The Crown Prince’s Bright Moonlight

People say that Song Juefei, heir to the Northern Defender's Manor, is the brightest star in the capital.

But they do not know that the moon casts its gentle light for him alone.

When they were young, beneath the palace walls, Song Juefei casually gave half a sweet pastry to a prince who was being bullied. That small kindness became the only light in Chu Yanru's ten years of darkness.

He watched Song Juefei grow from a young heir into the celebrated Moonlit Gentleman, gifted in both letters and arms, his smiling eyes bright as stars, with admirers always surrounding him. Meanwhile, Chu Yanru climbed from the cold palace to the Eastern Palace, treading a path of blood and schemes until at last he was worthy of standing by his side. No one knew that the gentle, jade-like new crown prince concealed a bone-deep possessiveness whenever he looked at that man.

Then came the palace banquet where Song Juefei chatted and laughed with a general's daughter. That night, Chu Yanru trapped him in a pavilion amid the driving rain. His kiss tasted of despair and salt. “Mingzhi, how long do you expect me to watch you smile at someone else?”

Song Juefei ran, fleeing a devotion that threatened to turn his whole world upside down.

But for every inch he fled, Chu Yanru advanced a foot. At last, he heard the man tear away every disguise, revealing a raw, bleeding wound and an all-consuming obsession. “You gave me the only warmth I have ever known. Are you going to take it away now?”

Later, on the eve of the new emperor's enthronement, Chu Yanru knelt before the late emperor's spirit tablet and returned the imperial seal.

As the court erupted in uproar, he took only one person's hand and walked away into the mountains and rivers.

From then on, stories spread through the martial world and the imperial court about the two of them:

A tyrant learned tenderness for him, and the moon was touched by the mortal world for his sake. They chose each other, becoming twin stars standing side by side.