Jiang Yue, Candle Years

[Flirtatious Beauty X Dark, Devoted Hound]

[On hiatus for now. Updates whenever inspiration strikes. I won't abandon this story, so please add it to your favorites if you like it.]

Blurb Two:

In that hell seven years ago, Feng Zhounian asked three questions.

"Do you want to live?"

"Do you want revenge?"

"Can you accept this?"

Like a strand of spider silk lowered into the abyss, she tempted twelve-year-old Xiao Fengxuan to reach out to the red-clad demon.

He thought he would embark on a bloody path of revenge from then on, but he never expected...

"Feng Zhounian! How many times do I have to tell you? Don't throw your clothes around!"

"Tsk."

"I really don't know how you managed during your first seventeen years!"

"Wait! I just gave you all twenty taels of my wages for this month. How have you already spent it all?"

One day a young lord, the next a servant. Xiao Fengxuan ended up looking after the woman who called herself his adoptive mother.

Over the past seven years, the Eight Sufferings of life have all been enough to describe Xiao Fengxuan's misery.

He seems to have stumbled into a grand scam called "Feng Zhounian." Even Heaven itself seems to be making a joke of his fate.

Just as he had fallen hopelessly in love with her, the woman said:

"Go reclaim everything that belongs to you, Xiao Fengxuan. I'll repay you for everything I owe you."

Blurb One:

"I, Feng Zhounian, have lived a carefree, decisive life and never suffered a defeat or a hidden loss. I'm even the sort of person who can stop children from crying at night! So how... how did I lose my mind and bring home a little ancestor?"

Feng Zhounian sighed and stamped her feet in front of the bronze mirror in her room. From time to time, she even wiped at a couple of nonexistent tears before sneaking a glance at the handsome young man leaning against the doorway.

He held a broom, arms folded across his chest, and watched her performance with leisurely amusement. The corners of his lips were just barely turning up.

You couldn't blame him for being heartless. Every time it was time to clean the room, Feng Zhounian came up with all sorts of excuses to avoid doing any work. So Xiao Fengxuan had no choice but to come and tidy up for her himself. And every time, he caught her putting on an elaborate act so she wouldn't have to lift a finger.

It was exasperating, and funny.

Xiao Fengxuan shook his head. When Feng Zhounian sneaked another glance at him, he uncrossed his arms, walked over, and leaned in close, taunting her with the sort of words only a devil would say!

"If Mother still refuses to clean her room today... then... I'll confiscate all of Mother's snacks!"

Xiao Fengxuan was bent over, picking up the clothes from the floor, when the corner of his eye twitched. Speechless, he looked up at Feng Zhounian. Sitting on the windowsill with one leg dangling outside, she was happily eating a snack. He couldn't help a sarcastic remark: "I didn't know you had this kind of talent."

Hearing him finally respond, Feng Zhounian burst out laughing. She tossed the blank booklet in her hand onto the dressing table nearby, hopped down from the windowsill, and cheerfully bounced over to Xiao Fengxuan. Leaning forward, she looked up at his flushed, smiling face and teased, "Didn't you say you weren't going to talk to me again? Let's see, has it been... a whole incense stick yet?"

Xiao Fengxuan: "..."

Unable to stand it any longer, he tossed the clothes in his hands at Feng Zhounian and asked irritably, "What exactly did you come to this fishing village to do?!"

"Why, to... fulfill my promise, of course." Feng Zhounian pressed a finger to Xiao Fengxuan's lips. The teasing, carefree look vanished from her eyes in an instant, leaving only the deep blackness of a shadowy pool. She said softly, "Fengxuan, do you want to reclaim everything that belongs to you?"

If there's a pit, jump in first. If there's flirting to be done, flirt first. They're a bickering couple who never give an inch and are always trading face-slapping blows.

Reader's Guide:

1. The leads constantly set each other up and flirt, growing together and gradually falling for one another.

2. One-on-one romance, happy ending! (This is important.) There will be some angst.

3. The plot is serious, but their interactions are fun. After all, it's best to settle things once and for all.

4. Set in an alternate history. Please don't overthink the historical details.

Theme: No matter how many hardships and obstacles stand in the way, promises will be fulfilled.