Ballad of the Desert Gu

You can also check out the story next door, The Dream Conquest Project [Infinite Flow].

This is a transmigration fantasy wearing the guise of a household-intrigue story. The male lead comes from the modern era and travels to the past, while the female lead is a native of that world. The early story has light household intrigue, with supernatural elements in the later half.

A sweet and gentle wife who grows into a defiant witch & a seemingly frivolous, poor painter who is actually a kind and thoughtful strategist

Character descriptions, translated into modern terms:

A proud, pampered, cool older woman & a cheerful, sunny college boy who pretends to be brooding

[One-on-one romance, happy ending~]

Blurb 1:

Shen Lannu was born with a deadly fate. Her birth killed her mother, and she was destined to bring misfortune to her father, husband, and everyone close to her. At best, she'd bring endless bad luck. At worst, her family would be destroyed.

She was supposed to be sacrificed to Heaven to break the curse, but her father saved her and sent her away from the household to be raised by her grandmother, whose fate could counteract her own.

Her father and his relatives never came to visit, so from childhood, she longed to return to her family as soon as possible.

She waited and waited. Then, in early winter, at the age of sixteen, a carriage finally arrived to take her back.

She returned home full of joy, never imagining that it was only because she had reached the age of marriage and was to take her younger sister's place as a bride!

That might have been all right if the groom had been a decent man, but he was a notorious playboy, famous throughout the city for his womanizing!

To win some affection from her family, she pretended to be obedient and sensible, but they never treated her with sincerity. The longer she stayed in the Shen household, the more disappointed she became, keeping herself going with the occasional scraps of affection her father tossed her way.

When she first met Song Heng, he had been commissioned by that playboy to paint her portrait. The moment he saw her stunning beauty, he was smitten and began approaching her with one clumsy "lie" after another.

Lannu didn't dislike him. She found him amusing and played along with his stories, adding a little fun to her dull life in the household.

His behavior was strange, his words absurd, and he seemed completely out of place in this world.

His ideas were bizarre and bold. Before she knew it, he had warmed her heart and changed her, making her braver.

As time went by, she began to think that if she were the daughter of an ordinary family, she could marry an ordinary painter and live a peaceful life. What could be wrong with that?

But he didn't seem to be approaching her out of love, and his "lies" were gradually coming true. They also led to clues that her birth mother's death had not been as straightforward as it seemed.

Before the truth could be uncovered, her wedding day arrived.

At last, she gathered enough courage to sever her fated match, correct her name, accept that she was unloved, and choose to leave.

She would begin a life that truly belonged to her!

Shen Lannu was part of the past. Shen Lanchao's life had only just begun!

2.

Wait... Something's wrong! Very wrong!

She thought she saw her dead mother...

But her mother should have been guided into the afterlife and reincarnated long ago!

Could Song Heng really have been right?

There was once an ancient people in the Western Regions called the Guyao, but they vanished more than thirty years ago.

Yet all sorts of clues suggest that Shen Lanchao has a deep connection with the Guyao people!

It's said that Guyao witches can control souls, and that a witch's blood grants immortality. As luck would have it, the old emperor is searching the whole land for a way to live forever...

Uh-oh! This is bad!

No wonder she sometimes feels as if she can sense the dead. It turns out the Guyao blood in her veins is at work.

Her new life is full of danger at every turn!

The mystery of her mother's death, the reason she refused to be reincarnated, the mysterious ancient Guyao people, the truth behind immortality, and the young man from the future...

This is a journey across time, a quest to change fate.

As the past unfolds, it turns out Lanchao has never been alone.

#A Little Skit#

First meeting:

Song Heng asked, "Excuse me, have we met somewhere before?"

Shen Lannu answered seriously, "We haven't met."

Second meeting:

Song Heng brought out an old portrait to compare and asked again, "Are you sure we haven't met?"

(What he meant: How could I mistake the person I've been searching for all this time?)

Shen Lannu rolled her eyes to herself. "We've really never met!"

(What she thought: This guy's kind of annoying!)

Third meeting:

Song Heng: "We've really never met? I don't believe you!"

(I have proof that I haven't mistaken you for someone else!)

Shen Lannu: "??? Then the person you saw must have been a ghost!"

The Nth meeting:

Song Heng stared at the translucent female ghost floating in midair, trembling all over. "...Wait! There really are ghosts in your world!?"

Shen Lanchao laughed mercilessly. "Hah, coward!"

(The future is so backward? You haven't seen the world! You're afraid of the cold, too, bundled up like a dumpling every day! And now you're afraid of ghosts!)

#Reading Guide#

1. This is a slow-paced story. The dynasty and official titles are modeled on the Tang dynasty, with many fictional details.

2. The heroine is a native of this world who grows over time. At first, she is lost and starved for affection, but she gradually matures and learns to stand firm in who she is. Witches are the best! The male lead is a transmigrator from the modern era. In either time period, he's just an ordinary person, with no powerful background and little interest in power or wealth. He only wants to go home! (Song Heng: Who gets it? I was suddenly dragged a thousand years into the past!)

3. About the heroine's original name: Shen Lannu. In the story, the character "Nu" has a negative meaning, with a plausible explanation. After the household-intrigue arc ends, she changes her name. If that bothers you, please take note.

4. The heroine has three marriage arcs in the story. The second marriage lasts for a while before ending in divorce. If that bothers you, please take note.

5. There are many female characters in the story and truly very few male characters.

This story will not be abandoned. The locked chapters are being revised. I'll get back to this story after finishing the Infinite Flow story next door!

Theme: Your life should be lived for yourself!