Where the Grassy Plains End

This story is also known as 《My Older Brother Has Been Coveting Me for Years》. Here’s the blurb: In the fifth year of Jinghe, Lu Yanqing killed the reigning emperor. Only the great general Xiao Yuan knew that the empress had assassinated the emperor. Because he was there that night, too. She dealt with the killing but left the cleanup to others. She let the court fall into chaos, then turned to him in tears and said, “Older Brother, are you really going to abandon A-Yan?” The words “Older Brother” sounded as distant as another lifetime. He did not answer her. He only kept a stern face and silently helped her son take the throne. * At only twenty years old, Lu Yanqing was honored as empress dowager. Beyond the curtain of state, in the long, lonely depths of the palace, she wanted someone to stay up talking with her through the night. The son of an old acquaintance who had come to attend the new emperor’s enthronement ceremony; the Doctor of the Five Classics whom she had personally helped rise to prominence; the younger brother of the Western Garden Dowager Consort, who occasionally came to the palace to visit her and never forgot to pay his respects… There were many people, but not one came to her at night. Until one day, after putting the young emperor to sleep, she returned to her own chambers. She opened the door and saw a man sitting on her bed in the dimly lit room, quite without propriety. She turned to cry out that there was an assassin, but someone covered her mouth from behind. “It’s me.” It was the great general, who always observed the rules and held himself to the highest standards. Her Older Brother. “The covered walkways of Penglai Palace are winding and dark at night. I doubt anyone but me would dare come here.” The young man’s hot breath brushed her ear. “Empress Dowager, you needn’t be afraid. I’ll always be here.” * When he was fifteen, the young master of the Xiao family was banished by his clan and nearly died of illness in the borderlands. The Lu family’s daughter once gave him a meal out of kindness, and he stayed at her home for a time. Back then, she was not yet the phoenix who would weep blood and rise from the flames in the Daming Palace. She was a cherished young lady of the Fan Yang Lu clan in the northern frontier, bold and radiant, bright as fire. One call of “Older Brother” warmed his heart; one smile lit up his shadowed life. He had been coveting her for years. Notes: 1. They are seven years apart. Early on, the heroine is empress, and all the turmoil is on the hero’s side alone. 2. The heroine has previous sexual experience, while the hero does not. Romance-focused with a happy ending; the plot leans serious, but at heart this is a love story wrapped in political intrigue. 3. Set in a fictional world inspired by the Sui and Tang dynasties, with some original elements and blended details. Please don’t nitpick the history. Theme: Though the storm clouds gather and the rain falls hard, the rooster keeps crowing