Misty Winds and Smoke

My new novel, "Winter Clothes for the Palace," is now serialized. Come check it out! :D [Blurb]: Song Zhifeng thinks she could happily spend her whole life on the mountain, if she didn't have to escape her grandmaster's matchmaking schemes. But if she does go down the mountain, she might as well do something righteous and earth-shaking. She is an ordinary person, proud of her learning, with the most prestigious master and the most unremarkable background. Perhaps there is a jar of wine from a golden age waiting for her below, with a cup for her to drink. Or perhaps the martial world is full of epic, stirring tales of heroes, making her journey worthwhile. The finest wine, the fiercest steed, the most carefree swordsman, the most uninhibited young man. Below the mountain lie schemes, deceit, and the changing warmth and coldness of human hearts. Gratitude, hatred, the past: none of it should have anything to do with her, yet she cannot escape being entangled in it. The world is fickle and ever-changing, but in the forty-second year of Jiahe, Song Zhifeng descended the mountain with her sword. Here, the martial world stretches far and wide, and young men are like the wind. Fourth Young Master Yi, Yi Fugui, only wants to help the world and save lives. He has no desire to inherit a vast fortune. He has always had someone to take the fall for him, so he studies literature and medicine. He learns martial arts only to protect himself, avoids trouble, quietly does good deeds, and charges just three coins for a consultation. But in the end, Yi Fugui's medical skills cannot save his family from being reduced to ashes, and his martial arts cannot protect the one he loves. This is a cruel world, one that forces a physician's white robes to be stained with blood. (This novel will be revised later. The outline won't change much, but some details will.) The outline for "How to Survive to the End Without a Script" isn't finished, so I'm starting a new novel first: "Winter Clothes for the Palace." Blurb: Lu Ren is an ordinary person, so ordinary that time races by and the years never turn back, with few people ever stopping for her. Lu Ren isn't a particularly good person, either. Born in a bandit den, she became a beggar after it was wiped out, traded horses, and even killed people for money. Carrying a knife, she wandered from place to place, eventually scraping by with a job as an executioner. One day, she met someone and immediately drew her knife, robbing him and his horse. He was foolish and naive, but that didn't stop him from being a good person. A good person shouldn't lose his head on the execution ground over a love affair that means nothing. She had no idea what else she could do, so all she could do was take him as far away as possible. And then? Keep him from having a tragic encounter with someone else. She only needed him to live. It didn't matter who he fell in love with. It's only natural to develop feelings for a good person, but there's something despicable about it, too. "You don't seem to have a destination in mind?" "People like us have always had to take things one step at a time." Theme: The fate of the world is everyone's responsibility.