Synopsis: The Nanshan Prefecture is overrun with rebels. Xiao Jiyan is ordered to go undercover and enter the prefecture to put down the rebellion. There, he comes across an amusing little fool and takes her in.
He plans to keep her for a while, then let her go once he gets married.
Lately, though, something has been bothering him. Every night, he hears her repeating someone's name in her sleep.
It isn't his.
Jealousy gets the better of him. He presses down his envy and pinches her cheek, forcing her face up so he can kiss her quiet. He is satisfied only when tears fill her eyes.
His plaything can have only one master: him.
Later, he slaughters the rebels in Nanshan Prefecture and retakes the region. Suddenly, he finds himself missing her, far away in the capital.
He is about to return to the capital to find her when he hears that she is coming to him.
A plaything caring for her master is a good thing.
He waits, full of confidence, only to hear that she is sitting atop the city wall.
The moat below flows endlessly, its depths impossible to see.
He rushes over in a panic and sees her sitting up there, swinging her legs and singing as she calls out another man's name.
She never looks at him. Then she jumps.
In that instant, his heart and soul shatter, and his cry sounds like bloodied sobbing.
Xiao Jiyan remembers, too: the little fool has a name. It is Nan Man.
Long ago, he came to Nanshan Prefecture as well, under the alias Xiao Ye. That is the name she calls out night after night.
The heroine's version
Nan Man isn't very clever, and can be a little slow, but she's best at doing as she's told. If she listens, Papa won't give her away, and everyone will like her.
One day, she brings home a man. People say his name is Xiao Ye. It doesn't matter that it's a strange name: he's the only person who treats her well now.
Nan Man likes A-Ye very much.
The rebels are running rampant in Nanshan Prefecture. To protect the region, Papa gives her away after all, handing her over to the rebels.
But A-Ye comes to save her.
It seems he's forgotten what happened before and thinks she's an orphan nobody wants. What's more, he is always picking on her.
So she decides she will never like A-Ye again.
Later, A-Ye is going to marry, Nanshan Prefecture is destroyed, and her family is gone. Nan Man has become someone nobody wants, completely and utterly.
The moat's current is too strong. Nan Man is afraid of water, so she spends a long time looking down from above before deciding to go find Mama, who will love her.
(Reader's guide:
★ The male lead is awful, as you can tell from the blurb.
★ The heroine fakes her death, but she's still alive.
Just reserving a spot. I write very quickly.)
Theme: None
Spring Returns