Spring Night

The title comes from “Happy Rain on a Spring Night,” and the male lead is named Shiyu.

A refined young lady x a young assassin:

The heroine, Qi Yingzhu, is a sickly beauty. Because she was switched at birth, Qi Yingzhu spent seventeen years as the daughter of a marquis’s family. When the real heiress returns, Qi Yingzhu steps aside and goes to the mountains to recuperate, cutting ties with her old life.

One spring night, as fallen blossoms turned to mud, a young man named Shiyu collapsed outside Qi Yingzhu’s home.

She teaches him to read and write, feeds him medicine and meals, and plans to marry him and spend her old age in the countryside. She doesn’t yet know that he is a famous assassin in the martial world.

--

Rain and dew pattered softly beyond the eaves.

Qi Yingzhu sat listlessly by the window, writing, while her mother fussed: “…You don’t like this, and you find that boring. So what do you like?”

After her mother left, Qi Yingzhu sat for a while, then called out the window, “Shiyu.”

She only meant to find out if he was there. But the young man hiding in the tree showed half his face, his eyes dark as ink. “You like me?”

Qi Yingzhu froze, her face turning red. “...No.”

Shiyu didn’t seem to care. “Oh.”

A little while later, his voice drifted down from the tree, dampened by the rain: “I kind of like you.”

P.S. This is a short, self-indulgent story written for fun, a chance to relax before The Fallen Immortal. None of the characters are perfect. I don’t like writing characters without flaws.

Blurb for my upcoming story, The Fallen Immortal:

A beautiful, powerful, tragic witch heroine and a hero who becomes a fallen immortal:

Jiang Cai is the senior sister of her sect, and Zhang Yening is the senior brother of another sect.

Though they are engaged, they barely know each other.

In Jiang Cai’s eyes, Zhang Yening should be a distant immortal, seated among the clouds, free of desire and untouched by worldly attachments.

In Zhang Yening’s eyes, Jiang Cai should be an elegant, heroic goddess in the clouds, first among all beneath the Jade Emperor.

One day, Jiang Cai is sent to infiltrate the demonic sect.

As she falls to demonic ways and is tortured by a thousand swords, she hears that Zhang Yening met with an accident while ascending and became a fallen immortal.

After being reborn, Jiang Cai wonders: If she becomes a Demon Venerable and he becomes a fallen immortal, could they work together while they’re both still on the righteous path?

She doesn’t know that Zhang Yening became a fallen immortal to save her and help her be reborn.

Later, Zhang Yening says to her

“People wish you were the moon in the sky, but I hope you’ll be like the sun at dawn. When dawn comes, may your days grow ever longer, for a thousand million years.”

P.S. (1) The poem in the blurb is adapted from an ancient poem and is not original. (2) I enjoy writing imperfect characters, including the leads. If you like flawless characters, this may not be for you. (3) This story is both sweet and angsty.

Theme: Fate’s gifts come neither too early nor too late