The Wise Ruler and the Demon Consort

Proud, stunningly beautiful demon concubine top x ambitious, scheming emperor bottom (Yan Zhiwei x Chu Mingzhen) [Beautiful top, adored bottom; dual-protagonist couple story.] [Complete] “Master the arts of letters and arms, then offer your talents to the emperor.” The Yan clan of the capital had produced high-ranking ministers and chief councilors several times over the generations, and its prestige endured to this day. Behind vermilion towers and high walls, in a torrential downpour, poison took the life of a young songstress, her beauty withering like wild grass. It also took away her son’s hope of being entered into the Yan family register and recognized as a legitimate son born to a concubine. Seeing his mother’s once-radiant face grow haggard, Yan Zhiwei stroked his own delicate features as she repeated, “Even if you’re born a sparrow, you can still fly up a branch and become a phoenix. Zhiwei, you have talent. You must fly to the highest branch.” The Yan family was no place for him. If Yan Zhiwei wanted a future, he would have to take risks in pursuit of wealth and status. The struggle for the throne was at a fever pitch. The seventh prince, Chu Mingzhen, had been eliminated from the succession early and hastily made Prince of Yan. Ordered to leave at once for his bitterly cold northern fief, he seemed destined to fall from power, with no hope of ever returning to the capital. The city gates were just ahead. The prince was traveling light, with few attendants. As the equally fallen and disappointed Prince of Yan lifted the carriage curtain, he saw a beautiful young man in white, with dark hair, running through the icy night toward the convoy about to leave the city. “I am Yan Zhiwei of the Yan clan of Chang’an. I have come to offer my services to Your Highness, Prince of Yan,” he called. Chu Mingzhen, dressed in black and wrapped in sable fur, lowered his eyes to the young man gazing up at him. His brows were like spring mountains, his beauty like flowers in the moonlit mist. A beauty mark sat at the corner of his eye, and the black depths of his gaze burned with the bright, blazing fire of ambition. “The court says I’m a failure,” Chu Mingzhen drawled. “I’ve fallen this far, and no one from court has come to see me off. Why have you?” “I wish to help Your Highness rise again,” Yan Zhiwei said, bowing low. They were both down on their luck, so who was in a position to look down on whom? “Even if Yan is bitterly cold, and you might never return to the capital? Even if you might perish in a snowstorm?” “I’ll share Your Highness’s fate, in life or death.” Chu Mingzhen fixed his gaze on him and reached out without hesitation to the beauty who had run through the night to find him. He smiled faintly. “Get in. Come with me out of the capital.” That was their first meeting. * From then on, Yan Zhiwei served as Prince Yan’s advisor, displaying astonishing talent. He helped Chu Mingzhen plan his return to power, managed his fief, and offered counsel, bringing order to everything. Then the struggle for the throne plunged the capital into chaos, and rebellion swept across the land. After lying low for years, Prince Yan Chu Mingzhen had amassed a powerful army. He pacified the realm, returned to the capital, and ascended the throne as emperor, emerging as the ultimate victor. What a lofty branch to climb, to have helped the emperor seize the throne. With the new dynasty established, Yan Zhiwei became chancellor and returned to his hometown in splendid robes. At last, he could look down on the noble families who had once bullied him. Amid the glittering prosperity and heady power, the young chancellor was caught between the emperor’s authority and the noble families of the court, making him an easy target. Yan Zhiwei had been careful enough in his dealings. But his experience was shallow, and his youth and ambition made it difficult to hold onto the chancellorship. In the end, he was framed, accused of colluding with rebels to stage a coup, and condemned to die. On the night before the young chancellor was to be stripped of his seal and thrown into prison, he was at his wits’ end. He sneaked into the palace and knelt before the inscrutable emperor. “Your Majesty, please save this guilty servant’s life.” Yan Zhiwei looked haggard. He cautiously raised his head, his expression seemingly still shaken. The proud, beautiful little swallow had finally fallen from its branch. Its damp feathers were tucked close, and it seemed to hope that the emperor would remember their past and cast it a tender, lingering glance. “Zhiwei was wrong, Your Majesty. Please forgive me.” The new emperor, Chu Mingzhen, rested his chin on his hand upon the throne and glanced at Yan Zhiwei with interest. The fire of ambition still burned in Yan Zhiwei’s eyes, exactly as it had in the beauty who ran to find him that night. Deep in the night, he dreamed of his youth. “If you want to live, to keep people from trampling you, to gain supreme power... there’s another way besides serving in court.” “I’ll make you my noble consort.” “Rather than looking up at imperial power from below, you could sleep beside it. Yan Zhiwei, is there any branch in this world higher than me?” Sober, he holds the power of the world; drunk, he rests with a beauty in his arms. Since Emperor Jingming Chu Mingzhen held all the power in the realm, it was only fitting that he have a peerlessly beautiful companion at his side. And now, the beauty had fallen on hard times and come right to his door. *This is a story about mutual devotion, young love, the seven-year itch, the push and pull between ruler and subject, and a battle of wits between emperor and consort. *Strictly one-to-one, with no pairing swaps. Both are lost, struggling, and tangled up in love. No one gets to be single and fabulous. The couple is locked in, and they swallowed the key. *Beautiful top, adored bottom. Dual perspectives; both top and bottom are protagonists, and their romance is intense. *The author enjoys all kinds of pairings and has unusual tastes. This story is written for fun, so enter with care. *A story of top and bottom going from ruler and subject to emperor and consort, working tirelessly for the court and the realm. Author’s Weibo: @ChenGeWantsToPetCats. Come say hi! Coming soon 1: Farewell, Netherworld [Infinite Flow]. An Infinite Flow story inspired by Mr. and Mrs. Smith, featuring a slightly unhinged, flirtatious beauty top x a highly intelligent, revenge-driven veteran bottom on his second run. Coming soon 2: My Dao Companion and I, a Love-Hate Saga. A ruthless, amnesiac, red-clad ghost beauty top x an obsessive, deranged, reclusive immortal bottom. Older work: Becoming a Saint by Subduing Demons. A long cultivation story about a master and his younger disciple, 1.8 million words and counting. Demonic Emperor disciple top x black-bellied saintly master bottom. Theme: For the nation and its people, keep striving for as long as life lasts.