Spring Comes Again

[The full novel is complete. Thank you to our readers who support the original. In December, I'll be writing A Beauty in a Painted Screen.] Blurb: (For the record: the younger sister and the male lead have no romantic entanglement.) When Shen Yuefu was sixteen, she married Du Yanze, the second son of Duke Liang. Just two years into their marriage, Du Yanze was ordered to head south. When he returned, he had another woman by his side. Surrounded by servants, dressed in fine silks, and sitting high above everyone else, she was none other than a princess of the imperial court. The princess sat upright in the reception hall of Duke Liang's residence, holding a teacup. She smiled leisurely and said to her, "Du Lang saved my life. I wish to repay him. What do you think, my lady?" Shen Yuefu looked at Du Yanze, whose gaze was full of sorrow, and said nothing. The next day, she left behind a letter of release and returned to her parents' home with her dowry. Shen Yuefu thought that with her family to protect her, she could live a peaceful life even if she never remarried. But a dream revealed everything that lay ahead. Her father and stepmother, for the sake of the family's future, would force her to remarry as the second wife of the elderly, gravely ill Marquis Dingyuan. Her younger sister knew full well what was happening, but stood by and did nothing. The Marquis was already halfway into his grave. He would die just half a month after the wedding, leaving her, a young and beautiful widow, at the mercy of his eldest son, a man with a strict wife at home who was still a shameless womanizer... Shen Yuefu woke in a cold sweat. With no other choice, she took a dangerous gamble and staked everything, just to catch that man's attention. That man was the fiance her stepmother had been scheming to secure for her younger sister, and the only person who had ever reached out to help her. Zhao Heng was the current emperor's eighth son. He had spent many years guarding the border and did not return to Chang'an until he came of age. The emperor had arranged his marriage years ago. He had returned only to obey his parents' wishes and marry the young woman they had chosen for him. Whether she was beautiful or ugly, gentle and virtuous or sharp-tongued and fierce, made no difference. After all, once they were married, he would be leaving Chang'an again. Who knew that before the wedding date was even set, he would meet another woman at a temple? The bamboo cast slanting shadows, and the stream ran shallow and clear. The woman seemed to stumble by accident and fell straight into his arms. In plain clothes and a simple hairpin, without a trace of makeup, she still had eyes full of longing and an utterly captivating charm. She was his fiancee's own older sister. Please note: 1. The heroine has been married before, so of course she is not a virgin. The unmarried male lead has kept himself chaste. 2. The story is set in a fictional world. The author is old-fashioned, and the tropes are dated and melodramatic. 3. Please use civil language. No insulting people. The next novel will be A Beauty in a Painted Screen. Blurb: Qiu Wu is the head palace maid of Yufang Hall. Everyone who sees her respectfully calls her "Auntie Qiu," because the Ninth Prince she serves has the Crown Prince's favor. Every few days, the Crown Prince summons her to the Eastern Palace to ask about the Ninth Prince's daily life, making countless people envious. No one knows that whenever Qiu Wu enters the Eastern Palace, she is the one being "questioned" on the bed. She knows all too well how wanton this cold and decisive Crown Prince is in private. Qiu Wu once developed feelings she should not have had. As they lay together, whispering softly, the Crown Prince praised her lovely name. Her heart full of joy, she wanted to tell him that Qiu Wu meant autumn grass. Though it withered and faded, it could come to life again the following spring. Her family had given her that name because they hoped she would live on with resilience. But the young Crown Prince pointed to the autumn landscape painted on the folding screen beside the bed and said, "When people admire this painting, they admire the beauty, the red maples, the broken bridge. No one ever notices the autumn grass hidden among them. Wu'er, you are like the autumn grass in this screen. Hidden by my side, where only I can see you, and only I can see you." Qiu Wu's heart turned cold, and she swallowed the words she had wanted to say. The autumn grass outside could still sway in the wind, but the grass in this painting was pinned firmly in place, unable to move. The Crown Prince looked down on her lowly birth. To him, she was merely a pleasing plaything he wanted to keep for himself. She pinched out the hazy feelings that had just begun to sprout in her heart and told herself to endure a little longer. Once the Ninth Prince established his own residence, she would ask him to let her go, then marry a suitable man and live happily from then on. Just as she was about to make it through, and had even picked the man she liked, she turned around and saw a shadow cross the Crown Prince's careless face. #She is a palace maid caring for a young prince, but she is involved with his older brother, the Crown Prince.# Thesis: Pursue freedom and selfhood