Rain Through the Washed Branches

The companion novel Little Chong Mountain is open for preorders. The blurb is at the end. Please add it to your collection!

[The never-say-die palace maid X the calculating emperor]

Zhuo Zhi had a hard life from the moment she was born. She was born and raised in the Cold Palace, with only her eccentric mistress for company.

In the third year of Heshun, the Western Yue royal family, long content to cling to its corner of the realm and rule in a state of debauchery, finally did something to heed the people's will: they opened the city gates and surrendered peacefully to Great Qi.

Watching the gate of the Cold Palace finally pushed open by Qi troops, Zhuo Zhi didn't hesitate. She packed her belongings, bid farewell to her mistress, and followed the Qi troops into the Forbidden City.

Her goal was simple: work hard in the palace and save as much money as she could, then, when she was released at twenty-one, open a pastry shop with her mistress and make a fortune.

She also had a little secret: she wanted to find the young lord who had lived next door to her in the Cold Palace years ago. She wanted to ask if his old offer to help fund her pastry shop still stood.

Ever since the emperor went to the kingdom of Western Yue at the late emperor's behest when he was sixteen, a pouch with rough, uneven stitching had lain beneath his pillow. Its fabric was coarse, the stitches crooked, and it was impossible to tell whether the embroidery was a dragon or a worm.

The emperor was busy with state affairs from dawn to dusk, his mind crammed with matters that gave him a headache. Yet, whenever he rested his head on that shabby pouch, he somehow slept soundly and peacefully.

Four or five years passed in a flash. The tassels on the pouch's cords came loose, its color wore away, and it was on the verge of falling apart. The emperor was troubled. How was he supposed to sleep without it?

As it happened, the emperor was delighted enough to eat an extra bowl of rice on the day he saw the list of palace maids from Western Yue who had entered the palace.

That settled it. Not only would he have a new pouch, but the lively girl who had lived next door to him all those years ago was here too.

In her first year in the palace, Zhuo Zhi became the first palace maid allowed to enter and leave the Imperial Kitchen.

In her second year, she became the indispensable confidante of the Grand Empress Dowager.

In her third year, she became the only senior palace maid allowed to attend the emperor in person at the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Just when she'd saved enough money and was eagerly waiting for the emperor to graciously let her leave the palace, he seemed to have suddenly forgotten all about it.

Emperor: Zhuo Zhi, I'm hungry.

Zhuo Zhi: Yes, Your Majesty. I'll make you some pastries.

Emperor: Zhuo Zhi, I'm thirsty.

Zhuo Zhi: Yes, Your Majesty. I'll pour you some hot tea.

Emperor: Zhuo Zhi, I'm tired.

Zhuo Zhi: ...I'm afraid I can't help you with that.

The usually stern and inscrutable emperor seized her slender wrist. A suspicious blush rose across his cool, resolute face. "That's exactly the sort of thing you have to help me with."

In the end, she never opened her pastry shop, and she never left the palace at twenty-one.

People in the palace would often whisper behind her back, saying that Empress Zhuo's name had been chosen well. Zhuo Zhi, a branch washed by rain: it seemed all the emperor's favor had fallen on her alone!

Many years later, as the emperor looked at the peaceful sleeping face beside him, he finally understood that it was never the pouch that brought him peace, but the girl who had embroidered it.

- The palace customs are from an imagined Qing dynasty. Men do not shave their heads. Please don't nitpick the historical details.

- One-on-one romance / sweet story / both leads are sexually inexperienced. The male lead has concubines early on, but they are only nominally his. This will be explained later, so readers who prefer chaste romances can read with confidence.

- The title is taken from Zhou Chu's Records of Local Customs: "In the sixth month, there is a heavy rain called the Branch-Washing Rain."

---- Little Chong Mountain ----

[The clever and charming princess X the general who braves frost and snow] Disguised as a man / marriage before love / age gap / rugged hero

Princess Yongjia was born to royal luxury, the youngest daughter of the emperor and empress. She was beautiful and graceful, the apple of her parents' eyes.

The people, too, loved to speculate: which high-born noble would one day claim this precious princess?

But in the twenty-seventh year of Cheng'an, Wei Changfeng, a deputy general in Shoubei, launched a surprise attack on the Jie people's small royal court all by himself. He beheaded the Jie prince with a single strike and returned to Shoubei unharmed, shocking the whole country. The emperor was overjoyed, promoted Wei Changfeng to the second rank of General-in-Chief, and sent an imperial decree to Shoubei to reward him for his achievements.

Yet the petition requesting a reward, sent at a gallop from the northern frontier, contained just one line: "I ask that Princess Yongjia be granted to me, Helian Chiyi."

The court and the common people were stunned.

How could a princess be sent away to the northern frontier to marry a mere soldier?

Emperor Cheng'an was so furious his liver ached, and he ranted in the Hall of Mental Cultivation for three days.

Princess Yongjia shut herself away in her palace and sat in silence for three days.

Three days later, the princess entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"I'll marry him," Chiyi said. "The northern frontier is a strategic stronghold and a gateway to our country. Wei Changfeng commands a great army, so I should go there to help Father guard it. Besides..."

Chiyi's gaze darkened. "Yuezhao died under mysterious circumstances. I want to find out why she lost her life."

Three years earlier, the emperor had arranged a marriage for Wei Changfeng. But before the wedding could take place, Yuezhao had suddenly died in Shoubei. Chiyi was determined to find the truth for her friend.

The wedding date was announced to the world. But on the very day the red bridal decorations filled the imperial city, the Jie people invaded. Wei Changfeng led his troops into battle, leaving behind only a letter of apology.

The Wei family had served the country for generations and achieved great military honors, but twenty-four years ago, a past incident brought the family to ruin. Only Wei Changfeng remained.

By the time he became a second-rank general and commander of a garrison at a northern frontier pass, commanding an army of thousands, he was only twenty-seven.

At first, Wei Changfeng had only wanted the princess brought into the Wei household to protect it, so the tragedies of the previous generation wouldn't repeat. He didn't care what the princess was like, because her surname was Helian.

The Helian family owed the Wei family. A father's debt passed to his son; it was only right.

As for him, a man who braved frost and snow, he'd never dreamed of tenderness.

Until one day, a personal guard reported that a handsome young man had arrived in Shoubei. He spoke with a polished accent, was eloquent and exceptionally learned, and seemed like no ordinary person. The military advisor stroked his beard thoughtfully and said the young man could be recruited as an aide.

Who would complain about having too many strategists? Wei Changfeng nodded casually, never imagining that from then on, someone would so easily steal his heart and soul.

Later, he willingly became a devoted follower of his strategist, even turning the treasured saber he never left behind into a toy to make his precious princess smile.

After twenty years of bitter cold on the frontier, Wei Changfeng had thought his life would be one mountain of ice after another.

One man, one horse, a lonely shadow in the cold mountains, with a broken string and no one to hear it.

Then he turned around and found someone at his side, accompanying him over one mountain and then the next, each one broader than the last.

Beyond Little Chong Mountain lay a vast, level plain.

Theme: Face every difficulty with positivity and optimism