Wan Chengan was the undisputed bully of the capital.
Before the Wan family fell, he was the spoiled, incorrigible son whom General Suiyuan loved most, despite being constantly disappointed in him.
He was also the younger brother most cherished by Consort Li, the emperor’s favorite.
Arrogant and willful, he committed all kinds of misdeeds, and everyone in the capital knew about them.
But with the immensely powerful Wan family behind him, people only dared to be angry in silence.
Everyone thought Wan Chengan was nothing but a pretty face, with a nasty, rotten personality. Sooner or later, someone would drag him down from the clouds and into the mud.
And that day did indeed come.
After the Wan family fell, the people he had bullied came to demand justice, one after another.
Wan Chengan had once looked down on his new husband, a man from a humble family. Even though the man had earned the title of top scholar through his own talent, Wan Chengan still stubbornly fled to Jiangnan on the second day of their marriage, glad to be free. “What’s so great about getting married? It’s just Father’s way of keeping me on a leash. I don’t care about it.”
Later, Zhong Yu abducted him back to the Zhong estate under the pretext of their marriage contract. Having lost the Wan family’s protection, Wan Chengan was forced to endure Zhong Yu’s lectures on male superiority.
Wan Chengan had once stubbornly brought his childhood sweetheart, the person he liked most, into his household, coaxing him with the promise, “Qingyue, if you want, I’ll devote myself to you alone from now on.”
Later, Shen Qingyue drugged him and rendered him impotent, making him cut off their mutual love with his own hands.
Wan Chengan had once taken in the illegitimate son sent by a high-ranking official, giving him good food and comfortable lodging. When he was in a good mood, he had even said, “Make yourself at home. With me here, no one will ever bully you like they did before.”
Later, after a failed escape, Su Li caught him and brought him back. He discovered that the pure, fawn-like look in Su Li’s eyes had only been a mask for his hidden desires.
Wan Chengan had once been infuriated by the stubbornness of a musician. After breaking two of the man’s finger bones, he had mocked him, saying, “Someone with a lowly status like yours doesn’t deserve to be treated as a person by me.”
Later, Mu Chen severed the tendons in his ankles. He could no longer ride through the streets, and people even mocked him for being a cripple.
*
Two years later.
Things took a turn. When Wan Chengan used to cling to them, they had loathed him to the utmost.
Now, after being tormented until he had cried himself dry and grown numb with pain, these people lined up one after another, desperate for his love.
How could he love them?
His parents and older sister had loved him most, but they were gone. Wan Chengan could only search for memories of the past in his dreams each night. He wanted so badly to leave the capital, to escape from these people.
Then an opportunity really did arise. The court was in turmoil, and the Prince of Huainan was plotting a rebellion. The emperor wanted to use Wan Chengan as a hostage. To protect him, everyone else had to stay in the capital, and only Mu Chen would escort him to Jiangnan.
He never imagined this trip to Jiangnan would be so dangerous...
Nor did he ever imagine that the sharp-tongued, wounded swordsman he met in an abandoned temple was the missing Second Prince of the Khitan.
The two were completely incompatible, and their journey together was filled with all kinds of bickering.
“Why are you taking so long just to grab something?”
“Young Master Wan, want to see how badly my hand is injured? You can’t expect someone with a broken right hand to start a fire without a little patience.”
“Quit pretending. You were doing just fine before I got here.”
“Well, I didn’t make you fetch water with a lame leg, did I? What’s wrong with showing each other a little consideration?”
“Are you calling me a cripple in a roundabout way? If I’m a cripple, what are you?”
“An invalid.”
“Together, we’re heaven’s cripple and earth’s broken one. We’re a perfect match. Happy now?”
But as Wan Chengan bickered with this so-called “swordsman,” he had no idea that the dear friend he had always longed to see, Meng He, would be reunited with him before long.
Theme: Rebirth in the face of adversity
