(Advance notice: Please check out "The Deed". Blurb below the divider.)
During a company retreat, Xiang Wan accidentally drowned. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the body of Jiang Xiangwan, whose mother had died, whose father had remarried, and whose older brother endured everything in silence.
At first, she often thought about going back and avoided the Jiang family as she tried to get by. But when she was seventeen, her family forced her to take another woman's place in a marriage to the Xie family, who lived far away in Tanzhou.
Only then did she give up on returning. Surely starting over somewhere else was better than living in constant fear.
Besides, her research had revealed that the Xie family's third son, Xie Huaizhu, preferred to stay home and focus on his studies. The Xie family were all educated and reasonable, so she figured they would be easy to get along with.
But as they spent time together, his repeated coldness made Jiang Xiangwan realize that her decision had been a mistake. She steeled herself, left behind a divorce letter, and returned to the world beyond their home.
Xie Huaizhu knew the road ahead would be exceptionally difficult, so he had prepared everything soon after their wedding, determined to honor a promise he had made as a child.
But the moment Xie Huaizhu saw the divorce letter, all reason and composure vanished. And when he finally found Jiang Xiangwan, he did something he had never dared to do before.
“You're my wife. Why can't I kiss you?”
The leads marry first and fall in love later. A slice-of-life story.
Everything in this story is fictional.
~ovo (Advance notice: Please check out "The Deed") ovo~
Jiang Huaixi is well versed in medicine and poison, but after an old incident, she went into hiding in disguise for several years. Since then, she has traveled alone from province to province.
Lu Yun, seeking to escape the shackles of being a shadow guard, is ordered to inspect Yuzhou.
The two meet in a mountain cave at night. Each gets what they need, and they agree to travel together.
The road ahead is long and arduous. Jiang Huaixi only wants to find her missing family.
Farmland seized, wives falling from buildings, ordinary people going missing...
Every case that crops up locally seems to be inextricably linked to what happened all those years ago.
Following the clues, the two investigate with all their might, learning to trust and protect each other along the way.
But as the shadows begin to lift, Jiang Huaixi gradually loses sight of herself. Still, someone is always following close behind.
“Come take a walk with me?”
“Sure.”
Theme: Don't wait until you've lost something to cherish it.
