Gazing at the Clouds

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Blurb:

During a hunt at Shanglin Park, the Crown Princess was assassinated.

When Xue He led his troops back to the imperial capital, Jiang Zhanyun's body had already been mutilated beyond recognition.

A tomb containing her clothes and ceremonial items had been set up in the Mingguang Hall of Weiyang Palace. Inside lay the half of a jade bell that had been recovered.

Everyone knew that jade inlaid with seven treasures was the Xue clan of Yizhou's ancestral token, a symbol of pledging allegiance to the princess and protecting the state. But the Crown Princess of this generation was willful in word and deed, and on bad terms with Xue He. She thought the jade pendant was too plain, and had someone turn it into a bell.

She wore it around her neck, which was bad enough, but she also used the leftover jade to make little bells for an anklet. Even when he wasn't there, they would keep jingling beneath the red gauze bed curtains.

On their wedding night, the young man, who had always observed proper etiquette, was so exasperated that he stormed out of the palace hall. He would rather spend his whole life guarding the frontier than share a room with a troublesome young ruler like her.

"Your Highness, unless you change your temperament and rein in your temper, sooner or later..."

Your life will be in danger, and the empire will change hands.

He had wanted to say those eight words many times. That day, he finally couldn't hold them back.

Who could have imagined that his words would come true, and the Jiang bloodline would end there?

To preserve peace in the realm, Xue He stood against all opposition and enthroned Ming Ye, a thirteen-year-old prince of a different surname, as the new emperor.

**

In the fifth year of the new emperor's reign, Xue He helped his younger cousin Xue Jiu Niang ascend to the empress's throne.

He had a sound plan. He now held the upper hand in court, and if he could also take control of the imperial harem, he could turn the world upside down once more.

He would restore the Jiang dynasty and avenge Jiang Zhanyun.

As it turned out, the mastermind behind everything that had happened was the very emperor he had supported and raised to power.

The year he learned the truth, he rescued a woman from the entertainment quarter and had her take the place of his cousin, who had died young. He arranged for her to be meticulously taught the six arts and personally instructed her in both civil and martial skills, raising her into a sharp, obedient blade.

But ever since that blade entered the imperial palace and ascended the throne, Xue He had found her increasingly difficult to control.

Then, one day, during a court discussion at Weiyang Palace, with all the civil and military officials present, a long sword pierced the new emperor through the chest from behind.

The empress, who had been listening from behind the curtain, swept it aside and stepped out. With one hand, she pulled out the sword and kicked the emperor aside. With the other, she held the imperial seal. Spattered with blood from head to toe, Xue He watched as she smiled at him sweetly.

"I truly can't think of any other way to reclaim what was mine to begin with!"

**

Jiang Zhanyun was the crown princess. In her youth, she was unruly and unrestrained, doing whatever she pleased, until she suffered a great fall at the age of eighteen.

Fortunately, fate spared her, leaving her barely clinging to life.

Since she hadn't died, she would crawl back to the place that belonged to her.

But the road ahead was perilous, and every step was difficult.

Then one day, she found a shortcut.

At the end of a long street, she saw her consort, the one she'd driven away on their wedding night before he ever entered the bridal chamber: the young general whose temples had bulged with anger as he told her, "If not for the alliance arranged by our predecessors, I would never have married into the royal family."

The young man stepped down from his carriage. A sachet slipped from his waist, and half a jade bell rolled out of it.

He picked it up expressionlessly, but his hand trembled as he brushed the dust from the bell.

Note:

1. The heroine's name, Jiang Zhanyun, comes from the idiom "gazing at the clouds and approaching the sun," which originally referred to a wise ruler's benevolence toward the common people, and later came to mean drawing near to the emperor and following a wise lord.

2. Crown Princess VS powerful general. The heroine is not a virgin, but the hero is. Neither lead is perfect, and both have plenty of flaws. They dislike each other at first and find fault with each other in every way. Happy ending.

Blurb for the upcoming novel Halfway Through Spring

The year she turned twenty, she was honored as empress dowager.

That night, after putting the young emperor to sleep and returning to her own quarters, she saw that the man was already waiting for her in the inner chamber.

"Senior Brother." She took the nourishing soup from her maid and fed it to him. "Hua is still young, and state affairs depend so much on you. You must be exhausted."

The candlelight flickered dimly before the desk. The man's gaze was dark as he looked at her, then at the soup. He didn't take it for a long while.

She took a sip with a huff. "It's not hot anymore. I didn't put poison in it."

"I'll drink it. Don't be angry." He smoothed the furrow between her brows, took the bowl, and drank it all.

*

After that, whenever he came to her palace, she would have a bowl of soup ready for him.

The more often he came, the more he drank. Over time, he began to feel unwell.

But it wasn't poison. It was simply a drug that would leave him unable to have children.

The empress dowager tucked the covers around the man, who had fallen asleep after the drug took effect, and kissed his forehead. Leaning on her maid's arm, she went out to stroll along the corridor. "I originally meant to drink it myself, but after thinking it over, I realized that if he drinks it, the problem will be solved once and for all. After all, he'll have a wife sooner or later."

*

The empress dowager was a passionate woman. She loved the late emperor, her son, and her senior brother.

But she loved peaceful years and an endless empire even more.

"I don't have the empress dowager's boundless heart, capable of loving so many," he realized much later.

There was no choice but to love her.

"If our love cannot be equal, then let me be the one who loves more."

Empress Dowager VS powerful minister. The heroine is not a virgin, but the hero is. Happy ending.

Theme: Gazing at the clouds and approaching the sun, I offer my blood to the land of my ancestors.