Yu Zhaoci

A road-trip adventure through the Hexi Corridor, featuring a young man and woman | [Clever, sweet girl x rebellious troublemaker]

On Pei Yushu's first night in Liangzhou after running away from her wedding, a calamity fell right into her tent from the sky.

The young man was covered in blood. Gasping for breath, he clamped a hand around her throat:

“Save me.”

“Or I die, and you die.”

Pei Yushu: “…!!”

With soldiers pounding on the door outside, she had no choice but to swallow her anger and hide him first.

From then on, they were forced to travel together, and their journey was one disaster after another.

One day, while they were fleeing for their lives, the young man developed a high fever and his injuries worsened. He only told her to head east.

Pei Yushu was baffled. “…Which way is east?”

“Why not look at the stars?”

The young man turned his head and gave her a faint, crooked smile, glancing sideways at her.

“Ask me nicely, and I’ll teach you.”

Pei Yushu snorted. As if she’d ever beg him.

Maybe in her next life.

Then one day, she accidentally discovered that the little thief was none other than Li Yaoguang, the Crown Prince's younger brother, Prince Zhao.

Pei Yushu: “…T_T”

She'd offended him. Was it too late to run now?

Li Yaoguang was born to a life of privilege as Prince Zhao, and had spent eighteen years doing whatever he pleased in Chang'an.

All the setbacks he had suffered in his life didn't add up to the grief and frustration Pei Yushu had caused him.

Luckily, they were only temporary travel companions. Sooner or later, they would go their separate ways.

But before he could figure out how to end their partnership, she ran off first.

She dared to run?

Fine. Once he caught her, he would steam this silly rabbit, then braise her, and send word back to Chang'an to have her family's shop shut down for good. Then he would see if she didn't come crying and begging him.

A few days later.

The young man charged alone into the enemy camp, drenched in blood as he hauled her out from among their countless troops. He scoffed, “…You can't even find your way and you still ran?”

The girl struggled to support him as they walked, gritting her teeth to hold back her sobs. “So don't fall asleep… I can't find my way out alone. I'm scared.”

The young man was barely conscious, but he still managed to turn his head and see her tear-damp lashes. He raised a hand and brushed away the tear at the corner of her eye.

Then he pointed to the brightest star in the sky.

“That one is called Yaoguang. That's north.”

“Follow it, and you'll find your way out.”

He paused, turning to look at her. His voice was soft and hoarse:

“That star is me.”

So don't be afraid.

That night, beneath Mingsha Mountain beside Crescent Spring, the young man looked at her and smiled.

“Pei Yushu.”

“The stars in the sky are yours. Do you want them?”

They journey across the great desert, slay sand bandits, and head nine thousand nine hundred miles west.

He is her guiding star, Yaoguang, and she is his homecoming, Chang'an.

**The plot follows a road-trip adventure across changing locations, with the story mainly in service of the romance.

**An alternate-history setting modeled on the Tang dynasty. Both leads have no prior romantic or sexual experience and are sweetly innocent. A little ensemble cast.

**In practice, using the stars to find directions is just a way to help with navigation. It's only mentioned briefly in the blurb.

A similar sweet romance, coming soon: Embracing the Pearl, sweet crybaby x brash, illiterate rogue

Coming soon 1: Provoking My Brother, couldn't tame my stepsister, so I *tamed* her 💛 faux-bone taboo romance, breaking up and getting back together | forced love

Coming soon 2: Deep in the Bronze Sparrow Palace, a warlord and a beauty, a love steeped in hatred

Coming soon 3: The Long Blade Enters the Bedchamber, blurb below

[Gentle, honest young lady x domineering, scheming imperial secret police officer]

Xue Youzhen knows Shen Han doesn't like her.

They were betrothed as children, but they are no longer suited to each other.

She is the timid, soft-hearted daughter of a low-ranking official who cannot bear the sight of blood. He is already a fourth-rank Commander of the Imperial Guard, ruthless in his methods and surrounded by high-ranking officials and nobles. He is a man of the moment.

When Youzhen learns that Shen Han spent the night at a brothel, she bites her lip and finally decides to end their absurd engagement.

After hearing why she has come, Shen Han's dark eyes linger for a moment on her face as she tries to stay composed. At last, he gives her a mocking smile. “Suit yourself.”

“If you regret it later, don't come looking for me.”

Youzhen feels a dull ache in her chest and lowers her head in confusion, but secretly lets out a sigh of relief.

Who could have known that not long afterward, she'd be caught in a sudden rainstorm on the street, and her father's student would earnestly offer to walk her home under his umbrella?

Late that night, a long blade suddenly lifts the gauze curtains by her bed and forces its way into the bedchamber.

In the cramped bed, heat spreads. The intruder leans close, his nose parting the damp strands at her neck as he kisses and bites the slender, pale skin there.

Youzhen can barely take it anymore. As she whimpers through her tears, she hears him demand with furious insistence:

“I am your husband, Xue Youzhen.”

“Dare to mention breaking off the engagement again, and see what happens.”

Theme: No matter how difficult the road, have the courage to make your own way