Peeking into the Moonlight

Dear readers, I've been working like a beast in the real world for a long time, and after leaving this story untouched for so long, I can't find the feeling I had when I started writing it. I'm not happy with what I've written, and I can't bring myself to keep charging for it. I've already applied to my editor to make it free. I'm very sorry. Readers who have been following along can leave a comment on the latest chapter, and I'll send a small red packet as a token of apology. The story probably has a few tens of thousands of words left before it's finished. After making it free, I'll gradually fill in the gaps. If you're interested, you can add it to your library and come back later to read the ending.

My upcoming story next door, "Morning and Night," is open for pre-orders. If you're interested, little and big darlings, the blurb is below. Please add it to your library.

Xie Yun was the legitimate daughter of the scholarly Xie clan of Yuzhou. Cultured, gracious, and clever, she was a noblewoman destined for a life of comfort. But bandits threw the land into chaos, and foreign invaders forced her to flee south.

During the flight, Xie Yun became separated from her father and brothers. She was rescued by Zhou Cheng, a military advisor in Jingzhou. To repay his kindness and find protection, she married him.

The couple lived in harmony, their marriage as sweet as music, but their happiness did not last. Zhou Cheng died on the battlefield saving Chu Shao. Surrounded by predators and deprived of her husband's protection, Xie Yun had to tread carefully and learn all manner of schemes to survive.

However difficult her life became, Xie Yun never once thought of involving herself with Chu Shao, the Governor-General of Jingzhou. Yet later, for the sake of her father and brothers, she had no choice but to kneel at his courtyard gate and beg, "Please, my lord... show mercy."

After a long while, Chu Shao strolled out of the courtyard. Looking down at the stubborn woman on the ground, he spoke coldly. "Why should I help you?"

Chu Shao was a warlord of a chaotic age, revered by the people and feared by them as well.

At first, Xie Yun avoided him because her late husband had died saving him. Later, she had no choice but to seek his help in finding her father and brothers.

She knew Chu Shao disliked her, and endured his deliberate provocations again and again, telling herself that once she found her family, she would have nothing more to do with him.

Who could have guessed that just as Xie Yun tried to leave, Chu Shao would imprison her in his rear courtyard and do the most intimate things in the world with her?

In the murky depths of night, unwilling to accept defeat, he pressed her down on the bed and rasped, "If I were willing to take you as my wife, would you stay by my side?"

Chu Shao rose from humble beginnings. Deep-thinking, brave, and cunning, he always managed to claim whatever he set his sights on. The only exception was the Xie girl. At first, he disdained her relentless scheming, but out of gratitude to her late husband, he repeatedly advised and tolerated her. Later, he fell under her spell and meant to keep her within his grasp, yet she broke his heart and remained beyond his reach.

Blurb for "Morning and Night":

Xie Zhaozhao was a legitimate daughter from a collateral branch of the powerful Xie clan. Beautiful but foolish and vain, she seemed to have no redeeming qualities beyond her face. Because of her looks, she was sent to her family's main branch in the capital to meet potential suitors, in hopes that a good marriage would secure a bright future for her father and brothers.

In her previous life, after arriving in the capital and being dazzled by its splendor, Xie Zhaozhao decided there was nothing wrong with currying favor with the powerful. She set her sights on Shen Cimu, the refined and distinguished heir of the Duke of Anguo's household. She dropped her handkerchief, sent him a sachet, and contrived chance encounters until at last the young heir's heart was moved.

Unfortunately, just after the betrothal gifts were exchanged, the Duke of Anguo's household collapsed overnight. Shen Cimu, once its lofty heir, was stripped of his status and exiled to Lingnan.

Before leaving for Lingnan, the once refined and distinguished heir put aside his fine clothes and dressed in rough hemp. His eyes shadowed, he asked Xie Zhaozhao, "Would you still marry me?"

Xie Zhaozhao had never been to Lingnan. She had only heard that it was overrun with bandits and its people uncivilized. Looking at the fallen heir, she shook her head again and again, as if afraid his misfortune might rub off on her.

Shen Cimu withdrew his hand and walked away. Xie Zhaozhao breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she could rest easy.

But less than half a year later, just as Xie Zhaozhao was discussing marriage with a newly titled top scholar, Shen Cimu returned to the capital as Prince An.

Having regained power overnight, Shen Cimu seemed like a different person. He cast aside his gentle nature and slaughtered everyone who had once fawned on the powerful and trampled the weak. Fearing they would be implicated and punished because Xie Zhaozhao had once abandoned Shen Cimu, the Marquis Xie's family planned to sacrifice her to protect themselves.

Before the Marquis Xie's family could send Xie Zhaozhao to Prince An's residence to appease his anger, Shen Cimu had already sent a small sedan chair to fetch her.

Xie Zhaozhao became Shen Cimu's nameless, unranked concubine. He humiliated her on the bed, and on the very day Shen Cimu successfully seized the throne, he forced her to drink poison. She died in the rear courtyard of Prince An's residence.

Xie Zhaozhao had thought that a person like her would go straight to the underworld after death. But when she opened her eyes, she was back not long after arriving in the capital.

She had not yet provoked Shen Cimu, nor had her vanity made her cousins dislike her. It seemed everything had started over.

In this life, Xie Zhaozhao dared not be vain again. She stayed far away from Shen Cimu and waited for the top scholar she truly loved to come to the capital, so she could marry him and live a peaceful life.

But fate seemed unfair. At the Grand Princess's flower-viewing banquet, someone drugged Xie Zhaozhao. She was discovered in a side room after forcing herself on the young heir Shen, her reputation in tatters. She had no choice but to marry Shen Cimu after all.

Remembering what had happened in her previous life, Xie Zhaozhao managed to be clever for once. After marrying Shen Cimu, she promised never to betray him, but asked him to give her a letter of divorce and let her return to her hometown of Anyang once he took a principal wife.

Thus Xie Zhaozhao contentedly counted the days in the Duke of Anguo's household. She never saw the household collapse, nor did she see Shen Cimu exiled to Lingnan. Instead, Shen Cimu came to her room every day, just as he had in her previous life.

In his previous life, Shen Cimu had once boasted to a friend that Xie Zhaozhao was simple-minded and truly loved him. But when he was exiled, she avoided him as if he were a snake or scorpion.

A vain woman like her had to be crushed beneath his feet and made to endure every humiliation, or his hatred would never be satisfied.

Shen Cimu used a method that cost him years of his life to rise again. He returned to Yejing and killed those who had disgraced him. But Xie Zhaozhao was different. He wanted to imprison and torment her, to see her regret what she'd done. Yet when he saw her weeping on the bed, he couldn't help recalling the days when he was still the heir, when Xie Zhaozhao had smiled with dimples faintly appearing on her cheeks and said, "Our names mean morning and night. We must stay together from morning till night, every day."

Just as Shen Cimu had convinced himself to forgive Xie Zhaozhao, she died! She had actually dared to die on her own, without a word, after humiliating him!

On the day of his coronation, Shen Cimu died coughing up blood. When he opened his eyes, he had returned to years earlier. He saved the crumbling Duke of Anguo's household and waited for Xie Zhaozhao to pursue him as she had in her previous life. But instead, he heard that Xie Zhaozhao had fallen in love with someone else.

A beloved? The top scholar? So Xie Zhaozhao had never truly loved him in either life. How could Shen Cimu, who stood above everyone else, endure such an outcome?

After suppressing the urge to destroy everything and drag Xie Zhaozhao down to hell with him, Shen Cimu schemed to make her marry him.

Late at night, as he watched Xie Zhaozhao sleeping on the bed, Shen Cimu let his daytime disguise fall away. His face was full of murderous intent as he spoke coldly. "In my previous life or this one, Xie Zhaozhao, you must spend the rest of your life making amends for the humiliation you once brought me."

Reader's Guide: 1. There are scenes of coercive possession. Please read with caution if that's not your thing.

2. The main couple's story becomes prominent later, around chapters thirty or forty. The second male lead has a lot of scenes early on. Please read with caution if that's not your thing.

3. The female lead has genuinely been married before and genuinely loved the second male lead early on. She only falls for the male lead later. Please read with caution if that's not your thing.

4. I have plenty of chapters banked and won't abandon the story.

Theme: Born in a chaotic age, live true to your heart.