The Abandoned Baby I Picked Up Is Destined to Be a Qianyuan

On a snowy night, Lan Qing, a Hengze, finds an abandoned baby. A jade pendant hangs around the child’s neck, engraved with the name Yue Zhi. He gives the baby that name, wraps him in his arms, and softly promises the faintly crying child in the bitter wind, “From now on, I’ll protect you.” To raise the boy, Lan Qing risks his life and sheds blood, never daring to rest. He saves every coin to pay for Yue Zhi’s education and martial training, hoping that one day he won’t have to live in the same mire as Lan Qing. The boy gradually grows into a sharp-featured young man, cold to everyone else but uniquely devoted to Lan Qing. “Brother, when I’m grown, I’ll protect you.” At sixteen, Yue Zhi differentiates as a Qianyuan. During the royal hunt, he astonishes the world with his prowess. But the jade pendant exposes his identity: he is the late emperor’s eldest legitimate son, lost among the common people as an infant during a palace coup. What was called rebellion was really a usurpation; what was called an orphan was really a lost heir. The truth cuts through twenty years of peace. With red-rimmed eyes, Yue Zhi asks Lan Qing, “Who can I even be now?” Lan Qing raises a hand and wipes the blood from his face, just as he once bundled up the abandoned baby on that snowy night. “You’re Yue Zhi. My Yue Zhi.” After that, amid the struggle between ruler and subject and the clash of blades, Lan Qing remains at his side, shielding him from open attacks and hidden daggers with his Hengze body, and soothing the blood and fire in his heart with half a lifetime of tenderness. Every step toward the throne is perilous, but whenever Yue Zhi looks back, Lan Qing is there. On the day of his enthronement, the new emperor takes the Hengze’s hand before the assembled court officials, lacing their fingers tightly and never letting go. “A realm stretching ten thousand li is worth less than that snowy night when you found me.” An abandoned baby on a snowy night, raised to adulthood, accompanied through the fight for the throne, and promised the position of empress. He is the weakness Lan Qing found, and the only one he will ever have.