Changying~ All her life through the naive and innocent eyes of a child, Changying saw her beautiful mother as the perfect model. The embodiment of a fully contented wife and satisfied woman. It was easy to believe this concept, because everything about her implied to this impression. Her mother never sulked or complained. She always…
Changying~ Changying had cast the first stone. “Tough love is still love. Tough love is still love.” Changying inwardly repeated to herself like a mantra. As she picked up where she’d left off, and articulated with steadfast conviction since she wouldn’t have started if she not had the nerve and courage to finish what she…
The Swamp Witch~ “Hello? It’s me.” He beckoned. She sprang up excitedly, and hurried from her cabin to meet the young man waiting outside. He appeared on the first of the month like clockwork, as he had for nearly four hundred years. And he was the only person she’d seen ever since, after being brought…
Dongmei~ Dongmei’s cheeks flushed and reddened as she screeched, “Yingpei! Are you stupid?! Are you daft!? Did I give birth to a simpleton?! That’s the tenth time you’ve read the wrong character!” The boy yelped, when the small leather switch in her hand swung with accuracy against the soft plump backside of his hand. Dongmei…
A-Li~ He knew before everyone else. A-Li knew his mother was pregnant long before the others, even her. He first became aware of his little sisters’ existences, when the babies were just a few weeks old, while his mother was still in Nine Heavens with him and his father. It wasn’t something A-Li could describe,…
400 years later~ With delayed footsteps, Ye Hua slowly circled the male figure standing in his study, and what he saw was a matter that caused his latent anxieties to surface in plain view. His apprehensions were written all over his usually composed expression, as his well-honed eagle eyes took in the strangeness before him…
Mo Yuan appeared dissatisfied. He seemed to be complaining. However, it was all a farce, a pretense because his bragging was as plain as the sun in the sky, when he said without a hint of jest in his earnest facial expression. “It’s a burden that our girls are TOO perfect.” The proud new father…
Her faint voice quivered audibly then almost faltered, but Bai Qian gathered her nerve and declared, “I’ll be a good, proper…a real wife for you.” After months of blatantly snubbing her husband’s presence and affections, in the end, it was she who enticed Mo Yuan to her. The last time they kissed had been before…
Mo Yuan profoundly sighed as he glanced around the dark bedroom. His heart felt heavy, dispirited and full of sorrow. The chamber he now shared with Bai Qian was quiet, and somber without a single lit candle. This silent blackness was presumably typical and most regrettably nothing new. Bai Qian was now large, and round-bellied…
Bai Qian cradled her handsome husband’s bearded face with both hands, as he lovingly laid her down on the bed between himself and Ye Hua. She stared intently into the bottomless depths of Mo Yuan’s soulful eyes…his gaze, like his name, an infinite dark abyss. Sincere respect for Mo Yuan overwhelmed her. Only a rare…
Bai Qian’s small hands intuitively clutched her tightening stomach to soothe the babies, who suddenly began to stir around frantically. She wondered, could it be that they too detect the thundering vibration of their father’s desperate footsteps? Or could Ye Hua’s unborn children also overhear him calling out to her in despair? It was a…
“Ye Hua…” She called his name into the wind as she did every morning. Then the first verse of her daily repertoire drifted from her lips, as Bai Qian gingerly laid one hand on her protruding stomach, which was starting to round and form in the ninth month of her pregnancy, finally. “How did you…
I, High Goddess Bai Qian, Queen of Qing Qiu, of sound body and mind, am making this confession of my heinous crimes against Crown Prince Ye Hua of my own free volition. During my Heavenly trial as the mortal SuSu, in a fit of rage and jealousy over his pending nuptial with Sujin, I purposely…
It was a flawless fit. The curve designed for a feminine hold. The hand grip on the Dragon Blade made from his scales fitted perfectly in her small hand. Even the gripped spacing for her slender fingers was precisely accurate. Holding the exquisite weapon for defense created from Ye Hua’s scales, love and concern filled…
She was in a state of utter shock and confusion. It was simpler to act lifeless – Bai Qian didn’t budge – not even a muscle did she move. Instead, allowing everyone to believe she was still unconscious. She was following her fainting spell, after hearing the shocking account of Ye Hua’s trial and sentence.…