"Feathered Wings Become a Swan" tells the tragic love story of Yuwen Zhuoyi, a general of Northern Zhou, and Xi Yu, an orphan girl with a mysterious past, amid the turmoil of war...
In the third year of the Baoding era of Northern Zhou, on a bitterly cold day outside Chang’an, fourteen-year-old Yuwen Zhuoyi rescued baby Xi Yu from a hail of blades. The divine bird birthmark on her Xuánjī acupoint, depicting a pair of inseparable birds, became a mark of fate.
Entrusted to the Liu family of Hejun, Xi Yu lost her adoptive parents in a brutal attack. Disguised as a boy under the name Long Mao, she joined the army of Prince Yiyi. Her mastery of both letters and arms won her many victories, and she became the “young general” most trusted by Yuwen Zhuoyi. Amid clashing blades, affection quietly blossomed. Yuwen Zhuoyi rose from young war god to prince regent, burdened by the court’s suspicion and his ambition to unify the realm. Yet “Long Mao” was the only one before whom he let down his guard. They kept each other company on cold nights and celebrated the Qixi Festival together. The calligraphy hidden beneath the persimmon tree held all the feelings left unspoken.
When the words “I can” beside the poem “Ballad of Mulan” pierced her disguise, the revelation of her identity unleashed a storm, tearing them between duty to their country and the love they shared. They fought side by side to pacify Eastern Qi and repel the Turks in the north, yet could not escape the game of war. The bloody struggle over the imperial throne and the surging undercurrents of the Yang family’s rise pushed them to the edge of fate.
From their first meeting in Chang’an to their reunion by the river bend, from armor stained with blood to the sudden appearance of bridal red, they made loyalty their armor and deep love their blade, writing a legend amid the flames of a realm divided three ways. The divine bird birthmark became a prophecy: a vow to face life and death together, and the fiercest salvation in a world torn by war. Though fate is a game of chess, there can be no regrets over the moves they make.
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