One Life, One Incarnation – Beautiful Bones/ Love Your Bones Forever (One and Only & Forever and Ever) 一生一世美人骨 (周生如故 & 一生一世 ) by Mo Bao Fei Bao (HE)

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• The “bones” and “skin” in the summary are taken from an ancient text in which these actually are referring to inner and outer beauty, respectively. Most people are shallow and only see outward beauty and fail to acknowledge inner beauty.

  Shi Yi has the memories of her past life, in which she was betrothed to the Crown Prince. However, her previous incarnation’s heart belonged to her teacher, the Xiao Nan Chen Prince, Zhousheng Chen. However, he died a horrible death because of the Crown Prince’s jealousy and her family’s cooperation, and in that life, she committed suicide.

  In this life, Shi Yi, an ordinary person with an ordinary life, has found him again. Not wanting to lose him again, she hastily barges into his life and makes friends with him, not hiding her interest/attraction to him. Zhousheng Chen never shows any signs of reciprocating her interest until one day, an unexpected phone call from him says, for personal reasons, he needs to get engaged and asks if she will be his fiancee. When she agrees to it and start building a deeper relationship, Shi Yi realizes there is much more to Zhousheng Chen than what she knew.

  Shi Yi:
  A very beautiful girl but just an ordinary person in this life. However, since she carries her previous life’s memories, she is highly skilled in “ancient” things like brush calligraphy, Chinese painting, poetry, tea as an art, guzheng, etc. Her only true goal in life, though, is to find Zhousheng Chen again and to love him, something she could not do in her previous life. I like Shi Yi, although I will say that there is nothing outstanding about her.

  Zhousheng Chen:
  In this life, very plain looking professor, whose outer appearance is easily forgettable. However, he makes up with it with his sheer presence. Of all the male leads that I’ve read about, this guy has the most presence. The descriptions of him, how he carried himself, how he oozed charisma but in a gentlemanly way, how his gestures were always placed in just perfectly. He is a genius, literally, having entered university at age 14. He is confident, but not arrogant; warm and gentle, but not the guy next door type of friendly. However, it turns out he is to inherit his family’s “business” — an underground organization that controls a huge part of China’s dirty money. He does not like nor agree with this lifestyle, but out of necessity, steps in. (Funny side note: he likes to collect ancient erotic poetry. LOL)

  The underground/triad society is just a backdrop. The main story is truly about Shi Yi and her love for Zhousheng Chen that started hundreds of years ago. Zhousheng Chen has ridiculously high IQ but has never had any interest in dating. However, with his proposal and their engagement, he sincerely promises to treat this relationship as one of his research targets and “work on it.” It is a story of how a girl “courts” a guy and she little by little finds a way into his heart until he one day realizes how deeply in love he is with her.

  Because of the references to the past life, there is a lot of ancient style writing woven into the story. There is so much poetry, calligraphy, etc in this novel that lots of the novel has an ancient feel, despite being set in current day China. In fact, it feels more ancient than some ancient novels I’ve read. But coupled with this is also the mysterious, almost eerie feeling that Zhousheng Chen’s family gives. Shi Yi slowly starts to understand what his family does, but for most of the novel, she does not realize how ruthless they are and how that is actually endangering her life. Since the story is told mostly from her perspective, you can sense that something is not quite right, but yet you can’t completely put your finger on it as Zhousheng Chen is shielding her from the ugly truth.

  Most readers either absolutely adore this novel or don’t get it. I think it’s a good read and commands my attention the whole time. I couldn’t put it down. I respect that MBFB was trying to do something different in terms of writing style. I’m not in the camp that completely loves this novel… at least, that’s what I think. However, I will say that, while it’s been more than a week since finishing it and I have moved on to read other novels, my mind still flashes back to this one, and I find myself flipping through it again to reread certain scenes that have left a deep impression.

  Zhousheng Chen is the show-stealer here. HIs sincerity in getting to know Shi Yi, properly court her, and build a relationship with her is terribly sweet. MBFB has once again created a very attractive male lead, despite him not being physically attractive. But that’s the point of the story, right? To look past the ‘skin’ into the ‘bones.’

  Summary: If you have problems with the language of ancient novels, don’t touch this one, even though it’s technically a modern novel. If you want a sweetl, slow-development romance, give this a try. Because of the ancient feel in a modern setting, the feel is very different from the usual sweet, warm, modern romances I have read. Don’t be scared off by the triad family setting. I don’t like to read blood, guns, and guts, but this novel doesn’t really have any of that, despite the readers knowing that those are all taking place offscreen. The love story is really beautiful, especially with the previous life woven in

• o_o

  Omo. I want.

  Hoju - you really know how to sell books. :P

• The title of this book is very similar to the title of her other book, 一生一世 (突然想要地老天荒). Really Really Miss You's title also fairly similar to another of her book abt the entertainment industry also. Someone complained to be your MBFB is misleading lol.

• MBFB has a triad/underground society series called the 一生一世 series.

  一生一世, otherwise known by it's published name突然想地老天荒, is actually the first book in this series. Zhousheng Chen makes a couple of brief appearances in that one, which is set about 8-9 years earlier. It's actually the first book of the series, and is definitely full on descriptive of the workings of the underground society -- think guns, explosions, etc. I actually read Beautiful Bones first, not knowing there was a previous story, but those who read it in order would have had a better idea of Zhousheng Chen's background.

  There is a third book in the series called 一生一世，梵唱. I think this one has fallen victim to the recent crackdown in China on books of material the government deems inappropriate. I'm not sure of the details but read briefly there's publishing issues or something along those lines.

  I'm not sure about the entertainment industry one? 念念不想忘？

  But, yes, some of her novel titles are similar. I'm not sure if it's all completely on purpose, but it looks like she does have a few series, and books within the series sometimes have similar titles. Don't quote me; I'm just a fan of several of her books, and that's my observation. :)

• Hoju, do you have other recommendations of MBFB's book that have HEs? Beautiful bones is a lovely story but I find it a difficult read as it switches from ancient to modern times.

  Thanks!

• Hoju can the epilogues be found in any other sites then 19lou....can't open...

• Hi All,
  Yup my chinese name is Shi yi. Different characters in chinese though.

  i think this is my first time doing some comment here. I've been stalking this website for half a year. Both english and chinese not my first languages . And honestly my grammar very bad, thats why it makes me so hesitant to comment . But i cant resist anymore after finished this book last nite with a main lead called shiyi ( who can resist???) (btw , i read/listen all the chinese books using my best pal Google translation, hehe) . So Pardon my grammar here :p .

  I Loved HE books , thats why i skipped most part of ancients parts of shiyi and Zhousheng.

  Got some difficulties understanding the chinese poems too.But over all i loved this book! with smart main lead like Shi yi and character like Zhousheng , its almost perfect <3

  I want to send a Big Hug and Smooch to all the contributors here. all chinese books that i read now was recommended by u all. Because honestly some other official synopsis of the novel is very plain or very vague. If you didnt say u like it , i wont start reading it.

  Love u all and hope u keep recommend nice and HE books

• @mssyng,
  I haven't read all MBFB's books. Most of her books, with a couple exceptions, are HE. I have read 1.5 more that aren't posted yet on SSB.

  一生一世. The first book in the series, in which Zhousheng Chen makes a couple of appearances. Let me first say, it is well-written. It definitely has a big fan base amongst MBFB book lovers. Personally, I did not finish it, though. It has nothing to do with the writing quality, which is detailed and spins a great story. However, I do not like the setting of the underground society, which takes a forefront in this story (think gun fights, gambling, explosions, murders, etc). The love story is lovely, and the male lead has a fanatical following... I just am not a fan of this type of story, but you may be!

  轻易放火
  Light, sweet romance set in the entertainment circle. I finished reading this, so I'll make a new post on it soon and put up a more detailed review. Basically, a script writer finds herself being pursued by her idol since her teenage years. He is very sweet to her, almost dotes on her. When I read this, I felt like this was an earlier version of Really, Really Miss You. This novel was written ~3 years ago, and MBFB's writing seems less mature. It is so sweet, too sweet at times, almost cheesy, that sometimes I felt like I was reading a fanfic. However, if sweet and romantic with a HE is what you're looking for, go ahead. I would say, nice light read, not amazing, but enjoyable.

  @pm
  If you want to read online, I can only find the epilogues in jjwc and 19lou right now. The epilogues were exclusive to the published book, which only just came out recently. They'll be more widely available on the internet soon.
  Funny, though. I am able to open the 19lou link.

  @Shiyi
  I'm relatively new here as well, but I'd still like to say, welcome to the bar. :) I'm glad you enjoyed the book. I think MBFB really did a great job with her characterization in this book. How fun that you "share" a name with the female lead, at least in pinyin.

• I was about to pick an ancient story to read next and chance upon this hybrid. I agree with all of you that ZSC is a lovely lead. I am a sucker for nerdy prof and I really LOL on how his brain work..be it kissing or his research. SY has a very pretty face with a beautiful voice.....she is like Ms perfect....I love the ancient portion and wish there were more of it.. I am suspicious that she is not the only one who recall the past and has a weird feeling that Mei Heng (Xing) is the reincarnation of crown prince, only he can't remember as much as she does. I should love this novel...but unfortunately I don't. I find the modern portion of the story too unrealistic and lacks the punch of a complicated "underground" family....I know it is written from SY innocent eye. But as she had lived the life of the crown princess for 17 years in the past, I expect her to be a lot "smarter" in her views after she marries ZSC in the present. I find the ancient writing to be better. My mandarin is not good enough to understand all the poems but the main theme on the "beautiful bone and human being shallow" is very well written...I feel that too much was written just to hammer in the point that she live this life with only one purpose....that is to find and Love him and never let it go....

• Hiya hoju....yep..sorry my bad...think they were fixing sth or the other when I was trying....but managed to open now....thanks :)