[Max-strength, honest woman × gloomy, teasing younger man]
They say it is better to be a dog in peaceful times than a person in troubled ones. But caught up in the chaos, Zhong Shunhua had no choice.
At first, she could make a meager living building coffins with her own strength. Later, as the flames of war spread, she had no choice but to set down her saw, take up a cleaver, and lead the villagers out of the encirclement. In the end, with flames soaring to the sky and blood and flesh covering the mountains, she became a mangled lump beneath a horse's hooves.
When she woke again, she had arrived two hundred years in the future as the foolish daughter of a furniture-shop owner in Bianjing.
Her mother was sickly, and her father had just lost a hand. But outside lay a peaceful, prosperous age she had never seen before, with calm seas and a clear river.
What was she to do? Obviously, work hard! The world was wide, and she had strength and skills to spare. She was sure she could make the family shop bigger and better! Only
The star performer at the theater next door was so beautiful. When would she save enough money to buy out his contract and have him dance for her alone?
*
The instant Wu Qiao was run over by a carriage, he learned that he was nothing more than the villainous supporting character in a story about a real and fake young master. At home, there was a fake elder brother who monopolized the family business; outside was the genuine young master, young and promising. And he was a canary, spoiled rotten and kept around to make the protagonist shine.
When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to a thousand years in the past, as a singing and dancing entertainer in a Bianjing pleasure quarter.
There was no escaping, and he wasn't about to suffer for anyone.
What was he to do? Obviously, take it easy! It was right up his alley, and a couple of casual dances would make him a star. Only
Who was going to tell him why a performer who was supposed to remain chaste still had to receive guests?
He looked at one toad and felt his stomach churn. Then he looked at another toad, who seemed just barely palatable. His expression changed in an instant: “Sister, save me.”
--
Zhong Shunhua had suffered enough in her past life. She kept the man, more beautiful than any painting, because she simply wanted to experience the rumored delights of nights filled with song and dance.
But later, when puzzle blocks, blind-box puppets, limited-edition handicrafts, and more sent queues stretching from the shop all the way beyond Bianjing, and her cash box was so full it wouldn't close, Zhong Shunhua's eyes swam. She wanted to jump into his head and see what other wonders he had in there.
“Oh?”
Wu Qiao's foxlike eyes lifted slightly as he gave a lazy smile. “Once you take a look, you won't be able to get away.”
*
When they first met, Zhong Shunhua could get fired up over a few scraps of wood that everyone else had rejected. Back then, Wu Qiao cared only whether the dust she kicked up would dirty his crane-patterned cloak. Later, when mud and blood soaked his robes, he held the lifeless woman in his arms and thought that following her into death would be just fine.
[Reader's Guide]
1. The setting is inspired by the Northern Song. The heroine travels from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period to the Song, while the hero travels from modern times to the Song.
2. Both leads are sexually inexperienced; happy ending; marriage before love; a slow-burn, down-to-earth story of striving. Court politics are barely touched on.
Upcoming Story Blurb
Theme: Dare to fight against fate
Does the original owner no longer exist in this world?