In the seventeenth year of Emperor Liangping's reign, rebel forces swept straight into the capital, dealing a fatal blow to a dynasty beset by troubles at home and abroad.
At this perilous moment, the sixth son of Emperor Ping, Prince Cheng Xiao Ming, who had until then been obscure, stepped forward to protect the realm and end the military crisis, turning the tide. He then rose rapidly, pacifying the empire and ascending the throne, shining brilliantly.
Yet later generations judged: If Xiao Ming had died then, his story would have been perfect.
The promise of a golden age appeared for only a moment, like a shooting star. Prince Cheng Xiao Ming did not bring lasting peace. After his reign, the land fell into even greater turmoil.
As if overnight, he shed the face of a wise ruler. Once he had absolute power, he indulged in extravagance and sank into corruption. When his allies were no longer useful, he discarded them, persecuted loyal officials, slaughtered his wife's family, and even killed his wife, who had aided him and stood by his side through life-and-death trials.
How strange.
His drastic change in temperament and conduct was one mystery. The absence of an imperial posthumous title, with history remembering him only as Prince Cheng of Liang, was another. The ruler who eventually ended the chaos and ushered in a golden age neither offered an objective assessment of his merits and faults nor expressed any personal feelings. For no reason at all, he simply erased these years of imperial rule from the record.
Now Gu Xu, a researcher of time and space, transmigrates to this era, determined to clear away the layers of doubt and uncover the truth behind the few brief lines preserved in the historical records.
P.S. The couple is already hinted at in the blurb. They are each other's first love.
Theme: The sparse words in old records once belonged to vivid, living people.
