The Shi family has a pair of twins.
The older brother, Shi Xian, grew up beyond the frontier, riding fine horses in fine clothes and roaming the world with his sword.
His younger brother, Shi Chu, stayed in Jiangnan with their uncle. Refined and scholarly, he aspired to serve at court.
But outsiders knew Shi Xian and not Shi Chu.
That was because Shi Chu had lived in the family residence since childhood, raised as his brother's substitute.
The year his older brother came home for the holidays, he happened to witness an assassination attempt.
He stepped in to help and saved the young man.
Back home, he even joked to his younger brother that the boy had been so pale, he must have been terrified.
A few months later, an imperial decree arrived at the Shi residence.
The Shi family's young master was to become a study companion to the newly enthroned young emperor.
Everyone at court knew that though the position was called a study companion, the regent had chosen Shi Xian because his reputation was rising, with the intention of suppressing him.
Rumor had it that the regent preferred men, and the Shi family's young master was exactly his type.
It was time to put the carefully raised substitute to use.
The blurb will be revised again.
I'll write fifty thousand words in advance, then publish it all at once.
(An obsessive-compulsive's lament after planting a dead tree early on and then desperately trying to turn it into a sapling.jpg)
This is most likely a passion project based on my personal tastes. As usual, the logic has gone missing!
Theme: Take your fate into your own hands.
