The Black-Hearted Lotus's Daily Escape

This novel will enter paid serialization on Wednesday, February 28. The paid chapters start with Chapter 24, so please don't buy them again if you've already read them. There will be three updates when it goes premium.

◆ The new novel, She's Really Not a Parasitic Vine, is currently updating. Its blurb is at the end.

A moody, unpredictable male lead x a coolheaded, resilient female lead

Once the favored child of heaven, Li Fuyi never imagined he would one day end up imprisoned.

For a thousand years, he had lived wild and proud. Now he was a traitor whose name struck fear into his own clan.

Three hundred years ago, he thrust that sword across the Sea of Ruo.

Three hundred years later, he sat in this lightless prison, watching the gates open and close, until a beautiful young woman was thrown inside.

Her clothes were stained with blood, and the bones showed through the wounds on her wrists. Still, she pushed herself up and staggered toward him. Then, with one swift movement, she clamped her hand around his throat.

Her voice was hoarse, each word deliberate. “My surname is Luo. Luo Shuzhu.”

She added, “I'm Luo Liuying's younger sister.”

As his breath tightened in his throat, Li Fuyi suddenly remembered:

The unlucky man who had gone missing after his sword strike three hundred years ago was called Luo Liuying.

This young woman had come to avenge her brother.

*

Luo Shuzhu and Li Fuyi escaped.

Though people called them a pair of scheming scoundrels, they were actually enemies who distrusted and threatened each other at every turn.

Luo Shuzhu regretted her decision and called him a “man who burns the bridge after crossing it.”

Li Fuyi's face darkened as he called her “a hypocrite.”

And yet,

on the day everything was finally settled and they were about to part ways,

Luo Shuzhu looked up and saw Li Fuyi's sword gleaming in the clouds above.

She raised her eyes and asked him, “Why did you come back again?”

Beneath a sky full of dazzling clouds, Li Fuyi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Ignoring her question, he suddenly looked up and fixed his gaze on the man standing before Luo Shuzhu.

His voice rang out loud and clear. “Luo Liuying, if I want to marry your younger sister, are there any conditions?”

Note: The main couple get a happy ending. Other couples are not guaranteed one. This story contains copious author-created settings.

Blurb for She's Really Not a Parasitic Vine:

Pei Yibai, the adopted son of the Pei family, is known for being “cold and aloof.”

Until one day, he went out alone and came back holding the hand of a young woman with the right hand he usually used to carry his sword.

The girl wore a veil and coughed every few steps, as if standing for a moment longer would kill her on the spot.

Holding a token of betrothal, Pei Yibai faced the family patriarch's dark expression and explained, “This is my fiancée. We were separated many years ago.”

As everyone stared at them with differing expressions, the old patriarch coldly swept away.

From then on, everyone in the Pei family knew that someone else was living in Pei Yibai's courtyard, someone he loved.

Everyone was intensely curious about her, but after spending time with her, they finally discovered the truth:

She wore a veil because her face had been disfigured and she couldn't show it. She coughed every few steps because of an old ailment that left her frail and sickly.

Curiosity turned to mockery.

As the days passed and the gossip continued, the girl acquired a new nickname: parasitic vine.

*

Zhu Guanlan lost her memory in an accident.

When she woke up, a strange man was sitting beside her.

He didn't seem to mean her any harm, and since staying alive was what mattered most, Zhu Guanlan decided to trust him for the time being.

He said his name was Pei Yibai.

He said they had known each other before and were friends.

After a pause, he added, “Come back with me for now. My family situation is complicated, so we'll have to pretend we're engaged.”

So Zhu Guanlan nodded again, accepted the role of his fiancée, and stepped through the Pei family's gates.

She had thought she could live a quiet life from then on. Who could have guessed the Pei family would be another den of danger?

No matter how much they endured, an accident three years later still shattered their life as they knew it.

So they ran.

The bad news: the journey was arduous, and they had to keep hiding.

The good news: Zhu Guanlan finally regained the memories and powers she'd lost for so long.

One night afterward, Zhu Guanlan stared at the sword that had remained sheathed for so long and thought seriously:

With so many enemies, who should I go after first?

Pei Yibai: “I told you she isn't a parasitic vine, but none of you believed me.”

Theme: I determine my own fate.