Unlike the other princes and princesses, Huo Pingyi's name was chosen by his mother. Confined to the imperial palace, the daughter of a military family poured her former ambitions into the words "Pingyi."
But his mother couldn't bear to see him suffer through palace intrigue in pursuit of those ambitions. From childhood, she dressed Huo Pingyi as a girl, keeping him clear of the schemes and treachery of court and palace.
An imperial decree sent the palace's most inconspicuous "Princess Pingyi" thousands of miles away to the grasslands for a political marriage.
On their wedding night, his husband pinched his chin and asked mockingly, "Pingyi? Does the 'Yi' in your name mean barbarians?"
Eler was a wise ruler. He was kindhearted but not weak, proud but never stubborn. Huo Pingyi thought that this husband in name only was even more suited than his own father to be the sun that shone upon the people.
But the rising sun went out at the height of its radiance.
Before he died, Eler fulfilled his promise to Huo Pingyi and gave him his freedom, helping him reclaim his identity as a man. Huo Pingyi became a schoolteacher in a small border town.
This was the first border town trampled by the grassland cavalry. On the first day of the new khan's occupation, he caught Huo Pingyi hiding among the crowd and looked down at him with contempt.
"I hear there's a man in this town whose name is the same as my sister-in-law's, and whose looks are seven or eight tenths like hers..."
"Is it you? Raise your head."
Huo Pingyi didn't dare look up at the arrogant young khan.
Because he really was the sister-in-law the young man had mentioned, and he should have become the khan's new wife after his older brother's death.
A story about the older brother as the top and the younger brother as the bottom. The younger brother is the official pairing.
Theme: For the sake of freedom, everything can be cast aside.
