Xie Shuci traveled to the capital to seek refuge with the Marquis's estate, but was waylaid by bandits.
The young bandit leader, dressed in fine clothes and riding a fine horse, smiled at him flirtatiously, flashing a bright row of white teeth. "Send the beauty in the carriage to my room. I'm getting married tonight!"
The men around them laughed suggestively. Xie Shuci was bound hand and foot and, despite being a man, became the bandit chief's bride. From then on, the chief kept him as a plaything, subjecting him to every sort of intimate humiliation.
Consumed by shame and fury, Xie Shuci resisted to the bitter end. That only brought harsher abuse. He tried to escape but failed, and even the page who had accompanied him all the way was murdered!
Xie Shuci had no choice but to pretend to give in, while hatred raged in his heart.
He swore through gritted teeth: One day, this bandit would pay for his crimes in blood!
Li Hanzhen was the Marquis of Pingyuan, a close aide to the Crown Prince, and had been ordered by the Eastern Palace to disguise himself as a bandit while secretly drilling private troops.
Xie Shuci had originally been nothing more than a toy he picked up out of boredom while training his troops. After all, Xie Shuci had a woman's beauty, with jade-white skin and vermilion lips, yet was cold and stubborn. Li Hanzhen was instantly enamored, so he simply kept him as his own.
When he discovered Xie Shuci's remarkable talent, cleverness, and knack for strategy, he ordered his men to call him sister-in-law and gave him a little authority over the gang's affairs. Even when Xie Shuci tried to flee, Li Hanzhen merely had him brought back and gave him a light punishment.
Ultimately, he was just a caged songbird Li Hanzhen kept to while away the hours. He wasn't worth taking seriously.
Until one day, flames engulfed the entire bandit stronghold. Bound hand and foot, Li Hanzhen could only watch as Xie Shuci pressed his red lips together, his hands trembling, yet drew his sword without mercy. One thrust drove it deep into Li Hanzhen's belly, and then Xie Shuci fled without looking back.
Li Hanzhen looked down at the sword piercing his body. At last, he felt a despairing pain in his heart, like an ant's bite.
So Xie Shuci really did want him dead...
So he had fallen in love with Xie Shuci at first sight, all those years ago...
The flames were closing in, and the rope around his wrists would not have been difficult to untie. But he had understood his feelings for Xie Shuci too late, and that had led to a situation beyond all repair.
Li Hanzhen's lashes trembled. As if resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes amid the raging flames.
Reading Guide:
1. 1v1, shou-focused, happy ending. As usual, it's an old-school melodrama drenched in angst, with a love-hate relationship and a lot of mutual torment.
2. Zhen never truly wronged Ci, and Ci isn't as harmless as he seems.
3. Ci is just beautiful! He doesn't have both sets of genitals! Our Ci is all man!
4. This is a political intrigue story. After they break up, the political schemes begin.
Theme: As love deepens, the realm endures.
