Xiao Yunlian spent years fighting for the throne, winning over powerful ministers and plotting every move until he finally secured the position of Crown Prince.
Then one day, it was revealed that his birth mother, Consort Yu, had secretly met with her childhood sweetheart twenty years earlier. He was the result of a one-night affair.
Every imperial physician and palace maid who had helped conceal the truth was executed. Consort Yu was sentenced to death, and Yunlian was stripped of his title and imprisoned in a palace residence outside the imperial grounds on some arbitrary charge.
Having fallen from the heights, surrounded by scornful eyes and with no hope of rising again, Yunlian could no longer go on. He only wanted to evade the guards watching him and end it all.
Then one day, his nemesis, the Sixth Prince Xiao Chengjue, arrived in his carriage. Wearing a brand-new python robe, he sat high above him, his refined, flamboyant face wearing its familiar, false warmth. "It's been months, Third Brother. You're still as handsome as ever."
Yunlian's pupils contracted when he saw the longevity lock in Xiao Chengjue's hand, the one belonging to the only younger brother he had ever loved.
*
Later, a great fire left the deposed crown prince's body nowhere to be found. From then on, a mute young eunuch appeared at Crown Prince Xiao Chengjue's side.
He was beautiful, but clumsy at everything he did. His hands had never known hard work, and he seemed never to have suffered. Anyone could bully and humiliate him, grinding him into the dirt.
Yunlian endured everything in silence, longing for the day he could take back with his own hands all that he wanted.
The dignified Crown Prince watched in silence as he stumbled and failed, as he panicked and ran, and finally as he lowered himself to curry favor and ingratiate himself with his enemy, throwing himself into that man's arms.
For the first time, Xiao Chengjue couldn't smile. His heart felt as if it were being squeezed tight.
How could his plaything smile at someone else's side?
Content warning: The shou is not actually a eunuch. It's just an excuse for the gong to keep him in sight at all times! The gong is a real scumbag. He torments the shou early on, then gets tormented himself later. He has to win back his love. They are each other's first love, and there is no change of partner.
Illustrator: Jiao Shu
Theme: Treasure the person you have. Don't take pleasure in hurting others.
