The outline and blurb were written around 2023. Half the manuscript is drafted, and I'm getting ready to start publishing. --Left this note on 2026-08-01
Blurb:
This is a chaotic age, where warlords rise one after another and talent abounds.
This is a chance to return from the dead, contend for the realm, rise above all rivals, and secure a position of victory.
The people set their sights on the world, scheming over lands and winning the favor of a ruler. I seek only a peaceful place to call home, a few gentle concubines, and a life of wealth and security.
Character setup: An unconventional male warlord VS an unconventional noblewoman
In truth: A sharp-tongued tiger who plays cat to catch the mouse VS a knowledge-seeker who challenges the rigid barriers of etiquette
*An alternate-history mishmash of dynasties. The business details need no historical research.
Author's note: Happy ending, woman disguises herself as a man, evenly matched, rivals who scheme against each other and for each other, and who win each other's trust and affection.
[Little Scene]
Every day at noon, the storyteller at Biyun Manor invited a crowd of onlookers to gossip at length about all the latest rumors. Today, he happened to be talking about the Wan clan of Yunyang.
The Wan clan had plenty of things people loved to gossip about. First was the Wan trading caravan, which had crossed the borders for years without losing a single person or piece of cargo. Wars raged across the land, but the Wan clan kept opening new businesses and making money hand over fist.
Second was the head of the Wan clan, the young master Tangzhou. They said he was the most handsome man among the wealthy merchants of Great Chen, seven chi and eight cun tall, with a face as handsome as jade and an extraordinary bearing. Everyone who saw him praised him as a peerless young talent, unmatched in brilliance...
At the time, Zheng Zhaozhao sat below the stage, listening to the crowd heap praise upon him. She thought to herself: It's a shame that this peerlessly handsome young master of the Wan clan is actually a woman!
Theme: Courage is humanity's anthem.
