The Mountain Lord's Daughter

In the winter of Shengping Year Fourteen, Yue Zhiheng, a condemned official of the dynasty, was sentenced to the gruesome punishment of having his flesh carved away and his bones scraped clean.

Beyond the black-iron prison cart, countless commoners came to watch the young minister, burdened with countless sins, go to his death.

Zhan Yunwei was among them.

She had traveled a great distance to see him off for the last time, but only to save someone else.

She never imagined then that watching her guilt-ridden former husband die with such cold indifference would become a regret that haunted her and kept her awake night after night, before she was laid to rest beneath the spring earth.

*

In her previous life, Yunwei had the misfortune of becoming the wife of this “hunting dog of the dynasty,” and assumed her days would be unbearable.

But when she said she did not wish to share a bed with him, he sent a letter in midsummer, every word cool and detached.

Miss Zhan:

Evil spirits are running rampant throughout the dynasty, and the Thorough Heaven Bureau is swamped. From now on, I will no longer return home at night. Do as you please.

He had also carried her through the boundless moonlit nights of the dynasty, telling her quietly, “I won’t live much longer. Just bear with me a little longer.”

But after Yue Zhiheng died, she finally realized what a peaceful and precious time it had been.

Only then did she begin to glimpse the bleeding heart he had once concealed beneath his sinister, violent exterior.

*

So when Zhan Yunwei returned to that night ten years ago…

Yue Zhiheng rushed through the wind and rain to defend her against the dynasty, sword in hand, and finally fell into a pool of blood. This time, she did not turn her back on him and leave with Pei Yujing as she had in her previous life.

She held his battered body close and told him, “Yue Zhiheng, let’s go home.”

[An aloof on the outside, devoted and pitifully beautiful master craftsman with immense strength X a helpless but formidable, talented young spirit-tamer]

1. The synopsis sounds serious, but is this actually a sweet romance?

2. Content warnings: The heroine is not strong, nor is this a story about a powerful female lead. It’s a romance, with lots of author-created worldbuilding. There is a second male lead who is her senior brother, a third male lead who is her older brother (not by blood), as well as a host of minor characters who fall for the heroine, and plenty of melodramatic Mary Sue plotlines that pave the way for her.

3. The male lead appears to be an aloof, vicious hunting dog of the dynasty, but he is actually righteous. He loves her so much that even when she runs away with her senior brother, he grits his teeth and handles the pursuers for her.

4. The main characters’ story is about eliminating evil spirits, protecting ordinary people, and building a prosperous age.

*The heroine’s name is Zhan Yunwei, with Wei pronounced like “way.” It comes from the Southern Dynasties poem Ode to Winter Grass: “Though bent and withered, it holds fast; its lush growth is full of feeling.”

The male lead’s name, Yue Zhiheng, comes from the Book of Songs: “Like the waxing moon, like the rising sun.”

*Please be respectful and civil. Malicious comments will be deleted. If you can’t accept that, please don’t read.

Synopsis first posted on March 18, 2024

Theme: If only there were ten thousand spacious houses, sheltering all the poor beneath their roofs so that they could rejoice.