[Tiwushang X Wuyishiyin] The Moonlit Lake

I wanted to write a Shi Yin as beautiful as the moon. That was what inspired this story. When I began writing, I tried my hardest not to overthink things. But most of the time, reason and emotion are like two utterly opposing ends. As I wrote, my emotions burst their banks like a floodgate, and there was no stopping them. Well, my ideal country probably wouldn't be someone else's utopia. It's like how the way I romanticize things, based on my own understanding, might look like vilification to someone else. And the faith I hold to probably isn't what others think of as faith, either. In the original story, setting aside his devotion to his country and its people, what truly draws me to Wuyi Shi Yin is probably the way he does what he has decided to do, good or bad, and bears it all. In some ways, he is practically the epitome of ruthlessness. I always feel that he is someone who understands life very clearly. And in this world, there are always people who find peace of mind because someone else sees things clearly. So the thing that moves me so, so, so deeply about him must be a spirit that will never break. Like a perpetual-motion engine for the soul, a little serenade rumbling endlessly in the depths of the heart. Blurb: When I was young, my mother once told me that my name meant "Moon Lake." In Xixi, where the moon is worshipped as a deity, almost every newborn is given the ancient word "Amor," meaning moon, as a prefix to their name. Their suffix, meanwhile, is determined by divination performed by the priestess of that generation. Moon Lake sounds so ordinary and carelessly chosen compared to names like Dawn, Eternal Day, and Elegy. Back then, though I felt a little dissatisfied, I knew this was my fate. Fate is like an unknown river. Wherever it carries me, I will follow its course. Without hesitation, without resistance, without stopping. Only later did I discover that the true meaning of my name was "Lunar Tide." It was a name that foretold a life seldom free of hardship: where there is light, there is darkness; where there is calm, there are upheavals; where there are peaks, there are valleys; where there is truth, there are illusions. There would be faint firefly lights and dark currents smooth as a whetstone, hidden currents of fate and the dust of passing years. Though it wasn't a good omen, I loved this name. It made my life exceptionally winding, yet left me with so much to savor. When I was young, I would gaze up at the night sky and often think the moon was an extraordinary thing. So bright, so gentle, so elegant, so selfless. The moon was beyond the grasp of human language, and I always found myself at a loss for words when I tried to praise it. Even more so later, when I discovered that this wondrous embodiment was actually a massive celestial body I had read about in an astronomy magazine. It was old, barren, and desolate. Though it was already battered and bruised, it still did everything it could to give warmth and light. Even though it is never given anything in return, it can still shine upon the vast sky, unchanged through the ages, all by itself. It crosses endless towering ridges, passes over barren lands, flows through winding streams, and brushes across boundless grasslands. Could there be people in this world as noble and strong as the moon? I suppose not. That must be why it can become a deity. Synopsis: In mid-autumn, when he was twenty-six, Wuyi Shi Yin, the manager of a hot spring inn, followed his younger sister Jilu's directions and rescued a young man with no memories from the seaside. Their fateful meeting began here... Theme: