Fuel for the Flame

[Ruthless, unhinged fake eunuch x resilient mute woman with a photographic memory]

Shen Zhuo, the “Nine-Thousand-Year Lord” of Great Wei, is seen by outsiders as a traitor who twists truth to suit himself and persecutes loyal officials. In reality, he is a fake eunuch burdened with a terrible secret.

In the Ministry of Justice’s prison, he discovers A Yu, a mute woman with a photographic memory. Shen Zhuo takes her away, not to save her, but to “forge a blade.” Using cruel methods, he cures her muteness and forces her to cast off her conscience, training her to become a bewitching consort capable not only of stirring up the world but of wreaking havoc in the imperial palace. He even personally sends her to the emperor’s bed.

As A Yu is used and uses others in turn, she comes to hate him to the core for forcing her to stain her hands with blood.

Then the Jin army closes in, and the court nobles abandon the city and flee. Shen Zhuo, the “corrupt official” she despises, dons his old armor and stands alone at the city gates. In the glow of the flames, he reveals his final gambit to A Yu: he is willing to become the dirtiest kindling in the world, counting himself as a doomed piece, just to pave a path to safety for her and help her restore the realm.