Meeting Yu

1.

Raised with the kindness of the Empress at her knee, she is the Marquis's cherished daughter.

His birth mother vanished, and his father, the emperor, abandoned him.

When no auspicious sign appeared on the Yellow River, the realm fell into chaos.

Huai Yu followed her father to guard the border, and the emperor ordered him to accompany the army.

Only she believed he could win. Whenever he was badly wounded, he would insist she tend to him and prepare his medicinal bath herself. She would gently tell him to rest and recover.

In the days they spent together, her warmth and radiant beauty gradually ensnared his heart, until he could no longer suppress his feelings.

When she came of age, the Gaozu Emperor unexpectedly arranged her marriage to the crown prince.

At the time, his status was low, so he could only hide his feelings.

Several years passed in a flash. A letter from the crown prince arrived at the border: "We have been apart for so long. I have found another lovely companion." When they met again, he was the ruler, and she his subject.

2.

All Huai Yu wanted in life was freedom, so she fled far to the southern Xia lands and changed her appearance. She believed that the day her elder brother united the realm would be the day she got her wish.

She had no idea she had already become a piece on the board.

It is easy to decide another person's life or death, but hard to control one's own fate.

On the chessboard, anyone can be made a piece, and anyone can be discarded.

Was her elder brother's affection for her truly sincere?

When she reunited after many years with the man she had once loved and been engaged to, she realized she might never have truly known him.

As layer upon layer of schemes was peeled away and the truth emerged, she discovered that both men had been plotting against her from the very beginning.

She trusted false affection, believed a false history, betrayed his true feelings, and gave her own heart to the wrong person.

Reader's Guide:

The road is thorny, and things won't always go as hoped. The protagonists grow over time.

1. Both leads are virgins; happy ending. Told from the heroine's perspective, in an alternate-world era of chaos after a dynasty's fall, with five kingdoms vying for power.

2. The male lead had a tragic childhood, and the heroine saves him.

3. There are no truly good people.

4. The third arc features a slight ensemble focus.

* The main story is 1.95 million Chinese characters, not including bonus chapters. The worldbuilding and characters are fully developed.

* The story has three volumes: the second is sweet, while the first and third are angsty. The main couple's romance is mostly in the second and third volumes.

Upcoming novel, "Your Majesty, You Can't Do Without Me":

A disgraced prince, his birth mother dead since his childhood, is treated like a poisonous snake by everyone around him.

A lowly palace maid, saved by the kindness of the Noble Consort, has stayed by his side since childhood, devotedly protecting him.

Deep within the palace, alone and without support, they endured sixteen winters of frost and snow, all transformed into warmth as they leaned against each other.

The princes died one after another, leaving the emperor with few descendants. He had no choice but to make his seventh son, Qi Wenjing, his heir.

On the night of his accession, mist swirled around the bath. Qi Wenjing twined a lock of Ning Wan's hair around his fingers and rested his chin against the hollow of her neck. "Awan, from now on, let me protect you." Claiming he feared being alone, he earnestly begged her to stay.

Ning Wan knew how unpredictable an emperor's heart could be. His favor was only a brief indulgence.

She thought that after sixteen years at his side, she could surely persuade him to grant her permission to leave the palace, allowing her to find a good husband and spend the rest of her life farming and weaving.

Years had passed since she became eligible to leave the palace, yet no decree allowing her to go ever came.

He clutched her slender wrist, refusing to let her go. "Who was it that knelt in the snow and swore to protect me for life? Why are you abandoning me now?"

To keep her by his side, he even drew his sword and wounded himself. "Awan, I'm hurt! Awan!"

His sobs, mingled with blood, pierced Ning Wan's eyes. In an instant, memories flooded back. Her fingertips curled beneath her sleeves, and her heart trembled with a pain she could not control.

Just one last time. Once he has recovered, she will leave...

Theme: Farewell at dusk, together through every morning and night.