Jiankang, Year Thirteen. Winter.
I crossed mountains and rivers to reach the border town, only to end up in prison.
That was the first time I met Xiang Yin.
He snapped one of my finger bones and demanded to know where my younger brother was. He was so fierce, so ruthless, as if he wanted to run me through with his sword, cut off my head, and bury me with his men.
I endured three days of torture without giving anything away.
On the fourth day, an imperial decree arrived from the capital, ordering my younger brother to come and oversee the construction of Liang Garden. But I no longer had a younger brother.
Xiang Yin said, "Isn't there still you, from the Kang family?"
From that day on, I stopped being myself and became my younger brother.
I was no longer Kang Xuxu. I was Kang Zhengxin.
The Kang family was famed for its gardens. My father was the most renowned, then my younger brother. Now that he was dead, only I remained.
I swore I would create the finest, most beautiful garden in the world. For that, I was willing to spend my whole life never being a woman.
Jiankang, Year Fourteen. Winter.
Everyone in court and beyond knew that Xiang Yin, heir to the Prince of Jingyang, and I were friends.
I called him Zizhen, and he called me Shanxie.
But it was all a lie.
I used him as a shield, a talisman to protect myself, and he knew it.
Jiankang, Year Fifteen. Winter.
Xiang Zizhen said he regretted breaking my finger bone back then, since it still hurt whenever the weather turned rainy.
I secretly thought he was crazy.
Xiang Zizhen and I were friends, very good friends.
But he wouldn't admit it.
That night, autumn rain fell. In the dim lamplight, a bead of blood from where I had bitten him stained his lips. He sneered, "A friendship between gentlemen? A bond unto death? I did say you could spend your whole life as Kang Shanxie, and no one would ever know who you were."
"But I know."
The autumn rain pattered as streaks of firelight illuminated his stern face. "You are Kang Xuxu."
I am Kang Xuxu. This is a secret only he knows. He keeps it for me, and remembers who I am on my behalf.
"Perhaps death may part us, but our souls will always be close."
The blurb is written in first person, but the story itself is in third person. This is a fantasy tale of the strange and supernatural.
Theme: May my wishes never go against my heart.
