This Sword Will Never Waver

A follow-up to My Beautiful, Fierce Husband

On the final day of the Qian Dynasty, Ning Song served as an Unruly Guard for the last time.

The rebels came shouting for blood, storming into the once-prosperous imperial palace with swords, spears, halberds, and pikes. With one final strike, they sent the decaying dynasty plunging into the abyss.

As an Unruly Guard of Chang'an, Ning Song had protected the city for years in a woman's body. Today, she would use that same body to defend a dynasty on the brink of collapse.

So she gripped her notched blade and dragged her bleeding leg into the enemy ranks. Through veils of blood mist, she saw the banners being licked by flames.

Beneath the banners was Pei Yun's bloodied face.

The person she loved was fighting amid the flames. Ning Song's tenderest heartstrings were struck, and a tremendous killing intent erupted within her. If they could not live together, they would die together.

As blood mist swirled around her, Ning Song heard Pei Yun say, "A Song, run! Don't die with me."

"You're our witness. Live, and tell everyone that the Unruly Guards weren't rebels making a last stand."

Ning Song became the only person left who remembered the Unruly Guards.

So she lived on, a traitor to the dead.

The new dynasty took the name Xian. In the third month of its founding, the Xian emperor reinstated the Unruly Guards and made an exception to promote Ning Song, a rebel from the previous dynasty. She became a member of the new dynasty's Unruly Guards.

In the first year of Baoguang under the new dynasty, new members of the Unruly Guards surrounded Ning Song on a street in Chang'an and asked her about her past.

Touching the scar left by the tattooed punishment on her face, Ning Song calmly said, "My story begins in the first year of Yongxian under the Qian Dynasty."

1. Inspired by the Tang Dynasty's bu liang ren, officials who investigated and arrested criminals, with many changes added.

The Unruly Guards were formed to protect Chang'an, pursue leads, and fight the rebels.

Ranks: Unruly Commander, Inspector, Company Commander, Captain, Squad Leader, Corporal

2. A tragic 1v1 romance, separated by death (the angst is concentrated in the second half). Not a mystery or detective story.

3. People are not flawless jade from birth. Characters will inevitably have flaws. If anything makes you uncomfortable, I apologize in advance. Please stop reading in time to spare your eyes.

4. All in all, this is a story the author simply had to write.

5. References:

[Song] Song Ci, The Washing Away of Wrongs; [Song] Meng Yuanlao, The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor

A follow-up to My Beautiful, Fierce Husband

In the years Shu Yan spent abandoned by her mother in their old home in Jiangning, no one paid her any mind. As her father lay gravely ill, Shu Yan swore that in this life she would love only power, and never anyone else.

She never forgot her origins. Shu Yan's mother was the current dynasty's chief chancellor. When her mother finally brought her back, Shu Yan was cautious and swallowed every insult. Then one day, her elder sister was mysteriously assassinated, and her mother insisted that Zhou Yun, the eldest prince of Jingheng and elder brother to the new emperor, was the murderer.

Shu Yan lowered her eyes and said nothing. She did not share her mother's hatred, but at the time, she had no idea that the name Zhou Yun would become entwined with the rest of her life.

On the day her elder sister died, rain poured down in sheets. Her mother summoned Shu Yan to the study and begged her to put the greater good first. The next day, her mother switched one person for another. Thanks to a face eight-tenths identical to her sister's, Shu Yan survived by wearing her sister's identity.

Just then, Zhou Yun, the new emperor's elder brother and the eldest prince of Jingheng, petitioned the emperor for permission to marry.

On their wedding day, Shu Yan and Zhou Yun clashed at every turn. For countless days, they shared a bed but dreamed separate dreams.

He was convinced she was the daughter of a treacherous minister. She was convinced he had ulterior motives.

While Shu Yan rose to prominence at court and outmaneuvered her rivals, Zhou Yun sat alone on an empty bed, her lingering fragrance clinging to his sleeves.

Later, he waited for her in the pouring rain, one shoulder soaked. Beneath snow-covered Cang Mountain, he offered her his burning heart. Under a sky of scattered stars, he begged her to look at him.

He used his sincere love to try to uncover her secrets.

And he refused to believe that she was truly so cold and unfeeling.

Theme: Even when the road ahead is covered in thorns, keep moving forward with resolve and pierce the mist