Burning Snow, Listening to Spring

[Next up: The Timid Heiress Clings to the Villain's Leg. "He isn't a warm beacon, but a blood-streaked moon." The blurb is below! Please add it to your collection~] [Other completed novels: Historical romance: A Gem of a Pearl, childhood sweethearts supporting each other Modern romance: Between Us, marriage first, love later, raising a child Modern romance: Spring's Delay, pure campus romance] [Willful, spoiled heiress x aloof, cold scion of an aristocratic family] At seventeen, Chen Nianchun traveled a great distance to Changling. The next day, at her aunt's husband's home, she met Xie Xishi, renowned as the jade-like gentleman of the Xie family. Back then, Xie Xishi was proud and aloof, a radiant young man like a white crane spreading its wings. "Jade-like gentleman" was originally a compliment for a man's bearing and grace. But after him, no man in the nine kingdoms dared call himself that. As it happened, Chen Nianchun had been famous for her beauty since childhood. Some people called her "Chu Lianbi": Chu was her kingdom, and Lianbi meant a peerless jade of inestimable value. Unfortunately, Chu Lianbi and Xie the Jade Gentleman did not have a pleasant first meeting. A little embroidered ball sent Chen Nianchun tumbling straight into his arms. That fall moved more than just her body. It stirred her heart, too. A gentleman is bright and fair as the moon, and she wanted that moon in her arms. * Even years later, Xie Xishi still kept the embroidered ball that had caused the two of them so much trouble and misunderstanding. Seeing it reminded him of that rash young lady from long ago. Her flowing skirt, her slender, pale neck, her cloud of dark hair, and the peony trembling beside her temple. That scene had appeared in his dreams many times. Now the young lady in his dreams was in his arms. Reader's guide: 1. The setting is a fictional world divided among nine rival kingdoms. Changling is similar in status to a modern municipality directly governed by the central government, and is independent of the nine kingdoms. 2. Chen Lianbi and Chu Lianbi are both nicknames for the heroine. Chu is the name of her kingdom, and Lianbi means her beauty is like a peerless jade. 3. Murong Huan, Chu Lizhu, and Murong Lizhu work the same way. 4. The setting is relatively open-minded. Premarital relationships are normal, and women can be heads of families or rulers. Women enjoy relatively high status. 5. Both leads are sexually inexperienced, one-on-one romance. 6. The heroine and her aunt have different surnames because the aunt is her maternal aunt. After a family upheaval, the aunt stayed with the heroine's family before marrying. [Upcoming novel] The Timid Heiress Clings to the Villain's Leg Cunning, timid heiress x sweet on the outside, sinister on the inside, deranged and possessive sickly beauty Song Qingrong was reborn. At her engagement banquet, flowers filled the hall and guests crowded together. Everyone said that the eldest legitimate daughter of the Grand Secretariat and the newly appointed top scholar, Lang Xiao Ke, were a match made in heaven, a handsome and talented couple. In her previous life, Song Qingrong had thought so, too. But in the end... The beloved man she trusted killed her, then lovingly embraced the Imperial Princess and knelt reverently to kiss her fair, slender fingers. The good son-in-law her parents and relatives adored slaughtered her entire clan without batting an eye. Before the Hall of Mercy, a white silk cord cruelly strangled her aunt, the imperial consort, and her cousin, the crown prince. The newly risen, brash lackey, dressed in a fresh golden crown and crimson robe, knelt to welcome the second prince, the mastermind who had wiped out her entire family. - The only person who could, and might, offer her a hand in her dire circumstances was Zhou Hechuan, heir to the Prince of Zhennan. He was the kindest and most powerful man Song Qingrong had ever met. Only he would patiently listen to her muddled drunken rambling through a screen in the middle of the night. Only he would capture the murderer who had harmed her brother in her previous life, without asking why. And only he would always stand firmly by her side, right or wrong. Song Qingrong saw him as a beacon in the darkness, sent by the heavens to guide her. So she grew ever more dependent on him, trusting him and falling in love with him. But later, Song Qingrong accidentally discovered the truth about everything... Behind the screen, Zhou Hechuan gently comforted her as she was drunk, while carving the flesh from the person who had hurt her, one knife stroke at a time. As he listened to her and captured the murderer, Zhou Hechuan had already investigated every little thing she had ever mentioned, inch by inch, over and over. While Zhou Hechuan stood by her side, softly speaking of trust, the people who opposed her were being tortured again and again by his men. Song Qingrong wanted to escape. Just as she was about to board a ship leaving Wangjing... She saw the handsome young man beneath the pouring rain, pale as a wandering ghost, drenched to the skin, his eyes like ghostly flames in the dark of night. He wasn't a warm beacon, but a blood-streaked moon. Theme: Believe that there is genuine feeling and love in this world, and learn to treat others sincerely.