After Becoming Xin Qiji's Adopted Daughter

After Lianxin became Xin Qiji's adopted daughter and joined the social butterfly's circle of friends, the Southern Song bigwigs started talking about her like this:

Xin Qiji: Strong Girl! My daughter is so valiant!

Chen Liang: Strong Girl, a fine talent at sword-making!

Zhu Xi: ...Strong Girl, she hits hard.

Lu You: Strong Girl... her insults hit hard...

Zhu Shuzhen: Strong Girl, but thoughtful.

Jiang Kui: Strong Girl, her lyrics are like going to war.

Yang Wanli, Fan Chengda, Zhang Xiaoxiang: Strong. Girl. Run. Away. Quickly.

By the beautiful scenery of Daihu Lake, two figures strolled along.

Lianxin turned her head, delighted. "Third Brother, listen! They're praising me! If anyone says again that you look like a pretty girl and don't take after Father, I'll beat them until they give in and never dare curse you for being unable to find a wife!"

Birdsong filled the spring ravine, and light and shadow danced. The handsome young man only smiled without a word.

Childhood friends for years, their affection clung like willow fluff to the ground after rain.

He gave her lotus leaves, made her heart-soothing incense, and again and again wrote lyrics about the girl who could lift mountains...

What should he do today to make his adopted sister understand how he feels?

[During the Chunxi era, the literati around Jiaxuan often exchanged verses referring to the "Strong Girl" and the "Mountain-Lifting Girl." Their origins are hard to determine, and they may have been new lyric forms. I privately sought to learn more, and was told they alluded to Yu Lianxin, becoming a graceful literary conceit among the ancients. Xin Sanlang also wrote several works about the "Mountain-Lifting Girl," brimming with tender feeling.

-- New Compilation of The History of Song, Biography of Yu Lianxin, 2099]

#ThreeSentencesThatMadeHimInventANewLyricFormForMe#

#AnotherDayOfMeddlingWithTheOfficialHistory#

#MyE-PersonalityDadXinQiji#

#HuhWhyIsThirdBrotherJealousAgainAndAgain#

* Southern Song: eating, drinking, meeting famous people, and making weapons

* A sweet romance about a young man and woman

--··--[Please check out my upcoming works! Please add them to your collections!]--··--

Coming Soon: Thirst (Li Yu), the last ruler of Southern Tang, Li Yu x the Younger Zhou Empress:

-

When Jiajia was ten, she went to the palace for the first time to visit her elder sister. Unfamiliar with palace rules, she accidentally wandered into the imperial garden with a noisy crowd of children.

There, she happened upon the young ruler, guiding her sister's hand as she wrote the line, "A swirl of clouds, a shuttle of jade."

Behind him, a group of palace attendants shouted and rushed to protect the ruler.

Li Yu let go of her sister and looked up at Jiajia in the middle of the lotus-filled garden.

It was hard to imagine why someone so strikingly beautiful, who held the power of an entire nation, always seemed so shy when speaking to others.

Jiajia stood there, dumbfounded, and heard Li Yu ask softly, "Your younger sister has come, hasn't she?"

*

In her short ten years of life, no one had ever treated her with such patience.

Jiajia fell in love with her brother-in-law, whose face always held a gentle, guileless expression.

She resolved that when she grew up, she would marry a man just like him.

When her sister and the palace attendants heard this, they all laughed.

Her sister tapped Jiajia on the nose and teased her for saying something silly. "There is only one person like the ruler in the whole world."

Jiajia stared at her, not understanding why.

Her sister only smiled. "You'll understand when you're older."

But when Jiajia was fifteen, Li Yu took her hand and guided her as she wrote, "When will spring flowers and autumn moons end?"

The palace attendants had also begun calling her "the Younger Zhou Empress" in private.

Yet Jiajia still didn't understand why there could truly be only one Li Yu,

or how the relationship between her, her sister, and Li Yu had gradually become what it was.

*

She slips off her socks and walks up the fragrant steps, carrying her golden shoes in her hand.

I have risked so much to come out to you. Let me be loved by you as you please.

Every one of Li Yu's lyrics was evidence of his passionate affair with Jiajia.

They spread through the streets, into the court, and into her sister's ears.

Again and again, Li Yu knelt before Jiajia,

gently and desperately pleading with her: "We really can't see each other anymore."

"We really can't see each other again."

With his hand clasped in hers, Jiajia pleaded with him too. "We can't keep making the same mistake."

But Jiajia didn't understand why every one of them spoke from the heart,

why every one of them wanted it to end and was in pain,

yet the pain remained like a whirlpool, drawing them in,

making them move closer to it the more they tried to escape.

*Thirst disease: An ancient name for diabetes.

When too much sugar is consumed, blood glucose rises and the breakdown of fat produces excessive ketones. This may poison people with thirst disease and can be fatal in severe cases.

[Coming Soon 1]: Heartbroken Princess [Dating Show / The Second Male Lead Takes the Crown], sunny athlete x pampered princess.

(The dating show Exchange Love: Several couples who have broken up meet again and choose whom to date, either their own exes or someone else's.)

Qiao Yi was as gentle as water.

When Qiao Yi was Zhu Haohao's boyfriend, Zhu Haohao used to brag about this to every friend she had.

Later, Qiao Yi's gentleness did indeed flow equally to every girl, just as she had said.

Breaking up with Qiao Yi should have been only a small setback in the young heiress's life,

but Zhu Haohao felt she would be stuck in front of that setback forever.

--She never should have joined Exchange Love.

Watching Qiao Yi go on dates with different female guests,

Zhu Haohao cried nonstop, crying so much she annoyed everyone and wore down their patience.

She didn't understand. All she wanted was to win someone back.

Why did that make Qiao Yi hate her so much? Why were people all over the country cursing her?

The summer rain fell endlessly, pattering away.

On the first day the skies cleared, Yu Xingye arrived as a substitute guest.

Zhu Haohao's eyes were dry as she joined everyone else in looking toward the door.

A rich young man, a skier, young and handsome.

When he smiled and greeted everyone,

it was as if he could evaporate the gloomy rain, the tears, or everything else in the room.

"What a young master," joked a female guest who had just gone on a date with Qiao Yi. "If Haohao could star in a story where the second male lead wins her over, that would be so dreamy."

Zhu Haohao rubbed her eyes and said nothing.

In the end, what Zhu Haohao accomplished was even dreamier than anyone had imagined.

-

Exchange Love brought together celebrities, influencers, and athletes from all walks of life. It became the most popular variety show of the summer.

The romance that people talked about the most

was that between skier Yu Xingye and influencer Zhu Haohao.

There were doubts and cynical remarks alike.

Some people wondered whether Zhu Haohao could truly start a new relationship,

while others wondered if Yu Xingye was just a rich young master looking for a new experience.

Then came the next competition. On the ski slope, under the gaze of everyone,

the newly crowned young champion kissed his medal and made a "Haohao" gesture toward the camera.

When asked who he was professing his love to,

he smiled and said, "My princess."

--My princess. The one in the clouds, my one and only princess.

[Coming Soon 2]: Honey Cold on the Tongue, a school story about a blended family, with a gentle older brother x a beautiful drama queen.

Ming Xue and Deng Aihe seemed like people from two different worlds.

That's what everyone at C High School thought.

Like a beautiful ball of fire, Ming Xue was gorgeous and short-tempered. Within a month of starting school, her habit of cycling through boyfriends every month and her behavior score of zero had become as famous as her face.

Deng Aihe, on the other hand, was the best student council president C High had ever seen: cheerful, dependable, and a natural leader. He excelled in both conduct and academics, and was the trusted friend and student of every classmate and teacher.

Throughout a semester of cat-and-mouse point deductions, no one knew that they had actually known each other for years.

Just as no one knew that they lived under the same roof.

-

A cloudy morning. The whole school was in its morning reading period.

The student council's discipline department was making its rounds through the classes, with Deng Aihe leading the inspections of students' appearance and uniforms.

When they reached Class 1 of Grade 10, Ming Xue was the only one without her nameplate.

The room was noisy.

A classmate she'd argued with made snide remarks, blaming her for holding everyone back, but didn't notice

the young student council president approaching from behind the crowd.

Amid the crowd's curious stares, Deng Aihe stopped, put away his score sheet, and crouched to pin the nameplate she'd left at home onto Ming Xue.

"I brought it for you. Stop sulking."

He rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and rested his elbow on his knee, his eyes smiling. "Mom and Uncle aren't home. You've still got your big brother, right? Stop asking them to come home three times a day. You're making the group chat noisy."

Everyone's gaze shifted between her and Deng Aihe.

Ming Xue complained, "As if I want to see you..." as she hid her phone behind her back.

The phone screen showed the message she had just sent to the contacts saved as "Mom" and "Uncle."

--"Can you really not come home for one more week?"

[Coming Soon 3]: Mountain of Light, a British royal prince x a young female jewel thief.

The thief "Jade" appeared, stole the royal diamond crown, and vanished.

The media coverage was relentless, and the royal family couldn't take any more of it.

Prince Eugene was thrown to the wolves, made the royal spokesperson for the theft.

"Damn it, damn it, stop asking! I've told you, we haven't caught her yet!"

Prince Eugene complained furiously, his exquisite face twisted with anger.

He threw off his expensive cloak, messed up his carefully styled blond hair,

and ran all the way to the balcony. Before the statue of the Queen, he secretly closed his eyes and made a wish: "Oh, for the glory of the Queen, I hope that damned thief discovers her conscience and gets punished. May she cut her hand on a dinner knife, trip and break her leg while making her escape, and injure her eyes while admiring a diamond..."

Before he could finish his wish, a soft laugh came on the breeze.

He opened his eyes.

An Eastern girl in night clothes landed lightly on his windowsill,

arriving like an elf.

"Hello, Your Highness. Tonight, would you like to use a golden dinner knife, a silver dinner knife,"

she said with a smile, tilting her head at the panicked Eugene, the prince people called the "British Emerald," "or do you simply want to see me, the little thief?"

-

The Mountain of Light, Koh-i-Noor, was mined in Golconda, India. Weighing 108.97 carats, it changed hands several times before finally being set in the British Queen's crown.

During the months he spent matching wits with Jade,

Eugene thought Jade was climbing this Mountain of Light.

Later, he discovered that she wasn't the one climbing the mountain.

Theme: Modern knowledge can breathe new life into the past.