li Chun alone and handed her an old letter, which was the "confession" written by her father herself - but the handwriting had deteriorated over the years, and Li Chun could tell at a glance that it was a forgery. Granny Wu said: "I can't save your whole family, but I can save you. Go and reverse the case, but be upright." She summoned Bai Lu alone and said: "The official secretary has been punished, but your hatred should not stop there. Hibiscus was born in the mud, what you have to do is to bloom your own flowers instead of rotting in the mud." Finally summoned Hua Juan and Wu Bu Bandi, and will The garrison order talisman was divided into two, and one half was given to each: "If there is an emergency in the future, if the talisman meets the requirement, the three thousand old troops outside the city can be transferred." After Granny Wu's death, six people kept vigil in the mourning hall. Bai Lu was the first to kneel down and kowtow, followed by Li Chun and Hua Juan... They had never called "Master" before, but that night, the six of them shouted the first and last call in unison. Volume 4: Walking with You (Spring of the Seventy-Third Year of Yamato -) · Chapter 10: A new chapter of conspiracy · Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao jointly launched the "Reform Strategy", and their relationship heated up. · New branch line: The implementation of the New Deal encounters a counterattack by the old forces, and the six people join forces again. Li Chun presided over the reform of Tai Hospital and decentralized medical records to the people. She was resisted by the old school of Tai Hospital. She impressed everyone at the "Medical Examination" with her superb acupuncture skills, disclosed her identity as a descendant of a family of imperial doctors, and overturned the case openly. Bai Lu changed the teahouse into "Furong Bookstore", specializing in printing new policy provisions and records of people's sufferings, and transformed from an information dealer to a mouthpiece for people's livelihood. Hua Juan and Wu Bugui mobilized their troops in unison, and it only took one night to quell a "mutiny" instigated by old nobles without any bloodshed. Afterwards, Hua Juan stood at the top of the city and said to Wu Bugui: "He said he wanted to protect the country, and I guarded it for him." Wu Buduo gave a rare smile: "If you guard it, he can leave peacefully." · Chapter 11: Two Flowers Together · The new policy pilot was successful, and Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao fell in love deeply. · New branch line: The six people gathered together for the last time in the backyard of Bailu's Furong Bookstore. Li Chun was pregnant (she had an unknown marriage in her early years), and everyone teased her that "the apricot blossoms are about to bear children." Hua Juan took on a female apprentice, and it was said that her talent was exactly like hers when she was young. Wu Bugui resigned from his position as Imperial Supervisor and said he wanted to "go back to the mountains to grow tea." Before leaving, he gave everyone a divination, except for Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao's divination, which was hidden. Bai Lu burned her secret notes and said, "From now on, I will only be a bookseller, not a spy." Chu Jiaojiao raised a glass: "Six years ago we were pretending to be crazy in the nursing home. Six years later, we are drinking tea here. It's good." Outside the window, the pomegranate blossoms are like fire, the apricots are turning yellow, the hollyhocks are in full bloom, the hibiscus is in bud, and the camellia is pregnant with winter buds - all the flowers of the four seasons have returned to their places. · Chapter 12 (final chapter): Everlasting prosperity · Many years later, Yamato is peaceful and peaceful. Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao painted "Two Friends in Winter" together on New Year's Eve. · End of the group portrait: Li Chun's son is three years old. He always says to everyone he meets, "My grandma is the best in the hospital." Li Chun smiles and teaches him how to identify medicinal herbs. Hua Juan was promoted to the governor of Gyeonggi and was the first female general in the imperial court. On the first day of every month, she would sit in front of an unnamed grave outside the city. There was always a freshly broken hollyhock placed in front of the grave. Bai Lu's Furong Bookstore opened all over the thirteen states of Yamato, and the shopkeeper of each branch was an orphan girl she rescued back then. Wu Bugui really planted a tea forest in the mountains, but every year when the plum blossoms bloomed in the first lunar month, she would ask someone to deliver a new bag of tea to the capital. There was no signature on the package, and only a camellia was painted. Shi Miao and Chu Jiaojiao hung the "Picture of Two Friends in the Winter" on the main wall of the study. The plum branches are slanting, the pomegranate flowers are hanging low, and there is a very small line of words in the lower right corner, which is the hexagram that Wu Bubai had hidden back then: "Two jade stones unite, and the years will last forever. Flowers have a certain period, and people will never be apart." Intention: What we keep is never the old system, but the people's hearts; what we break is never the rules, but the cage. Core idea The real "guarding" is not to build yourself into an unbreakable fortress, but to develop the courage to go out. Shi Miao has always believed in "keeping" as her creed throughout her life - keeping to the old system, keeping rules, and keeping order. She believes that this is the dam that protects all people from shock. But the case of Liang Chongshan made her see clearly: the order she had maintained for half her life had itself been eroded. The loopholes of the old system will not disappear automatically because of her persistence. What really needs to be guarded is never the form, but the human heart and justice behind the form. But what Chu Jiaojiao taught her was another thing: keeping and breaking are never opposites. Those who keep the foundation can use the hands of the game-breakers to plug loopholes, and those who break the system need those who keep the foundation to stabilize the chassis. The two of them worked together to overturn the hand on the chessboard that shouldn't exist. The ultimate "guarding" is to be able to maintain your persistence and let go of your obsessions.