Tales of Tea in Jiangnan: The Legend of Lu Yu

[Serializing, updated daily] The Kangxi Emperor's Courtier: A Biography of Nalan Rongruo

A pair together, tea splashing with fragrance, undeterred by ice and snow. In this world, a melancholy traveler.

Where the wine was drunk, a hat tilted to one side, spring blooms for whom? Deep into the night, a thousand tents burn bright.

A detailed account of the life of the poet Nalan Xingde. This one's a big, juicy read, so come on in! Please add it to your collection~

[Coming Soon 1] The Qing Dynasty's First Imperial Son-in-Law / The Son of Heshen

Fengshen Yinde dotes on his wife and tangles with the Jiaqing Emperor + a playful take on Heshen and Ji Xiaolan. Can't wait to see the sparks fly in the love-hate rivalry between Qianlong, Catherine the Great, and Louis XVI.

[Coming Soon 2] A Lotus's Soft Kiss: Xiao Tong, Crown Prince Zhaoming

A wax goose faces the tree of longing alone; a jade crown gives form to the Selected Works.

A lotus softly kisses the old misty waters; war's blades wash the Buddha lamps of the Southern Liang.

Biu~ The next story will start as soon as this one ends. The blurbs are below.

My darlings and fairies, please click in and add it to your collections. Nianjiang loves you =3=

---- Blurb for The Jiangnan Tea Chronicles: The Legend of Lu Yu ----

Lu Yu loves finding fault with tea. Drawing on historical facts, the story crafts ten major tea cases and features 102 original classical poems to drive the plot.

Thanks to all my sweet readers for your support. Please add it to your collection and leave a comment~

★ Historical mystery, romance, and a serious period drama

If fragrant orchids have a heart: Li Ye (Li Jilan), a playful woman gifted in poetry and painting

A startled swan arrives in response: Lu Yu (Lu Hongjian), the deeply devoted Sage of Tea

★ The short version

The Fragrant Orchid and Startled Swan Chronicles: Drinking Together at the Ends of the Earth + Lu Yu's Case Files + Lu Yu's Tea-Making Notes + Li Jilan and the Most Dashing Talents of the Tang Dynasty + The Comeback of Liu Changqing, a Poor Minor Official + The Rise to Fame of Zhang Ji, the Delightful Fellow from Maple Bridge + The Feud Between Lu Qi and Yan Zhenqing + Huangfu Ran's Notes from Officialdom + The Daily Life of Jiaoran's Buddhist Heart (and Dusty World) + The Legend of Gao Tianwei, the Tang Dynasty's Top Escort = The Jiangnan Tea Chronicles: The Legend of Lu Yu

★ Full blurb

Lu Yu is a young man who can take to the stage, play dice, pick vegetable seeds, and write up a menu. In fact, he can do almost anything besides tasting and judging tea.

Zen Master Zhiji rubbed his forehead and sighed helplessly. "Amitabha. I don't remember ever enlightening a disciple like this."

One day, after leaving his home in the north and arriving in Jiangnan, Lu Yu was caught up in a bizarre tea case. The victim lay dead in a sealed room, with no wounds on his body. The only clue was a cup of tea left on the table from the night before. Truly, when the people are gone, the tea grows cold.

His friend Jiaoran shook his head regretfully. "The owner of the Fragrant Tea Tavern said he had just picked the words 'Fragrant Tea' from your masterpiece, 'One Vessel Made Me Famous, All Thanks to Tea; Guests Fill the House, Drawn by Its Fragrance,' to name his inn. Then this happened. What awful luck! So he paid a hefty sum to have me go to the scene and chant sutras to ward off disaster."

Lu Yu solved the sealed-room tea case, but misfortune followed close behind.

At a tea-tasting competition, someone framed him: tea powder turned out to be poison and killed the chief examiner, and Lu Yu was publicly expelled from the contest. He helped escort a tea shipment with a group of guards, only for bandits to rob them blind, earning him a thorough scolding from the tea merchants. Deep in the mountains picking tea, he stepped into an animal trap and fell, bruised and swollen, with no help in sight.

Even his private book of jokes, Amusing Tales, written just for his own amusement, was mysteriously burned in a fire. Lu Yu was speechless. What kind of nonsense was this?!

His literary friend Liu Changqing spread his hands in commiseration. "Hongjian, you should be glad the fire only burned half of your joke book, Amusing Tales. Otherwise, not only would Li Jilan have laughed at you, but people in later generations would have laughed their heads off too. Not at the jokes in the book, but at your writing, which is hardly fit for polite company. You'd better focus on writing The Classic of Tea."

Although nothing went right for Lu Yu after he came to Jiangnan, his resolve to love only one person in his life never changed!

The exceptionally talented woman who captured his heart is Li Jilan, also known as Li Ye, a poet who loved fiercely and lived boldly. She was beautiful, ambitious, and famous.

Abbess Yu Miao said, "I used to laugh at Zen Master Zhiji for failing to educate Lu Yu properly, letting Longgai Temple produce a clown who performs onstage. But now I've been made to eat my words. The Jade Truth Abbey has produced a disciple like Li Jilan, unrestrained and rebellious, bringing shame on her sect! And if Li Jilan and Lu Yu end up together and marry, what then?"

Everyone asked, "So in the end, do Lu Yu and Li Jilan get together?"

The answer: Well, you'll have to keep reading to find out...

[Reader's Guide]

1. The story is told from Lu Yu's point of view.

2. Every tea case connects to the others, so enjoy the mysteries as you sip your tea.

3. The opening case, The Tea Grows Cold, concerns the double deaths of Yang Tianyi and Chen Xiangyun. The truth will be revealed at the end of the story. Cases already solved include The Tea Bowl Case, The Camellia Case, The Tea Official Case, The Underground Tea Market Case, Butterfly on a Fragrant Shoulder: The Singer's Disappearance, Glazed Glass in the Thicket: The Fengxing Hunting Grounds Case, The Mystery of the Three Gui Pavilion: Yan Zhenqing's Testament, and Fisherman's Song: The Death of Zhang Zhihe, the Angler in the Misty Waters. More exciting tea cases are unfolding, and the climactic final case will span the Tang Dynasty and Japan. Don't miss it, my dear readers!

4. There will be sweet moments and heartbreak, but the ending is happy.

5. Updates daily at noon. A deep bow to all my dear readers. Please light up the little star to add it to your collection.

[Paid Chapters Notice]

This novel will become paid starting with Chapter 18. Thank you, sweet readers, for all your support. I hope you'll continue to support my future stories too.

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[Coming Soon 1] The Qing Dynasty's First Imperial Son-in-Law / The Son of Heshen

(A story about the life of Fengshen Yinde, the only son of the powerful minister Heshen. The Qianlong era features, among others, Catherine the Great and Louis XVI. Please add it to your collection =3=)

My name is Fengshen Yinde, known as the Qing Dynasty's number one imperial son-in-law for relying on my father and my wife.

My father is Heshen, a favorite of the Qianlong Emperor and the most handsome man in the Qing Dynasty.

My father is a master of political schemes and the art of manipulation. He is also brilliant at amassing wealth. Taking Nalan Mingzhu, the richest man of the Kangxi era, as his role model, he managed to propel himself to the pinnacle of wealth in the Qianlong era... no, in the entire Qing Dynasty.

I married the Qianlong Emperor's daughter, the Tenth Princess. She was strong-willed, beautiful, and intelligent. On the one hand, I was broad-minded and patiently put up with her spoiled, willful ways. On the other, I watched with an amused smile as she ran back and forth between the Emperor, the Fifteenth Prince, and the Heshen household, unable to speak of her troubles.

Later, my father Heshen fell from power, but the Tenth Princess stayed by my side. She even pleaded for me before the Jiaqing Emperor, and I survived. I was overwhelmed with emotion.

To prove that I was no coward, I was placed under house arrest but resolutely petitioned the Jiaqing Emperor to let me go help develop the borderlands. From then on, I balanced firmness with flexibility on the frontier, earning great military honors and a legend about building snowmen.

Unfortunately, the record-keeper at the princess's manor sought revenge against me, charging me with, among other things, meeting women in secret during the national mourning period, neglecting my duties, taking revenge for my father, and neglecting the princess.

The Jiaqing Emperor was furious. He stripped me of my post, wiped away all my military achievements, and read out my Ten Crimes before the assembled officials.

Fortunately, my adopted son Fu En, the son of the Tenth Princess and me, proved himself worthy. He wrote a plea for me in his own blood, turning the situation around and proving my innocence.

After I managed to survive for the third time, I began to dream often of Nalan Xingde, the greatest poet of the Qing Dynasty.

I asked him, "Sir, why has my life been so miserable? Why has it been such a mess?"

Rongruo replied, "You never understood how to live. You put the greater good first and maneuvered around the ruler, with no way to show off your own abilities. That's why you're miserable."

I asked again, "Sir, why has my life been full of ups and downs, disputes, and mixed deeds, only for history to bury me?"

Rongruo replied, "Between ruler and subject, and between husband and wife, it is taboo to keep score and say that neither owes the other anything. If you sort that out as I did, you'll understand."

I suddenly understood.

Loyalty and filial duty are hard to reconcile. Better for a laid-back young man to evolve into a schemer!

In this life, I'm going to turn the tables and make a comeback...

[Coming Soon 2] A Lotus's Soft Kiss: Xiao Tong, Crown Prince Zhaoming

(A story about Xiao Tong's life and the romance and turmoil of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.)

(Please add it to your collection, my dears =3=)

Where has the Crown Prince gone? Your Highness, Your Highness... Shen Yue searched the study pavilion several times, sweating with worry.

Could it be that Li Daoyuan's prediction had come true, and His Highness really had...

"A note in the Book of Waters reveals Heaven's secrets; on the banks of the lotus pool, a boat bears him away to be buried. A soft kiss from a lotus, and he sinks into clear waters"?

Shen Yue was horrified.

He should never have listened to the Crown Prince and hidden from Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, the fact that Li Daoyuan, the Northern Wei "geography metaphysician," had come to Liang.

And that man who called himself a "farmer," Jia Sixie, who was supposedly best at working the fields, was probably in league with Li Daoyuan too!

Tutor, what are you looking for me for? Xiao Tong smiled.

Your Highness, where have you been? Shen Yue composed himself.

"I met an interesting young woman. Her surname is Yuan, and her given name is Huiru. She is a distant elder sister of Yuan Ziyou, who later became Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei. I asked her why she had come to Liang and why she was living at a temple under the name Hui Niang."

"This is what she said to me: Who says everyone staying at a temple is a nun? I'm a laywoman. What are you puzzled about, Your Highness? Is it because you Southerners have four hundred and eighty temples, but we in Northern Wei aren't allowed to change our clothing and customs? Or do you find my Liang-style women's dress strange?"

Our story begins when Crown Prince Zhaoming Xiao Tong follows his tutor Shen Yue to Wuzhen to study and first meets Li Daoyuan, Jia Sixie, and Yuan Huiru. It continues until Emperor Yuan of Liang, Xiao Yi, weeps for Xiao Tong after burning 140,000 volumes of books, and ends with the fall of Liang.

Let us return together to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, an era of both romance and turmoil, and experience...

The most resolute: Xiao Yan's renunciation of the throne for Buddhism (Emperor Wu of Liang)

The most remembered: Xiao Tong's compilation of the Selected Works (Crown Prince Zhaoming)

The most lamented: Xiao Gang's ascension to the throne (Emperor Jianwen)

The most tragic: Xiao Zan and Yuan Ziyou (if not born together, then they would die together)

The most heartbreaking: Xiao Yi's destruction of books and poetry (Emperor Yuan of Liang)

The most unforgivable: Hou Jing and Erzhu Rong (later generations would weep as Li Zicheng paid tribute)

The most wonderful: Consort Ding Lingguang (the birth mother of Xiao Tong and Xiao Gang)

The most helpless: Ling Ying's lonely nights (the birth mother of Xiao Yi)

The most outrageous: Lady Xu's half-face makeup (Xiao Yi's wife)

The most fleeting: Hui Niang admiring red beans (Xiao Tong's confidante)

Thank you to everyone who clicked on, collected, read, or subscribed to Nianjiang's stories,

and to every dear reader who met, accompanied, supported, and followed Nianjiang.

Theme: Stay true to your original aspirations, strive for excellence, and pass on tea culture.