[Fierce, dazzling heroine disguised as a man, a young barbarian king VS an elegant, scheming crown prince who plays the fool to catch his prey]
For years, Wusa had seized Wumeng's salt wells and monopolized its trade routes. The people of Wumeng had suffered long enough, and fervently hoped their king would have a son who could restore Wumeng's strength.
Sadly, the King of Wumeng had injured himself when he was young. After years of trying, his wife finally conceived, only to give birth to a daughter. Holding the baby, the king sat in silence all night, then made up his mind...
Eighteen years later, the young Prince An Yulong of Wumeng was locked in a fierce back-and-forth with the young prince of Wusa.
One day, An Yulong fell into an ambush. She leaped from a cliff and landed in front of a beauty fishing by the river.
An Yulong, who had spread all four limbs to keep from sinking and was bobbing helplessly in the water, was reeled closer with a hook. The beauty grinned and murmured, "Caught myself a turtle?"
The "turtle," with a broken leg, suddenly pressed a cold blade to his throat. "Carry me back so I can treat my injury."
He really did carry her back. Under her imperious orders, he tended her wounds and cooked for her, and they even spent an unexpected night together.
When her injury had healed and she was about to leave, she pinched his cheek and declared, "Just you wait. I'll come back and marry you."
He smiled sweetly. "If you want to marry me, come find me in the capital."
Three months later, An Yulong traveled to the capital to pay tribute and receive her title. She went first to the address the beauty had given her, only to find that the place, and the person, did not exist.
She entered the palace in a daze. The investiture ceremony passed in a blur. She bowed to thank the emperor and then the crown prince... Why did the crown prince's voice sound so familiar?
She looked up, sprang to her feet in fury, seized a guard's golden mace, and charged at the crown prince, holding it high. "You little turtle, you bastard!"
*
Zhu Mingfeng's childhood name was Baxia, the name of one of the nine sons of the dragon, a turtle. After catching the dazzling, fierce young woman from a minority tribe, he told her his name was "Jiang Baxia."
She knew the classics of the Han people well, and kept calling him "Little Turtle."
But he was hardly a little turtle.
As the emperor's eldest son, he had won great honors in three campaigns against the northern tribes. Yet when he returned, the position of crown prince had gone to someone else, and the woman he loved had become the crown princess.
So he asked the emperor for a title and went to govern Shu, spending several years traveling and enjoying the scenery.
Who could have guessed that the crown prince would die unexpectedly, and the emperor would summon him back...
After a fierce struggle in the capital, as the political landscape shifted and roiled, he accepted an arranged marriage and became crown prince.
Not long after, the new King of Wumeng traveled a thousand miles to the capital to receive her title.
People said she was passionate and generous, and she had greased palms from top to bottom. The court praised her as the "Jade-Faced Flying Dragon."
On the day of her formal investiture as the new King of Wumeng, he stared at her and thought... Why did the Flying Dragon look so familiar?
After a few polite words of encouragement, the Flying Dragon suddenly lifted her eyes to look at him, stood up, snatched a mace in one smooth motion, and charged at him with it held high.
Recognizing her, he came to his senses and scrambled to his feet, fleeing through the hall with his robes gathered up. "Protect the emperor! Protect the emperor!"
Theme: One encounter beneath a golden breeze and glistening dew is worth more than countless moments in this world.
