I’m the Sister of the Heroine in an Old-School Tragedy

Su Nianci died. She died by beheading.

She had been dead for many years, a ghost for decades, and still had no idea why she had died.

She drifted and drifted, refusing to be reincarnated, until one day she found an absurd book.

It was a brainless little play about a woman who rescued a man by the roadside. Because of his unusual identity, the woman's family was wiped out and her country fell. In the end, the man even became emperor. The woman suffered terribly and secretly vowed revenge, but finally... became his empress?

The play ended, and the two became husband and wife. Everyone rejoiced, and the dead applauded wildly.

In summary: This book is a melodramatic tale of twists, turns, and tragic romance. It is a rock.

Su Nianci: That works? That works?! That really works?!!! If this is allowed, I could put my head back on my neck and come back to life as a ghost!

The good news: she really did come back to life, and she had the script in hand, reborn at the very beginning of the story.

The bad news: in the script... she was a bit-part character who died young.

Actually, that might not be entirely true. The moon was high, and a fine rain fell. Su Nianci sat leisurely by the window, listening to the autumn rain, while her maid stood nearby, reporting the news of the day in shock and fear.

In last night's heavy rain, her bold and kindhearted younger sister had secretly rescued a man in the courtyard, without telling anyone.

A man who would, in the future, become entangled with her sister for the rest of her life, and bring the entire Su family to execution.

"Patter, patter..."

At some point, the rain outside had grown heavier. Beneath the night sky, the autumn air grew ever more saturated. The cool, elegant woman listened to the rain and closed the mysterious book. In an instant, she smiled, casually tossed it into the brazier, and watched it burn.

As the flames flickered and warmth rose, an eerie crackling came from the fire. Su Nianci curved her lips, opened the window as if she hadn't heard a thing, and stood quietly watching the rain.

At last, she smiled gently at the clear light in the sky.

There are so many absurd things in this world. Why dwell on them?

Whether dream or book, the players have gathered, the curtain is slowly rising, and souls return in the night rain. Who can escape?

A new story has begun.

Reading Guide:

1. The female lead is the original heroine's biological older sister, but in the original story she really was a passerby, beheaded and killed very early on.

2. This story is not long, and the pacing is fast. It has a faux serious-drama style. The original story has an old-fashioned feel, but the female lead isn't interested in it; she has her own life and ideas.

(The original story is an old-school tragic romance, so the plot involving the original male and female leads moves quickly and intensely.)

3. The blurb doesn't mention it, but the male and female leads are genuinely very sweet together.

This novel is also titled: A Flourishing Life in One Farewell

A preview of my upcoming novel, The Three-Hundredth Year of Widowhood for Him

Blurb:

When Bai Xue realized she had transmigrated into a book, she was still holding a broom.

The man stood before her, frowning as he asked whether she still felt dizzy today, and whether she could finish sweeping this area.

Bai Xue: "I'll sweep your freaking..."

Unfortunately, before she could finish cursing, someone hurried over and called the man away. All he left her with was, "If you're dizzy, don't sweep."

Bai Xue: "..."

That's right. She had transmigrated into a melodramatic xianxia romance called Love of the Demon. The man just now was her direct supervisor, as well as the future Son of Heaven, the God Xuan Yao, who would dare to compete with the Demon Lord for a woman.

A domineering Demon Lord, a gentle god, and an innocent, beautiful flower fairy: what a love triangle.

According to the setup, Xuan Yao and Fairy Qinglian were originally betrothed. But after an accident, Fairy Qinglian fell into the Demon Realm and began a passionate, torturous romance with the domineering Demon Lord. Later, when the fairy returned to the Divine Realm, Xuan Yao, as the gentle second male lead, got plenty of scenes. Unfortunately, after a turbulent romance and a great war that left the people dead and then alive again, the fairy fell in love with the Demon Lord...

So, what was Bai Xue?

Oh, a lowly sweeper in Xuan Yao's palace who admired him, caused trouble repeatedly later on, and was a malicious supporting female character as dumb as a brick.

...Love of the Demon? She'd call it Love of the Lunatic!

"Smack!"

Bai Xue tossed away the broom in her hand. So this was where she'd ended up. After dropping dead at her desk and waking up, she'd thought she'd turned into a jinx. After asking around, she learned she was a little snow demon from the mortal realm, specially selected by the Divine Realm to fill out the ranks of their maids.

In short: still a jinx.

Bai Xue: "Watch how you talk. I'm a dedicated, hardworking cleaning lady."

Well, at the time Bai Xue really did have a sudden realization: a cleaning lady and the big boss really don't get a happy ending together...

But three years together couldn't have been fake, could they?

That year, the little snow demon in the immortal palace swayed her head as she swept beneath a tree, fretting. In her free time, she stared blankly at the colorful clouds on the horizon. With a red thread tucked against her chest, she thought that perhaps she should trust Xuan Yao. Maybe she and he could still defy the ending written in that book.

Unfortunately, the next day she heard that God Xuan Yao and Fairy Qinglian had become betrothed.

Before she could ask him about it, Xuan Yao went to the Demon Realm to fight the Demon Lord. She heard it was for Fairy Qinglian, too.

After that, she never saw him again.

Later, everyone in the Divine Realm knew that the snow maiden from the mortal realm had fallen for the already betrothed God Xuan Yao. She resorted to any means necessary, even stealing the Matchmaker's red thread, and in the end caused such a scene that the two realms' marriage contract was at stake, with one side destined to die.

At the foot of the Nine Flame Mountain in the Demon Realm, the foolish, vicious snow maiden turned into a pool of still water and finally vanished without a trace.

At that same moment, snow fell all over the Divine Realm, where it was spring every day. For three whole months, the cold was bitter.

Three hundred years later, the Demon Realm had split into three: the Snow Domain, the Moon-Gazing Palace, and Evil Tiger Mountain.

Xin Yi, mistress of the Moon-Gazing Palace, stole the Divine Realm's treasure, the Mirror of Ages, intending to endanger the Six Realms. Xuan Yao was ordered to quell the chaos, but was wounded by the mirror. As he teetered between life and death, snowflakes began to drift gently from the sky.

Snow filled the sky, the chill was gentle. The young man knelt on the ground, coughing blood. In a daze, he looked up and seemed to see an unfamiliar yet familiar woman smiling.

She was the snow maiden, ruler of the Snow Domain in the Demon Realm.

*

Deep in the Snow Domain stood a cold, nameless tombstone. They said it marked the grave of someone dear to the snow maiden. For three hundred years, she had often gone there alone with a flask of wine to pay her respects.

Xuan Yao recuperated in the Snow Domain. Whenever he couldn't find the snow maiden, he knew she had gone to the tomb. After much hesitation, he finally asked her who was buried there.

The snow maiden smiled at him serenely.

"My late husband died young. By my count, it has already been three hundred years."

I have been his widow for three hundred years. That's enough.

The blurb and the story have some minor discrepancies, but are broadly the same.

* A tale of love and hatred. The main characters are not perfect people.

* Not tragic, probably.

This novel is also titled: Snow White at Daybreak

Theme: Life is full of suffering; in the end, we can only rely on ourselves.