Chronicle of Measuring Rivers

First, a warning: this story is on hiatus, so enter at your own risk. The reason it's stalled is that the idea overlaps with something I wrote before, so I've hit writer's block. But I've already written half of it, and I'll have to finish it eventually, so I'm posting it here to spur myself on. If you're willing to jump into this unfinished story, don't say I didn't warn you! Second, the writing isn't very good, and the structure is uneven. I may need to fix it later, so consider yourself warned again. (Really, all this rambling is just to say: please don't jump in. Let this shameless author stare at the abandoned story and tell herself, “One day, at last...” while crying!) Finally, a word about the scope: this story will have a happy ending and is divided into two parts, with a projected length of over 300,000 words. The first part is called Measuring the River, and the second is called The Victors and the Vanquished. Both titles come from Ming-dynasty plays, which once again proves that I am hopeless at coming up with titles... I'm out! -----Synopsis----- “Weifan, did you know you can measure a river?” “Knowing your weaknesses is how you make use of your strengths. That's what I'm doing when I measure the river. You should take a good look at yourself, too. You've already been fretting over your shortcomings, so why not think about how to make the most of your strengths?” “The river can be measured, but the human heart cannot. Jiang Weifan, in the end, Wang Yunshao cannot see through you.”