[A brave, steadfast, rebellious female chieftain x a cool-headed, self-disciplined, down-and-out civil official]
Born into the Yun clan on the southwestern frontier, Chu Yuechuan lost her right to inherit the chieftainship because her father, a Han Chinese man, abandoned his wife and daughter. All she could do was serve as a priestess in name only.
Within the clan, elders vied for power and couldn't feed the people.
Outside it, a vassal prince schemed to sow discord, and tensions with the Han Chinese ran high.
Chu Yuechuan stared at the chieftain's official seal, unable to sleep night after night.
She would take her mother's surname, seize the seal, abolish human sacrifice, move the village, break the clan rules, and find a way forward.
She would lead her people out of the deep mountains and miasma-filled forests, out of backwardness and poverty, and away from hunger.
The elders called her delusional. The Han officials laughed at her for overestimating herself.
Even the young man who loved her asked, "Aman, aren't you afraid the mountain god will punish you?"
Lying in a field with a rice stalk between her teeth, she didn't care in the slightest.
"If the mountain god really does punish me, then at worst, it'll strike me down and use me as an offering before the troops."
Later, a Han official whose reforms had failed was demoted to this place.
He watched her antics and ignored her pleas for help.
But on a rainy night when a mountain flood broke loose, he limped toward her step by step, raised an umbrella, and shielded her from her torrential tears.
He said, "If the mountain god really does punish you, I'll face it with you."
-
Xu Henian was born into a family of generations of scholars and officials. He had been a favored child of heaven, destined for the highest honors.
He entered government service at sixteen and spent nine years carrying out reforms alongside his grandfather. In the end, his family was confiscated, he was imprisoned, and his parents hanged themselves.
Though he was fortunate enough to survive, he was stripped of his title and exiled to Yunnan and Guizhou. Now he could only serve as a low-ranking official dealing with the chieftains.
On his way to take up his post, an old political enemy sent him travel money and clothes, along with a poem by Master Zizhan.
He stared at the line, "With bamboo staff and straw sandals, I walk more lightly than a horse," then looked down at his two legs, now numb and senseless. He couldn't tell whether it was mockery or comfort.
Then one day, lost in a miasma-filled forest, with the Bamon people holding him down beneath a blade, he thought his miserable life would finally be over.
Then he heard a whistle on the wind. A young woman of another people, dressed in bridal red, galloped toward him beneath the evening glow. With a flick of her whip, she snapped the long blade in two and shouted to him in broken Han Chinese:
"Han man, get up!"
Xu Henian gazed at her, trembling all over, and for no reason recalled the line from the poem:
"The slanting sunlight on the mountain meets me on my way."
[Reading Guide]
1. Older man and younger woman, both virgins, with a seven-year age gap. The male lead is disabled early on.
2. The setting is fictional. Please don't associate it with reality.
3. This story does not allude to any real history, ethnic group, or culture. Long live ethnic unity!
4. Blurb screenshot dated 25.5.20
Theme: Ideals endure.
