A Young Female Official in Northern Song

Pre-release: After Following Su Shi into Exile in Qiongzhou. Please add it to your favorites, mwah~ ^o^

When Lin Yunyan was seventeen, her father, Lin Wenqing, was promoted and transferred to Bianjing, where powerful nobles were everywhere, becoming a low-ranking official of the sixth rank.

She became the daughter of a sixth-rank official in Bianjing.

Half a month after settling in Bianjing, her father arranged an introduction and brought over the son of an old hometown friend.

The second son of the Zhou family, Zhou Tingyun, was exactly as his name suggested: a refined gentleman, graceful and charming, and a very suitable match.

On a warm spring day, Lin Yunyan received an invitation from Madam Zhou to watch a polo match at Jinming Pool.

Halfway through the match, she suddenly sensed someone looking at her. Following the gaze, she saw a refined and dignified figure.

Lin Yunyan: I must be imagining things.

But afterward, she kept running into this young lord more and more often, and, by sheer coincidence, he always happened to walk right up to her.

Lin Yunyan: ...What does this mean?

*

The Duke of Dingguo's household had been a noble family for generations.

Su Jue, the duke's only son, was born into a prominent family. Refined and aloof, he had just come of age and was peerlessly handsome. He was the dream lover of countless noble young ladies in Bianjing.

At the polo match at Jinming Pool, he noticed the figure seated in a corner of the viewing stands at first sight.

Her lowered eyes and faint smile, her beauty as lovely as a flower, were unmatched.

Unfortunately, she was about to be betrothed to someone else.

A figure appeared in Su Jue's dreams. In them, she smiled at him, more dazzling than she had been on the day they first met.

He finally understood the old verse: "A graceful and virtuous maiden, awake or asleep, fills a gentleman's thoughts. Though he seeks her in vain, he tosses and turns in restless longing."

Su Jue pretended to show up by chance: at the polo match at Jinming Pool, at a lecture on Junyi Street, at the water games in Qionglin Garden...

Just catching a glimpse of her was enough.

The only problem was that, though he cared so much deep down, he still had to look utterly unbothered.

He wanted to be by her side openly and honorably.

*

When a sixth-rank official's daughter married up into a ducal household, the people of the capital watched with eager curiosity.

Some said the young lord was only caught up in a passing whim and would soon grow tired of her.

Others said the low-ranking official's daughter was unworthy of her position, would never hold on to her place as the duke's young madam, and would soon be cast out.

But contrary to everyone's expectations, the obscure young lady not only secured her place in the ducal household, she also made the young lord, the duke, and even the county princess put her wishes first.

The young lord: "My wife calls the shots at home."

The county princess: "Yunyan likes this. Take some back for her to try."

Even the duke, who had once been less than welcoming toward the young lady, chimed in: "My daughter-in-law can't stand the heat. I need to go supervise the summer villa so it suits her taste."

Meanwhile, Lin Yunyan, the center of everyone's attention, had this to say: Being pregnant is exhausting.

Those who had once looked down on her humble origins all got a taste of face-slapping.

She lived better than anyone.

#The Daily Romance and Baby-Raising Life of a Bianjing Official's Daughter

[Bonus Scene 1]

Su Jue, Young Lord: (complaining) You have no idea how hard and seriously I've worked to get close to you.

Lin Yunyan, Low-Ranking Official's Daughter: (pauses to think, then offers a suggestion) Then why don't you leave?

Su Jue, Young Lord: (firmly) No way!

Later, a rumor spread through Bianjing: the seemingly refined, cool, and arrogant Young Lord Su was tied up by an invisible rope. He might complain now and then, but if Fifth Miss Lin really tried to untie it, he would be more frantic than anyone to stop her.

Much later, everyone understood: he complained on the surface, but was really showing off.

[Bonus Scene 2]

Young Lord Su came from a distinguished family and had always been doted on.

But though he was used to being admired and at the center of everyone's attention, he grew quiet and attentive whenever Fifth Miss Lin spoke.

As if there were nothing in the world more worthy of his undivided attention.

[Reader's Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, happy ending, set in an alternate Northern Song dynasty

2. Updates daily with 6,000 words, at least 4,500

3. Bianjing official's daughter x only son of a ducal house

ᯠ _ ̫ _ ̥ ᯄ ੭

4. To be filled in

Pre-release: After Following Su Shi into Exile in Qiongzhou. Please add it to your favorites (heart)

Qiongzhou was part of Guangnan West Circuit under the Song dynasty. Its administrative seat was Qiongshan, and it governed Ya, Dan, and Wan'an.

It lay in a remote southern wilderness, rife with miasma.

Su Ruoning knew it better by another name: Hainan.

In the fourth year of Shaosheng, the decree came down exiling Su Shi once again.

He was banished to Danzhou, at the farthest southern edge of the realm.

With her medical skills and two old servants, one young and one old, Su Ruoning joined him on the road into exile.

Across the vast blue sea, waves surged like mountain peaks.

A tiny boat tossed about amid the raging tide.

After countless rises and falls, the group crossed the Qiongzhou Strait from Leizhou Bay and landed at Chengmai.

They set foot on the tidal flats. The sea wind struck their faces; jagged rocks and coarse white sand stretched before them.

There were no orderly fields and fertile farmland like those of the Central Plains, only dense, steamy foliage and heavy mist.

In this nearly barren land, Su Ruoning never once gave in to despair.

The world saw the southern sea as a place of exile, hopeless and deadly. But to Su Ruoning, who had studied medicine since childhood and knew the crops, trees, and plants, this warm southern frontier, abandoned by the Central Plains, held life that would never cease to flourish.

They farmed by day and worked until dusk, as the scent of medicine mingled with the fragrance of rice and rose in the air.

In their free time, they could gather fruit in the woods, collect shells by the sea, or fish in the shallows.

What seems like a dead end can still offer a chance to live.

[Reader's Guide]

1. There is a male lead, but he appears somewhat later. At first, the story follows what the heroine sees and experiences on the road to exile. Daily life, slow burn.

2. Set in an alternate Northern Song dynasty parallel to the historical one. Su Shi's fate will change, and he will live a healthy life to a peaceful old age.

3. Even the road to exile is full of blooming flowers. Always optimistic, always passionate.

Theme: Though faint shadows veil the sun, a clear breeze flutters my clothes.