Ten Thousand Mountains

A Reader's Guide

1. This idea came to me by chance while listening to music. I was short on time, and my grasp of history is worrying, while my writing is so bad it's beyond comment (the main reason). The result is this cringeworthy, eye-searing disaster that will leave you horrified and desperate to curse. Feel free to point out mistakes, especially if you're one of the dear readers who makes it to the end.

2. Recommendations are welcome, too. If there's someone you don't like, recommend this story to them, or use it to wreak havoc wherever you go. Either works!

3. A little secret: This author even has another novel in the works! It might start in June or July. Everything I want to say is on the cover, so check out my author page. (Don't ask why I'm still daring to start a new story. The answer is confidence.)

4. Heads-up: the entire story is told through flashbacks.

5. I'm very easygoing, so feel free to give me suggestions. I'll make changes as soon as I see them. (I absolutely won't ignore you!)

6. It's a short story. Treat it as a bedtime story?

Zhong Wu became famous at a young age for his brilliant writing. In everyone's eyes, he was the very picture of a gentleman, and at seventeen, he became the top scholar.

Countless young women secretly fell for him, but he was caught having an affair with the disfavored son of the Qi family.

Everyone sighed and urged him to come to his senses, but he stubbornly chose to sacrifice his future so Qi Mingjue could go to the northwestern frontier.

Six years later, an old friend returned.

The newly appointed Great General Who Guards the Nation came home in glory. The Emperor decreed that he marry the Seventh Princess, and the wedding procession stretched for ten miles in a dazzling display.

The former top scholar was demoted again and again, until he was sent to a remote, barbarous land so far away he couldn't even attend the annual court assembly.

Invited to the wedding, Zhong Wu went to attend.

When they met again at the wedding feast, it was like waking from a dream.

Everything that had happened was already a dream of the past.

Theme: Cherish the present.