Top: Xiao Jinan. Bottom: Ning Qiu.
Xiao Jinan once doted on Ning Qiu in every possible way, but in the end he couldn’t resist temptation, hurting Ning Qiu again and again until the wounds went bone-deep.
Only later did he realize that even with a vast empire, countless consorts, and children all around him, he could never recapture the happiness he’d known riding through springtime with Ning Qiu, playing the zither and sharing wine.
He tried every means he could think of, only to discover in the end that once some things are thrown away, they can never be had again.
After meeting Xiao Jinan, Ning Qiu thought he would never be able to leave the young man whose eyes lit up with affection whenever he smiled. Until he realized that his beloved was a faithless womanizer who preferred wildflowers to the flower at home and wanted to share his favors among three thousand beauties.
After his family was destroyed and he was abandoned in the Cold Palace, Ning Qiu spent two years slowly cutting Xiao Jinan out of his heart, then another two years carefully plotting his revenge.
When the time was right, Ning Qiu escaped the Cold Palace and, step by step, won Xiao Jinan’s heart again, becoming the most favored person in the imperial harem. But now, he no longer dreamed of spending his life with the man before him. He only wanted revenge, then to leave and roam the world.
Fortunately, fate was kind to him. After his heart had been battered and broken, he still met someone who had always treasured him as the one and only. He could fall in love again and join hands with someone once more, walking together into old age.
Warnings:
1. A groveling ex who tries to win his wife back, with a genuine “wife-chasing crematorium” ending: he doesn’t win him back.
2. The top isn’t a virgin and has several children. He’s a scumbag, and he’s also the emperor. I lost half my hair trying to figure out how to make him a virgin, so I could only nervously write him as not one, orz.
3. Later on, the bottom meets someone who truly treats him well, and they spend their lives together. His romance with the top was just too painful, and I couldn’t bear to leave him alone for the rest of his life, so I carefully arranged a gentle, considerate gentleman like jade to bring some warmth to his remaining years.
