Jiang Zhenyan: I am a woman, but I choose to live my whole life as a man. This isn’t “disguise.” It’s “choosing who I want to be.”
Xie Yundu: I like you, whether you’re a man or a woman. This isn’t “loving men.” It’s “liking you for who you are.”
She is the seventh young master of the Jiang family in the capital, and has lived as a man for over twenty years. She excels at everything from horseback archery to bookkeeping, and is praised as “the capital’s finest young gentleman.” He is the heir to the Marquis of Zhennan, a ruthless “living King of Hell” on the frontier. Yet after returning to the capital, he does nothing but visit her residence to play chess.
At first, he simply thought she was an interesting person. They played chess, rode horses, and chatted, and before he knew it, he was falling deeper and deeper. He wondered if he was attracted to men, and after struggling painfully with the idea, he accepted it: he didn’t care whether Jiang Zhenyan was a man or a woman. He liked Jiang Zhenyan as a person.
She thought she had hidden the truth flawlessly. He had no idea she walked right past him every day, collar fastened tight, with her Adam’s apple painted on. From confidants to something more, from holding hands to sharing a bed, he held her as his heart thundered, yet never discovered the secret beneath those layers of fabric.
Until one morning, in the dawn light, she let down her long hair and stood before him.
She didn’t cry, and he didn’t ask a thing. He simply reached out and pulled her into his arms.
This is a story about hiding and seeking, waiting and holding on. She hid for half her life, and he spent half his life searching for himself. They both suffered for a long time, but thankfully, in the end, neither of them had to suffer anymore.
