Zhuo Ling

[Updating weekly due to a busy day job, enter at your own risk]

A talented, ambitious woman who excels in both civil and martial pursuits

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A seemingly gentle and kindhearted aloof beauty who is actually a lovesick misanthrope

Blurb:

For the twenty years she and her younger sister Xiaozhao depended on each other, Shang Yue kept having two strange dreams.

In the first, Xiaozhao was marrying into the Lu family of Wu Commandery.

Her wedding dress was blood-red. He stood in the shadow of a flowering tree, watching helplessly as she left with her new husband, his throat tasting faintly of blood.

In the second dream, his sister sat enthroned in a golden palace, while a pair of suspicious eyes peered out from behind the emperor's bead curtain.

Shang Yue heard her say, "I never imagined that my brother and I would reach a point where things could no longer be set right."

And he smiled faintly, willingly drinking the newly bestowed poisoned wine.

"If I can share a page with you in the histories and the tales of the common folk, then these twenty years of wandering and hardship will not have been in vain."

I have never regretted becoming one step along your long road.

*

A great drought ravages the land, bones littering the wilderness.

Heroes vie for supremacy, and the aristocracy flees south.

Xiaozhao sweeps her hand across the chessboard, determined to be the one moving the pieces.

* "Zhuoling" is the female lead's courtesy name. Early on, she is called Xiaozhao because her surname had not yet been decided.

* Happy ending! Happy ending! The male lead's second dream is of a past life.

* The original blurb was written on April 30, 2023. It was too long, so I included it in the author's note after Chapter One.

Content warnings:

1. The female lead is not a man in disguise. Slow burn, somber tone, many deaths. There is a past life, but no one is reborn. The female lead ascends the throne at about four-fifths of the way through the story.

2. An alternate world, partly inspired by the Wei and Jin dynasties.

3. The main plot follows the female lead's rise from a lone orphan amid chaos to a world-changing ruler. The romance starts out minimal and becomes more prominent later. This is not a wish-fulfillment story, not a story about a strong female lead, and not a no-romance story. It's an ordinary romance novel, so read at your own discretion if you like to scrutinize details.

There's a more detailed list of content warnings after Chapter One. Don't forget to read it!

* Entry reason for the Growth and Comeback event: The female lead perseveres and believes that everyone has their own talents to offer, growing into a towering tree that reaches for the clouds.

Thank you for reading!

* Weibo: @Wu Yuaner

Theme: Temper yourself in fire, wash away the dust with water