After transmigrating into the body of the Prince of Leling's heir in the late Ming dynasty, he opens his eyes to see the Tartars massacring the city. He is lucky enough to escape that disaster, only to be captured and taken as a prisoner. If his imperial-clan identity is exposed, he will lose his head.
But misfortune follows close on its heels. With his refined looks and scholarly air, he catches the eye of a low-ranking Han Bannerman officer, who plans to offer him as a plaything to a Manchu superior with unusual tastes.
Trapped in enemy territory, bound by ropes, with a blade ready to slit his throat at any moment, he begs in vain for even a shred of mercy.
With nowhere left to turn, he stakes his life on fabricating a background out of thin air.
He claims his late father was a personal clerk in Hong Chengchou's household, invoking the name of the newly prominent Hong Chengchou, who has surrendered to the Qing, to weave a false talisman of protection.
Not a word of this story is true.
Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing barely ten months ago, and his former subordinates have scattered. But if even one person who knows the truth turns up, the enormous lie will be exposed in an instant, and his only fate will be the blade and the axe.
On one side is the greedy scheming of the Qing's surrendered soldiers; on the other, a lie that could shatter at the slightest touch. Beneath his outward appearance lies the deadly secret that he is a descendant of the Zhu imperial house.
In an age of chaos strewn with corpses, he can rely only on his silver tongue to fight for that faint glimmer of survival on the edge of life and death.
