Qi Weiyun, once the pampered second son of the prime minister, became the new emperor's nameless, unofficial male consort, kept deep within the palace.
Even imprisoned in a secluded courtyard, demeaned by the emperor, bullied by cruel servants, and framed by schemers, he still didn't regret saving the then-unfavored Sixth Prince, Li Ke, at the imperial retreat that year.
Li Ke ascended the throne, while the former Crown Prince's revenge left Qi Weiyun's entire family executed. Qi Weiyun himself became a male consort who survived by selling his body.
In the secluded Wutong Courtyard, he and Li Ke were locked in a relentless, tangled relationship. Afterward, there wasn't even a basin of hot water. He could only wash with cold well water.
From a life of rank and pampering to being humiliated at will and barely surviving. If he had to hate anyone, he should hate his own useless self.
So he set Wutong Pavilion ablaze, choosing a death that would leave no body behind.
Li Ke once declared righteously to everyone, including Qi Weiyun: I don't like men.
But he wanted to show Qi Weiyun through physical actions that he loved him. In Qi Weiyun's eyes, however, that behavior seemed to be an insult.
He didn't really understand. He tried to learn, but apparently he didn't get it.
So Qi Weiyun would rather die than accept his twisted, terrible love.
But when he actually saw Wutong Pavilion burned down until not even ashes remained, he thought he could accept Qi Weiyun not loving him, as long as he was alive.
"Can't you stay away from me?" Qi Weiyun glared in annoyance at the person behind him, and at the crowd of guards behind that person. "You're disrupting my business!" After saying that, he coughed several times in anger.
Who does business with a dozen guards, plus a terrifyingly grim "head guard"?
The "head guard" clearly wasn't listening. He patted Qi Weiyun's back to soothe his breathing and said, as if it were obvious, "It's dangerous here." He didn't want anything dangerous near Qi Weiyun anymore.
"You're the most dangerous thing here." Qi Weiyun gave him a helpless glare. It didn't do any good, but at least it let him vent.
"Did you take your medicine today?" Li Ke stared at the faintly reddened skin on his neck from coughing.
Feeling guilty, Qi Weiyun refused to answer, but Li Ke had no intention of letting him off. His men moved quickly, and before long a steaming bowl of pitch-black medicine was brought in.
"Drink your medicine."
"Li Ke! If you keep forcing me to take medicine every day, I'll never consider forgiving you."
"Drink it. I don't care whether you forgive me," Li Ke answered expressionlessly.
Qi Weiyun felt a pang at those words. The bitterness in his heart was stronger than the bitterness of the medicine.
But then Li Ke said, "I only care whether you can stay alive." He paused, remembering something painful. "Stay alive... forever."
*Content warning: The gong is terrible at communicating, and when he does speak, he says the wrong thing. The shou is genuinely very sick, the kind who coughs after walking a few steps and gets a fever at the drop of a hat.
*Angsty fake-death story with a chase-after-the-wife crematorium, physical and emotional torment, but both leads are sexually pure. There are misunderstandings, as well as problems with the gong's personality.
*The crematorium focuses more on emotional torment. Later, the gong is just terrified the shou will really die, constantly on edge. There are also the usual melodramatic chase-after-the-wife-into-the-crematorium scenes.
*There's some mutual salvation. In their youth, the gong wanted to die, and the shou pulled him back. Later, the shou wanted to die, and the gong pulled him back.
*The entire novel is complete. The main story is around 100,000-plus Chinese characters. Updates begin in late September, and the novel will be fully posted before the end of November. The three planned bonus chapters will be posted after the main story is complete.
Theme: A young man's spirit is not renewable
