I Dreamed of a Thousand Mountains

Sharp-tongued, ruthless general VS brooding, devoted young slave

Blurb One:

After the Hou Ran tribe was conquered by the state of Jiang, Changle was dragged off to Weicheng. The beautiful foreign boy was locked in a cage for people to gawk at. He thought some vile Jiang merchant would buy him for their amusement, but instead, his buyer was a handsome, upright young man: Xie Xie.

Ever since buying Changle, Xie Xie treated him like a little prince, worrying that he might go hungry or cold. He secretly brought him all sorts of delicious food and drink, and taught him to read and study every day, afraid he might grow up the wrong way.

But Changle did grow up the wrong way. More accurately, he fell for Xie Xie, the man who had bought him and whom he called his father.

A young man's feelings were easy to foresee, yet he kept them hidden and under control. He would never do anything that violated the bonds of family. If he hadn't discovered that his "father" was the very man who had conquered the Hou Ran tribe, he might never have locked Xie Xie up and tormented him day after day...

Blurb Two:

The day the rebel army breached the city, arrows tore through the sky, and Xie Xie stood in front of Changle.

He said, "Changle, may you live in peace and happiness, year after year."

Xie Xie was just like his name: courteous and restrained, destined to be forgotten and buried in the river of history.

But Changle remembered. The little slave Xie Xie had once saved, even after being struck by arrows and then stabbed several times himself, still carried Xie Xie home, back to the home that belonged to just the two of them.

Changle remembered a poem Xie Xie had recited while teaching him to write: "I wonder whom the river moon awaits; I only see the Yangtze carrying its waters away."

He remembered Xie Xie's words: Changle, everyone deserves to be awaited by this world. Everyone gives this world a meaning all their own, including you, Changle. This world and I are both waiting for you.

That year, Changle was ten. It was the second year since Xie Xie had bought him and brought him to the Xie estate...

Xie Xie didn't know that Jiang Yue was waiting for him, too.

Theme: Without a country, how can there be a home? Love your country and your family