Across all of Kaifeng, the woman every lady envied most was Qiu Yinqing, once an inner court official during Emperor Zhenzong’s reign, now revered as the emperor’s tutor and deeply favored by the empress dowager.
The man every gentleman envied most, however, was Su Yuxing. He visited courtesans and gardens, lived without restraint, and yet could compose the lyrics to tomorrow’s hit song while drunk and sprawled in bed.
There was a well-loved story that people around town often told:
Once, when Su Yuxing was drunk and barely conscious, someone coaxed him into writing a wild poem. The next morning, sober again, he found it displayed on a pillar outside Qingfeng Tower for passersby to admire.
Qiu Yinqing happened to glance over from afar. Seeing the poem sweeping across the pillar, she simply turned her gaze away and remarked, “Fine handwriting.”
Though the two had never even met and had no connection whatsoever, busybodies wrote them into a storybook, spinning tales of heart-rending romance and love tangled with hate.
Su Yuxing only laughed when he heard about it. He felt not the slightest interest in that solitary light, so distant yet dazzling, behind the palace walls.
And yet, at night, he would tumble with her into that soft couch, tangled together beyond disentangling.
At first, he was ashamed and uneasy.
The relationship between him and Qiu Yinqing was a secret no one could know.
Later, he found himself wanting to see that usually composed, almost indifferent face twist into a look of helpless loss of control.
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Beneath the covered walkway, moonlight and sparse shadows climbed the eastern wall.
Qiu Yinqing, bearing a lifetime of glory, sank into the fire.
The most celebrated wit in all of Kaifeng, a carefree and dashing talent, took on the name of her widower, claimed her body from the ashes, and grieved as though his heart would break.
“She was the most dazzling imperial tutor, and also an ordinary person trapped inside this palace.”
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Reading Guide:
1. Set in a world modeled on the early Northern Song.
2. One-on-one romance, both leads’ first time, happy ending.
3. A dashing literary talent of the Great Song x an imperial tutor renowned throughout Kaifeng.
4. Don’t be fooled by the serious blurb. There’s sweetness, angst, and *.
5. The culmination of my personal tastes. The leads start with physical desire and fall in love later; the story is forty percent romance and sixty percent plot. A sequel to Half-Ruined in Red, telling the story of Yin Su’s descendant.
6. There’s a male second lead with a strong presence, and he has a hair-pulling rivalry with the male lead.
Theme: Those who do not die shall live.
