On the day blood stained the streets and the kingdom was on the verge of collapse,
Commandery Princess Jing Zhen was forced to marry a rebel who had grown powerful by commanding his own troops.
The price she paid was not only a brief reprieve for her younger brother's throne, but also the life of Xiao Qingyu, her dearest friend since childhood, with whom she had always stood side by side.
Beyond the roadside pavilion ten li away, Jing Zhen wore a married woman's clothes. Heavy makeup could not hide the wounds covering her body, yet she smiled and said, "Qingyu, stay alive, and wait for the day we meet again."
In times of chaos, human lives are as cheap as grass, worth less than dogs and pigs.
More than a hundred members of the Xiao family were slaughtered. Only Xiao Qingyu survived.
She thought she had died, as she should have on the day her entire family was massacred, but somehow she had lived.
She vowed that from then on, Xiao Qingyu would live only for Jing Zhen.
[Defying Heaven, a Wine-Bearing Wanderer VS a Princess Who Would Rather Burn Everything Down]
Synopsis Two:
After the Tang dynasty fell, the Central Plains fractured into warring states. As years of warfare brought suffering and death to the people, there was one lofty pavilion where anyone could find carefree refuge: the Taiping Pavilion.
Its master was called Xiao Yulang, an uncanny figure whose gender was impossible to discern.
She killed without mercy, a fine blade in a chaotic age.
She was greedy and lustful, a genuine libertine.
But everything changed when she met Jing Zhen, a princess of the former dynasty.
By then, the Commandery Princess Jing Zhen, once the commander of the Wuping Army, was long gone. She had become a plaything for treacherous rebels.
Yet she still held fast to her pride. Facing Xiao Yulang, she said only, "Then kill me."
Unexpectedly, "Xiao Yulang" put on the demeanor of a wronged young girl and said, "Sister, you don't want me anymore?"
Later, when the kingdom fell and Jing Zhen chose death to prove her loyalty, Yulang of the Taiping Pavilion sat by the Bridge of Helplessness, weeping until her heart broke. "I was going to live the rest of my life for you. Didn't you know...?"
Who could have guessed that after Jing Zhen awoke, she would find that "Yulang" had the exact same face as Xiao Qingyu, her childhood companion?
As a child, that girl rode hard beneath the wind, dressed in striking red, her eyes clear and bright. She tossed Jing Zhen a piece of Shu brocade to tease her. "Sister, why don't you marry me?"
Back then, Jing Zhen had smiled and replied, "If there's a next life, maybe I'll give it a try..."
[Important! Content warnings!]
1. Setting: The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period through the early Northern Song, not an alternate world.
2. In this chaotic age, neither lead is a virgin.
3. Realistic subject matter. If you don't like that, please don't read!
Theme: The courage to start over
