You Remind Me of Someone I Once Knew

Blurb:

Lighting lamps as offerings to the Buddha is an important Buddhist practice. When the lamps shine, darkness fades, bringing blessings to all beings.

To guard a lamp is to guard a vow.

This is Tang Suzi's tenth year guarding the lamps at Tanshan Temple, and the tenth year since her death.

She does not know why she came here. She only remembers her grandmaster saying that she had once lingered at the Bridge of Helplessness, begging to accumulate merit and change someone's fate. She refused to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and later her grandmaster agreed to let her guard the lamps here and cultivate merit.

For ten years, every year around the time of Minor Snow, she has seen a man come to Tanshan Temple to light a lamp for a woman named Zhou Tiao.

He is very handsome, even though sorrow always lingers between his brows and eyes.

One day, the divine beast Blood Qilin flees the temple, and Tang Suzi is ordered to return to the mortal world and bring it back.

There, she meets Zhou Jin, the new prefect, who had once placed third in the imperial examinations. But why does he call her "Big Sister"?

And the man who came to offer lamps turns out to be Fang Buyu, the master of Skyhawk Pavilion.

What puzzles her is why his reaction is so strange whenever he sees her. He calls her... "Tiao Tiao"?

Even stranger is the divine beast Blood Qilin. They say it descended to the mortal world to save a benefactor.

In a year of famine, when it was undergoing tribulation, it bit her, yet she still left it half a steamed bun to keep it from starving.

But later, Tang Suzi discovers a beast's tooth scar on her own ankle too. How can that be?

What is going on?

--Coming Soon-- (If you're interested, visit the author's page and add it to your collection.)

"Breaking the Sunlight" by Lang Ta Ye

"We interrupt this broadcast with breaking news. The widely discussed 'genius girl who killed her father' case has been decided today. The sixteen-year-old defendant, Jiang, has been sentenced to ten years in prison."

No one in the Rolls-Royce paid any attention to the radio.

"Son, once you win this championship, your place at Q University is practically guaranteed. How do you want to celebrate tonight?"

Xie Zhaoye raised a hand to rub his temples and gazed out the window. He replied with just two words: "Whatever you want."

The wind blowing in through the window flipped through the training materials on the seat beside him. A line flashed into view:

"The top favorite to win this year's national 'Zhiyi Cup': Jiang Linyuan."

Ten years later.

Xie Zhaoye follows in his mentor's footsteps and devotes himself to longitudinal research on the psychology of juvenile offenders.

The market is awash with dirty water. His research subject, Jiang Linyuan, strolls toward him, closing in with every step.

"Dr. Xie." The questionnaire in her hand is rolled into a tube. She lifts its cold paper surface beneath his chin, her clear eyes full of scorn. "What have you figured out about me?"

The favored son of heaven, Xie Zhaoye, is pinned against the fishmonger's counter, his ears redder than the dripping gills on display.

Core theme: Though heaven and earth may wither, true love never dies.