I Am Mad for You

[Seeking to Build Anticipation for The Wild Geese Return] The manuscript is in progress. Check the author's profile for the blurb!

[This story is also known as The Bow in Its Case. The map is on the author's profile.]

A fierce, unruly young general vs. a cool, refined daughter of a declining official family

Shen Qing was the first great reward Xiao Yu earned after entering the capital as a hostage. He exchanged his military achievements for a marriage contract. To outsiders, Xiao Yu's plea for an imperial decree granting their marriage was proof of true love. But to Shen Qing, it was all part of a scheme. No matter how unwilling she was, an imperial edict could not be disobeyed.

He didn't care about any of that. If he wanted someone, he would use every means necessary to make her his. Since he had taken her as his wife, he would naturally cherish her in the palm of his hand.

The male lead's perspective:

Before falling for her

"Third Miss Shen is just as cold and aloof as the rumors say. She barely talks, a real wet blanket. She's truly no fun."

After falling for her

"Shen Qing, be my wife. I'll protect you."

The female lead's perspective:

Before falling for him

"Setting aside the powerful families' suspicions, marrying someone of my low birth would benefit his current position. If he treats me well, I can count myself lucky. If the novelty wears off one day, and he grows tired of me, if we can no longer stand the sight of each other, then whether we divorce or he puts me aside, I won't cling to him."

After falling for him

"A divorce? Absolutely not!"

"A Yu went north without permission, and the court wants to imprison me. The Shen family is innocent and shouldn't suffer because of me. In gratitude for my father and brothers' kindness, I cannot make that decision. I, the unfilial daughter Shen Qing, willingly ask to be removed from the family register. From now on, I am no longer a daughter of the Shen family. I am only a wife of the Xiao family."

"My Changling is a peerless hero. He belongs on the wild northern frontier, riding across the battlefield and shining brilliantly."

People say that when snow falls in Qidu, it means the northern battlefield has won a victory.

Three months into their marriage, he was heading to war. She asked, "When will you come back?"

Unable to bear her worry, he coaxed her, "When it snows in the capital, I'll come back."

"It's snowing. The general is back."

On the day the army returned in triumph, heavy snow blocked the mountains and closed the official roads. Xiao Yu took a shortcut and raced eight hundred li through the snow, just to make it back in time for their promise.

The following year, he went to war again. She said, "I'll wait for you to come back."

"All right. When it snows in the capital, I'll come back."

"It's snowing. He should be back soon."

"Madam, the general has gone north."

This time, he broke his promise...

The third year, the fourth year...

"Another year has passed. It's snowing in the capital again."

"Madam, it's windy up on the wall. Don't wait anymore."

"The general isn't coming back."

"He said he'd hurry back when it snowed. I'll wait a little longer. He'll be upset if he comes back and doesn't see me..."

For the three years Xiao Changling spent in the north, Shen Qing was confined in the imperial palace. She waited for him all three years. Every year, at the first snowfall, she stood on the palace wall and gazed north, hoping to see his figure galloping through the endless snow.

Meanwhile, he fought on the northern battlefield for three years, all to earn his beloved wife back with his military achievements once more.

[Reading Guide]

1. Hehehe, 1v1, both leads are sexually inexperienced. Neither lead is perfect. They both have flaws and their own obsessions, and they grow over time.

2. The heroine is perceptive and clever, but at first she isn't passionately in love with the hero. Once she falls for him, she'll give him everything, as long as his love is worthy of her. She's not blindly lovestruck. She's willing to risk herself to further his ambitions and make his burning dream come true.

3. The hero can express himself, and is both patient and gentle. The young couple support each other, and their love is mutual.

4. There's a bit of an ensemble cast. Everyone has their own position and perspective; it's not a matter of good or bad. Even an originally flawless gentleman can become twisted by obsession.

Upcoming story 1: A General for a Husband

|The regretful hero chases his wife|*|Rekindled love|

A powerful minister and general vs. a secluded young woman

She lives alone in Fanyou Valley, cut off from the world and diligently studying medicine. One day, she finds a badly wounded man in the river and brings him home, only to discover that he's Song Tingshi, the renowned general of Northern Qi.

After waking up, Song Tingshi finds himself in a strange place, and the woman before him, dressed in plain linen, is an unknown quantity.

He asks his savior, "May I ask your name, Miss?"

"I... I don't have a name..."

"No name? Then allow me to give you one!"

From then on, she has a name: A Li.

As the two grow closer while he recovers in the valley, Song Tingshi belatedly realizes that he has fallen in love. But all his life, he has known only how to serve the throne, with his days consumed by war. A Li knows Fanyou Valley can't keep him, so she uses the debt he owes her to demand that he marry her?

Song Tingshi agrees.

From then on, rumors abound in the capital. General Song Tingshi of Northern Qi has brought back a country girl from the mountains, and she used the debt he owed her to force him to marry her.

The man who has always kept his distance from women spares no expense to build a separate courtyard for her, modeled after their home in Fanyou Valley, and finds precious medicinal ingredients for her to make medicine and pass the time.

But after breaking his word on the battlefield for three months, Song Tingshi loses his military command. He works tirelessly to reclaim what was once his. A Li, who knows little of the world, is willing to enter the palace as a study companion for his sake, but repeatedly suffers the scorn of noblewomen. Straightforward and naive, she quietly slips Heart-Eating Powder to anyone who gets on her nerves, tormenting them until they wish they were dead.

When Song Tingshi finds out, he reprimands her for her unruly behavior and confines her to her quarters. Once she's released, a rift has formed between them. Then, as factions battle over military power at court, Song Tingshi deliberately distances himself from A Li to keep her safe.

After repeatedly getting caught in dangerous political undercurrents, she grows disheartened and decides to part ways with him for good.

The first time, at a palace banquet, she persuades an assassin to take her out of the capital. Song Tingshi rides after her through the night and brings her back.

The second time, while he is away at war, she escapes the capital. By a twist of fate, she ends up in his army camp and is brought back to the capital once again.

The third time, while he is staying at the army camp, she seizes the chance to escape the capital again.

This time, she gets away. Song Tingshi searches for her like a madman, racing through the snow all night to Fanyou Valley, but she's nowhere to be found. He spends three years searching aimlessly across Northern Qi, yet there's no trace of her.

Upcoming story 2: The Wild Geese Return

After marrying in her sister's place, Lu Tingwan discovers that her husband's supposed first love is a fake?

Lu Tingwan grew up in a small town in the south. After her mother dies, her father brings her back to the capital. The reason is simple: he wants her to marry in her older sister's place, so she can spy on Cheng Xianzhi for the empress dowager. Or perhaps she'll be a concubine?

The man she's to marry, Cheng Xianzhi, is known by everyone as a living demon. He's decisive and ruthless, and in less than five years in office, he's become a second-rank official at court, the Right Vice Director, with command over the Imperial Guards. This terrifying official has a childhood sweetheart, his one and only soft spot. The two women marry into the Cheng household together.

On their wedding night, Lu Tingwan knows her husband will be busy with his first love and won't come to her courtyard. Beneath the red wedding candles, she uses her red veil as a cushion and counts her dowry, wondering how to make money in business outside the home and run away, so she can divorce Cheng Xianzhi.

In the three months since the wedding, she hasn't seen her husband once, and no one in the Cheng household even knows what their second madam looks like.

Until one day, while investigating a case, Cheng Xianzhi runs into Lu Tingwan, who is disguised as a man and living under an assumed name. Facing the handsome, pine-like official, she gives him her name: "Jiang Yanli."

They spend a month knowing each other under false identities. Then Cheng Xianzhi is framed during an investigation, and Lu Tingwan comes forward with evidence to save him from danger. That night, Cheng Xianzhi comes to Yansheng Hall and asks the person counting money behind a screen, "Jiang Yanli? Since when did she become the second madam of my household?"

Lu Tingwan is startled. She can't keep her identity secret anymore, so she strikes a deal with him. She won't send the empress dowager any information about him, and he won't interfere with her business ventures. Once he accomplishes his goal, he'll give her a letter of divorce and set her free.

Cheng Xianzhi agrees at once. "Deal."

A little scene:

Jiang Yanli lies in a pool of blood as chaos engulfs the palace. Assassins rampage, killing indiscriminately. A dagger pierces her heart. As her breath grows faint, Cheng Xianzhi holds her helplessly. "Lu Tingwan, hold on..."

Lu Tingwan coughs up blood. "I... am Jiang Yanli. I don't want to be a swallow nesting under the eaves anymore. I want to be a wild goose returning south..."

Theme: After struggling with myself for so long, I'd rather be myself.