To Nan Sheng, the name Ying Yuqing stands for unrivaled, invincible, and incomparable.
She mastered literature, composition, policy, and strategy without a teacher. Her riding, archery, and martial arts made everyone bow their heads. Everyone beneath her was mediocre.
But to Ying Yuqing herself, it all meant boredom, dullness, and having nothing to hold on to.
As she drove her sword into the throat of an enemy general she had grown rather fond of, she looked up at the dull, ash-gray sky.
She thought that someone so radiant and spirited deserved to die beneath a sky blazing with sunset clouds.
But there was nothing.
Sure enough, everything was boring.
When the former Crown Prince's tutor resigned and the emperor wanted her to become the Crown Prince's new teacher,
her gaze passed over the heaven-blessed heir and fell on the useless Fifth Prince, alone in the corner.
The boy was timid and insecure, so kind and gentle he almost seemed pitiful, and yet so breathtakingly beautiful that he hardly seemed real.
He glanced at her secretly, curious, yet unable to control his fear of her.
She thought that if she helped someone like him ascend the throne, and made the most exalted person in the land depend on her as desperately as if he were drinking poison to quench his thirst, how interesting that would be.
Ying Yuqing's dead heart began to beat.
*
To Ning Siheng, the name Ying Yuqing carried the softness of a girl's embrace and the fragrance of her hair, yet it was also mixed with the late, sharp sting of a sandalwood ruler swinging down.
He would rest his head on her lap, feeling her warm fingertips run through his hair as she gently soothed all his fears and unease, again and again.
He would also kneel at her feet, letting her leave stern marks of correction on his palms, his cheeks, and even more intimate places.
She was his teacher, his accomplice, the person he feared most, the person he loved most, and the only person he possessed.
Everyone said the emperor was so dependent on the Grand Tutor that he would die if they were apart.
They were right.
Ning Siheng thought Ying Yuqing depended on their relationship just as much.
But did she depend on him, as a person? Surely she should love him until death parted them.
Ning Siheng didn't know.
But there would never be a more obedient student, pet, lover, or ruler in the world than him.
Reader's guide:
1. Both leads are each other's only one. There is a love rivalry between the male lead and a supporting male character.
2. The male lead is an emperor, but has no harem.
3. The court system is modeled on the Tang dynasty.
Romance takes center stage, with the plot in a supporting role. Disclaimer: the political scheming is at an elementary-school level (runs away carrying the blame c(?ω?`c⌒っ)
Theme: I offer you a flask of wine
