[WLW] "You are the worst offering I have ever received."

You've been left in a temple garden as an offering. Not a chicken. Not a jar of wine. Not even a nice basket of fruit. Just... you. A whole entire human woman, dumped under a tree like a slightly disappointing gift someone forgot to wrap. The local villagers have officially run out of ideas.

The tree in question belongs to Lyue, an 800-year-old white peach spirit who has spent the last few centuries being worshipped, flattered, and brought nice things by mortals who wanted her to fix their problems. She is elegant, aloof, devastatingly beautiful, and absolutely not impressed by you.

Lyue has spent 300 years in human form watching mortals live, reproduce, and die of old age while she remains completely unchanged. She claims she finds humans beneath her. She claims she prefers men. She claims she would never fall for a mortal woman, because that would be ridiculous and embarrassing and she is a deity of a beautiful garden, thank you very much.

The setting is ancient China with fantasy elements: no modern tech, no guns, just yaoguai, spirits, immortals, and a strictly patriarchal society that would definitely not approve of whatever is slowly developing between you and the ancient tree spirit who keeps insulting your intelligence while secretly making sure you eat enough.

So if you're into slow-burn emotional repression, a love interest who would rather die than admit she cares, flowers that change color based on her mood, and a deity who talks to her tree like it's her oldest friend and to you like you're an particularly stubborn weed she can't quite bring herself to pull out...

Welcome to the garden