A man of insatiable desire loses his manhood, but never his craving for his wife.
Jiang Youze, the legitimate son of the Jiang household, was as graceful as an orchid, as splendid as a jade tree.
He placed first in the imperial examinations at sixteen. Accomplished in both letters and arms, he had outshone his peers since childhood.
Si Yan, the only daughter at the minister’s residence, was treasured beyond measure, the moon around which every star revolved.
She and Jiang Youze had grown up together, their affection mutual.
Cool and difficult to approach, he reserved all his closeness and tenderness for her.
Everyone called their betrothal a perfect match between families of equal standing, a marriage made in heaven.
Then, the year after Jiang Youze’s triumph in the examinations, everything changed.
The Jiang clan was condemned on a fabricated charge of treason. The entire household was executed, its blood staining the long street.
Jiang Youze alone was spared, sentenced to castration and service as a palace eunuch.
The once-celebrated son of the Jiang family became, in an instant, a ruined man whom everyone shunned.
On the day he was imprisoned, Jiang Youze paid some unknown price to have a letter written in blood delivered from his cell to Si Yan.
Every line was written with her future in mind. He plainly offered to release her from their betrothal, yet every word bled with anguish.
Si Yan, however, found only the repeated endearment “Qingqing” an intolerable eyesore.
After reading the bloodstained letter, she turned and tossed it into the brazier of fine charcoal.
She had intended to call off the engagement on the very day the Jiang household was executed.
But the night before, she had a dream.
She dreamed that Jiang Youze would one day wield power over court and country, and that he would imprison and humiliate her, shutting her behind the palace gates forever…
