The Jade Cicada Chronicles

--Please add my new novel, Little Chong Mountain, to your collection. The blurb is at the end--

Blurb:

"When I met him at fifteen, I knew that one day I would marry him."

When a beautiful, clever palace lady official meets a cold-faced young lord with a powerful army at his command.

A treacherous court, unfathomable hearts, battlefields ringing with clashing weapons, and truths shrouded in mystery.

After ten years of pursuing one another, the mist finally clears, and it all feels like a dream.

One-on-one romance, nothing but sweetness, no angst.

A love in which both pursue each other, and a friendship in which they stand by one another.

Formal blurb:

[The stirrings of love are no more than plum soup in white porcelain in the height of summer, ice cubes clinking against the sides] (from Mu Xuan Ying Takes Command)

It is love at first sight, and a love that lasts a lifetime.

From the lowest-ranking palace lady official to the head of all lady officials; from a young lord's wife to the founding empress, they journey forward hand in hand.

-----Little Chong Mountain-----

[Quick-witted, clever princess x General who lives on frost and snow]

In the twenty-seventh year of Cheng'an, Wei Changfeng, deputy general of Shoubei Town, launched a solo raid on the small royal encampment of the Jie. He took the Jie prince's head with a single stroke, then returned to Shoubei Town unharmed, shaking the whole country.

Emperor Cheng'an was overjoyed and promoted Wei Changfeng to commander of Shoubei Town.

A second-rank general, commander of a northern frontier garrison, with thousands upon thousands of soldiers under his command, and only twenty-seven years old.

The Wei family had served the country for generations and won countless victories, but the previous generation had gotten involved in something they shouldn't have. By Wei Changfeng's generation, he was the only one left.

The palace elders all knew that General Wei's family had been destroyed when he was three. Empress Chun had old ties with the Wei family and had taken him in for a year when she was still a young lady. Shortly after turning four, the tiny boy, not yet as tall as a horse, left for Shoubei Town with a bundle on his back, escorted by the Wei family's retainers. He never returned to the capital.

He had been a child in her care for a year. The little soft bundle had grown up into a general who braved the elements.

Empress Chun's heart softened, and she asked the emperor to find out what Wei Changfeng wished for.

More than two months later, Wei Changfeng's petition for a favor finally arrived in the capital from the dusty northern frontier. It was written plainly: he wanted neither fame nor fortune. He wanted only Princess Yongjia, Helian Chiyi.

The emperor stared at the petition, stunned.

Empress Chun was stunned, too.

Three years earlier, the emperor had arranged for Wei Changfeng to marry the daughter of Commandery Princess Chaoping, the lovely Duoluo Lady Qingfeng, as graceful as a willow in the breeze. She had died within a year of leaving for Shoubei Town.

Before Commandery Princess Chaoping had even finished weeping, Wei Changfeng was asking to marry a princess.

Not just any princess, but the emperor's precious darling, the apple of his eye.

Emperor Cheng'an was so furious his liver hurt, and he cursed for three days in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Princess Yongjia shut herself away and sat in silence in her palace for three days.

After three days, the princess entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"I'll marry him," she said. "The northern frontier is a vital border region, and Wei Changfeng commands a powerful army. I should go there and help Father guard the realm."

The faint smile of Duoluo Lady Qingfeng seemed to appear before Chiyi's eyes again. She closed her sore, reddened eyes. "Yue Zhao's death was shrouded in mystery. I want to find out why she died."

Emperor Cheng'an was loath to let her go, but the princess's resolute gaze and the commandery princess's tear-swollen eyes left him unable to refuse.

At last, Empress Chun made the decision. "Go, my child."

When the princess arrived in Shoubei Town, she, a woman of noble birth, withdrew into the depths of her residence, keeping such a low profile it was as if she had never existed.

The border was unsettled, and the Jie often caused trouble. Wei Changfeng led his troops to guard the frontier and never returned home.

He had only wanted to bring the princess into the Wei household to bring it good fortune and prevent his family from suffering the same fate as the previous generation. He never cared what became of the princess. Her surname was Helian, after all. The Helian family owed the Wei family, and a debt passed from father to son was only right.

As for him, a man who lived on frost and snow, he had never dreamed of warmth.

One day, his personal guard sent a secret report: a handsome young man had appeared in Shoubei Town. He spoke elegant official Mandarin, was exceptionally learned, and could make a fine strategist.

Who would turn down more strategists under his command? Wei Changfeng nodded without much thought, never imagining that this person would so easily capture his heart and soul.

He willingly bowed his head and followed orders, becoming the young strategist's right-hand man. Even his blade became a little toy to make the noble princess smile.

After twenty years of bitter cold on the frontier, Wei Changfeng had thought mountains of cold and hardship would stretch across his whole life.

A solitary man and horse, a lonely shadow on a cold mountain, a snapped string with no one to hear.

Then he turned and discovered someone had been by his side all along, accompanying him over one mountain after another, each wider than the last.

Beyond Little Chong Mountain, the road lies open and flat.

Theme: Striving relentlessly to raise women's status