Crossing into Spring

When Xiao Du was young, he withdrew from the world to become a monk. His spirit was pure, his features refined, and he was untouched by worldly dust.

When Yu Zhen first met him, she was burdened by sin and at the end of her rope.

Fleeing the soldiers pursuing her, she hid in a temple.

That day, rain poured down. Soldiers surrounded her in formation, and a harsh threat rang out from the distance.

She was trapped with nowhere to turn. It was clearly the end of the road.

Just then, a young man carrying a bamboo-ribbed umbrella walked slowly through the rain. He lifted the umbrella slightly, seeming to glance up at her, and called, "Come here."

Strangers by chance, he rescued her from her suffering.

She looked up at him as if she were seeing a god.

But later, on her wedding day, everything descended into chaos.

Guests screamed and fled in panic, and blood flowed in rivers.

Surrounded by elite soldiers, he walked unhurriedly past the corpses scattered across the ground, his hem stained with blood.

He looked at the bride in the crowd, her wedding dress blazing red and her whole body in disarray, and called to her just as he had before:

"Zhenzhen, come here."

A handsome Asura straight out of hell.

*

Xiao Du was born into nobility. From childhood, he was exceptionally gifted and carried himself with the refined air of a learned gentleman.

If nothing went wrong, he would become the Crown Prince and rule the realm.

Few knew that his true nature was violent and sinister, and that he carried a blood feud.

Only the teachings of Buddhism and Taoism could seal away the murderous intent in his heart.

Until the day a young woman trespassed into the forbidden place where he cultivated the Way. Her clear eyes shimmered as she pleaded in a soft, frail voice.

Before he knew it, she had stirred the thoughts he had long kept buried.

Someone told him she was to be the future Crown Princess, and the fiancee of his enemy.

So he turned away from the Buddha, broke the seal on his desires, and decided to take her for himself.

*I'm terrible at writing blurbs

*Past and present lives

*An aloof beauty who seems pure but is secretly dark vs. the cool, gentle wife of his enemy

*One-on-one romance, both leads' first times, happy ending

Coming next: Hidden Beauty

Xie Shuci did not want to enter the palace as empress.

Everyone knew the current emperor had a beloved white moonlight he could never forget: the stunning Princess Yongning of the previous dynasty.

When the cavalry stormed the palace gates, the young emperor's first act was to force her to marry him. He even had a gilded cage built to keep her locked away. In the end, he drove her to leap from a cliff and die.

The great honor of being chosen for the throne had fallen to Xie Shuci solely because she looked so much like the princess of the previous dynasty.

She was utterly unwilling to be made a replacement.

Besides, her heart already belonged to someone. She and the Heir of the Prince of Huaiyang were in love with each other.

*

That night, the emperor, supreme in power and rank, sat beside her bed. He slowly wiped the moisture from his fingers and offered her a reward to make amends.

Tears glimmered on her lashes, and her voice still trembled. "Your subject... would like to ask Your Majesty to grant a marriage between her and the Heir of the Prince of Huaiyang."

At her words, the emperor, usually so gentle and gracious, gave a cold laugh. Gloom and darkness surged in his eyes.

"I can grant you the decree making you empress."

"A marriage decree... Miss Xie, you really are a dreamer."

Back when the Heir of the Prince of Huaiyang was still a little boy with his hair in a child's topknot, they had already shared a bed, their temples brushing as they lay together.

She had slept for ten years. When she woke, she had forgotten her past.

He gave her a new identity, and she truly thought she could escape the past and escape him.

*Sleeping Beauty, ancient-style

*Sweet Mary Sue romance

*An indulgent, voluptuous beauty x a wicked man with a gentleman's facade

*Slight age gap before her memory loss. Afterward, the heroine's age remains unchanged, and he is older

#No one stays seventeen forever, but someone will always be seventeen#

#Yes, sorry, the seventeen-year-old Heir of the Prince of Huaiyang is the real replacement#

Inspired in August 2018

Theme: After the clouds clear, the moon will shine again.