Mind Reading: The Aloof Chief Secretary Has Already Gone Mad Inside

[Historical Power Struggles] [Two Powerful Leads] [Unhinged Court Official] [Mind Reading] [An Intense Push and Pull]

Everyone says Xie Hanzhou, the aloof, ascetic chief grand secretary, is cold and heartless.

Only Shen Jue knows what kind of madman lurks beneath that handsome exterior. She can hear his thoughts.

At a palace banquet, she takes on three at once and breaks off her engagement to the gifted young men of a general's household. The entire court calls her a "barbarian from the northern frontier."

Xie Hanzhou sits composedly at his table, cool on the outside as he curses her three former fiances in his head:

[That dog Lu Jin can swallow three thousand shi of military pay, lick Qin Hao's shit clean, and still dare stand in this hall and run his mouth at her?]

[Lu Heng kneels before the emperor, then sneaks out through the eastern side gate of the Eastern Palace. Even the Lu family's ancestral tablets ought to leap up and smack him.]

Shen Jue: ?

Later, she sneaks into the Xie residence at night and catches him in the bath, covering his face with her handkerchief as he hoarsely calls her name.

Shen Jue thinks he's about to lose control, but he holds back.

That night in the woods, he seals her acupoints and covers her eyes, resting his forehead against hers as he silently fights to restrain himself:

[I mustn't touch her. Hold on a little longer. I've held back for ten years.]

[...I want to kiss her so badly. No, I can't. But her lips are only an inch away. One inch. I counted.]

Later, the man no one in the capital dares provoke becomes the wildest card in her hand.

For ten years, he sits the imperial exams, joins the cabinet, becomes chief grand secretary and tutor to the crown prince, turning himself into the sharpest blade on her path to the throne.

"Xie Hanzhou, what are you after?"

Without changing expression, he replies, "This humble servant seeks the good of the realm."

[I want you. I want you to rule the world, to reign over the four seas, to stand above all others... I want you to look back at me once.]

An outwardly aloof, inwardly unhinged court official x the Marquis of Zhenbei's legitimate daughter. A sweet, satisfying tale of political intrigue, with two mad lovers locked in a push and pull.