Rain on Washed Branches

[Main story complete. My other novel, Snowbound Mountains, has just started. If you're interested, check it out in my author profile. The blurb is at the very bottom.]

[One-on-one, happy ending]

Blurb

*

Jiang Chi lived a carefree life. It had taken her tens of thousands of years in the heavens just to barely manage to take human form.

Unfortunately, on the very day she became human, a great demon who had thrown the mortal world into chaos attacked the heavens. All the celestial maidens fell, including Jiang Chi's dear friend, the Immortal Maiden Chunhua.

Fortunately, before the High Immortal Jialin died, he spent all his divine power sending Jiang Chi back a thousand years, to when that great demon was still a half-demon hated by humans and demons alike.

The first thing Jiang Chi did was draw her sword and slash at the half-demon's neck. But her sword broke, and the half-demon wasn't hurt in the slightest.

With no other choice, Jiang Chi stayed by the half-demon's side, thinking that one day she'd find a way to kill him.

She tried all sorts of methods, but every single one failed.

Years passed. At last, Jiang Chi managed to plunge the short blade in her hand into the half-demon's chest without resistance.

And that day was Jiang Chi and Xie Zhuo's wedding day.

Looking at those eyes, full of shock, Jiang Chi inexplicably remembered the day Xie Zhuo gave her a hairpin.

He had said, "A Chi, I know how you feel. Will you marry me?"

That day, his eyes had been especially beautiful.

The blade veered three inches off course. Jiang Chi looked at it and thought that a lazy little demon like her really wasn't cut out for a great undertaking.

*

Later, when Jiang Chi leapt into the Ruoshui River beyond the Southern Sea, she looked back at Xie Zhuo.

I plotted to take your life. Now I'm giving mine in return. We're even.

But Xie Zhuo, who should have hated her to the very depths of his soul, came running, trying to catch her as she fell.

Jiang Chi saw him say:

We're even in hate, but what about love?

In this world, love, hate, resentment, and obsession all exist, but love is the most impossible to escape.

Upcoming novel

[Plot-focused version]

The Shen family organized Yucheng's annual Lantern Festival.

Year after year, everything had gone smoothly. But this year, after the festival ended, several lanterns were missing. They were lanterns modeled after mythical creatures from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The Shen family checked the surveillance footage and caught an extremely old man.

But he seemed senile, and could only repeat the same jumbled words. Deciphered, they meant:

The missing lanterns had their eyes dotted with blood, and then they all flew away.

They couldn't get anything else out of him.

With no other options, the younger members went to the Shen family patriarch, who had long since withdrawn from worldly affairs.

After hearing them out, Old Master Shen smoked an entire pack, his eyes bloodshot.

"Get the car ready. Take me to Qingshan. I'll bring that person down myself."

Qiao Xi had lived on Qingshan since she was little, sharing a home with her grandfather, an old man.

Ever since she was young, the old man had given Qiao Xi all sorts of strange things to do. He also made her copy symbols from thick books of talismans, sometimes for an entire day.

When Qiao Xi got too tired, she'd cry and make a fuss, demanding to go down the mountain to find her mother.

The stubborn old man would always glare at her and say, "Dead, all dead. You're the only one left."

And Qiao Xi would kick and punch as she yelled, "My mom is right down the mountain, perfectly fine! Let me go back!"

Later, Qiao Xi tried sneaking down the mountain more than once, but every time she ended up back at the big house on the mountain, as if trapped in a ghostly maze.

As time went by, Qiao Xi decided she'd never get off this wretched mountain in her whole life.

Then one day, a black car came up the mountain, and an old man got out.

After the two old men talked for a long time inside, her own grandfather came out and said, "Go on. Head down the mountain."

[Romance-focused version]

The young master of the Shen family was sent by his grandfather to look after a little girl from the mountains. He fussed over her at every turn, and couldn't have been more pleased.

His group of spoiled friends naturally teased him, saying he'd been blinded by her beauty and had fallen for the mountain girl.

But Young Master Shen lit a cigarette, glanced at the person beside him, and denied it. "She's the Shen family's great-grandmother. I'm just showing respect to my elders!"

Later, Young Master Shen followed the great-grandmother he'd mentioned everywhere, from the mountains to the sea. No matter how much she scolded him, she couldn't drive him away.

At last, the mountain girl grew annoyed and asked what he wanted from her.

Only then did Young Master Shen smile. "Great-grandmother, I don't want you to be a guest of the Shen family anymore. I want you to be the lady of the Shen family."

Theme: Love makes us better.