After the Realm Was Pacified

“If I can stir the winds and clouds of the realm, and stride across the Nine Provinces, then I, Xie Yiqing, will have lived a life without regrets.”

“Then, sir, have you ever considered what you will do once the realm is at peace?”

*

The Xie family had a prodigy: he studied the classics at three, trained with blades and spears at five, and mastered both letters and arms, ready to serve the emperor.

On the offensive, he could personally lead three thousand abandoned soldiers on a night raid against an enemy camp of a hundred thousand, carving an unimaginable path to victory while surrounded by enemies on all sides.

On the defensive, he could command the court with a single pen, one letter, and a silver tongue, persuading the seven kingdoms to form alliances and turn against one another, and bringing Great Yan to its knees without shedding a drop of blood.

The year he met Qin Mengzhao, a hostage prince, the Xie family was executed to the last. Only Xie Yiqing escaped. Qin Mengzhao gave him a drink of water.

Xie Yiqing wanted revenge. Qin Mengzhao wanted to rule the realm.

Together, they returned to the Sheng Kingdom, fought for the throne within the palace, crushed traitors, strengthened the state through reform, waged war against the seven kingdoms, and unified the land.

Ten years after they met, the realm was at peace.

In the fourth month of the first year of Fengde, the powerful chancellor Xie Yiqing vanished beyond the frontier. Word arrived from beyond the border that the chancellor was dead.

After that, Qin Mengzhao, once a wise and benevolent ruler, changed. He became arbitrary, violent, and cruel, and everyone within and beyond the palace lived in fear.

In the eighth month of the first year of Fengde, Qin Mengzhao led a military campaign in person and thoroughly routed the Tatar who had been raiding beyond the frontier.

His attendants also saw the emperor carrying a sleeping “bride” dressed in red. The figure looked remarkably like the missing chancellor, Xie Yiqing.

Xie Yiqing had become a fool, in the literal sense. After falling off a cliff and being rescued, he could not even remember his own name.

He knew nothing of his past.

All he knew was that he had put on a bright red wedding robe, and his aunt had told him he was to be married, when a handsome man with tears streaming down his face burst in, hugged him tight, hoisted him over his shoulder, and ran.

More than twenty vicious thugs from the wealthy man's household chased them for thirty blocks.

“You can only marry me.” The fearsome tyrant spoken of by outsiders had a pair of peach-blossom eyes filled with boundless devotion.

He dismissed the three palaces and six courtyards of consorts he had once taken in just to provoke the chancellor.

He built all sorts of rustic little farmhouses in the harem, filled them with eggplants, soybeans, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes, and stayed by the fool's side as he learned to write characters and compose poems, stroke by stroke.

Rumors spread throughout the court: His Majesty had gone mad over a bondservant from beyond the frontier.

Then, in the Mid-Autumn season the following year, Xie Yiqing returned to the Great Sheng court.

This time, he had another title.

Empress of Sheng.

*

“Once, I crossed eight thousand miles beneath clouds and moonlight, my thirty years of glory no more than dust and earth. Now I leave it all to the gentle breeze, the bright moon, and the homes in a quiet lane.”

*

Reading Guide:

1. A fiercely protective, max-level fighter who loves his spouse, with a devotion rating of ten stars. He would rather be a loyal dog than an emperor, a domineering hero type seme X A proud beauty uke with an unbearably serious image to uphold, who once wanted to seize the throne but ultimately decided that being a fool and relying on his looks was plenty of fun.

2. A story set after the realm has been pacified. The uke is a male who can bear children. This is a fictional setting with lots of original worldbuilding.

3. Content warnings: old-school childbirth and melodrama. The romance is the only source of angst. The little “*” marks are reserved for flashbacks.

Winter Solstice 2023.11.8, preorder

Theme: Cherish every day of your life