After Ten Years of Widowhood

This novel will be released as a paid chapter on March 25, with nearly ten thousand new words at that time. Thank you, my dears, for your support. (Bows)

Pei Zhongxi's beloved died in a car accident ten years ago.

In a torrential downpour, the car plunged off a cliff. The only proof that she had ever existed was the pearl necklace belonging to his late wife, wrapped three times around Pei Zhongxi's wrist.

Then, on another rainy night just like that one, she found a girl soaked through on the side of the road.

Eighteen-year-old An Rong wore a white dress and was cornered in an alley by a group of thugs, backing away in terror.

The car's headlights cut across the road like a sword. An Rong was suddenly grabbed and pulled into the car.

Behind the wheel, Pei Zhongxi's gaze was deep and her manner dignified and elegant, with a barely perceptible air of brokenness, as if she were lost in overwhelming grief.

An Rong smiled brightly and wiped the rain from her face.

"Thank you! You look so much like Pei Zhongxi. Are you related to her? You look so young."

What a beautiful person.

She was nothing like the person An Rong had a crush on.

The person behind the wheel didn't react. Her dark eyes flickered for a moment. She picked up a handkerchief and wiped the droplets from An Rong's cheek. The pearl necklace twisted around her wrist swayed as she moved. Veins stood out on the back of her hand, while every part of her body and heart spoke of longing for her beloved.

The car doors locked. Only then did An Rong realize she should be afraid. "You're not with those thugs, are you? I called the police!"

The handkerchief fell. The girl cowered by the car door, almost crying from fear.

When I miss you so desperately, we meet again.

She thought she really must be quite ill.

Pei Zhongxi's oil paintings sold for astronomical sums at auction. Her work was worth a fortune, and countless wealthy businessmen clamored for it. Newly rich entrepreneurs affected an air of refinement, doing anything they could just to get on her good side.

She herself was extremely low-key. Only a few people around her knew she had a serious psychological illness.

Drinking and insomnia had become the norm.

Now, the artist no longer touched alcohol.

The girl, bright as the sun, took away every bottle of wine and set fire to her expensive cigars. She dragged the artist, who had tried to drown herself in the bathtub, off to see a therapist.

From then on, Pei Zhongxi, who had lived in darkness for so long, stopped wearing only black, white, and gray. The white chrysanthemums that had never changed in her house were replaced with red roses.

Pei Zhongxi became a completely different person. A bright, beautiful girl was always by her side, and she let her play with the pearl necklace she cherished as if it were nothing.

People in their circle began to speculate that the artist was dating someone, that she was keeping a young girl.

The rumors reached An Rong's ears.

An Rong twirled the pearl necklace around her finger and said,

"Keeping her? I was the one supporting her, all right... If I hadn't worked to earn money, she wouldn't be where she is today."

Pei Zhongxi's oil paintings were no longer filled only with oppressive rainy nights and lightning tearing across the sky.

She began painting people. Her once-sharp, uncompromising palette grew tender and precious.

A reporter asked in an interview, "Who is the girl in your painting?"

Pei Zhongxi took a faded photograph from her wallet. It showed two schoolgirls posing together in a rented room.

"My first love, and the person I love now."

A gloomy, barely living widow who turns timid around her wife, the pursuer X the bright, sweet girl who came back from the dead, the pursued.

*Not a supernatural story

*A sweet story, no angst

Here's a preview of my next book: Finding a Disabled Female General

Blurb:

Xiao Changling first saw the female general five years ago in the capital. She had won a battle and stood at the height of her glory.

The next time she saw the general was in an alley in the borderlands.

Her flesh was split open. Blood and grime obscured her striking, spirited features, leaving them dull. Her leg was broken, and she would likely never ride into battle again.

The times were turbulent, and neither of them was what she once had been.

Xiao Changling took her home.

Ning Yan was like an old sword, its blade covered in rust, its skin torn and raw. Even dragging herself along the ground was difficult.

A female general shouldn't have fallen so low, but that was always how a general's story ended.

Xiao Changling considered it a good deed. She changed Ning Yan's bandages, bought her clothes, and nourished her with warm meals. She kept her in a dry, warm bed and comforted her, gently helping the treasured sword regain its sharp edge.

Ning Yan grew stronger day by day, but her ambition grew greater too. She cut off the rebel army's leader's head and presented it to the woman who had saved her.

Then she asked whether Xiao Changling wanted to reach the highest seat in the land.

Ning Yan gazed at her reverently, kneeling halfway on the ground and rubbing her cheek against Xiao Changling's palm.

She said, "I am willing to serve you as my sovereign. Your will is my mission. Please give me a chance to repay you."

Xiao Changling wanted to marry her.

The corrupt nobility celebrated the constant reports of victories at the front.

But in the blink of an eye, the imperial capital's gates were battered open by cold cavalry, and Ning Yan's sword swept away every obstacle in the path of the woman she loved.

Da Zhou welcomed its first empress.

The flagstones outside the Meridian Gate were soaked with blood. The nobility and officials trembled as they knelt beneath the blade and praised the empress's boundless virtues.

But no one expected that on the very first day of her reign, the tyrannical empress would announce that she intended to take a wife.

And now, the general skilled in killing was obedient in the red wedding tent. Coaxed into it, she could say the most outrageous, clinging things, her eyes filled with tenderness and only her beloved.

"Your Majesty, I'll give you what you want. Please look at me more, too."

But the only thing I've ever wanted is you.

A scheming woman who can rule a household and manage a kitchen, the pursuer X a devoted, loyal general, the pursued.

*They had a secret crush on each other in the past

Theme: Knowledge changes your fate