Days Spent Contemplating Life on Liangshan

Next up: the historical novels The Four Emperors and My Princess Consort with Autism

Inspired by #Lin Daiyu at the Mountain Temple in a Snowstorm#, not a derivative work.

Silver-tongued strategist x taciturn, strongest fighter

1.

When Ming Xinwei was sixteen, she had a long dream. She dreamed that Jizhou rebelled, the court was reshuffled, and she married a high-ranking official as his second wife, only to die a miserable death in prison.

Let's put the other things in that dream aside for now. A second wife? She was a renowned young talent, one of the best female scholars in the capital, and her sixteen years of life had gone smoothly. She seemed modest and virtuous on the outside, but really thought the world of herself. Frankly, not one of the so-called eligible bachelors in the capital appealed to her.

A second wife? No way!

Passing a mountain temple, she picked up her brush and made a vow: “I, your faithful devotee, vow to donate ten golden statues. Please turn my fortunes around. I'll make my own luck.”

The very next day, bandits robbed her and took her up to Liangshan.

What!?

I prayed for a match, not for death!

The Bodhisattva: “Well, did your situation change or not?”

An eight-hundred-li expanse of water surrounded the bandits' stronghold, with reeds stretching as far as the sky. All she could do was gaze across the lake and sigh. There was no escape.

Well, she'd made it this far. She'd cling to a powerful ally and serve as a strategist. How hard could it be?

Warships lined up as the hills rose like giant waves, and the imperial army came to attack.

Wait. Were those troops being led by her second brother and that conveniently acquired fiance?

2.

At first, she thought she'd gotten the script for a failed elopement and a strategist trying to keep her head.

Later:

The Beizhou rebellion? Me?

Bringing Liangshan under imperial rule? Me?

The pacification fails, and it's still... me?

3.

At first, Yang Shu thought she was a nuisance!

Later: How do I get her to make trouble for me?

[OOC skit]

Yang Shu: She doesn't say it, but I know she must love me deep down. ^^

Second male lead: We had a formal engagement with all the proper betrothal rites. Who the hell are you?

Yang Shu: (Draws his sword and knocks him flying) The one who isn't loved is the third wheel!

Female lead: I was forced to read ten thousand books as a child, and forced to travel ten thousand miles when I grew up... Thanks for asking. I'm at Liangshan, just been granted amnesty, and even a dog wouldn't take the job of being a pretty wife.

[Silver-tongued strategist heroine. She turns her fate around with nothing but her words.

When you're away from home, you can decide your own identity!

Making things up on the spot and tricking confessions out of people are easy peasy~]

A story about a poetry-loving woman who accidentally ends up at Liangshan and learns to stand on her own.

The setting is fictional, during the transfer of power from Emperor Zhenzong to Emperor Renzong of the Song. No historical knowledge required.

Reader's Guide:

1. Jizhou's eight-hundred-li lake has nothing to do with Water Margin. The Yellow River frequently burst its banks, gradually forming Liangshan Marsh from the Five Dynasties period through the Northern Song. It was a real geographical feature mentioned in both the Zizhi Tongjian and the History of Song.

2. The heroine's maternal grandmother transmigrated; the heroine herself was born and raised in ancient times.

3. No mindless golden finger. The story aims for historical accuracy and realism.

4. Happy ending, one-on-one romance.

--- The Four Emperors ---

The cultivators of the world are divided into four schools: corpse tamers, ghost tamers, sword cultivators, and spirit tamers.

Zhongli Yan, born to a family of spirit tamers, was a prodigy among her peers from a young age. She also had an unknown little fetish: she was obsessed with upright ears.

Especially ones with a full outline and a graceful shape. The bigger the better, and they had to twitch quickly and nimbly.

The first time she met Si Jue, he was a giant dog demon, covered in wounds. But on his head was a pair of upright ears, full and beautifully shaped.

Their size was quite impressive, too.

When they twitched... Gah

Who could possibly resist that?!

The entries in Zhongli Yan's cultivation journal soon became extremely terse.

Eleventh day of the winter month: pet the dog.

Twelfth day of the winter month: pet the dog.

Thirteenth day of the winter month: pet the dog.

Fourteenth day of the winter month: Zhongli Yan, Zhongli Yan, how could you sink so low? Have you forgotten the ambitions you once held? You can't go on like this.

Fifteenth day of the winter month: pet the dog.

Sixteenth day of the winter month: pet the dog.

After getting into danger, Si Jue became trapped inside the body of a dog demon and was captured by a woman.

She was utterly despicable, relentlessly tormenting his dog ears. Unable to bear it any longer, Si Jue used every ounce of his strength to control the demon's body and finally transformed into a human.

Wait, why are the ears still here?

After countless trials and tribulations, Si Jue finally recovered his identity and returned to the Sword Sect, only to hear some unbelievable news.

His engagement had been broken off.

His fiancee had run off with a dog.

Zhongli Yan's Cultivation Journal

Third day of the third month: lost my beloved dog.

Fourth day of the third month: found the dog. Half-found him. Wait, did I just leave the beginner's village and run into a max-level succubus?

Fifth day of the third month: Hehe, I've thought of a brilliant excuse to break off the engagement.

Theme: Long have I hated that this body is not my own. Today, at last, I know myself for who I am.