Rain Without Righteousness

A coming-of-age female general story / A romance between two powerful characters at first, followed by the bleak struggles of court politics under a foolish ruler

Hot-blooded, optimistic female general ✕ Gentle, grounding male strategist

A slow journey of self-discovery:

Liang Wenqing was born into a family of military officers and gifted with a martial spirit root. She was determined to become a great general like her maternal uncle and aunt. Before coming of age, she lived freely and happily in Xihe, and thought life in the army would be just as good.

But she never expected...

"Liang Wenqing, what's with the heroics? Run fifty miles through the wilderness carrying a load, and don't come back until you've finished!"

"Liang Wenqing, you left camp without permission. Thirty strokes of the cane!"

"Liang Wenqing! You cheated with that move. General, you must give me justice!"

Liang Wenqing, Liang Wenqing...

Night after night, sitting on a hillside in the blowing yellow sand, Liang Wenqing fell into deep thought. "Can I really become a general? Wait, did I do all those things?!"

She found her path on that hillside.

She put aside her rebellious ways, taking each step carefully and rising through the ranks. With her real talent and hard work, she brought back the enemy leader's head and returned to the palace for her reward, earning the title "General Who Pacifies the West."

A road of love and hate:

Liang Wenqing arrived at the western frontier, gathered talented people, quelled the fighting, reclaimed lost territory, and cleverly set a series of schemes in motion, bringing ten years of peace to the west.

"It's so nice to live in peace." She'd only been cuddling her darling husband for a couple of days.

Then trouble came knocking...

"This is bad. The military and civil officials are at odds. Is someone deliberately stirring things up?"

Liang Wenqing could only deal with things one at a time.

She investigated the case of a villain framing her sister, and eventually traced it back to her own father.

Just as things were about to be settled, her nephew was... by that dog of an emperor, his father...

Things were finally getting better, when her foolish cousin got the entire family branded traitors.

The Liang family had been through so much.

Extermination of three generations.

Huo Yu was a scholar who specialized in plotting schemes, but he never expected a childhood visit to Xihe to change his life completely.

"Would you be my army's strategist?"

With her smile and sincerity, Liang Wenqing barged into his game of strategy. From then on, she was the white piece on his life's board that could never be captured.

And his task was to clear every black piece from the board for her.

"Qing'er can definitely become a great general.", Huo Yu, massaging her shoulders

"Wherever you go, Qing'er, I'll go too.", Huo Yu, packing his things

Twenty years later...

The man who laid the final move, his heart full of hatred.

"Now that Qing'er is gone, what reason do I have to keep living?", Huo Yu, drinking poison

Younger sister and her husband: Both virgins / The younger sister takes her own life, and her husband follows her in death. Tragic ending

Older sister and her husband: Gentle, noble-born lady ✕ Cold-blooded, suspicious emperor. The young imperial couple grow apart / The older sister takes her own life, and her husband dies of depression. Tragic ending

Content warning: Court politics and battlefield plots run in parallel, with more focus on the battlefield / Fictional historical setting / Tragic ending. Don't read if that's not your thing.

Theme: Since ancient times, heroes have rarely fallen on the battlefield. More often, they are laid low by the slanderous words of treacherous officials.