She Received a Farewell Letter

The blurb for my next story, "Journey Through Longxi", is at the bottom. Please add it to your collection~

Both leads have only ever been with each other / one-on-one romance / alternate history. A masterful schemer with a serpent's heart × a perceptive, mild-mannered gentleman

The Shilangsi of the Great Xun dynasty holds the Five Lantern-Bearers. Whatever the emperor commands, they obey; wherever they go, they prevail.

In the twenty-third year of Heguang, on the day of the Crown Prince's investiture ceremony, the prince drowned. Lantern-Bearer Xue Jianwei was ordered to investigate the suspected culprit, Cheng Mian, then serving as the prince's study companion.

On the first and fifteenth of every month, Xue Jianwei reported to the Shilangsi commissioner: Cheng Mian harbors no treasonous intentions.

As the saying goes, a woman can act three parts drunk and make you cry. For the battle-hardened Xue Jianwei, this trivial assignment was child's play.

Xue Jianwei's verdict: He's kind and quiet, someone worth befriending.

Cheng Mian's assessment: She's quite the schemer. Better stay on guard.

But by the time Xue Jianwei learned Cheng Mian's secret, hundreds lay dead or wounded behind her, and she was all alone. She could only drive her sword into his heart.

Cheng Mian stared at her in disbelief, his eyes bloodshot as he laughed bitterly. "You deceived me so completely!"

Xue Jianwei wiped the blood from her sword. "It was all for the Great Xun."

Six years later, the new emperor, Li Chengmian, traveled to the imperial mausoleum in Quzhou to perform rites. He and the formidable Xue Jianwei became entangled in a bloody case.

At first, he kept asking, almost obsessively, "Have we met before?"

Xue Jianwei only replied coldly, "Then I'll say it again: we've never met."

Later, Li Chengmian obtained several secret letters in Xue Jianwei's hand. Every one began with the same sentence: Cheng Mian harbors no treasonous intentions.

---Journey Through Longxi

A retired female crime boss returns to the jianghu × a stern-faced Commandant whose peacock-like courtship is an uphill struggle. Both are powerful, in their own ways.

In the third year of the Yuanding era of the Great Han, Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang, died in Chang'an. The emperor was so stricken with grief that he ordered the whole country into mourning.

A wedding procession arrived in Longxi Commandery. Only Jin Manyu, proprietress of the Tiger Might Inn, known as the iron Pi Xiu who "lets no one in and no one out," dared take on the job.

That night, as usual, Jin Manyu slipped into the bride's room to search for money, only to lock eyes with Zhang Bizi, bound hand and foot with his mouth sealed by oilcloth.

Jin Manyu stared in shock. Shouldn't this be the bride? How did it turn out to be some young master?

Zhang Bizi's eyes lit up. "Save me... save me!"

Jin Manyu furrowed her brows. What is he babbling about? Never mind, finding money comes first!

Jin Manyu rummaged all over and left with a full haul, leaving behind a despairing lamb awaiting slaughter, bleating, "Money! I've still got money!!!"

Zhang Bizi clutched the secret letter, stunned. It said his betrothed was a shy, taciturn young woman.

He glanced over. Jin Manyu was happily playing drinking games with a group of people.

The letter also said she was dignified, virtuous, gentle, and refined.

He glanced over again. Jin Manyu was swearing up a storm, and with one light slap, smashed the table to splinters.

Zhang Bizi closed his eyes in despair. It's over. It's all over. His whole life was ruined!

Later, the two traveled west from Longxi, enduring countless hardships before reaching Dunhuang. But Jin Manyu could only watch helplessly as Zhang Bizi died before her eyes.

Jin Manyu grabbed him by the collar and snarled, "You dare die on me? Believe me, I'll remarry this instant!"

Zhang Bizi smiled bitterly. "I knew it... he's always been the one in your heart."

A road story about customs reform that begins in Longxi. Customs wars are raging today, but how did our forebears impose tariff barriers on the Silk Road all those years ago?

Theme: A solitary moon shines bright, but it cannot rival the radiance of countless stars