This story is entirely fictional. On a fictional continent, there are many countries, large and small. The largest, the ancient Qinhuai kingdom, united most of the territory, but a mere two hundred years later, corruption took hold, and warlords rose across the continent. And so the story begins…
One night, Emperor Qiankang dreamed he had returned to a time when Emperor Taizong and Empress Dowager Yun were still alive, and the whole family was happily together. When he woke, he was overcome with grief and could no longer fall asleep.
That year, he was already past fifty. He had weathered the storms of politics, yet a dream of the late emperor and empress dowager brought him to tears. For decades, he had watched court factions struggle and had seen fathers and sons, brothers, turn against one another throughout history. Recalling that tender moment with the late emperor filled him with emotion.
“We've only met two or three times.”
“Two or three times really isn't much.”
“But a life lasts no more than seventy years. Take away ten years of childhood and ten years of old age, and only fifty remain. Take away half of those for the hours spent in darkness, and you're left with just twenty-five. The time you can truly spend with the person you love is precious, and there's so little of it.”
“What if one day you meet someone more beautiful and better than me? How can I be sure you won't fall for her?”
“If I meet a woman more beautiful and better, naturally there'll be a man more beautiful and better suited to her. What does that have to do with me? Let there be three thousand beauties, I'll drink from only one cup. Compared with losing the person I truly love, what does it matter whether I become an official?”
