Song of Youth

The Xie clan stood proud amid the chaos of their age, a final legend from the turmoil between the northern and southern dynasties.

Blurb:

A solitary orchid first blooms in a secluded valley. Dongshan remains as it was, with endless peach blossoms stretching ten miles into the distance and bewitching green hills.

Do you still remember? Back then, at our meeting in Orchid Valley, we were young and naive, and the splendor of the tree had yet to bloom.

She was an unparalleled beauty, aloof from the world. The leisurely notes of her zither drifted over the winding stream, as the March wind brushed her fingertips. Cuckoos cried blood, and the world's strife faded from view.

An unexpected encounter swept them into the turbulent currents of a chaotic age. Amid the rise and fall of fortunes, the past drifted away like clouds, and he never again saw that breathtaking figure reflected in his heart.

A realm battered by wind and rain, a court seething with hidden currents. With feather fan and silk headdress, who could claim the world with a laugh and a few words?

Across the river, they gaze at one another and join hands, watching autumn leaves cover the ground. Such grace is hard to find again.

With the end of a chaotic age, what comes after?

This work is entirely fictional and set in an alternate history, though it draws on the turmoil of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Excerpt:

"I can promise you anything except the world."

"And what if the world is what I want?"

"Then I can only offer blood as a sacrifice and my heart as an offering, weaving the world of your dreams."

That was the promise he made me for a lifetime.