The Jade Buddha's Blessing

Warnings: Not a strong female lead. The leads use each other in the early chapters. Romance updates are slow.

Outside Fenghuang Pass, a deranged, ragged monk pointed at four young men and women, speaking in a tone that brooked no argument.

"One emperor and one empress, then another emperor and empress. One pair will live and die together; the other will share death. How wondrous..."

The sun sank lower, leaving only a corner of red light flickering on the horizon.

The dangling beads on the phoenix hairpin in Xie Yufu's bun swayed gently in the sunset. Yu Tailai's gaze darkened, and his youthful heart seemed to be bitten by ants, swaying in that same breeze.

He said hoarsely, "It seems there's a matching hairpin."

Xie Yufu lowered her eyes, a faint ripple passing through them as she gave the answer she wasn't quite sure of.

"Mine is a phoenix hairpin, and Third Young Master's is a dragon hairpin. A monk gave us both. Father says the bond between Third Young Master and me was fated from the moment we were born."

Yu Tailai's heart trembled once, then again.

But he smiled. "That's what country folk call a dragon and phoenix pair, isn't it? When I earn enough silver, I'll have a pair made just like them for Shiniang. She and I depend on each other, so I ought to treat her well!"

The two suddenly fell silent, vaguely sensing that something was tugging at their lives. Fate, perhaps? Fate had brought them together, but only as far as that first meeting.

Xiao Sanchen and Shiniang silently recalled the monk's words, each lost in their own thoughts.

Xiao Sanchen scoffed and didn't believe it. He thought, "It is Heaven's will that I become a king and emperor. How could Yu Tailai, a mere country bumpkin, be fit to contend for the realm? As for the empress, once I become emperor, whoever I name empress will be the one."

Shiniang was half-believing, half-doubting. In her heart, she prayed with reverence and a sinister intensity: "If the old monk's words are true, I hope I will be the empress who survives. It must be me! It can only be me!"

It was the end of spring, the sixteenth year after the fall of the Great Qi. The princes carved up the realm: the south sought to attack the north, and the west sought to conquer the east.

Ten more years would pass before these four young men and women reached the places fate had already foretold. Only then would they realize that they had all misread Heaven's will.

Theme: Establish a heart for Heaven and Earth, and a destiny for the people.