Rain Lingers Over the Capital's Outskirts

Lu Yindong has a secret: as a child, she received a Resurrection Contract. It can bring back someone who cannot be cured, but the price is ten years of her own life.

Yindong admired the refined young gentleman Pei Fang. She waited for him until she was a nineteen-year-old old maid, yet he never returned her feelings.

The world mocked her for reaching above her station. A lowborn daughter from a humble household, she dared dream of marrying into nobility. Even her family was ashamed of her.

At year's end, rebel forces laid siege to the city. Pei Fang was struck by a poisoned arrow while protecting the heir to the throne, and lay at death's door...

Yindong activated the Resurrection Contract, silently giving up ten years of her life to save Pei Fang.

Before she even had time to feel moved by her own sacrifice, she died the next day.

Only then did Yindong learn that she had originally been destined to live just twenty-nine years...

For ten years, Yindong's lonely ghost wandered the mortal world. She watched the new king ascend the throne and Pei Fang, whose service had helped him seize power, rise through the ranks to become a third-rank official. He even married Ju Fenghe, a celebrated young lady of the capital, and their union became a romantic tale.

Everyone believed that when Pei Fang had been gravely ill, Miss Ju had saved him from the brink of death with a medicine made from her own heart's blood. Even Pei Fang was convinced.

On the day of her twenty-ninth death anniversary, Yindong unexpectedly returned to the year she was nine.

Given another life, she threw the Resurrection Contract to Ju Fenghe, avoided any connection with Pei Fang, and even moved to the outskirts of the capital of her own accord.

She wanted only to live apart from the world. But on a rainy night, Pei Fang and Liu Yun, the rebel leader, arrived uninvited...

*

Liu Yun also has a secret: he takes pleasure in killing people and has a taste for human flesh.

One day, he held a banquet at his residence, serving human flesh disguised as game meat and enjoying the sight of his guests eating with relish.

He noticed a female guest at the far end of the table chew a single bite, then spit it out. She trembled with fear and refused to eat another bite.

At that moment, his eyes lit up.

Content warning: 1. This author doesn't believe in content warnings.

*This blurb was screenshotted and saved in an email in 2017.

Theme: Respect yourself first, and others will respect you in turn.