Crossing the Mortal World

(An early work by the author. In a nutshell, it was an attempt at a refreshing, feel-good story about a powerful heroine, but it didn't quite work.)

Blurb:

[One-on-one, happy ending. Childhood sweethearts reunite, keep their secret identities under wraps, and fight and fall in love before finding their happy ending.]

[A woman disguised as a man, a fake heir with a little scheming early on who later focuses on her career x a cold-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside general caught up in factional struggles, who slowly pursues his wife.]

Song Yinqiu, a fake heir disguised as a man, meets a low-ranking military officer at her birthday banquet.

The young officer comes from a poor family and has had a difficult life. A civil official by training, he was forced onto the battlefield, and after winning a battle, someone else took the credit.

But Song Yinqiu knows that Shen Yu is no pushover. He wouldn't have established himself in the capital amid factional struggles otherwise.

She watches as he is transferred to the northern border, promoted to commander, and steadily climbs the ranks to become the new Xia general feared by the Northern Di.

No one knows that after each battle, the brave commander of the northern frontier hurriedly removes his armor and rides through the snowstorm, all to personally present His Lordship the Heir with a freshly blossomed plum branch.

Shen Yu has long known that Song Yinqiu is a woman.

He went to great lengths just to see her again, even though she had long since forgotten the childish promise they once made.

Then Prince Yu raised an army. His rebellion failed, and his son, Song Yinqiu, was to be stripped of rank and thrown into the imperial prison.

Shen Yu knows that Song Yinqiu was never truly an heir, and should never have been caught up in this royal power struggle.

In the depths of the night, he remembers once again the nameless girl who vanished ten years ago on a night when the snow lay a foot deep.

She had exactly the same face as the Prince of Yu's heir, who now lay asleep in his coffin.

No matter what, this time, he will keep her safe.

When they meet again, years have passed.

He is now the Crown Prince's most trusted general, while she is a princess backed by the remnants of the previous dynasty.

The return of someone rumored to have died in a carriage crash is certainly a strange event.

With his blade pointed at her, and a crimson gauze curtain between them, the princess, who was rumored to always keep a bodyguard at her side, stands alone and smiles at him with unfamiliar eyes.

"General Shen, are you here to take my life?"

Hearing the familiar voice from his memories, Shen Yu looks up in disbelief.

But the cold glint of the blade blinds him.

The next instant, blades clash.

Neither of them has a way back.

Theme: Stay clear-headed and resolute through storms, and grow independent in adversity.