Jiang Sui is a distant female relative of the Qi royal family. Her life is frugal but peaceful enough.
Then a hostage arrives: a man of extraordinary grace who willingly takes the place of his elder brother, the crown prince, as a hostage. In the eyes of the world, he is a paragon of virtue.
The worthy young lord looks at her a little too long at a banquet, and the ruler and ministers of Qi understand.
Jiang Sui is the beauty in a honey trap.
They hand her over to him to drive a wedge between the two brothers of Jin, both renowned for their virtue.
The young lord is as beautiful as jade, but coldhearted to the core. He is cold and merciless, and more than once he lets her die.
Jiang Sui doesn't want to die. She brings him medicine, fighting tooth and nail to stay alive.
"I used to be your brother's lover." In the damp, dim curtains of a spring day, she is forced to sweat from head to toe, and can only whisper soothingly, "If I have a child, I'll say it's your brother's."
"My lord needn't take it to heart."
It was only a brief affair, Jiang Sui thinks. She may as well consider it a night of pleasure. He hasn't lost anything either.
Sure enough, in the darkness, the man pauses, grips her waist, and lets out a low laugh.
*
But Ji Shuliang has always hated his elder brother more than anything. He also hates the woman who is determined to give herself to his brother.
He hates her to the bone and cruelly watches her play her part. She trembles beneath him, unable to bear it, yet still deliberately calls out his brother's name.
Yet amid the delirious intimacy, he finds himself entertaining a foolish hope: he could be her "crown prince," he could be her secret lover, as long as he can hold on to her in the mud. Even if they rot together, he will never let go.
He wants to believe that, since she is at least trying to take something from him, there must be some sincerity in her.
But even a little sincerity might not be enough. How could it satisfy him?
Perhaps Jiang Sui has no heart. No matter how tightly they cling to one another, her heart and eyes are still fixed on his brother.
*
Years later, Jiang Sui has safely married into the Eastern Palace of Jin. On this day, the crown prince who comes to her bed looks so familiar it sends a chill through her.
The mighty, violent "Crown Prince of Jin" smiles at her darkly.
"My consort, I have a question for you."
"Back then, how exactly did you get seduced into sleeping with my late younger brother?"
Now, Ji Shuliang has become his elder brother.
And she has fallen into his hands.
Of course he'll make her pay a hundred times, a thousand times over.
Reading guide
A heroine forced to make a move to survive VS a refined, cunning hero with the bones of a ruthless tyrant, a hypocrite in gentleman's clothing
Happy ending, mutual disguises, mutually possessive love, identical twins sharing identities
The hero is ambitious. Even after seizing power, he wears his brother's secret identity for a time to purge political enemies, swapping identities and skulking in the shadows.
This is a story about a heroine who thinks she's playing out a substitute romance, while the hero thinks he's enduring humiliation. Both of them are living inside a layered deception.
The blurb may be revised, but the central premise and character concepts will remain unchanged.
Theme: Resist adversity, arm yourself with courage, and move forward with renewed vigor.
