-1-
Lu Hengchuan is a notorious wastrel in the royal capital.
His father is one of the Three Excellencies and the foremost among civil officials. The only family able to rival his in status, the Shi family, spends most of its time away fighting wars and rarely returns to the capital. In this vast royal city, Lu Hengchuan manages to stir up a storm wherever he goes. He often makes Old Master Lu so furious that his mustache bristles, yet the old man can do nothing about it.
Until that day, beneath the royal capital's walls.
The Shi family's young general, Shi Zhimiao, returned victorious. The people cheered with delight, and Lu Hengchuan, walking down the street with a friend, discovered that the whole city had emptied out to welcome him.
Frowning, and rather unconvinced, he thought: What's so interesting about a vulgar warrior who can only swing a spear and a club? How could he compare to my own handsome looks and dashing charm?
So he climbed up onto the city wall.
-2-
Shi Zhimiao truly had no idea what sins he had committed to deserve this.
He had fought bloody battles on the front lines, staking his life in every one. At long last, the emperor summoned him back to the capital. He thought he could take the opportunity to show his parents some filial devotion, but he never imagined that a wastrel with a taste for men would fall for him at first sight.
Back then, he couldn't even be bothered to spare a glance for the little tail following him around.
But later, when he received the imperial decree ordering the execution of the entire Lu family, down to the ninth degree of kinship, on charges of treason, he remembered that brilliant, proud figure. He fell silent and knelt in the snow for an entire night.
Five years later, when this dynasty, rotten to its core, was finally overthrown, when the once-defiant young general was imprisoned in a splendid palace with golden chains binding all four limbs, and when a slender, pale index finger leisurely lifted his chin, revealing a jade goblet filled with shimmering wine before his eyes, he curled his lips and smiled for the first time in years.
The proud new emperor was displeased by such insolence.
He furrowed his brow, changed his grip to seize the other's chin, and tilted his head up, gazing down at him from the corner of his eye as he asked softly, "Shi Zhimiao, what are you smiling about?"
Shi Zhimiao knelt on the ground.
His chin forced upward, he stared intently at the jade-like man before him with eyes as black as a deep pool. Only after the chief eunuch behind him, unable to bear the sight, tapped him with a horsetail whisk did he blink softly. As if some burden had lifted from his heart, he parted his cracked lips and showed the first joyful smile he had worn in five years.
Looking into the new emperor's eyes, he said with a smile, "Nothing."
He was simply glad you were still alive. He was simply smiling at life's unpredictability.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
Scheming wastrel nobleman, the shou x Defiant young general, the gong
Theme: Our fate will always be in our own hands
