Will You Marry Me?

[My upcoming novel, A Smile That Conquers the Frontier, is below.] Yaoyi is a coffin spirit. One day, she woke to find a young man in black lying on top of her. He was tall and slender, with delicate features, and his dark hair tickled her. Yaoyi didn’t hesitate to wake him. Taking human form, she braced both hands on either side of him. If he slept in her coffin, then he belonged to her. Like every monster in the storybooks, Yaoyi earnestly asked, "Will you marry me?" But things didn’t go as she hoped. The young man froze for a moment, then blushed bright red. "I can’t." But Yaoyi was a coffin spirit, and he was the one who entered her coffin. With heaven and earth as their witnesses, they were bound by a pact. From then on, Yaoyi stuck close to the young man. She learned that his name was Ming Yun, and that he had been born on the day Mars guarded the Heart constellation, marking him as hated by the world. She followed him, taking in the sights and sounds of the mortal world, traveling over mountains and rivers, and learning the art of intimate affection. Until one day, Yaoyi had to face the end of her brief life as a coffin spirit. Dressed in her wedding clothes, she sat upright in her coffin. More than anything, she didn’t want Ming Yun to witness this scene. But Ming Yun still came looking for her, braving the biting mountain wind to gaze at her in silence. He said, "I love you." I watched you arrive, and I will see you off when you leave. But I will love you forever, from life to death. *This is a happy ending, so don't worry. Coming soon: A Smile That Conquers the Frontier Shen Zhiyuan was about to be married off as a concubine to the Prince of Zhennan, a man old enough to be her grandfather. Sitting in her bridal sedan, she wept bitterly. After crying until she was exhausted, Shen Zhiyuan lifted her head and locked eyes with a young man riding past outside the window. The young man smiled at her, handsome and dashing, riding off with carefree abandon. Shen Zhiyuan stared at him like a fool. When she came to her senses, she cried even harder. Why did she have to marry an old man?! And then... she was abducted by the young wolf king of Mobei. She'd heard that the young wolf king was ruthless and eccentric, and when he went mad, he'd even skin people and cook them for food. Shen Zhiyuan was brought before him, held down by his guards and too frightened to cry. To her surprise, she heard a low chuckle in a familiar voice. The handsome young man she'd just seen gripped her chin and asked with a wicked smile, "Why did you stop crying?" - The wedding never happened. Shen Zhiyuan was abducted along the way and kept at the young wolf king's residence in Mobei, where she suffered... no inhuman torment at all. Shen Zhiyuan touched her increasingly rounded cheeks: QAQ Shen Zhiyuan wasn't afraid of him anymore, but she couldn't quite figure him out. It wasn't because of the difference between his madman nickname and his real personality, nor because he kept asking her every few days if she could cry for him. It was because Qi Mingzhou was so unpredictable! In the morning, he'd send her pastries and beautiful clothes, and ask if she wanted to go out. In the afternoon, when she was chatting with the most entertaining male performer in the city, he'd look at her with a sinister gaze. His long saber would be drawn, as if he wanted to hack them both to pieces. Then he'd leave her to her own devices and refuse to speak to her all day. Nothing she did could cheer him up. It was always like that. Finally, the Nth time Qi Mingzhou drove away a handsome young man she'd just befriended, Shen Zhiyuan couldn't take it anymore. She was leaving! Right now, immediately, this instant! Qi Mingzhou's response was: Dream on. - They said Qi Mingzhou hated having people get close to him. Last time, a stunning beauty had thrown herself into his arms, and he'd tossed her out in front of everyone. The beauty had gone home in disgrace. After thinking it over, Shen Zhiyuan finally gathered her courage. At a banquet, while Qi Mingzhou wasn't paying attention, she gave his cheek a firm peck. Then she lowered her head obediently and waited in silence for the esteemed young wolf king to throw her out. No response came for a long while. She secretly looked up and saw the young man staring at her, eyes slightly widened, his cheeks and the tips of his ears bright red. He was clearly furious. Shen Zhiyuan: (*`Д`*)/!!! Is he going to chop my head off right here? She turned to run, but a hand caught her wrist and yanked her back. The arms around her were cold as ice. Shen Zhiyuan was about to cry again. Their eyes met. But the young man was the first to turn away. He said softly, "Kiss me again." Shen Zhiyuan: ...Huh?!! *The heroine is a sweet, naturally airheaded girl who is a little slow on the uptake. Her odd way of thinking stems from her family situation. She's a bit ditzy, but not stupid, and she's not a naive pushover. Theme: Everyone is unique, yet all hearts beat as one.