[Cold-Blooded General + Lonesome Female Physician]
In the nineteenth year of Chun'an, the Northern Tartars broke through the Three Elm Towns of Shang. General Lu Fang and all thirty thousand of his soldiers were killed. Shang was forced to open its horse markets. This came to be known as the "Chun'an Upheaval."
General Cen Shen, the Defender of the Far Frontier, refused to accept this.
He studied the devastating battle report closely and discovered that the person who submitted it, Gao Qingyun, might have colluded with the Northern Tartars. So he volunteered to guard the Three Elm Towns and investigate in secret.
During his stay, he met Qiao Qing, a female physician who had been abandoned at birth, raised in a Taoist temple, and left to wander without a home.
The heart he'd kept frozen for years suddenly cracked open. He wanted very much to keep her by his side.
*
The female physician Qiao Qing was highly skilled and reserved by nature. While traveling through the Three Elm Towns, she was captured by Tartar soldiers, but Cen Shen rescued her.
After repaying him in her own way, she quietly left.
She'd thought she would never set foot on the same land twice, but before long she returned to the Three Elm Towns, opened a clinic, and entered into an agreement with Cen Shen.
Gradually, Qiao Qing discovered that Cen Shen was doing something dangerous, something that concerned the reputation of an old general and, more importantly, the dignity of Shang.
She decided to lend him a hand.
[Reader's Guide]
1. The dynasty is fictional, so please don't nitpick the historical details. Both leads are devoted to each other, and their love is mutual.
2. There is plenty of plot, and the romance develops extremely slowly because the heroine is very slow to pick up on things. It takes time.
3. The hero is formidable, a born general. But this is his first time falling in love, so naturally he's at a loss and everything feels chaotic. He's lucky, though: the heroine loves him too.
4. Don't skip chapters. Take your time and read from the beginning.
Theme: Love means standing side by side and weathering every storm together.
