Synopsis
1,
In the 25th year of the Qianying era, He Changyu, the treacherous chancellor who held sway over the court, was impeached by every official. The people petitioned for his death.
The emperor was foolish and obsessed with elixirs of immortality, so he could only bear to make the hard choice and order He Changyu executed at Jinluan Terrace.
On the day of the execution, Prince Huai, Song Mingzheng, who had remonstrated with the emperor to purge his evil ministers, stood beside the executioner's platform, his face grim.
The onlookers secretly snickered. Prince Huai was gentle and virtuous, and had opposed the treacherous chancellor for decades. Perhaps he was worried the man's blood would sully his spotless reputation.
He Changyu thought so too.
The beautiful, treacherous minister, honey-mouthed and venom-hearted, gave a bitter smile and coaxed Song Mingzheng to come closer. Song Mingzheng stood cold-faced and silent. He had assumed the scourge would curse him with some poisonous oath, but instead he heard him say:
"A-Zheng, when you wear the imperial robes one day, don't forget your late wife."
That day, Prince Huai's secret, long-suffering wife was executed in the marketplace. The witchcraft case, buried for more than a decade, came to light again, and a month later the wrongs were finally righted.
2,
Back when Prince Huai was living among commoners, running errands and leading horses for others, it was He Changyu who saved him.
Later, they fell secretly in love. Though they were only fourteen, the two boys hid it from their parents and secretly held a wedding ceremony.
That same year, Song Mingzheng was welcomed back into his ancestral family. The upright He family, however, was implicated in the witchcraft case. His father and brothers were executed, and the entire clan was demoted to commoner status. Their lives had become as different as heaven and earth.
After falling into ruin overnight, He Changyu finally seized an opportunity to enter Prince Huai's chambers and offer him a cup of wine, begging him to help clear his family's name.
Song Mingzheng said nothing. He pinned him to the bed and made love to him all night, then sent him away with two chests of silver.
With nowhere else to turn, He Changyu had no choice but to recognize a thief as his father. He gritted his teeth and committed one crime after another, climbing ever higher, yet Prince Huai's faction kept the witchcraft case firmly buried, refusing to clear his name.
He could not accept it. That was why he risked everything and used his own death to force Song Mingzheng to restore his father's and brothers' good names.
He Changyu thought that, reborn, he would make Song Mingzheng taste every kind of suffering and die a miserable death.
3,
After waking from a nightmare and returning to life, He Changyu found himself back in the 12th year of the Qianying era.
The stable boy who had stolen his purse was kneeling before him. He raised an eyebrow, but instead of sending the boy away, he lifted the boy's face with the tip of his boot.
"If you want me to let you go, you should offer me something in return."
He tossed over a box of elixirs, the very things the old emperor had been addicted to in his previous life. They could make anyone who took them willingly become a slave, utterly loyal, and betrayal would bring instant death by poison.
He Changyu said, "Either die, or be my slave for the rest of your life."
The boy gazed up at the man seated above him, whose expression was as cool as a white jade Buddha, yet whose features were as striking as blood on a blade. In a daze, the youth bowed his head and crawled forward on his knees, swallowing the elixir without a word.
"From now on, command me as you will, through fire and water."
4,
In this life, He Changyu severed all ties of affection.
He used every means at his disposal to delay the witchcraft case by several years. He also trained hard in riding and archery until he excelled in both letters and arms. At a young age, he came first in all three imperial examinations and rose swiftly through the ranks.
Even the timing of Prince Huai's return to his ancestral family was decided by He Changyu himself.
From then on, Prince Huai's faction grew stronger, with He Changyu pulling the strings behind the scenes.
One by one, he sent the traitors who had framed him into the imperial prison, and investigated the true culprit behind the witchcraft case. He even kept Prince Huai like a little bird, making him bend his knees and bow his head.
Humiliating a stable boy was no fun. He would put Prince Huai on the throne.
He would make the emperor kneel and serve as a slave.
5,
On the very day he had been sentenced to death in his previous life, He Changyu held Song Mingzheng close and drank with him all night.
In the hazy confusion of their night together, Song Mingzheng had drunk He Changyu into a stupor. From far away, he saw He Changyu holding a dagger stained with chicken's blood, and mistakenly thought he was about to kill himself.
Song Mingzheng came stumbling over and pressed one hand against the blade. Blood ran down in beads, but he locked He Changyu tightly in his arms, his breathing ragged and his face wet with tears.
In a voice that was almost pleading, he said:
"A-Yu, I was a bastard. If I've wronged you, humiliate me, beat me, or even kill me to vent your anger! I'll trade my life for yours!"
He Changyu knew that only the Song Mingzheng from his previous life called him A-Yu.
He Changyu x Song Mingzheng
Honey-mouthed, venom-hearted, vengeful career-minded beauty, the bottom x Seemingly proper, sinister and insecure, devoted puppy of a prince, the top
[Reader's Guide]
1. Both are strong, both are virgins, one-on-one, happy ending.
2. Includes: rebirth for both, revenge and putting scum in their place, love entangled in hatred, the top's long road to winning back his wife, and reconciliation after a breakup.
3. Fictional historical setting with many original world-building details, not meant to be historically verifiable.
4. The blurb was screenshotted on 2026.5.25.
Theme: A snake may become a dragon, but its markings do not change.
