Wind Settles, Clouds Turn Ink-Black

[Cover art by SKYSEVEN, Tian Qi. Sending love!]

This book is divided into Volumes I, II, and III. Each volume has different protagonists. Volume I, for example, is a story about women in love; Volume II is a danmei story; Volume III is about the antagonist's memories, their childhood, and the truth behind the story, among other things. So the author recommends not skipping around, or you really won't understand it. Everything is connected, and if you skip around, you'll miss a lot. Keep that in mind~

Also, this story is not about an older woman and a younger woman. The two women in the romance are around the same age. Check the tags.

Here are some details~

Background:

The main pairing is a male-male romance, with a female-female romance as a secondary pairing. Please don't derail the discussion.

Qi Tinghan x Sui Yuan'an (two men)

Fang Mengchu x Shangguan Yanxue (two women)

A tragic romance

This is about the loves and hatreds of the Qi Dynasty. It has nothing to do with actual history, so please don't conflate history with my story. Check the tags. This book is fictional and unrelated to history! (The book borrows the historical Qi Dynasty's starting point, the year 480 CE, but the author extended its end date, since the historical Qi Dynasty existed for a rather short time. Some events that need to be recalled take place before the historical Qi Dynasty was founded, so the author pushed the timeline forward. I have only borrowed the Qi Dynasty setting and its founding date, nothing more.)

Characters:

Qi Tinghan: He became emperor at twenty. For various reasons, his emotions were unstable and he was quick to anger. Then he met a scholar. The first time he saw him, he could feel his heart racing. Though he refused to admit he liked him, his heart said, "I love him. I love him so much I can't help myself." Later, his beloved was forced to take his own life. Qi Tinghan was heartbroken, but because the last thing his lover said was, "Take good care of the people," he continued to govern the Qi Dynasty well. But later, the leaders in every field rebelled, and the Qi kingdom fell.

Sui Yuan'an: He traveled to the capital for the imperial examination and came first. The emperor discovered him and, against his wishes, made him empress of the imperial harem. At first, he didn't like the emperor at all, because he thought the emperor had ordered Baicao Village destroyed. (A word from the author: Xiao Sui, don't you know how important your village is? Why would the emperor possibly order its destruction?) But later, he realized that someone else seemed to be secretly controlling everything, and that person wasn't the emperor. From then on, he began trying to accept the emperor while secretly investigating who had destroyed Baicao Village. Later, the ministers demanded that the emperor depose this male empress, claiming he was bringing ruin to the country and misery to its people. To avoid causing the emperor further trouble, he drew his sword and took his own life...

Fang Mengchu: The eldest daughter of the Fang family and Shangguan Yanxue's childhood friend. She fell for Shangguan Yanxue the very first time they met as children. Later, she asked the Shangguan family for her hand in marriage, and the two families agreed to the match. But then the Shangguan family was wiped out, and her own family was destroyed too. There was nothing she could do, and in the end, she never got to say, "I love you." Shangguan Yanxue died in her arms, and she, too, died in the arms of the person she loved.

Shangguan Yanxue: The second daughter of the Shangguan family. She loved Fang Mengchu, but never said so. As time passed, her unspoken love slipped away. In the end, she still loved Fang Mengchu deeply and wanted to tell her, "I love you," but she no longer had the strength. Her older sister is Commandery Princess Xueli (I'll keep her sister's name secret for now, as a mystery for everyone!). Her sister liked Chu Bei, but to her dying day she never knew that Chu Bei was a complete scumbag who used her as a tool for revenge and deceived her while wearing a mask of devotion!

The author realized that the Tong family's story was rather skimmed over, so here's a bit about them.

The Tong family was a prominent household. Together with the Fang, Shangguan, and Chu families, they were known as the "Four Pillars." The reason was simple: the Shangguan matriarch was a daughter of the Chu family; the heads of the Fang and Shangguan families had sworn brotherhood; and the Tong family was related by marriage to the Chu family. They were also all chancellors, so people called them the "Four Pillars." After the Shangguan family was falsely accused of embezzlement by a "mysterious person," the Tong and Fang families did everything they could to save them. The Chu family didn't want to get involved, but still quietly did a lot for the Shangguan family behind the scenes. Yet no matter how powerful the four families were, they couldn't withstand the destruction wrought by the civil and military chancellors. The military side was manageable, since the general Cheng Kuang was also doing his best to help. The civil side was another matter: the civil officials were all corrupt and couldn't stand the light of day. Under pressure after pressure, the emperor had no choice but to issue the order. Of course, he only did it for show. In secret, he sent a force to protect the four families, but he didn't know that his men had already defected. As a result, none of the four families escaped the calamity. Fortunately, all four families left descendants behind. What will they do?

Cheng Kuang had once been saved by someone from the Shangguan family, one of the four families, so he believed the Shangguan family would never do such a thing. He therefore helped the other three families protect the Shangguan family.

The Chu family also had a daughter named Chu Yunhui. Her husband was Tong Pei, a son of the Tong family. Chu Bei was Chu Yunhui's son. Tong Pei died young in an accident before Chu Bei was born, so Chu Bei took his mother's surname, Chu.

I'll figure out the rest of the characters as I go. If I write them down too early, I'll forget, so that's all for now.

The character setups may be a little complicated, and the plot may stray from the title, but bear with me. Don't derail the discussion!

Guide:

1. This story only uses the Qi Dynasty as a setting. It is fictional, so please don't take it as real history. Thank you!

2. The author is still inexperienced at writing, so there are bound to be a few minor issues. If you find any, leave me a comment and I'll fix them.

3. I don't check my Weibo messages often, so you can leave a comment on my Weibo instead. Weibo: Mi Litang

4. There will be many things in the story that don't belong to the Qi Dynasty, such as poetry and exams. Just read the story and don't worry about it.

5. Just read the story, and don't insult anyone. If you like it, stay and read. If you don't, please leave politely. If you don't like it but insist on staying, then insult it after reading, you're just asking for trouble, okay?

6. No insults. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden.

Finally, to everyone who likes my writing, love you all~ [sending love] [sending love]

Theme: If I love you, I no longer have the strength to say it