Folding Green Joy

[Currently serializing Coward of His, please show your support]

[Completed novels: Spring's Long Crossing, Comforting You, When the Peach Blossoms of Chang'an Have Fallen, Exploring the Capital]

Wan Qingyu and Xiao Qiuzhe lived apart as soon as they married. She lived halfway up a mountain, tending flowers and growing plants, while he fought ruthlessly for power in the capital.

·

Everyone knew their marriage was a transaction of mutual interest, with no love involved.

They had been married for two years, putting on a show of harmony while remaining estranged and resenting each other.

·

When Wan Qingyu's childhood friend Fu Yushu, a brilliant young man with a moonlit, breezy temperament, returned, rumors spread through every street and alley that she and Xiao Qiuzhe were about to "divorce."

·

That day, Xiao Qiuzhe returned from court and, as usual, ate alone and slept alone.

Late that night, the attendant he had sent to investigate arrived in the rain and said, "My lord, Fu Yushu went to the little house in the mountains and hasn't come out."

Xiao Qiuzhe sat up abruptly in bed and asked coldly, "Do you know what they did?"

The attendant glanced at him and replied, "I couldn't see clearly, but..."

Xiao Qiuzhe asked urgently, "But what?"

The attendant replied cautiously, "But... the lights in the house went out."

The lights in the house went out?

·

Xiao Qiuzhe immediately got out of bed, grabbed a cloak, and hurried out of the room.

The rain was getting heavier, and the weather colder.

Xiao Qiuzhe mounted a fast horse and rode through the biting wind and heavy rain to the little house in the mountains that very night.

·

Xiao Qiuzhe knocked on the door. Wan Qingyu opened it, looking surprised.

Without saying a word, Xiao Qiuzhe rushed inside and looked around. There was no one else in the room.

·

Wan Qingyu closed the door and coughed weakly a few times. Looking at Xiao Qiuzhe, soaked to the skin, she said, "Lord Xiao, my humble home is rather simple. Please make yourself comfortable."

Xiao Qiuzhe looked at her, gaunt and pale as paper, his eyes full of complicated emotions.

·

Wan Qingyu coughed several times and told him, "A few days ago, the Prince's Residence cut off my allowance. I was too embarrassed to ask my family for money. Lord Fu heard I was sick, so he just came to bring me some money."

Lord Fu? Her childhood friend, Fu Yushu, the man she had once loved.

·

Xiao Qiuzhe frowned at her, his eyes filled with complicated emotions and sternness. He said each word distinctly: "Wan Qingyu, you must remember that I am your lawful husband, the man you went through the wedding ceremony with."

"When you're in trouble..."

"You'd rather turn to him than to me?"

·

Wan Qingyu looked at her husband, who seemed a little different from before. She opened her mouth, unsure how to explain.

Xiao Qiuzhe gave a cold laugh, strode up to her, and swept her into his arms.

He tossed out a chilly order: "Come back to the capital with me. Spend whatever you like from the Prince's Residence. Anyone who tries to stop you will be killed without mercy."

·

Reading Guide:

1. Marriage first, love later. Both leads are each other's first and only.

2. The aloof beauty goes all out to win back his wife.

3. Sweet romance.

4. The male lead is not the prince, but the eldest legitimate son of the prince.

My new novel, Spring's Long Crossing, is currently serializing. Blurb:

[Add it to your favorites, and you'll see it as soon as it starts serializing]

Blurb:

Shen Zhiyan was born into a distinguished family. Talented and beautiful, she married Xue Zhaorong, the second son of the Prince's Residence, when she was seventeen.

Xue Zhaorong was a noble young man who ranked among the best in both looks and talent. Only after becoming engaged to Shen Zhiyan did he learn that she already had a beloved, her own moonlight.

Their wedding was exceptionally grand, taking the whole capital by storm.

But on the second day of their marriage, Shen Zhiyan moved to a separate residence.

A year later, the court was thrown into turmoil, and the entire Prince's household was sentenced to death.

·

That winter, the snow fell heavily. On the icy execution platform, Shen Zhiyan looked at Xue Zhaorong and, for the first time, saw guilt and reluctance in his eyes, along with a tenderness she couldn't quite make sense of.

He gave a bitter smile and said, "Zhiyan, if there's another life, don't meet me again. I'm sorry. I brought you down with me."

That year, he was twenty-two and she was eighteen.

·

She was reborn twenty-six years into the Ling Kingdom.

That day, the rain fell hard. Xue Zhaorong followed his father to discuss the wedding date.

The adults discussed matters in the main hall, while Shen Zhiyan and Xue Zhaorong were sent to a guest room by her mother.

·

The rain pattered loudly outside. In the dim light, Shen Zhiyan looked up at him.

He stood tall and elegant, with features like a painting and an air of nobility that made it impossible to look away.

·

Just like in their previous life, his expression was always cold.

He looked down at her and said in a cool voice, "Miss Shen, our marriage is an arrangement made by our parents, and we cannot go against it. After we marry, I will live in a side room and will never disturb your peace."

The rain outside nearly drowned out his voice.

She turned to close the window and replied softly, "Young Master Xue, don't worry. I've already been discussing breaking off the engagement with my father. I'm sure we'll soon be free again."

The room fell silent. When she looked at him again, she saw complicated emotions in his eyes.

·

Before long, they got married after all, and she became his wife again.

She thought that, as in their previous life, they would sleep in separate rooms and leave each other alone.

But one day, he suddenly came to discuss sharing a room with her.

·

After washing up, she was drying her hair when she opened the door to let him in and asked, "Young Master Xue, is there something important bringing you here so late?"

She still called him "Young Master Xue."

His heart suddenly felt sour. He gazed at her snow-white skin and long, dark hair, fell silent for a moment, then replied, "Recently, a few matrons have been gossiping behind our backs, saying that we don't get along and intend to divorce. They also say... your cousin passed the imperial exam and came third, and the residence bestowed on him by the emperor is right next door to ours. To put a stop to these unkind rumors, I think we should stop sleeping in separate rooms."

He paused, then lowered his voice. "Tonight... I'd like to sleep here with you."

As he spoke, he took out a box of lip rouge and set it on the table.

·

Reading Guide:

1. Both leads are reborn, and both are each other's first and only.

2. Marriage first, love later. The aloof beauty descends from his pedestal.

3. Sweet romance.

[Please add the author's page to your favorites, so you can see the novel as soon as it starts serializing.]

Theme: Face life's storms together and turn them into an eternity.