I Forsake the Empire, But Not You

[Power Struggles | Choices for Country and Family | A Powerful Alliance]

Xiao Yan, Prince Chen of Great Yan, was granted the title of Wolf Dweller at seventeen and commanded three hundred thousand cavalry at twenty. The whole court said, “Whoever wins Prince Chen wins the realm.”

But very few knew that this powerful prince was slowly bringing about his own ruin, all for the sake of an assassin from the martial world.

Shen Qingge was the orphaned daughter of a former dynasty's princess. She had lived by the blade for sixteen years. She intended to pose as an assassin, steal the Yan army's defense plans, kill corrupt officials, and overthrow Great Yan.

But at every turn, her revenge plot was disrupted by a streetwise rogue who called himself A-Qi.

She infiltrated the Salt Gang, and he handed her a blade. She explored an abandoned kiln, and he shielded her from crossbow bolts. She thought she was using him, never realizing she had long since fallen into the web he had spun.

The former dynasty's loyalists marched on the capital, the Crown Prince staged a coup, and the realm descended into chaos.

That night, Xiao Yan could have ascended the throne with every claim to legitimacy. Instead, he burned the edict of succession before the assembled court and fought his way out of the palace with sword in hand.

He told the assembled ministers, “I am unworthy. I willingly abdicate.”

He told her, “I'll win you a kingdom in exchange for you wandering the world with me. It's a good deal.”

Later, northern cavalry swept south, and the court was thrown into turmoil. He donned his armor and broke the enemy in three days; she devised the strategy and secured the rear.

Once the realm was at peace, the new emperor asked him to return to court. Xiao Yan was busy flipping food in a pan by West Lake, wearing an apron.

He pointed the envoy toward the couplet on the gate: “My beauty's in the east, the Yellow River flows west. The horizontal scroll reads: No trade.”

I spent my life plotting and scheming, yet when it comes to you, I gladly concede defeat.