[Coming Soon] Spring Branches in Bloom (Huo Chenggang Reborn Arc)

Also known as Reborn: The Road to Raising a Wife and The Prince's Child Bride.

A parallel-universe rebirth story about Huo Chenggang.

[Why I Wrote This]

This is the rebirth story of the Crown Prince's advisor. For a long time after finishing The Crown Prince's Advisor, I was heartbroken. Even now, I can't say whether I feel more for young Huo and young Hua, or for Chen Jie and Chen Yu.

After a long struggle, I decided to write another story.

Huo Chenggang is reborn with his memories of his past life. But in this life, the person who was Chen Jie has been reborn as Han Mao, so the entire story has changed. There is no Virtuous Consort, no Prince of Lu, no Prince of Chu, and no Liugu Hall.

He is Huo Chenggang, the second prince of the Great Jin.

Huo Chenggang travels to Cangzhou, determined to arrive before everything happens and save the wife who is about to be sold: Dong Liuniu, a country girl from Cangzhou.

Huo Chenggang and Dong Liuniu will have a sweet romance from beginning to end.

No deep grudges, no atonement, no suffering.

He has come to save her, before it all begins.

From the very first day she is sold, Dong Liuniu will be at Huo Chenggang's side.

He has come to heal her.

Starting when she is little, starting right now.

[Author's Note]

Do you believe in parallel universes?

I don't, but I wish they existed.

*

If they don't exist in the real world, then they should in fiction.

Lately, I've been so tormented that I can barely sleep. When I wake in the middle of the night, I keep thinking about the ending of The Crown Prince's Advisor, about Huo Chenggang, who endured so much, and Hua Jinxiao, whose life was full of hardship.

It really hurts.

The one I think about most is Chen Jie.

Or rather, Huo Minggang. He's a transmigrator. Even though he didn't have a major role in The Crown Prince's Advisor, his arrival and every choice he made affected all the generations that came after him. Mr. Huo's pain, Hua Jinxiao's pain, all those hardships and indignities, and even the happy ending that finally bloomed, were all tinged with an unspeakable bitterness.

In the chapter about The Crown Prince's Advisor in The Little Things About Writing, I said that Huo Chenggang fooled me.

It started with a nosebleed: So exciting! I have to write this!

And ended in unbearable heartache.

*

Or maybe I could start with Chen Jie's rebirth and rewrite the story from an all-knowing creator's perspective.

I spent seven days trying to change it, and then realized that if Chen Jie wasn't Chen Jie and hadn't married Sister Jiang, there would be no Huo Chenggang.

So what would be the point of changing the story?

But today, I found my answer.

If Yu Miao could be reborn and fall in love with the Second Master (Note: I haven't written that story yet, but I will!), then why couldn't I let Huo Chenggang be reborn?

*

If I could preserve his soul, would changing everything give it meaning?

P.S. Spring Branch in Bloom was the title I had originally saved for a story with Feng Qiao as the heroine. I said before that if I got the chance, I wanted to retell this tale of power struggles from Feng Qiao's point of view. But later I realized there would be no chance, because Zhang Yuyun, Zhang Jixu, Zhang Jingtong, and the young Duke of Zhang were all getting their own stories.

There was no need to retell this story from Qiaoqiao's point of view.

So I give this bright, sunlit March name to Huo Jiao, Huo Chenggang.

May it shine through the shadows in their lives as I write a sweet new chapter for them.

I really like those two delightfully common titles: Reborn: The Road to Raising a Wife and The Prince's Little Bride.

Sweet, simple, and straightforward, both earthy and elegant.

But for personal reasons, this story will ultimately be called Spring Branch in Bloom: When the flowers are in full bloom, she smiles among them.

Theme: Being reborn is a chance to make life better and correct every mistake from the beginning.