Bamboo by the Xiang River (GL)

I'm really not doing this on purpose. I've just been so busy lately I'm practically sick, and I truly don't have time to update every day.

To make things easier for everyone to read, I'm posting an old story here and setting it to update automatically. I actually think it's pretty good, especially the second part, Xiaoxiang Water and Clouds. To be honest, after writing so many stories, it's hard to find one that lets me feel as if I'm there instead of looking down from above. I think Xiaoxiang achieves that. The other two each have their own merits as well. Here are some brief introductions.

Northern Desert Arc: Sparse Shadows and Hidden Fragrance

We float down the Peach Blossom River, its clear waters stretching like a jade sash. Trees shed their leaves as geese fly south; orchids and angelica bloom together. White angelica blankets the riverbank, frost covering everything in sight. Frost-white birds dance, jade plum blossoms scent the air, and the birds are always at the plum trees' side.

One is the beloved daughter of the lord of the great desert; the other is a poet whose family has been destroyed, yet who does not even know what it means to hate. It seems they were destined to find each other, but another person's thirst for revenge is like a dose of poison, slowly staining a happiness that was already marked by pain, yet otherwise beyond reproach...

Jiangnan Arc: Xiaoxiang Water and Clouds

Do not return home before you grow old; if you do, heartbreak will be your due.

This is the one I'm proudest of among the three. Xiaoxiang Water and Clouds is my favorite guqin piece. The story takes place in Lin'an during the Southern Song dynasty, and features two beautiful, almost legendary women: one is a leading performer in a Southern Drama troupe, skilled in both martial arts and comic roles; the other is a delicate guest at a teahouse who excels at playing the seven-string zither. In snowy Lin'an, the faint, ethereal melody of a jade zither drifts across the sky. Who follows it with delicate ornamentation, softly singing along, before gradually disappearing at a lonely street corner, into the cold wind...

Western Regions Arc: Cold Rain, Autumn Heart

I look up, and the sky is still clear and blue; the bluestone street stretches on into dusk.

Seas change into mulberry fields, stars shift and the heavens turn, yet a heart chilled by autumn rain remains unchanged through three lifetimes.

Though she loathes war, Xiaoji Liyal has no choice but to become the lord of the desert. Like every inept ruler, she loses herself in poetry, wine, singing, and verse, neglecting the affairs of state. Meanwhile, Sabul of the neighboring country has been waging war in every direction. He means to seize this opportunity to destroy Liyal, a land he has coveted for a long time. Everyone has their own schemes, but in the end, who will fall into whose trap, and who will become whose sacrifice...

For years in the palace lanes, silk-clad beauties have nursed their grievances; day after day, parting sorrows bring thoughts of storms.

The Xiang River's bamboo bears endless stains; how many tears have fallen before the stele at Xianshou?

She departed from the Purple Terrace as autumn entered the frontier; as troops closed in on the Chu encampment, songs rang out at night.

At dawn, I asked by the Ba River Bridge: could it compare to seeing a fine steed off in a green robe?

- Li Yishan, "Tears"

I don't write danmei, because I don't understand men.

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