Late Spring

My other novel, The Empress Has Left the Palace, is updating now~ Lin Wanyi died on the day Gu Xinghao and Li Qingyue got married. As she lay dying, memories of her past competition for favor flashed through her mind. It all seemed so ridiculous and pointless. Given another life, Lin Wanyi no longer clings to the impoverished scholar Gu Xinghao or secretly trips up Li Qingyue, the girl she's competed with since childhood. This time, she obediently listens to her parents and marries a young general from a family of equal standing. # Shen Yiyuan has just returned from the battlefield when his grandmother pressures him into agreeing to a marriage. After the wedding, he plans to treat his new wife with respect and courtesy. But she spends every day dabbing at her tears with a handkerchief. She cries when she gets up late, cries when she gets up early, cries when she misses home, and cries even when she gets home. She cries no matter what she does! Shen Yiyuan's fists clench. How can his wife be so weak when he's the mighty General Who Guards the North? He'll have to give her a good talking-to. That night, Lin Wanyi sobs against Shen Yiyuan's shoulder. The man known as the General Who Guards the North flusters as he tries to soothe his delicate wife, missing the smug look that flashes through her eyes. Coming soon: The Empress Has Left the Palace - Ever since Ruan Ying was old enough to understand, she has followed her mother's example and acted like a pliable pushover in the household, never fighting for anything. But meek endurance isn't in her nature. Wearing a mask for so long has left her struggling to breathe. When the various households send portraits to the Empress Dowager, Ruan Ying isn't among them. So she slips a miniature portrait she painted of herself into the scroll bearing her sister's portrait. She doesn't want to spend her whole life wearing a mask of meekness. She wants to escape the cage trapping her. The flickering light of fireflies looks just like the stars twinkling in the night sky. Ruan Ying feels that though her name means firefly, she can shine like a brilliant star and outshine the moon. - After she enters the palace, the emperor bestows his favor on her alone. While living in a jar of honey, she comes across an old, yellowed painting. The person in it looks almost exactly like her. By coincidence, someone who looks exactly like the person in the painting comes to the palace, and the emperor loses himself when he sees her. Only then does Ruan Ying understand: when the wind rises and the clouds disperse, the moon's brilliance is revealed. And how could a little firefly like her, blown among the grass and trees, compete with the moon? - The imperial palace becomes a cage too. Ruan Ying has no regrets as she escapes the palace. After hiding her identity for just three months, the handsome emperor appears, his eyes bloodshot and his voice trembling as he pleads: "A-Ying." *The emperor loves only Ruan Ying, from beginning to end. Coming soon: The Pearl in His Palm (the story of Manman, a descendant from this novel) Childhood sweethearts reunited after years apart Noble-born young lady x top scholar from a humble family The newly appointed top scholar, Zhou Fengchuan, is a distinguished young man from a humble family, born in a small town in Jiangnan. Everyone who has read his writing says he's brilliant and has an unlimited future. Only he knows that his supposed talent is a lie. The truth is that he studied from before dawn to long after dark for ten years straight. His worn-down brushes and inkstones ground through to the bottom are real. He works hard to make up for his shortcomings, all so he can get closer to his pearl. - Recently, Commandery Princess Suining has been spending time with a poor scholar who came to the city to sit for the examinations. In front of everyone else, the poor scholar is aloof and noble, unmoved by money and impervious to attempts to win him over with power. In front of the princess, however, he deliberately lets her catch sight of the frayed, faded cuffs of his sleeves and his slender wrists, putting on a pitiful act. "Manman." The rain flows into the river, and Zhou Fengchuan comes to find his pearl. Theme: Don't fear what others say. Stay true to yourself.