Sitting With Her, Counting Fireflies

A stubborn rebel with a constant inner monologue × a sharp-tongued, fastidious, haughty, flirtatious schemer

Disgraced princess × powerful minister; grumpy × clever; a love forged in hatred!

1.

Mi Qingchi first meets Song Qu

by a deep pool beneath a waterfall in the moonlight.

Her back is as cool as jade, a streak of ink running along her beauty bone to her left ribs. The contrast is breathtaking. When she turns around, her dark eyes are filled with an aloofness untouched by joy or sorrow.

But on an autumn night when the fireflies have gone dark,

the imperial city is scented with sandalwood, its fragrance fading in and out. Deep in a hidden palace passage, dark vermilion walls reflect last year’s fallen leaves, creating a lonely, haunting beauty.

The cool and distant minister leans against the wall. Her delicate jade fingers, so fine they seem boneless, rub at her chest, damp with a thin sheen of sweat. Amid the fragrant haze, she raises her chin and breathes as if her very bones are on fire.

Mi Qingchi is about to crush her own finger bones

Who could have imagined it?

Song Qu is the one who makes the first move between them.

2.

Everyone who meets Song Qu for the first time thinks she is a proud, noble crane.

Once they get to know her, they realize she’s a slippery fox.

She is sharp-tongued, fastidious, and picky about food. She keeps a parrot that writes several essays every morning praising her peerless beauty.

While hiding from danger at a Buddhist convent, she discovers a little girl who always wears a stern expression.

Song Qu can’t stand the girl’s temperament, yet she can’t suppress her own “virtuous” nature, so she catches bugs for her, applies medicine, and cooks her noodles.

The little girl has bright, handsome features, and Song Qu finds her terribly interesting.

Song Qu brings the girl back to the palace. She is a disgraced princess whom the emperor had kept in the countryside outside the city.

Song Qu thinks of her as a pawn in her struggle for power.

She devotes herself to teaching and raising the girl, investing her whole heart in her.

Only then does she discover that this little blue sparrow from the mountains never had a heart at all.

Mi Qingchi shakes the court and comes within a step of the throne, largely because she executes the treacherous minister Song Qu.

Everyone thinks she hates Song Qu to the core.

But no one expects this graceful, jade-like eldest princess to take up her brush and write the “traitorous minister’s” epitaph herself:

“Clearly, the bright moon was once her true form. Why should she mind being locked in a sorrowful autumn?”

“Song Lan Jun, this is the seventh autumn since you’ve been gone.”

One-on-one romance, happy ending. I promise I won’t trick you.

Upcoming story: Clouds and Dreams on Which Day of the Week?

Tattooed, flower-armed, cool-girl tattoo artist × cold, ruthless talent agent

Mao Yue × Shang Qi

If you don’t know who these two are, go read Secret Addiction first.

Mao Yue’s biggest dream in life is to be a player. With her curly hair and tattooed arms, she dresses herself up like a flamingo, but once she takes her makeup off, she looks like a middle schooler.

Shang Qi’s biggest dream in life is to make money. Whoever helps her earn money is her ancestor; whoever gets in the way is her enemy. Romance? Not even a dog would date.

“Monday’s double mocha, Tuesday at the art museum,

Wednesday movie night,

Thursday’s crazy fried chicken, Friday at the arcade.

Saturday’s discounted convenience-store beer, Sunday’s empty roads deep into the night.”

Mao Yue suddenly wonders: What day of the week was it when she met Shang Qi?

She’s forgotten whether there were clouds in the sky, or dreams in her heart.

One-on-one romance, happy ending.

Theme: Hold fast to your beliefs.