He drinks tea in white robes; he rides in a lavish carriage with fine horses.
He possesses both distinction and martial valor, with boundless prospects ahead. He protects his country and home, roaming to the ends of the earth.
Heaven bestowed all its poetic grace upon him alone, yet fate doomed him to a lonely life.
The battlefield is stained with blood. Like a demon from hell, he stands in blood-soaked armor amid mountains of corpses. Then he sees him approaching, as if descended from heaven, graceful and ethereal. His beauty is like a painting, and his snow-white cuffs are already stained crimson.
"I will win the world for you..." he whispers by his ear, his voice alluring.
"...For his meritorious service in suppressing the enemy, General Jin Yu is hereby rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold and promoted to a higher rank. I have heard that my third princess, An Yue, is now of marriageable age. Talented, beautiful, courteous, and wise, she has greatly pleased both the Empress Dowager and me. I hereby bestow her upon Jin Yu and permit them to marry. The Ministry of Rites shall oversee all the ceremonies and choose an auspicious date for the wedding. Let this be announced throughout the land, so that all may know."
He knelt beneath the emperor's throne, dumbfounded, and for a long while could not react...
Leaving the great hall, he saw the sorrow between his brows, deep and mournful as the sea.
In the end, he conquered the realm, but the ethereal, aloof man from his memories was nowhere to be seen.
Who wept aloud for rouge? Who painted beauty upon broken walls...
Love, hate, infatuation, anger, greed, longing, and resentment: the ties of a past life remain unfinished, destined to bind them together for generations to come.
