A Night of Snow in the Mountains

In the thirteenth year of the Southern Tang, the emperor was incompetent and obsessed with alchemy, leaving the people in misery. The eight princes fought for the throne, plunging the country into five years of civil strife.

Xu Linzhu, Prince of Huainan, was blessed with elegant looks and a graceful bearing, the most beautiful young lord in all of Huainan.

Among the eight princes, he had no power base or maternal clan to support him, and at first he was the least favored by the world.

Who could have imagined that in the end, with the help of General Qin Qufei, Xu Linzhu would bring ten thousand Mingyuan troops to the capital, surround the imperial city, seize control of the army, and force his way onto the throne?

On the night the new emperor's enthronement ceremony ended, Qin Qufei ignored the palace curfew and entered the new emperor's bedchamber, Zhengde Hall, with his sword.

Inside the hall, Xu Linzhu, the supreme ruler of the realm, stood tall in the deep palace, dressed in imperial robes with his crown's tassels hanging down. He stared at Qin Qufei with an unreadable expression.

Qin Qufei stepped forward, unfastened his jade belt, and tossed it onto the dragon bed. Resting his chin in the hollow of Xu Linzhu's shoulder, he asked in a low voice, "You've achieved your heart's desire and claimed this prosperous realm. What about my deepest wish? Xiao Zhu, will you grant it?"

*

Xu Linzhu woke from a dream of his past life. He had been reborn at eighteen, before he was ever made a prince.

A servant came to report, "Your Highness has been ill for a long time, and the emperor has posted a proclamation: anyone who can save Your Highness may name their reward. A young doctor surnamed Qin answered the call. He says he and Your Highness are destined to live and die together, and that if Your Highness marries him and brings him into the residence, he will come back from the dead."

Xu Linzhu sat in the hall, looking at the new concubine he had married while unconscious. The man knelt in the center of the hall, perfectly composed. Xu Linzhu gripped his chin and sneered. "A young doctor surnamed Qin?" Wasn't this the great general Qin Qufei, who would dominate the land ten years later and force him to submit?

The young doctor looked up at him, his eyes glistening with tears and a faint smile on his lips, as though greeting an old acquaintance. "Husband, what would you have of me?"

"You think you can climb into this prince's bed?"

"I do."

"Tie him up!" When the servant asked where to take him, Xu Linzhu crooked his lips. "To warm my bed!"

*

Qin Qufei once loved someone deeply. Unfortunately, that person never knew until his dying day just how precious he was to someone else.

[Reborn and just trying to survive: Prince Shou x A madman's very bones, devoted to the end: General Gong]

2021.8

Theme: Never settle for less. Be true to yourself.