A Light Kiss on the Hibiscus: Crown Prince Xiao Tong of Zhaoming

The story opens during lotus season. Darlings, please add it to your favorites =3=

[Blurb]

Where has His Highness the Crown Prince gone? Your Highness! Your Highness... Shen Yue searched the entire study pavilion several times, sweating with worry.

Could it be that Li Daoyuan's words had come true, and His Highness really had:

"A note in the Book of Waters reveals heaven's secrets; on Luoyang's lotus pond, a boat is laid to rest. He bends to kiss the lotus and sinks beneath the clear waves"?

Shen Yue was horrified.

It had been a mistake to obey the Crown Prince and hide from Emperor Wu of Liang that Li Daoyuan, the Northern Wei "geomantic scholar," had come to the Liang kingdom.

That self-proclaimed "farmer" Jia Sixie, who was best at tilling fields, was probably in league with Li Daoyuan, too!

Grand Tutor, what did you want me for? Xiao Tong asked with a smile.

Your Highness, where have you been? Shen Yue regained his composure.

"I met an interesting young woman. Her name is Yuan Huiru, and she's a distant cousin of Yuan Ziyou, the future Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei. I asked why she'd come to Liang and why, while staying at a temple, she'd taken the name Huiniang."

"This is what she told me: 'Who says everyone staying at a temple is a nun? I'm a laywoman. What are you puzzled about, Your Highness? You South-Dynasty people can have your four hundred and eighty temples, but we in Northern Wei can't change our clothes and customs? Or do you find my Liang-style women's clothes strange?'"

Our story begins when Crown Prince Zhao Ming, Xiao Tong, accompanies his Grand Tutor Shen Yue to Wuzhen to study, where they first encounter Li Daoyuan, Jia Sixie, and Yuan Huiru. It continues all the way to Emperor Yuan of Liang, Xiao Yi, weeping for Xiao Tong after burning 140,000 books, and ends with the fall of the Liang kingdom.

Let's return to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, an age of romance and turmoil, and experience:

The most resolute: Xiao Yan enters the Buddhist clergy (Emperor Wu of Liang)

The most memorable: Xiao Tong compiles the Wen Xuan (Crown Prince Zhao Ming)

The most lamented: Xiao Gang inherits the throne (Emperor Jianwen)

The most tragic: Xiao Zan and Yuan Ziyou (If not born together, then let us die together)

The most heroic: Xiao Lun saves the Taicheng fortress (Sixth Prince)

The most heartbreaking: Xiao Yi destroys poetry and books (Emperor Yuan of Liang)

The most unforgivable: Hou Jing and Er Zhu Rong (Li Zicheng of later generations weeps as he makes an offering)

The most beautiful: Noble Consort Ding Lingguang (mother of Xiao Tong and Xiao Gang)

The most helpless: Ling Ying sits alone in the cool of night (mother of Xiao Yi)

The most absurd: Lady Xu's half-made-up face (Xiao Yi's wife)

The most fleeting: Huiniang's reward of red beans (Xiao Tong's confidante)

Notes:

1. If Emperor Wu of Liang were the head of the family in Dream of the Red Chamber, then Crown Prince Xiao Tong would be Xue Baochai: upright in character, pure in nature, beautiful in appearance, and graceful in manner. Xiao Gang would be Lin Daiyu: her heart reflects an empty mound of fragrance, and her love of flowers leaves her heart hollow and shattered. Xiao Yi would be Wang Xifeng: so clever in her schemes that her own cleverness ultimately becomes her undoing.

2. Yinzhen: Imperial Father, we brothers fought over the throne, but the Xiao family had a civil war among eight brothers! Kangxi: Fourth Prince, compare yourself to Xiao Yi. Did you become a true emperor, or merely become emperor?

3. The true cause of Xiao Tong's death wasn't a fright after falling into the water, an infected leg injury, or strained relations with his father. It was...

4. A serious historical drama based on verifiable historical records, with the Southern Liang and Northern Wei storylines progressing in parallel.

5. Updates daily at noon. Welcome, dear readers: please leave gifts, favorites, and comments!

First blurb drafted on 20241014

This version of the blurb was revised and submitted on 20250411

Thank you, dear readers, for your support. Happy reading!

Theme: The story follows the life of Crown Prince Zhao Ming, Xiao Tong, and the storms that swept through the Liang dynasty. Its brightest moments and darkest days all fade like clouds and mist.