The Imperial Guardsman Is Clingy Again Today

The pre-release novel at the very bottom is The Child of My Brother

Possessive, brooding older brother x a beauty who flirts without realizing it

Synopsis for the main story:

[Gentle yet strong-willed princess x fiercely possessive Commander of the Imperial Guards]

Sixty years ago, Bing Yunnan, the last crown prince of the previous dynasty, sacrificed himself for the world and died beneath a rain of arrows.

Afterward, a new emperor ascended the throne and changed the name of the kingdom to Yun.

Later generations have debated the matter endlessly, but all they can do is sigh over one word: bitter.

If only the conflict, born of powerful families vying for power and foreign tribes invading, had never happened;

If only the ambitious hero had remained true to his original intentions, remembered the unintentional rescue from long ago, and remembered their seven years of brotherhood in arms;

If only there had been no treacherous ministers at court, benevolent officials in the provinces, and shade trees growing on the battlefield.

But there are no ifs.

*

Jiang Mei was born in the imperial palace. Her birth mother had never earned the emperor's favor, but Jiang Mei happened to resemble the late eldest princess, so the empress looked after her for many years.

When she was eight, her birth mother suddenly fell gravely ill. Her maternal grandfather specially invited a renowned physician to the palace. The first time Jiang Mei saw him, she noticed the bright-eyed young man beside him.

The youth had sharp brows and sparkling eyes, his hair tied up beneath a jade crown. He gave the impression of a gentle breeze and a bright moon. It was the first time Jiang Mei had felt the faint tickling of a breeze against her cheek.

Before long, her birth mother gradually recovered, and the physician left the palace. All that remained between Jiang Mei and the youth was a single phrase.

"Until we meet again."

It was many years before those words were spoken to her again, this time by him.

By then, he was the emperor's trusted aide, Lu Jinghuai, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He warned her never to meddle in the affairs of the former dynasty again, lest she bring disaster upon herself.

After that, wherever she went, he followed. When she wanted to investigate a case, he was there to hand her a blade.

Later, on the eve of her wedding, he supposedly died in a foreign land. She traveled to the most mysterious and dangerous of isolated cities, hoping to retrieve his body, only to see a man on its walls whose figure resembled his.

The man lifted the corner of his mouth in a faint smile. When he saw her hairstyle, his eyes turned icy.

"You... are married?"

Later, the man forcefully pinned her against a wall. She had no choice but to lift her chin, her gaze falling on the peach-blossom eyes so like her late husband's.

"Which will you choose, me or your dead husband?"

Jiang Mei slowly closed her eyes. Her trembling fingertips had already betrayed the stirrings of her heart, but she... couldn't.

*

After the war

When Lu Jinghuai was rescued and awoke, he was in a remote village, with the isolated city to its north.

Thinking of Jiang Mei's feelings, he endured the pain of parting and sent a letter to the capital, then set off for the isolated city alone.

His original plan was to swiftly lay siege to the city, find the person behind everything, then marry the woman he loved and never be apart from her again.

But in the second month after infiltrating the enemy, he saw Jiang Mei.

At first glance, she wore a married woman's hairstyle.

At second glance, there was another man by her side.

At the three-hundredth glance, he realized she was keeping vigil for him as a widow.

Below is the synopsis for a new pre-release novel

Forbidden desire | Taking by force

For three hundred years, not a single girl had been born to the Yun clan's Dragon Palace. The Imperial Astronomical Bureau divined that a girl born on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month could break the curse.

The day Yun Wanqing was born, snow blanketed the sky. The head eunuch waved his horsetail whisk and called in a pinched voice, "Miss, please come with me."

She had been raised in the palace since childhood and was the only princess of the Yun Palace. Cherished by the emperor and empress and doted on by her elder brother, she was the brightest crabapple blossom in Chang'an.

She had also grown up alongside the crown prince, who was born to the empress as well, and they were as close as real siblings.

Later, the crown prince ascended the throne, and she became the Grand Princess. She thought her carefree days would last forever, until, on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, the empress dowager chose a husband for her. He was remarkably handsome, and she was delighted.

She ran to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, tugged on the emperor's dragon robe, and begged him to grant her a marriage with the man she loved. The emperor, who had always indulged her, narrowed his phoenix eyes. The air around him grew oppressive, and his dark pupils reflected the girl's stubborn yet fragile gaze.

He raised a hand and stroked the corner of her eyes, red from crying. His calloused fingertips brushed over it again and again, gently, yet the corner of her eye grew ever redder.

"Are you really determined to marry no one but him?"

Yun Wanqing froze for a moment, then nodded hard, paying no mind to the soreness around her eyes. "I love him. I want to marry him."

A cold glint flashed in Yun Fuyan's eyes. His voice was calm, yet there was a chilling hint of a smile in it.

"Fine."

On the night of her wedding, dressed in a phoenix crown and red bridal robes, Yun Wanqing swung her legs carelessly. Through the red silk, she could just make out the tall, upright figure of a man. His familiar, faint fragrance enveloped her at once.

After thinking for a moment, she lowered her head and said coyly, without a hint of doubt:

"Husband, you're late."

A low chuckle seemed to come from above her. Before she could think further, the man leaned over her. Through a gap in the gauze, she furtively opened her eyes a sliver.

One look was all it took to plunge her into an abyss.

Why was Yun Fuyan there instead of the husband who was supposed to spend the wedding night with her?

Yun Fuyan lowered his crow-black lashes to hide the darkness in his eyes. He caressed the girl's snow-white nape as he fastened a golden bell around it.

In the nights to come, its chime would sometimes ring long and distant, sometimes crisp and brief, but it was always accompanied by the girl's muffled sobs.

"Be my empress, won't you?"

[Male lead's perspective]

He first met Yun Wanqing in the twelfth lunar month. He returned from archery practice after lessons, and the empress gently stroked his shoulder as she told him he had a little sister now.

Looking at the baby in her swaddling clothes, who gurgled happily at him, Yun Fuyan lowered his eyes and agreed.

From then on, he had a little shadow. His sister was always clinging to him. Even when he went to school, she insisted on going too. He had no choice but to kneel outside Chengqian Palace all day before he could secure permission for her to attend school.

He thought that as long as his sister stayed by his side, anything would be worth it.

So later, when he heard that Yun Wanqing had fallen for someone, he had her imprisoned at once.

He would not allow another man to stand by his sister.

Seeing his soft, alluring little sister nestled in his arms, as docile and pitiful as a rabbit, he couldn't help but tease her.

But everything has its limits. Push a rabbit too far, and it will bite.

He thought that once Yun Wanqing was pregnant, she would settle down in the palace, in their one and only "home," and obediently give birth to their child.

But one day, she escaped. She left him without a second thought, carrying their child, and evaded the search of the guards throughout the city.

Everyone told Yun Fuyan that Yun Wanqing had died in a foreign land, and urged him to choose a new empress.

Then one day, when envoys from countless kingdoms came to pay tribute,

Yun Fuyan saw her again among the dancers brought by the Western Regions delegation.

Late that night, he held her trembling body and spoke in a voice like a ghost's: "Little sister, don't run away again. Be good."

[Reading guide]

1. The leads have no romantic or sexual history with anyone else.

2. The main couple is sweet; the secondary couple is a tragic romance.

3. The story is slow and steady at first, then becomes an ensemble tale. Every character has a reason to appear.

4. Women can also wield power at court and be the mastermind behind events.

Theme: The aspirations of the young are passed down through generations and will never be extinguished.