The mists and rain of Jiangnan soaked young Hou Xin's dream of a hundred flowers, but could not extinguish the light in his eyes. Orphaned at seven and left with nothing at twelve, he fell from being the illegitimate son of a salt merchant to a servant in the Su household. Fate gave him the cruelest start. Yet he was determined to bloom even in utter despair. With a talent for remembering everything he saw, he secretly studied and made a name for himself. He met Su Yi, the Grand Tutor's daughter, who recognized his worth, and Lu Helin, a general's descendant who would entrust his life to him. He entered officialdom through the imperial examinations, weathered the shifting currents of court politics, and fought bloody battles on the frontier. Step by step, he rose to the height of power and became a resolute prime minister bent on reform. But the flowers bloomed in his dreams, only to vanish when he awoke: his new policies angered the powerful and ultimately failed, the woman he loved was forced to enter the palace as a concubine, and his sworn brother died on the battlefield. He gave so much love, only to receive so much hatred in return.
Yet the story did not end in tragedy. After resigning from office and retiring from public life, Hou Xin wrote books and completed his spiritual rebirth in a Jiangnan cottage. His adopted son A Qi carried on his legacy and improved the new policies. His beloved Su Yi founded a school for girls after becoming a nun, while the deeds of his brother Lu Helin became a frontier legend. Three hundred years later, white cranes circled the shrine. Five hundred years later, a bloodstained manuscript was recovered from the river. A thousand years later, wisteria bloomed like snow. When archaeologists opened the jade box in his tomb, the letter
