The Swallows Return, the Cranes Come Home

Jing Hegui was born to nobility. His father was the legitimate son of the Empress, and his mother was a princess of the former dynasty.

Yet all his blood relatives wanted him dead.

His mother, consumed by hatred over the fall of her country, took it out on him, a child with the blood of the new dynasty in his veins. His father had been forced to marry a princess of the former dynasty to appease its old officials, and his path to the throne had been cut off. Jing Hegui's very existence was a thorn in his side.

The Emperor feared that the former dynasty's old officials would rally behind Jing Hegui and overthrow him to restore their dynasty. The Empress resented him for costing her son the position of Crown Prince. His younger half-brothers saw him, the legitimate firstborn according to the rites, as an obstacle in their way.

From childhood, Jing Hegui had survived countless attempted poisonings and assassinations, both overt and covert, thanks to a hidden guard left to him by the last emperor of the former dynasty. He struggled through it all and made it to the age of eighteen.

The last of the former dynasty's old officials had either submitted or passed away. The hidden guards still around him were no longer enough to pose a threat. His fate was to die quietly at the country estate where he was recuperating.

Jing Hegui gazed out at the pear tree, its leaves almost all fallen. If that little thief who stole pears didn't come soon, the last few would be eaten by the birds.

▼▼▼

Yan Laishi had been transmigrated into the womb, and at eighteen his golden finger finally arrived, late but not too late. The System activated, briefly used him as a stepping stone, then went off to find its Host. With a heavy heart, he sneaked into someone's courtyard at midnight to steal pears and was caught by the owner on the spot.

"Are the pears sweet?"

The more awkward he felt, the more nonsense he blurted out. "Not as sweet as you."

Maybe it was loneliness. Or perhaps a condemned man's defiant urge to rebel against convention. Jing Hegui tempted him: "Then would you like to taste me?"

"How much?"

Jing Hegui laughed in exasperation and named an exorbitant price to scare off the thief. "Ten thousand taels of gold."

A few days later, the little thief showed up at his door, hesitant. "Is it still ten thousand taels?"

Jing Hegui, who badly needed money for his rebellion: "..."

He was rich, a little foolish, handsome, and built like a tank. It wasn't entirely out of the question.

▼Yan Laishi (top) x Jing Hegui (bottom)

▼When the swallows return, the spring altars rise; after the pear blossoms fall comes Qingming. Jing's scene is deep in the Chu mountains, while the water crane flies away, wheeling low.

Theme: No matter how far the swallows fly, they always return to their nest