When Cheng Kuan spat out his last mouthful of blood on the execution block, he thought: Being a treacherous villain leads to a miserable end. In my next life, I want to be a loyal minister, upright before Heaven and Earth, with nothing to hide from the sun and moon.
As Ling Yun knelt on the ground, bound hand and foot, and the executioner's blade fell, he thought: Loyal ministers get no reward. In my next life, I want to be a traitor who steals the throne, defies convention, and changes his fate.
Then they were reborn, carrying the memories of their previous lives, and clung to each other's coattails.
Young General Ling Yuanlan often wondered: How had the evil traitor and wicked prince, who had been denounced for eight major charges and five capital crimes and executed by waist-severing in public in their last life, become such an incorruptible, upright man in this one?
Prince Zhongshun Cheng Ziping was equally baffled: How had the young general, once a stalwart of the imperial loyalists, become such a rebel in this life?
--
The waterside pavilion has three floors. Cheng Kuan sits on the top floor, tapping a silver chopstick against a gold bowl. A long knife Ling Yun threw in anger is stuck beside his face, but he doesn't so much as blink. Smiling at the handsome young general, he sings a garbled poem cobbled together from old verses, teasing him:
"A beauty gives me a gold-inlaid knife.
How can I repay her? With fine jade.
It is no repayment,
but a pledge of eternal love."
He has sung this self-composed version of the Book of Songs for two lifetimes. And Ling Yun has thrown this gold-inlaid knife in both of them.
--
Upright, stern, bright, handsome general gong x hedonistic, debauched, wicked prince shou
[The blurb was screenshotted on 2022/8/17.]
Theme: A prodigal who reforms is worth more than gold
