When the Moon Shone on Snow

[Over 30,000 new words of free bonus chapters! Complete, with the full, unabridged official version on Jinjiang. Follow the author’s page and save upcoming stories! (*^▽^*)]

Rong Zhi was born with the face of a femme fatale, a slender willow-like waist and eyes rippling like water. Though her family was of humble means, with a face like hers, she ought to be able to find a decent marriage.

Unfortunately, she was born in troubled times. After a flood devastated her hometown, she had no choice but to head north with her mother to seek out relatives.

The refugees were vicious. In the blink of an eye, they could strip you of every scrap of food, then try to abduct you as well.

Fleeing blindly, Rong Zhi escaped to a temple.

Before the Buddha statue, the footsteps disturbed the incense smoke, mingling it with a faint sweetness as it drifted and swirled.

At a glance, Rong Zhi spotted the man kneeling on a cushion, peerlessly handsome yet radiating a chilling aloofness.

She knew he was of noble status and feared he wouldn’t help her. Gritting her teeth, she twisted her slender waist and threw herself into his arms, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes as she pleaded softly, “My lord, save me. Please, save me…”

Xie Xuan lowered his eyes, his long fingers lightly supporting her waist. He looked like a compassionate Buddha, regarding all living things with pity.

As Rong Zhi’s heart thudded wildly, he waited a long moment, then gave a gentle nod.

*

Everyone knew that the ruler honored the Hundred Schools of Thought, and that he held Grand Preceptor Xie Xuan in especially high regard.

At first, Rong Zhi approached Xie Xuan only because he held great power and was so cold and reserved that he wasn’t the sort to make advances. He could give her a place to stay without demanding she give herself in return.

She did everything she could to catch Xie Xuan’s attention, using a gentle facade to make him believe she was meant only for him.

But in these troubled times, men were simply useful tools she could easily manipulate with her beauty.

She could coax Xie Xuan into giving her shelter and a way to survive today, then choose someone else tomorrow.

But Rong Zhi never imagined that once she had a place to stay, she would never again escape his grasp.

That man, so divine in bearing, would one day stand above the throne and casually kick the ruler’s head aside with his black boots.

As if no one else were there, he tossed aside his bloodstained sword. His usually calm, distant eyes were tinged red at the corners, and his gaze cut toward her inch by inch, driving her back into a corner.

His jade-like fingers clasped her waist with intimate familiarity, his voice low and dark:

“I'm right here. Say it again: whom do you want to marry?”

*

Xie Xuan was cold-blooded and calculating, a man who never made a misstep and had never once given in.

His only mistake was letting a woman who didn’t love him into his heart, and allowing desire to take hold of him.

[Reading Guide]

1. An untouchable, ascetic, dangerously obsessive hero x a beautiful, scheming heroine of low birth. Neither is perfect. One-on-one, both are each other’s first and only, happy ending.

2. The hero is a grand preceptor, not a monk. He is simply at a Buddhist temple to cultivate his mind and character. He becomes dangerously obsessive around the middle of the story and afterward. At first, he is cool and aloof; those obsessive traits emerge gradually as the heroine draws near and then pulls away. The heroine is stunningly beautiful and a little scheming, but not much. The hero sees right through her, yet she still has him wrapped around her finger.

3. The heroine is no good person. She’s a self-interested survivor who, in her efforts to find shelter and stay alive, crosses paths with quite a few men by chance. This means meeting, getting to know, and using them, not having relationships with them. The ruler whose head gets chopped off is among them. She isn’t interested in any of them, though.

4. The hero falls for her early on. Later, the story features him taking her by force and refusing to let her go.

5. The title comes from Sikong Tu’s Twenty-Four Categories of Poetry: “Like spring in the green, like moonlight on a snowy night.”

6. The setting is a fictional Wei-Jin era. All the worldbuilding and plot serve the romance, so don’t get hung up on historical accuracy. Love you all! =3=

7. Please don’t judge characters living in an ancient setting by modern standards.

8. Just filling out the list to make it a lucky number! =v=

9. A note about the hero’s identity: The original inspiration was a powerful Buddhist prince who kept his hair and practiced Buddhism. That’s why the hero is described with so much divine and Buddhist imagery. Before I started writing, I had to change the setting due to circumstances beyond my control. Painful mask.

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[An upcoming story! Please add it to your library, lovelies~]

[Title: After Hearing My Friend’s Fiancée’s Thoughts]

A stunning, high-born beauty with a mind full of filthy thoughts, no filter, and the nerve to lust after her fiancé’s handsome best friend, only for that best friend to hear every thought.

Pei Jin had warned himself countless times: never covet a friend’s wife.

Then he got a taste of Xiang Hua’s lips and thought, entirely unbothered

Then I’ll just stop being Zhao Xubai’s friend.

Even if Xiang Hua marries Zhao Xubai, he’ll do whatever it takes to steal her away.

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[Title: Green Waist]

After being struck by a love curse, she’s forced into a relationship with her former nemesis.

With the imperial court in turmoil and her maternal grandfather imprisoned, Shu Hengyu went from a dazzling, celebrated noblewoman to someone anyone could bully in a single night.

Her stepmother intended to marry her off to a notorious wastrel in the capital, so she arranged an extravagant flower-viewing banquet.

The hall was filled with nobles, but Shu Hengyu’s gaze fell at once on the peerless Lu Xuanji.

He stood apart from the noisy gathering, like a clear gleam of snow, elegant and dignified.

In full view of everyone, she bent the slender waist she’d once been so proud of, stepped gracefully forward, and fell into his arms.

Lu Xuanji lifted an eyebrow. His ordinarily indifferent gaze suddenly took on a hint of intrigue.

Shu Hengyu wrapped her arms around his lean waist, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears.

They barely knew each other, and had been at odds for a long time.

If she hadn’t been set up and afflicted with a love poison, she would never have willingly gone near him.

But danger was all around her, and she had no choice. She parted her red lips and whispered against his ear, “Lu Xuanji…”

“Truth is, I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”

*

Lu Xuanji had done his younger brother a favor by rescuing a woman.

She was all beauty, with a spoiled, capricious nature and no regard for rules.

He had never liked her, even when they were only casual acquaintances.

Their night together had been purely to save her life.

What followed between them in bed was only to break the love curse.

He was the descendant of a celebrated statesman, a man of noble character and spotless virtue, with great expectations resting on his shoulders. Why would he become lost in love, or let his feelings waver for the descendant of a disgraced minister who had always opposed him?

Fallen for her trick?

Absurd.

*

The day Shu Hengyu heard that Lu Xuanji was to discuss marriage, her plan succeeded. She shed a couple of crocodile tears, then tried to flee that night.

But she ran straight into the man waiting in the shadows, his face dark and unreadable…

In the secret chamber, shadows shifted.

Lu Xuanji blocked most of the candlelight, looking down at Shu Hengyu’s damp, delicate neck.

Just as he had long wanted to, he clasped her slender waist, winding a lock of her hair around his fingertip.

“Where are you going tonight, A-Yu? Planning to run off with Lu Shuyuan? Don’t forget, I’m the brother he trusts most. If I want something, he can only hand it over.”

His voice was low and hoarse. His usually composed features brimmed with menace, and the madness in his eyes was unmistakable.

“A-Yu, you were the one who first provoked me when we were young. And later, you were the one who came to me first, lowering your head to beg for help.”

“You’re not leaving me.”

He grows obsessed, unable to get enough.

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[Title: Beauty in the Moss]

[My Yandere Imperial Brother Always Wants to Take Me by Force]

“My dear little sister, I gave you your name, I gave you your title, and I taught you the first character you ever learned to write.

You want us to call it even and go our separate ways? Don’t forget, when you were a baby choosing your future, you even reached for your brother’s sash.

We’ve been entangled for so long that there’s no separating us. Tell me, how are we supposed to call it even? How are we supposed to part?”

Theme: With a strong wind to bear me up, I’ll soar to the blue sky.