[An old work, posted here for safekeeping. Warning: a lethal dose of obscure literary references. No outline, just winging it. Immature writing.]
[An outspoken heroine who never holds back + a handsome, double-standard aristocrat. The male lead is responsible for looking gorgeous, while the female lead is responsible for fighting (not really).]
In the tenth year of Wanxiang, General Anxi died in battle. Before the news had even reached the capital, undercurrents were already stirring.
Xie Wannian ventured into the martial world at a young age and hated evil. A long-buried incident drew her into the maelstrom of political conflict. The person who came to arrest her was none other than the man she had fallen for at first sight and secretly loved.
To unravel a web of misunderstandings, she entered the halls of government, a world utterly unlike the martial world. A storm can begin with a ripple in the duckweed.
New grudges and old, love and hate, joy and sorrow. Behind those glittering nobles were hidden sorrows and sins no one knew about...
People come and go, and their affairs change with the times.
The landscape preserves traces of the past; we too return to climb its heights.
(Meng Haoran, "Climbing Mount Xian with Friends")
tips:
1. This was the first long novel I finished. I originally posted it on FW, but FW disappeared, so I decided to save a copy on Lǜjiang as a memento.
2. Warning: a lethal dose of obscure literary references. This is self-indulgent writing, with no outline, and I'm not planning to submit it for a feature (because I wouldn't get one anyway, haha). The writing is very immature and unpolished. The ships are a chaotic mix, with BL, straight romance, GL, and more. The ingredients are all over the place. I thought about revising it, but after much deliberation, every story has its own fate, and the way I expressed myself in that moment, with the mindset I had then, was the best way (okay, I'm also lazy. We have to look forward, haha).
3. The first twelve chapters are from another perspective. I originally wanted to remove them, but that would affect the later storytelling, so I left them in. There's very little romance in this novel. At the time, the author was still an emotionless plot player.
4. This shares a universe with "Spring and Autumn: My Crimes," and takes place earlier. The order is "Climbing Heights" → "Spring and Autumn: My Crimes" → "Books and Swords Set the Storm to Rest."
Theme: You only win if you dare to fight for it!
Did I burn the general?