A modern story! A chaotic mix of immortals, humans, and ghosts, set mainly in the modern world.
A quick-witted ghost who outsmarts herself x a feng shui master who plays the fool while hiding her strength
After a bizarre accident, urban legend blogger Yan Zhaotang becomes a wandering spirit.
Good news: She isn't quite dead, and has a chance to come back to life.
Bad news: She's too blind to see who she's caught the attention of: a powerful feng shui master.
Even worse news: The master wants to marry her in a ghost wedding.
On their wedding night, the woman lays down three rules. Since Yan Zhaotang needs her help, she readily agrees to everything, until her eyes land on the words "dual cultivation." Her ears grow hot. "It's only a marriage of convenience. Do we really have to go that far?"
"Yes."
"Then... do we have to do it often?"
"No..." The woman pauses, then turns her head and coughs.
Yan Zhaotang lets out a sigh of relief, secretly glad that the woman knows she's delicate and can't handle too much.
But that very night, Yan Zhaotang learns just how different the woman is from what she seems.
Things get even more outrageous over the following days. Yan Zhaotang fumes, "Didn't you say no..."
"My throat was itchy. I didn't finish what I was saying." The woman rubs her thumb over Yan Zhaotang's swollen, flushed lower lip. "Not often. Every day."
*
Everyone in the world of feng shui knows that Jiang Bunian is decisive and cold by nature. When news of her marriage gets out, the whole community is in an uproar.
Those in the know whisper that her new wife looks remarkably like an old acquaintance from a thousand years ago.
Yan Zhaotang doesn't think much of it, until one night, while caring for Jiang Bunian, she accidentally discovers a yellowed portrait hidden under her pillow. The person in the painting looks seven parts like her.
So the rumor is true... This marriage is a matter of mutual convenience. Yan Zhaotang is sure she knows where she stands and has never let Jiang Bunian into her heart, yet that night she tosses and turns, unable to sleep.
Before long, the feng shui world is in an uproar:
The usually cool and desireless Jiang Bunian posts her first Weibo: @Yan Zhaotang's Exploration Diary, introducing my wife, whom I worked so hard to win over.
At the same time, she tells the trembling Yan Zhaotang to "relax" while biting her earlobe and whispering, "They still don't believe us, and I can't spare a hand. Please repost my Weibo, wife, and give me a proper title."
Reader's guide:
#One-on-one, happy ending, mutual pursuit, master and disciple
#From Yan's perspective, it's a marriage first and love later; from Jiang's, it's a longtime crush come true
#Past and present lives; they reunite right at the start, with little space devoted to the past-life storyline
#A wild mix of my own worldbuilding!!!
Theme: Love faces every hardship, and conquers every hardship.
