When the Swallows Return

(This story is stuck, so updates will be irregular.)

The Su family had a daughter of breathtaking beauty, but she died on her way to be married. Everyone mourned her untimely death.

Who would have thought that on the first day the new ruler, rumored to be as cruel and merciless as an Asura from hell, entered the Central Plains, everyone would stare wide-eyed as they watched him carefully shelter the celestial beauty at his side? Wasn't that the Su family's daughter, who had died?

Yi Cen, the chief of Qingfeng Stronghold, lived only for revenge. One day, he would storm the imperial city and sacrifice the ruler seated atop the nine-tiered throne to the spirits of his entire Yi clan. He had turned himself into an impenetrable fortress, impervious to blade or spear, as if nothing in the world could shake him.

But lately, he had a headache. The third-in-command, stupid as a pig, had sneaked down the mountain to rob a shipment, only to bring back a huge nuisance.

This nuisance made all sorts of demands every day: tea had to be brewed with morning spring water from three li away, she needed a different dress every day, and she had to bathe in flower petals daily... Everyone at Qingfeng Stronghold was at their wits' end. Su Ningyin widened her eyes. "I'm a fairy. Fairies are all like this."

Yi Cen put up with all of it and decided that once the nuisance regained her memories, he would quickly bundle her up and send her home.

Who knew that, according to everyone else, the second daughter of the Su family had already become a "dead woman," having hanged herself to preserve her chastity?

He stood in front of the Su family home as the woman beside him sobbed uncontrollably. "I don't have a home anymore. Boohoo." Her crying irritated him. He covered her swollen eyes. "Why are you crying? The Su family doesn't want you, but I do." He could always take her back to Qingfeng Stronghold and put her to work tending the fire. After all, her arrival had brought a little color to his dull life.

As I walked alone through this world, I had no place to come from and nowhere to return to.

Meeting you was like a winter swallow finally finding its way home.

Little Scene

Su Ningyin gazed dreamily at the bright moon in the sky. She was a moon palace fairy, destined not to stay long in the mortal realm. At the thought, she couldn't help covering her face and weeping.

She looked at the "lover" beside her, who was heartbroken at the thought of her returning to the moon palace, and sobbed, "Er Niu, mortals and immortals are worlds apart. Once I return to the moon palace, forget about me."

With a dark expression, Yi Cen hauled her back from the edge of the cliff. "First, jumping off a cliff won't let you fly. Second, my name isn't Er Niu."

Su Ningyin obediently replied, "All right, Er Gou."

Yi Cen took a deep breath. You can't hit your wife.

(Fourth version of the blurb, written November 14, 2020)

Theme: Never give up on yourself, no matter the circumstances