This is a story about legacy, and about a scholar and his deep attachment to a teahouse…
"The Emperor’s Lingering Dream"
The human race’s fortune has run dry, and from then on the Human Emperor is called the Son of Heaven…
A beauty whose face astonishes the world enters Chaoge at dusk in the rain.
In his sleep, he murmurs, “The Dongyi are not yet subdued”;
His childhood sweetheart’s tear mole leaves him “unable to tell left from right.”
A seductive consort, a spy, and a strip of red silk laid against scorched earth…
The Human Emperor, King Zhou, a man who would toy with a nation for love…
A wise ruler, a man of benevolence, and countless vengeful spirits beneath the fiery mulberry trees…
"How Qin Rose in a Time of Chaos"
Qin Shi Huang, founder of the imperial system, had a complicated past, and a touch of warmth from a teahouse in Handan…
He built on the achievements of six generations, then watched the Epang Palace go up in flames…
After their parting in Handan, his elder sister became another man’s wife…
Bamboo slips became kindling, burning love and books alike;
Even a rain of blood could not quench the slaughter, nor spare his beloved concubine…
When the eighth day of the eighth month comes next year, I will lead the heroic spirits with my own corpse…
A hundred schools contend, each with its own views; great nations are pieces on a board, maneuvering against one another…
Loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness; power is the blade. A thread of warmth is hidden in the teahouse…
"The Han Dynasty Was Heaven’s Will"
Betrayal and ingratitude, the bow discarded once the birds are gone; where is warmth to be found upon the throne?
Powerful consort clans, eunuchs in government, the Witchcraft Scourge, the Partisan Prohibitions…
And yet the Han was restored twice, by Heaven’s mandate and by human action…
Writing can carry the Way, and a brush can conceal a blade; the Silk Road opened twice, bringing the law eastward.
One teahouse, one scholar; his beloved stayed by his side, from black hair to white.
Blood and intrigue engulfed the court, while the warmth of everyday life endured in the streets…
"The Chaos of the Three Kingdoms"
Chaos! Chaos! Chaos…
Loyalty began in the Peach Garden and ended at Maicheng; rats ran rampant, and men in white crossed the river.
A younger brother lusted after his elder brother’s wife, with a taste for other men’s women…
Yet with righteousness above all, he split the river waters in two…
