My Journey as a Prince-In-Law, from Surviving to Playing Chess

The Qin Dynasty collapsed and the Five Kingdoms were divided. Above the high hall of Qi State, the sleeves of the robes hide the sharp edges, and the military symbols have been covered in dust for a long time. Xiao Yan bears double bloodstains: he is the grandson of a king with a different surname from Qi State, and he is also a descendant of the old Qin Dynasty. My father died in an expedition, and my mother died in silence. A marriage edict suddenly made this dissolute prince and grandson the noble son-in-law of the heavenly family. The king gave him a crown of pearls, but deep in his eyes there was a frosty blade - the son of a brother, the heir of the previous dynasty, with undercurrents on every side. The princess lowered her eyes, and there was a silent measurement under the clear light; the civil servant nodded, and the light of a sword seemed to be looming in his smile; the envoys from various countries walked through the palace, their eyes like probes, trying to pierce the old rivers and mountains sleeping in his blood. Hidden between the blood-stained seams of his father's armor are secret marks that point to the depths of the palace; locked in his mother's yellowed poems are the lingering flames of the empire's past. Is it to be a bottle of wine that is getting cold at a banquet, or to pick up a still-dry pen and write a new line where the embers of history are? The chessboard waits quietly, the pieces falling silently.