Blind Minister

Winter of the twentieth year of Hongchang. After quelling a rebellion and returning victorious, Xu Qinghuai, the legitimate son of the Marquis of Funing, galloped through the capital.

He came upon a group of blind musicians just leaving a banquet.

He sneered coldly. "A bunch of blind men?"

Every one of the young gentlemen was painfully thin, a sight too pitiful to look at for long. He paid them no mind.

Later, one blind musician said, "I want to attach myself to the young marquis."

This blind man was deeply cunning, concealing his martial skills and harboring all sorts of schemes.

But Xu Qinghuai saw through every one of them.

He swept the man into his arms and tugged off his clothes. "Come on, then. Attach yourself to me."

He opened himself up, but the blind man dodged him.

Who knew that the very next day, all of the capital would know that Young Marquis Xu liked men?

He simply played along.

When the blind man had to enter the palace to serve, he personally escorted him every day.

When the blind man wanted to get up to no good, he took him everywhere.

When the blind man disliked court, he had the emperor grant him an official post.

Then he turned to the blind man and said, "Why don't you come forward and thank me?"

He knew it was all an act.

Even when the emperor granted them an official marriage, he still had no idea what the blind man's scheme was. But the claim that he wanted to attach himself to the young marquis was starting to seem genuine.

The blind man said, "I told you long ago. I wanted to attach myself to the young marquis."

Xu Qinghuai replied without hesitation, "I'm willing to let you attach yourself to me."

Once the dust settled, it was hard to tell who had schemed against whom.

-

As a child, Xiao Yunshan once met a little beggar. The boy had been hunted down and left at death's door,

yet seeing that Xiao had no home, he gave him the only valuable thing he had left: a green jade thumb ring.

Xiao Yunshan said, "When I become the most famous musician in all of Great Zhao, come find me if anyone bullies you."

When they met again, the young marquis rode beneath the falling snow in a red robe. Surely no one would dare bully him now.

Perched on his horse, he laughed recklessly. "A bunch of blind men?"

A sinister, debauched, decisive beauty of a gong

A gentle, scheming shou who plays the pig to eat the tiger and pretends to be blind

Gong: Watch me turn this marriage into passionate love!

Shou: Sorry, but I've been plotting this for a long time.

Both leads are morally gray, equally matched, cold-blooded and devoted to one another

Secret love / reunited after a long separation / two beautiful, strong, tragic leads

Young Marquis Xu married a man.

That day, fireworks filled the capital.

He returned to the capital with the army from the northwest.

Sitting astride his horse, he faced the musician at the city gate, dressed in wedding robes.

"I'm here to marry you!"

Later, once he had secured the throne,

the emperor of an enemy kingdom came to see him,

offering a marriage treaty in exchange for peace and prosperity between their lands.

He looked at the man below the steps, dressed in imperial robes just like him.

"Then I shall marry you."

Note:

A secret-love story, one side by chance, the other deliberate.

Main gong, fictional dynasty, both leads are intensely devoted to one another.

There is a side couple, and their relationships are extremely complicated. There are many of them, and it's all very tangled.

Plenty of political schemes, both overt and covert.

Serious tone, plot-driven.

Extras can be found in the extras collection on my profile.

The companion novel Blade of the Lame is currently updating.

The Slave of the Wilds is coming soon.

Blurb revised on June 11, 2024.

Cover art by artist Nicholas Ergou.

Theme: Qinghuai carried out an envoy's mission for over a thousand miles, daring to declare that Yunshan's journey begins here.