My Love in the Late Night

[My new novel, A Folded Green Branch, is now updating. Please support my completed novel, Seeking the Imperial Court!]

Wan Yuanyi, the daughter of the Minister of Rites, fell in love as a young girl with Chen Chuyan, heir to the Shao family.

Their youthful, innocent feelings were like a flower that had not yet bloomed, its bud shyly opening, yet enchanting.

·

During the year Chen Chuyan spent away studying medicine, he and Wan Yuanyi exchanged letters. His replies were always full of concern and affection.

Wan Yuanyi had thought they could build a harmonious life together and stay by each other's side. She was willing to wait for him a few more years, if need be.

·

But one day, Chen Chuyan sent her his last letter and then vanished. No matter how many letters she wrote him each day, he never replied.

"Wanwan, when I return from my medical studies, I will marry you."

His promise that they would spend their lives together became nothing but empty words.

·

Later, Wan Yuanyi was framed and died, only to be reborn at the age of sixteen.

At a gathering at a country estate, she saw him among a group of young noblemen.

By then, he had returned from his medical studies, earned his credentials, and become a court physician.

He was still gentle, refined, and handsome.

·

He asked her tenderly, "Wanwan, do you still remember our past?"

She looked at him and said nothing, only smiled.

By then, the emperor had arranged her marriage, and another man was by her side.

He was Ye Xiuran, the heir to the Grand Tutor's residence. Ye Xiuran was among the best in both talent and looks, but his reputation was rather poor.

·

When Chen Chuyan learned that Ye Xiuran was her fiancé, he said with concern, "Wanwan, Ye Xiuran is ruthless and cruel. You can't marry him."

Wan Yuanyi remained indifferent and silent.

He continued, "Wanwan, break off your engagement with him. I'll come to your residence and ask for your hand."

He thought she was still the Wan Yuanyi who had waited faithfully for him to return and marry her.

But Wan Yuanyi rejected him at once and followed her fiancé home without looking back.

·

And her fiancé, Ye Xiuran, whom Chen Chuyan had called ruthless and cruel, with a terrible reputation, later doted on her as if she were the most precious person in the world.

·

Reader's guide:

1. Both leads are reborn.

2. Both leads are sexually inexperienced.

3. The hero is Ye Xiuran.

Painting the Moon is updating. Here's the blurb.

Yun Chuxian was known as a once-in-a-millennium "immortal painter."

A single painting of hers was worth ten thousand taels of gold.

At eighteen, she married Mu Qiuliang, heir to the prestigious Prince's residence.

Mu Qiuliang was among the best in both looks and ability.

·

Unfortunately, they married for family interests and a struggle for power, not for love.

On their wedding day, Mu Qiuliang hurried back from out of town, completed the ceremony, and entered the bridal chamber. Half a month later, he hurried away again.

·

Six months later, Yun Chuxian suddenly died. Mu Qiuliang rushed back to the capital, only to be told that his wife, Yun Chuxian, had abandoned her husband and her reputation, and died in a lovers' suicide with a folk painter.

·

Mu Qiuliang tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

He could not understand it. If she resented him, hated him, or did not want to be his wife, she could have spoken to him or asked for a divorce. Why had she chosen to die for love while still married to him?

·

On their wedding night, she had clung to him, calling him "dear husband" again and again. Yet in the blink of an eye, she had made him the greatest laughingstock in the State of Shao.

·

In the twenty-ninth year of the Shao reign, Mu Qiuliang died of illness and was reborn in the nineteenth year of Shao.

Yun Chuxian was only seventeen then.

·

That day, the hills were lush and the waters clear, with green leaves thick and flowers bright.

Yun Chuxian wore a white robe embroidered with tiny pink flowers. Carrying her painting supplies, she went to a small lake to paint. Halfway through, someone called her name.

She turned around.

And saw Mu Qiuliang.

He stood beneath a great tree in silver-white robes, cool and elegant as snow on a high mountain. His voice was just as cool when he spoke.

"Yun Chuxian, I came to ask you something."

She stood up and gazed at him, stunned, her bright eyes as dewy as spring.

"What was so special about that folk painter that you would die for him?"

"I am your husband."

·

1. The hero is reborn; the heroine is not.

2. The heroine did not truly cheat in her previous life.

3. The hero returns to win his wife back, and takes over the realm along the way.

4. Sweet romance.

Coming soon: A Folded Green Branch. Please add it to your collection. Here's the blurb.

Wan Qingyu and Xiao Qiuzhe lived apart as soon as they married. She lived halfway up a mountain, tending flowers and plants, while he fought ruthlessly for power in the capital.

·

Everyone knew their marriage was a transaction of mutual benefit, with nothing to do with love.

After two years of marriage, they were a couple in name only, unable to stand the sight of each other.

·

When Wan Qingyu's childhood friend Fu Yushu returned, a brilliant young man as bright and noble as the moon, rumors that she and Xiao Qiuzhe were about to get divorced spread through every street and alley.

·

That day, Xiao Qiuzhe returned from court and, as usual, ate alone, washed up alone, and went to bed alone.

Late that night, his attendant came through the rain and said, "My lord, Fu Yushu went to the little house in the mountains and hasn't come out."

Xiao Qiuzhe abruptly sat up in bed and asked coldly, "Do you know what they were doing?"

The attendant glanced at him and replied, "I couldn't see clearly, but..."

Xiao Qiuzhe asked urgently, "But what?"

The attendant answered cautiously, "But... the lights in the house went out."

The lights in the house went out?

·

Xiao Qiuzhe immediately got out of bed, grabbed a cloak, and rushed outside.

The rain was falling harder, and the weather was growing colder.

Xiao Qiuzhe mounted a fast horse and rode through the cold wind and pouring rain all night, arriving at the mountain cottage.

·

He knocked on the door. Wan Qingyu opened it, looking surprised.

Without saying a word, Xiao Qiuzhe charged into the room and looked around. There was no one else there.

·

Wan Qingyu closed the door, walked over to the bed, and lay down. After coughing weakly a few times, she said to Xiao Qiuzhe, who was soaked through, "Lord Xiao, my house is humble. Please make yourself comfortable."

He gazed at her, so thin and pale as a sheet, his eyes full of complicated emotions.

·

Wan Qingyu coughed several times and said, "A month ago, the Xiao residence cut off my allowance. I was too embarrassed to ask my family for money. Lord Fu just came by and brought me some."

Lord Fu? Her childhood friend, Fu Yushu.

·

Xiao Qiuzhe frowned at her, his expression complicated and stern. He said each word slowly: "Wan Qingyu, remember that I am the husband who married you in the wedding ceremony."

"You're in trouble..."

"You'd rather ask him than ask me?"

·

Wan Qingyu looked at her husband, who seemed a little different from before. She opened her mouth, not knowing how to explain.

Xiao Qiuzhe gave a cold laugh, strode to the bed, and swept her up into his arms.

He tossed out a frosty command: "Come back to the capital with me. Spend as much of the Xiao family's money as you like. Anyone who tries to stop you will be killed."

·

Reader's guide:

1. The hero is cold at first, then goes all out to win his wife back.

2. Sweet romance.

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Theme: Treat others with sincerity.