Are There Any Novels or Screen Dramas with Two Strong Leads That Aren't Mindless Power Fantasies?

I thought I was pretty good at pretending to be blind. But my husband’s skill at pretending to be honest was on a level I couldn’t even begin to reach…

I was blind, and I married a useless fool.

The useless fool in question was my newlywed husband, Yang Fan.

Logically, he shouldn’t have been so useless.

He came from a distinguished noble clan and was its legitimate eldest son.

His father was the Grand Marshal, whose power dominated court and country.

His aunt was the empress dowager.

His younger sister was the empress.

Last year, his father died, and he inherited the office of Grand Marshal. At a young age, the moment he made his debut, he reached the highest rank a subject could hold.

Such a good hand of cards, and he played it into complete ruin.

First, the followers his father left him were purged. Next, he was stripped of real power. Then he sat idle at home, skipping work and drawing a salary for nothing.

Originally, the Yang family and the Prince of the North had a marriage agreement. The old prince’s daughter was to marry the Yang family’s eldest son.

But this year, the old prince died. His son, the young prince, looked down on Yang Fan and couldn’t bear to marry his own sister to a useless fool.

That was where I came in.

My name was Lou Kongyin, a stage name given to me by the entertainment bureau. My real name was unknown, my background unknown—even my birth year and month were unknown.

I was sold to the bureau when I was very little and entered the Prince of the North’s household at fifteen.

I couldn’t see, but I played the qin well. The young Prince of the North, Liu Hao, liked me very much.

I liked him very much, too.

Three months ago, Liu Hao adopted me as his sworn younger sister and had me marry Yang Fan as a commandery princess.

Translator’s note: Qin is a Chinese zither. A “commandery princess” is the noble rank junzhu, below an imperial princess.

To be fair, this was bullying Yang Fan far too much.

A wife of royal blood had turned into a lowborn maid—and a blind one at that. Who could stand it?

But Yang Fan put up with it.

Put up with it as smoothly as silk.

He cheerfully sent the betrothal gifts and happily married me, doing everything properly, inside and out.

His mother hadn’t been willing at first. He persuaded her, too, saying it was a tremendous honor for the Yang family that the Prince of the North would marry a commandery princess into their household. They shouldn’t be picky.

Ah. What an honest man.

Honesty was exactly where he lost out. Too kind in dealing with people, too gentle in temperament, too slow and mild in getting things done.

At a court surrounded by wolves and tigers, he was the kind who got eaten alive, skin and all.

I didn’t want to marry someone like that. Who knew when someone might finish him off and leave me a widow?

On our wedding night, I wore a miserable face, as though attending a funeral.

Yang Fan pulled me into his arms and said softly:

“Your husband may not have much ability, but I’ll treat you well for this entire lifetime.”

Fine, I thought. One day at a time.

As the days passed, I gradually discovered Yang Fan’s good points.

He didn’t drink or visit prostitutes. He went to bed early, rose early, ate healthily, and lived simply.

Even idle at home, he neglected neither literary nor martial pursuits. Every morning, he spent two hours in his study; every afternoon, two hours practicing martial arts. The rest of the time, he stuck to me.

At night, he insisted on holding me to sleep, saying I might be afraid of the dark.

I said, “I’m blind. Why would I be afraid of the dark?”

He said, “Just be a little afraid, okay? Stir up your husband’s protective instincts a bit.”

He understood music. Through the long nights, I often played the qin while he appreciated it.

Qin and se in harmony. We really looked like a loving couple.

Not long after the wedding, I became pregnant. Yang Fan was delighted. He spent a whole day in his study racking his brains over what to name the baby.

But before long, I inexplicably miscarried.

Yang Fan held me, still speaking gently.

“It’s all right. It’s all right. We can have more children.”

Seeing me listless, he added:

“Xiao Liu, let’s go out and take our minds off things.”

Oh, right. He liked calling me Xiao Liu. After becoming the Prince of the North’s sworn sister, I was granted the surname Liu. Yang Fan thought the imperial surname was really classy, so he called me Xiao Liu.

Translator’s note: Xiao means “little,” a cute, familiar way to address someone by surname.

The Yang clan had been a great family for a hundred years. I thought Yang was really classy, too, so I called him Xiao Yang.

“Xiao Yang, where do you want to go?”

Mysteriously, he led me into a carriage. We traveled a long time and arrived somewhere very quiet.

Yang Fan helped me down. The ground was uneven and difficult to walk on. He held my hand tightly, and I suddenly thought of a very clichéd line of poetry:

“Hold your hand and grow old with you.”

“Xiao Liu, there’s a sea of camellias in front of us. All red. So beautiful!” he said excitedly.

I took a deep breath, as if I could smell the flowers. In my mind, I pictured the scene: a sea of blossoms rippling under brilliant sunshine, like something not of this world.

“Xiao Yang, thank you. Even though I can’t see the camellias, I feel much better.”

“Don’t mention it, Xiao Liu.”

Thunder suddenly broke out during the night. It woke me, and I sat bolt upright.

Yang Fan was deeply asleep, snoring away. Taking me around all day had tired him out.

He looked very handsome in sleep. He was handsome to begin with—clean-featured, gentle, and refined. Every frown and smile carried a nobleman’s upbringing.

Wait.

How would a blind person like me know all that?

Because I was pretending.

I could see perfectly well. The kind of vision that could shoot through a willow leaf from a hundred paces.

Pretending to be blind was just good business.

In an entertainment bureau full of beautiful women, you needed a persona to stand out.

Mine was the blind qin player.

Beautiful, unable to see, and skilled at the qin. Exactly to the taste of the officials.

Back then, that very trait had instantly drawn in the young Prince of the North, Liu Hao, and he bought my freedom.

I couldn’t very well confess that I was faking blindness, so I kept pretending.

Gradually, I discovered that pretending to be blind was quite useful.

People didn’t guard themselves around a blind person. They didn’t avoid doing things in front of me, so I saw plenty of interesting sights.

For instance, I saw the old Prince of the North slip his hand up the skirt of the late emperor’s dowager consort.

I saw the old prince’s consort pinch a young guard’s backside.

I even saw the young prince push his own little brother down a well…

The more I saw, the less I could afford to stop pretending.

After marrying Yang Fan, I still couldn’t expose myself. If the northern princely household learned I could see, they would be delighted to make me die young. I might even drag Yang Fan down with me.

It was just a pity for Yang Fan, having to go about his life in front of a wife who was only pretending to be blind.

That supposed sea of camellias he took me to today? It was just a barren mountain with withered vegetation. Not half a flower in sight.

It was late autumn, after all. Where would flowers come from? It was hard on him, really.

Still, that was the only lie he had told me.

From what I had observed, he was the same in front of others and behind their backs. He didn’t do strange things openly in front of me just because I was blind.

An honest man. Truly an honest man.

I tucked the quilt around him and lay down to sleep again.

In the past couple of days, someone had given Yang Fan an unusual stone called a cat’s-eye crystal. It glowed at night.

Somehow, the news reached the emperor. He liked rare treasures and unusual stones, so that evening, he came to our home incognito, saying he wanted to see the glowing stone for himself.

Yang Fan brought me along to receive him with reverent trepidation.

It wasn’t dark yet. Yang Fan arranged food and wine in Jingwen Pavilion and kept the emperor company over dinner, waiting until darkness to bring out the stone.

While they ate and talked, I played the qin beside them for entertainment.

Only the three of us were in the room.

As they talked, the emperor brought up some sensitive subjects.

From what I heard, he seemed to want Yang Fan to voluntarily resign and give up the Grand Marshal’s position. He was also preparing to depose the empress and wanted Yang Fan to consider the bigger picture and refrain from opposing it.

Fuck, I thought. You think my husband is easy to bully?

Yang Fan maintained an obedient smile, pouring tea and serving the emperor food. Then he glanced out the window.

It was dark.

He stood, blew out the candles, and lifted the black cloth covering the cat’s-eye crystal.

A faint blue glow spread through the room. Together with the cool sound of my qin, it felt like a haunting.

Curious, the emperor leaned forward and craned his neck to inspect the stone, clicking his tongue in wonder.

Yang Fan stood behind him, smiling. He took an embroidered handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped his hands.

Suddenly, in just that instant, his left hand seized the emperor’s head, and the blade in his right swept swiftly across his throat…

Blood sprayed out and splashed onto the stone.

I was fucking stunned.

My finger trembled, striking one wrong note, but I quickly corrected it and continued playing as smoothly as flowing water.

Without a sound, the emperor crumpled to the floor at Yang Fan’s feet.

Yang Fan drew another embroidered handkerchief from his sleeve and leisurely wiped the blood from his hands.

Suddenly, he turned toward me.

My gaze remained unfocused, my face blank, my playing practiced and fluid.

“Xiao Liu,” he said. “His Majesty has left. You can stop playing.”

I stopped. My fingers were cold and numb.

He casually tossed aside the handkerchief and came toward me. The stone’s blue glow fell across him, making him look like a…

Like a ghost.

“Xiao Liu, you played one wrong note just now.”

His tone was casual.

“Maybe I’m a little tired. Serving His Majesty is hard work,” I said coquettishly.

“Then rest. You’ve worked hard, Furen.”

Translator’s note: Furen means “madam” or “wife,” used here as an affectionate address. Wangye, used below, is a respectful address for a prince.

He put an arm around me and led me out.

Those hands, which had just been covered in imperial blood, affectionately held mine, passing warmth to me.

“Xiao Liu, your hands are so cold.”

“I’m tired. Just tired.”

“Then have a good rest.”

We passed the emperor’s corpse.

I stepped in his blood. My legs weakened slightly, but I kept walking steadily.

Outside Jingwen Pavilion, several bloody bodies lay across the doorway!

I stumbled. Yang Fan steadied me.

“Careful…”

I stole a glance. They were the personal guards the emperor had brought.

Yang Fan and I walked hand in hand beneath the moonlight. The night was quiet, but my mind was boiling.

Regicide!

Yang Fan had committed regicide!

And I had seen it!

I was the only person who had seen it…

This was a completely different matter from the skirt-lifting and backside-pinching at the northern princely residence!

Absolutely. Utterly. Insane.

That slash across the emperor’s throat had been steady, precise, ruthless, and quick. One look told you it wasn’t something an ordinary person could do.

I didn’t dare look directly at Yang Fan, but I desperately wanted to study him properly.

To get to know him all over again.

I was already pretty good at pretending to be blind. His skill at pretending to be honest was on a level far above mine…

Of course, I had to stay calm and keep pretending.

If Yang Fan learned I had seen him slit the emperor’s throat, I imagined he’d be equally skilled at slitting mine…

Oh my god.

How thrilling.

The emperor’s death passed without a sound. Everyone thought he had run off somewhere to fool around again.

No one knew he had come to the Yang residence that night.

Everyone who knew was already dead.

Several servants in our household inexplicably disappeared. All had seen the emperor that evening.

Over a meal, I asked Yang Fan:

“Tomorrow is the Dowager Princess of the North’s sixtieth birthday. What should we give her?”

He said, “An ordinary gift won’t do. We can’t let you lose face with your family. Let’s give her the cat’s-eye crystal.”

Gratefully, I said, “Thank you, Xiao Yang!”

But the next day, Yang Fan caught a cold. Afraid of passing it to others, he could only let me attend the birthday celebration alone.

Before I left, he gave me some instructions, then suddenly said:

“Xiao Liu, don’t tell anyone His Majesty came here.”

I smiled.

“His Majesty came? I didn’t see him.”

Yang Fan pinched my nose affectionately.

“Go on. Come home early.”

At the banquet, everyone took turns congratulating the old dowager princess. When I placed the cat’s-eye crystal in the middle of the hall, it caused a little stir.

The blue-glowing stone had absorbed an emperor’s blood and looked even more eerily beautiful.

Finally, the dowager princess began her speech.

After recalling past hardships and present sweetness, she suddenly mentioned her younger son, who had been missing for years, and broke down sobbing.

“My Nuo’er, where are you? Will your mother ever see you again in this lifetime…?”

Liu Hao, the Prince of the North, stood in attendance beside her, wiping away his mother’s tears.

A touching scene of maternal affection and filial devotion.

At last, the banquet ended. I stretched and prepared to return.

Then the prince’s personal guard, Xingyao, came with a message.

“His Highness would like to speak with Madam.”

In a pavilion stood Liu Hao, wearing a sky-blue brocade robe. Elegant, unrestrained, and handsome.

I paid my respects. He looked me over.

“Yinyin, you’ve gained weight. Looks like your little life is going well.”

I nodded.

“It really is.”

His expression cooled, and his tone grew more distant.

“To business. In your time beside Yang Fan, have you discovered anything?”

Oh, I’d discovered something.

I’d discovered Yang Fan had slaughtered the emperor.

I answered, “Nothing. Every day, I eat and sleep, sleep and eat. A rich person’s life really is this plain, unadorned, and dull.”

After a silence, Liu Hao said:

“I heard you… miscarried?”

“Mm.”

“Yinyin, you mustn’t give birth to Yang Fan’s child.”

If I weren’t pretending to be blind, I would have rolled my eyes fiercely at him.

“This prince keeps feeling something is wrong with Yang Fan. He isn’t as simple as he appears. Yinyin, pay more attention. If you discover anything, have Miaofu pass word back.”

“Yes, I understand. It’s late. I have to go home. Yang Fan told me to return early.”

“…Then go.”

I turned to leave, but he called me back.

“Yinyin, I’ll bring you back to my side.”

“Oh. Thank you, Wangye.”

When I got home, Yang Fan wasn’t there.

Normally, he wouldn’t go out so late.

He was an honest man.

I made chicken soup, waiting for him to return and drink a little to warm himself. But I waited a long time, and he didn’t come back. Growing sleepy, I went to bed first.

He stayed out all night.

Early the next morning, when I got up, I saw him by the window, drinking tea and eating flatbread.

“Xiao Liu, you’re up? Come have tea with your husband.”

I sat opposite him.

He handed me a piece of flatbread. After two bites, I asked:

“Where did you go last night?”

He said nothing. He took a white jade teacup from the tray and filled it with hot tea, then drew a little porcelain bottle from inside his robe.

Right in front of me, he poured red medicinal powder from the bottle into the cup.

Then he pushed the cup toward me.

“Drink, Xiao Liu. Tea brewed with dew. Very fragrant.”

He performed the whole sequence smoothly, at ease, even smiling.

I understood at once.

Yang Fan was testing me, deliberately drugging the tea in front of me to see whether I was truly blind.

He suspected me.

I swallowed and slowly lifted the cup.

I had to act as though I hadn’t seen anything and drink it without changing expression.

But that tea was blood red.

Surely it was deadly poison…

The smile had disappeared from Yang Fan’s face. He looked at me expressionlessly, though his voice was as gentle as ever.

“Drink. It’s already getting a little cold.”

I brought the cup to my lips, making as though I would drink.

Then I put it down again.

“I just remembered last night’s chicken soup is still simmering on the stove. I’ll go to the little kitchen and bring it out.”

I stood and walked shakily toward the door.

I had to run!

I had investigated long ago. There was a hidden door in the courtyard behind the little kitchen that led straight out of the residence.

But after two steps, I suddenly felt dizzy, my legs weak.

Strange. I hadn’t drunk that tea!

I looked back and saw an unfathomable smile at the corner of Yang Fan’s mouth.

The flatbread!

He had drugged the flatbread he gave me!

I fell headfirst and knew nothing more.

When I woke, my head was dizzy and my eyes hurt terribly.

“Rumble rumble—”

A huge crash. I jumped in fright.

“Ah!”

“It’s all right. Thunder outside.”

It was Yang Fan’s voice. He put an arm around my shoulders with practiced familiarity.

I felt around. It seemed we were in our bed, sleeping together as on every ordinary night.

“Xiao Yang, why is it so dark in here?”

Logically, the lightning outside should have lit up the room.

Why couldn’t I see my hand in front of my face?

Yang Fan said, “Xiao Liu, there are candles burning. Of course it feels dark to you. You can’t see.”

“I…”

I opened my eyes wide and held my hand before them.

Nothing.

My eyes sensed no light at all. Only stinging pain.

My heart dropped.

“Yang Fan! What did you do to my eyes?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why can’t I see?”

“You’re joking, Furen. Haven’t you always been unable to see?”

I was dumbstruck. I’d been royally screwed over.

“I wasn’t blind before! You blinded me! You!”

I flailed my arms wildly, trying to hit him.

He caught my wrists with such strength that I couldn’t move.

“Don’t make baseless accusations, Furen. Everyone knows you’ve been blind since childhood. How could I have blinded you?”

Despair overwhelmed me.

“Please. Cure my eyes. I won’t tell anyone what happened that night…”

He leaned toward my ear and said in a low voice:

“What happened that night? What do you want to say? You’re blind. Would anyone believe you?”

I was stunned.

For all these years, everyone had thought I was blind.

If I suddenly said I had seen Yang Fan kill the emperor and that he had blinded me, they would only think I was a crazy blind woman.

I had fallen into the trap of my own lie.

I couldn’t wash myself clean.

So lying really did come at a price.

But the person beside me—my husband—was an even better liar.

This man was far, far, far, far, far too sinister.

I had always thought Liu Hao was sinister. Compared with Yang Fan, Liu Hao was practically an innocent, adorable little child.

“Xiao Liu, why are you shaking? Are you cold?”

Yang Fan gently and considerately draped the quilt over my back.

“What exactly do you want to do to me?”

“Nothing. I told you I’d treat you well for your whole life. I’m a man who keeps his promises.”

Blinding me counted as treating me well, did it?!

“Xiao Liu, you know perfectly well why Liu Hao placed you beside me. And you’ve kept pretending to be blind to deceive me. It really hurts our relationship.”

He sounded wounded.

Now he was the victim.

“But I’m willing to let bygones be bygones and start again with you. From now on, just be my wife and rest easy. I have no other demands. Only one thing: you mustn’t see Liu Hao again.”

I wanted to spit in his face.

Pah! Who wanted to start again with him?

But I quietly swallowed that mouthful of spit.

If I didn’t want him to slit my throat…

“I didn’t tell Liu Hao anything,” I said, all aggrieved.

“I know. Otherwise, things wouldn’t be so calm now. Xiao Liu, you handled that very well. Here’s a reward.”

Without warning, he kissed my cheek.

I was so frightened that I kept scooting sideways until my butt landed on thin air, and I tumbled off the bed.

“Hahaha! Furen, you’re too adorable.”

Yang Fan laughed heartlessly.

What followed was a life without light or sky.

Literally.

Pitch darkness.

After pretending to be blind for so many years, now I really was.

It wasn’t only light I lost.

It was freedom.

Everyone I had brought from the northern princely residence was replaced. Miaofu, whom Liu Hao had placed beside me, disappeared, too.

Wherever I went, someone followed closely.

Yang Fan came to keep me company every day as before, playing the loving husband.

Only now, we had much less to say.

I no longer played the qin for him, either.

Once, I asked:

“When did you start suspecting I was pretending to be blind?”

He said, “That night, you played one wrong note.”

I knew what he meant. That night, witnessing his regicide had shocked me into striking one wrong note.

That one note had exposed me.

“Before that, your acting was excellent. I never suspected a thing. My heart was full of tenderness for you.”

He sighed.

“Ah.”

Probably lamenting how badly a scumbag woman had fooled him.

“But Xiao Liu, I admire you. You’re very clever. If it was only tenderness before, now I like you a little.”

“No. Please don’t like me.”

After ten days as a prisoner, Yang Fan said he would take me to the palace to pay respects to the empress dowager.

He dressed me splendidly and affectionately carried me into the carriage.

When Empress Dowager Yang received us, Dowager Consort Xian was there, too.

After some idle conversation, the empress dowager anxiously mentioned the emperor.

“That boy loves playing too much. Who knows where he’s run off to now? We haven’t seen him for half a month.”

Good lord. The emperor had been missing for more than half a month, and she still thought he was playing.

The emperor had himself to blame, too. Once, he had set a record by hiding in a brothel for two months, living in drunken oblivion. Everyone was used to his occasional disappearances.

In any case, the empress dowager and powerful ministers controlled the government. They didn’t need their puppet emperor.

“I have a few private words to say to Fan’er,” she said.

Dowager Consort Xian and I tactfully withdrew. She bade me farewell and prepared to return for her afternoon nap.

“Please wait, Dowager Consort.”

“Madam Yang, is something the matter?”

As we left the empress dowager’s room, I had paid close attention.

No one was following me.

Yang Fan hadn’t brought many people to the palace. Two were guarding the carriage, and two stood at the main hall’s entrance.

I approached and spoke quietly.

“Dowager Consort Xian, please do me a favor.”

“What favor?”

I told her what I wanted: to get me past Yang Fan’s eyes and ears and send me to the Prince of the North’s residence.

Dowager Consort Xian was baffled.

“Madam Yang, I don’t know what disagreement you’ve had with the Grand Marshal, but matters between husband and wife aren’t something this palace can conveniently meddle in. I’m sorry.”

I asked:

“Then I wonder whether the matter between you and the old Prince of the North is something I can conveniently meddle in?”

An awkward silence followed.

Dowager Consort Xian: “What do you mean?!”

Me: “If word spread of the late emperor’s consort’s affair with her husband’s younger brother, I’m afraid…”

Dowager Consort Xian: “What nonsense!”

It wasn’t nonsense. I had seen it with my own eyes: the old prince’s hand beneath her skirt, her face full of bashfulness.

Another silence.

I heard her sigh heavily.

“Fine. Come with me.”

“Many thanks, Dowager Consort. I’ll follow you, but don’t go thinking about silencing me. Otherwise, this romantic scandal will be all over the city tomorrow.”

She laughed.

“Who’d have thought? Your eyes may be blind, but your heart has plenty of eyes.”

Her standing in the rear palace was second only to the empress dowager’s, so smuggling me out took little effort.

We reached the northern princely residence smoothly, and I met Liu Hao.

He was very surprised.

“Yinyin, what’s happened?”

I dropped to my knees, caught the hem of his robe, and said:

“Wangye, don’t make me go back to Yang Fan!”

“What did he do to you?”

“Promise not to send me back, and I’ll tell you where His Majesty is.”

“…You know where he is?”

“Yes. Apart from Yang Fan, I’m the only one who knows.”

For a long time, Liu Hao said nothing.

I patiently waited for him to consider.

“Very well. I promise. I’ll protect you. From now on, you have nothing to do with Yang Fan.”

I let out a heavy breath.

Free at last.

I said, “His Majesty is under house arrest at the Yang residence.”

I told Liu Hao that on the ninth night of the previous month, the emperor had gone there incognito to admire the cat’s-eye crystal. Yang Fan had hosted a banquet. During it, the emperor told him to resign as Grand Marshal.

Yang Fan suddenly turned on him and placed him under house arrest.

“Are you certain?”

“Certain. I couldn’t see, but I heard everything. Today, Yang Fan and the empress dowager sent me away. I suspect they’re discussing deposing the emperor and appointing another.”

“I understand. This is serious. Yinyin, the residence isn’t safe. I’ll send you somewhere safer.”

“Where are you sending me?”

This wasn’t what I expected.

“Are you abandoning me again?”

“No.”

Liu Hao sighed and suddenly embraced me.

He had never held me before.

“Once I kill Yang Fan and rescue His Majesty, I’ll bring you back. We’ll never be apart again.”

I hugged him back, feeling his warmth so closely for the first time.

“Then I’ll wait, Wangye. You must keep your promise.”

Liu Hao had his trusted guard Xingyao take me away.

I didn’t know where they brought me. Only that it was somewhere in the mountains.

“Miss, this is His Highness’s villa. Very secluded. Yang Fan won’t find you. Stay here for a while. Once the dust settles, His Highness will fetch you,” Xingyao said.

By “the dust settles,” Liu Hao probably meant eliminating Yang Fan.

Ideally, he would also have the yellow robe placed on him and fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming emperor.

Maybe I could get a noble consort’s position out of it?

One night, I lay in bed recalling my past with Liu Hao. It, too, had once been a beautiful tale of a playboy and a beauty.

I could have stayed by his side forever.

If Yang Fan had never appeared.

Suddenly, I heard something strange outside.

Someone pushed open the door and came in. After moving around the room for a while, one of them said:

“Strange. Where could she have gone so late?”

Another said:

“Dowager Consort Xian ordered us to pull out the weeds by the roots. There’s another courtyard behind this one. Let’s look there.”

I hid beneath the bed, hardly daring to breathe.

Only when I heard no more movement outside did I tremblingly crawl out and stumble into the open.

“There she is! After her!”

They had spotted me.

All I could do was run for my life, grasping for a tiny chance of survival in the darkness.

My life was always like this.

The moment I saw a little light, an even more terrible darkness swallowed it.

As I ran, my foot suddenly found empty air.

The world spun…

I thought I must have fallen from a cliff. My body felt shattered. I couldn’t even stand.

I lay there for a long time, drifting into unconsciousness, then waking from pain.

Later, I slowly managed to get up.

I limped aimlessly. Fortunately, I found a village.

The villagers took me in temporarily, cleaned my wounds, and gave me something to eat.

Then they sent me away.

I understood. They were too poor to feed another mouth.

All the money under heaven sat in the pockets of the Liu, Yang, Wang, and Cui clans.

With nowhere to go, injured and blind, I wandered in utter destitution.

I had been a beggar’s daughter, become a qin player, entered a princely household, turned into a commandery princess, married into a great clan, and become the Yang family’s young mistress.

Not long ago, I had even dreamed of becoming a noble consort.

Then heaven slapped me awake and made me inherit my parents’ mantle.

A beggar once more.

Believe it or not, my daily begging income wasn’t bad.

A helpless woman who couldn’t see always won a little more pity.

This day was especially cold, with rain and snow mixed together. I curled up in a corner by a wall, silently grieving.

What I grieved was that there were few passersby today. I hadn’t begged many coins.

I was going to go hungry.

Then I heard footsteps approaching, until they stopped in front of me.

“Kind person, please have mercy. Spare this poor woman a little money for food,” I pleaded weakly.

The person didn’t speak.

I heard no copper coins fall.

They simply stood before me. The wind lifted the hem of their robe and brushed it across my face.

I could feel that it was very fine cloth.

I didn’t dare look up. I buried my head deeply, hesitated a long time, then tentatively asked:

“Wangye?”

Had the dust finally settled?

Had Liu Hao come to “fetch me”?

After a long wait, I heard:

“Xiao Liu.”

I raised my head and gave what I thought was a fearless smile.

“You managed to find me even like this. Have you come to silence me?”

After all, I was the only one who knew he had killed the emperor.

Yang Fan said:

“Xiao Liu, you’ve wandered outside long enough. Had your fill? Come home with me.”

At that moment, I knew.

Liu Hao had lost.

The final victor was Yang Fan.

How had I ever thought he was useless?

I really must have been blind.

After thinking for a teeny moment, I decided to go back with him after all.

Being the blind lady of a great household was still a teeny bit more comfortable than being a beggar.

On the way back, he kept complaining about me.

“Xiao Liu, you stink.”

“Xiao Liu, there are lice in your hair.”

“Xiao Liu, is that shit on your foot?”

…

I finally learned what had happened during this time.

After my “tip-off,” Liu Hao incited the Wang and Cui clans to go and “punish” the Yang family.

But even after turning the Yang residence upside down, they couldn’t find the emperor supposedly held under house arrest.

At that very moment, someone discovered the emperor’s body in the pond behind the northern princely residence.

The Wang and Cui clans immediately cut ties with the Prince of the North.

That night, Yang Fan led the imperial guards and surrounded the northern princely residence.

Liu Hao fought a bloody path out and vanished into the night.

But more than a hundred members of the household were sealed inside for a full month.

Dozens starved to death.

The little crown prince, only two years old, ascended the throne.

Grand Empress Dowager Yang governed from behind the curtain, with Grand Marshal Yang Fan assisting as regent.

No one at court dared “bully” Yang Fan anymore.

Next, people advised him to divorce the blind, counterfeit commandery princess from the northern princely residence. The great clans were all eagerly hoping to marry their legitimate daughters to him.

Instead, Yang Fan traveled a long way to find me, a beggar, and brought me home to remain his wife.

Once home, I had a proper bath and washed off two whole basins of mud.

Yang Fan personally combed the lice from my hair. The fine-toothed comb moved so gently through my long hair that I wondered whether he could actually get any lice out.

He brushed my hair behind my shoulders. His fingers traced my jaw and stopped at my neck.

Those long, fair hands had killed the emperor as easily as slaughtering a chicken.

I still couldn’t forget the scene.

Of course, if those hands wanted to kill me now, it wouldn’t be any harder than killing a chicken, either.

He stood motionless.

I sat motionless.

We formed a “stalemate.”

My throat bobbed between his fingers.

In the end, he brought both arms around in front of me, held me completely, and bent to kiss the top of my head.

“Xiao Liu, sorry. I was looking at you in the mirror. You’re so beautiful that I got lost staring.”

After my hair was combed and my clothes changed, Yang Fan took me to pay respects to his mother.

Old Madam Yang gave me no face at all.

“Why are you still keeping this woman?” she asked bluntly.

Yang Fan said, “Ultimately, I’m the one who wronged her.”

After leaving his mother’s room, I asked:

“Xiao Yang, how did you wrong me?”

His hand gently brushed over my brows and eyes.

“Your eyes. That really was my fault.”

After a few falsely peaceful days, real trouble came again.

Liu Hao gathered troops from the imperial clan elsewhere and marched back in force.

He insisted he hadn’t committed regicide and had been framed by the traitor Yang Fan. He was acting on heaven’s behalf.

Yang Fan was very busy these days, absent all day and returning late at night.

One evening, I came home even later than he did.

He asked, “Xiao Liu, your eyes are bad. What were you doing out so late? Aren’t you afraid of the dark?”

“Xiao Yang, let me emphasize this again. Blind people aren’t afraid of the dark.”

“Just be a little afraid. Let your husband protect you.”

Neither of us fell asleep that night.

Yang Fan lay beside me, breathing evenly.

But I knew he was awake.

Liu Hao’s troops were arrayed outside the city. Tomorrow would be the great battle.

King or defeated bandit—it would all be decided in this fight.

“Xiao Liu, what would you do if I lost?” he suddenly asked.

“I’d set off firecrackers. You’d finally get retribution for your bad deeds.”

He laughed.

“I’ve been wronged! Your husband has done only one bad thing in his life: kill the emperor.”

After a pause, he added:

“But I think I did a good thing. Every extra day that muddleheaded ruler remained on the throne, the government would keep rotting.”

“You’re the only one I’ve wronged.”

He turned onto his side and held me.

Soon, he fell deeply asleep.

The terrible battle we expected never happened the next day.

A guard beside Liu Hao turned on him, drugged his wine, tied him up, and delivered him beneath the city gates.

Yang Fan won without fighting.

But none of the great clans agreed to execute Liu Hao.

Their reason was that the charge of regicide had not been conclusively established. He was also the late emperor’s only brother, of imperial blood. How could he be killed rashly?

In truth, they each had their own little calculations.

Keeping Liu Hao alive meant leaving a thorn for Yang Fan, someone who could check his power in the future.

The imperial relatives who had sent troops for Liu Hao continued holding out beyond the city, refusing to withdraw unless he was released.

To calm people’s hearts, Yang Fan lifted the seal on the northern princely residence and permitted court officials to visit the old dowager princess.

I told him:

“Take me to the northern princely residence.”

Yang Fan caught my hand, squeezed it hard, then let go.

The residence was bustling. Yang Fan’s political enemies had gathered there, as though they had finally found their party organization.

My arrival caused quite a stir.

Mainly because the old dowager princess got rather worked up.

Her voice turned cold. Pointing at me, she said:

“Throw her out. I don’t want to see anyone from the Yang family!”

“Don’t get upset, Dowager Princess. Do you want to see your son?”

Coldly, she replied:

“I’ll be seeing him very soon. No need to trouble yourself, Madam Yang.”

Right.

They were discussing pressuring the grand empress dowager and the little emperor to release Liu Hao.

The grand empress dowager was weak, and the little emperor understood nothing. They were easy to sway.

“No, no, Dowager Princess. I mean your younger son, Liu Nuo. Do you want to see him?”

“…You—you know where Nuo’er is?”

“Apart from Liu Hao, I’m the only one who knows.”

“Really? Where is he?”

I cleared my throat and addressed everyone present.

“Three years ago, Liu Hao pushed Liu Nuo down a well.”

Then I added:

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

After a silence, everyone burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! A blind woman saying she saw it with her own eyes!”

Vice Minister Zhao Ceng laughed especially merrily.

“Who says I’m blind?”

I looked straight at Zhao Ceng, my gaze bright.

He froze, stared at me for a while, then approached and held two fingers in front of my nose.

“How many?”

I slapped him across the face.

“Two!”

Everyone was stunned.

Before they could digest it, I dropped the next bombshell.

“Liu Nuo is in the abandoned well beside the pond in the rear courtyard.”

“Spreading lies to bewitch the crowd!”

Humiliated, Zhao Ceng flew into a rage.

“How could the Prince of the North kill his own little brother?”

“I would like to see whether Nuo’er really is in that well,” the old dowager princess suddenly said.

I turned toward her. I couldn’t make out her expression, but I could feel her grief.

“Nuo’er—I’ve neither seen him alive nor found his body. I’ll die with my eyes open,” she said. “Dig out the well!”

The well beside the rear courtyard pond had been abandoned three years earlier. A huge stone covered it.

I was certain Liu Nuo’s body was still inside.

The well was very deep. Pulling an adult man’s corpse out would require many people. With so many eyes and ears in the residence, the killer would surely expose himself.

Eight strong men spent four hours hauling up a skeleton.

Its clothes had rotted in the water, making identification by clothing impossible.

But the jade crown on its head proved who it was:

Liu Nuo, the old Prince of the North’s second son.

The old dowager princess fainted on the spot. A little later, she woke and began wailing with impressive vigor.

This old woman was hardy. When the residence had been sealed for a month, servants starved to death, but she had actually gained weight.

A gold-handled blade was lodged deep between Liu Nuo’s ribs.

Its shape and workmanship were distinctive. The late emperor had given it to Liu Hao when he was named heir.

The charge that Liu Hao had murdered his brother was established.

If a man could kill his own little brother, why couldn’t he kill an emperor?

The old dowager princess said:

“I don’t want that unfilial son Liu Hao anymore. Do whatever you like with him.”

She turned and left.

The others could no longer comfortably stand behind Liu Hao, either. They scattered like birds and beasts.

His crimes soon spread through the capital. When his imperial relatives outside the city heard, they withdrew their troops in dejection.

Two days later, the grand empress dowager issued a decree:

Liu Hao was granted death.

I saw him in the condemned prisoners’ cells.

He was still so handsome and lovely, just like the graceful youth I had first met.

He met my gaze and smiled.

“Yinyin, you’re formidable.”

Yes, I really was.

Who was best at pretending to be blind?

Nobody could compete with me.

“This is just a little revenge from yours truly. Who told you to ruin my eyes?”

I blinked my large eyes at him.

I knew Yang Fan hadn’t damaged them.

That day, Yang Fan really had drugged the flatbread and knocked me unconscious.

At the time, he truly didn’t trust me. He was afraid I would run around and expose his regicide.

After I collapsed, he left me in the bedroom, told Miaofu to watch over me, and went out on urgent business.

Through the haze, I felt someone pry open my eyelids.

I saw a blurred figure.

Miaofu.

Then I sank back into sleep.

When I woke in the middle of the night, I discovered I couldn’t see.

At first, Yang Fan thought I was tricking him. Only later did he realize my eyes had truly been damaged by a drug.

He immediately called a doctor to treat me.

Fortunately, treatment came in time. After a few days, I could see again.

But my eyesight had been badly affected. I couldn’t see clearly at a distance or at night.

Half-blind, you could say.

He had always felt guilty about it. If he hadn’t drugged me unconscious, someone else would never have had the chance to harm my eyes.

That “someone else” was Miaofu, Liu Hao’s trusted servant.

Why had Liu Hao blinded me?

Perhaps he had realized I had betrayed him and gone over to Yang Fan?

Yes.

I had indeed chosen Yang Fan.

During those days of treatment, Yang Fan and I opened our hearts and made our feelings clear.

He was willing to devote himself to me.

I was willing to lend him a hand.

Deal.

Next, I “escaped” from the palace to the northern princely residence.

Because Dowager Consort Xian brought me, Liu Hao didn’t become suspicious. Pretending to be blind, I told a pack of blind lies, won his trust, and led him into Yang Fan’s trap.

Everything basically went according to plan.

The only little surprise was that Liu Hao hid me in the mountains, where someone hunted me down and I fell off a cliff.

Yang Fan searched for me in desperation. By the time he found me, I was nearly ready to become the Beggars’ Sect leader through my blind act.

The night before Liu Hao, camped outside the city, was to fight Yang Fan, his guard Xingyao received a letter signed “Madam Yang.”

Xingyao came to the place specified and met me.

I said:

“Xingyao, if Liu Hao wins this battle, you’ll have to go back to being the old dowager princess’s pretty boy.”

His face instantly went white.

When I was a maid in the residence, I had seen the old dowager princess pinch his backside.

Every day.

Harassing him was routine for her. The poor lad could only swallow his anger.

Now he had finally escaped her claws by leaving with Liu Hao.

If Liu Hao fought his way back and became emperor, the old dowager princess would become the old empress dowager.

Xingyao’s life would be unbearable.

After struggling for a while, he decided to work with me.

Back at camp, he drugged Liu Hao’s wine, tied him up, and delivered him to Yang Fan.

That was all.

Liu Hao leaned against the cell wall, looking very sad.

“If I ruined your eyes, you want my life in return… Yinyin, have you completely forgotten the kindness I showed in recognizing and helping you?”

“No, no. I’ll never forget your kindness, Wangye. But I can’t forget that you killed my parents, either.”

Back then, the late emperor and Liu Hao had gone to a brothel together.

On the way, my parents stopped their carriage and begged for something to eat.

Their little daughter was starving to death.

Drunk, Liu Hao kicked my father in the chest.

My father died on the spot.

My mother lunged at him, trying to hit him. A guard stopped her and cut her in two with one stroke.

I stood nearby, my eyes wide open.

After entering the entertainment bureau, I began pretending to be blind.

I couldn’t see anything.

I didn’t know anything.

Now Liu Hao looked confused.

Apparently, he didn’t remember when he had killed my parents.

A nobleman like him killed commoners as casually as crushing ants.

Then he couldn’t blame me for crushing him.

He sat down beside the wall and lowered his head, as if all his strength had suddenly left him.

“Yinyin, go.”

I left the cell, then turned back and looked at him once more through the iron door.

One last look.

In the next life, may we never meet.

Actually, there had been times when he treated me very well.

I still remembered the old prince’s consort’s birthday three years earlier. I played a piece and won applause from the whole hall.

After the banquet, a maid called me to the pond in the rear courtyard, then ran away.

Suddenly, someone embraced me from behind. His breath reeked of alcohol.

“Lou Kongyin, you’re so beautiful.”

It was Liu Nuo.

I struggled violently and cried for help.

He seized my neck.

Just as I was about to suffocate, Liu Hao appeared. He fought Liu Nuo, then finally drove a blade into his chest and threw him into the well.

“Yinyin, it’s all right. I’ll protect you.”

That graceful youth said this to me.

Three years later, he treated me as an obedient spy and personally sent me to Yang Fan.

The human heart.

No matter how I looked, I couldn’t see through it.

Better to be blind.

Back home, Yang Fan said nothing.

He quietly held me for a long time.

“Xiao Liu, it’s spring. The camellias are blooming. Let me take you to see them.”

“All right. Just don’t fool me with a barren mountain again.”

“Your eyes are sharp, Furen. Your husband wouldn’t dare.”

We returned to that mountain.

Now a sea of flowers surged before us, beauty stretching across the wilds without end.

My eyes couldn’t see very clearly, but I could still feel that beauty, fierce as flames heating oil.

“Xiao Yang, when you retire, let’s move here.”

“Why wait for retirement? I’ll submit my resignation right now!”

“Don’t. I still want to be a high official’s wife. I also want you to usurp the throne so I can be empress. After you die, I want a turn at being empress dowager, too.”

“Hahaha! Fine. Let’s enjoy the delicious taste of power together.”

“Wonderful.”

(End of Main Story)

Liu Hao’s Extra

Before this, Liu Hao had never known a blind woman could have such beautiful eyes.

He sat for a long time in the entertainment bureau’s reception hall, staring at the blind girl playing the qin.

Admiring a strange beauty without restraint and without fear of her knowing.

What a wonderful feeling.

Her eyes were round and almond-shaped, with dark, bright pupils, perfectly proportioned.

Apart from their slightly unfocused gaze, he couldn’t see any difference from ordinary eyes.

The madam said that when the girl first came, her eyes were fine. Then she suddenly became seriously ill, burning with fever for three days.

After recovering, she couldn’t see.

Pity immediately rose in Liu Hao’s heart.

“What’s her name?” he asked the madam.

“Lou Kongyin.”

Lou Kongyin.

Such a beautiful name.

Such a beautiful girl.

And most importantly, she was blind.

That gave her even more appeal.

He dropped a bag of pearls onto the table.

“This blind beauty belongs to this prince now.”

Liu Hao didn’t let Lou Kongyin know he had personally bought her freedom.

He was imperial nobility. If word got out that he had fallen for a qin player, it would be rather embarrassing.

Before she had been at the residence long, he kept her by his side.

Then he discovered that although she was blind, she wasn’t foolish.

She seemed to see through everything, yet knew very well how to play dumb when necessary.

Truly a beauty of crystalline intelligence, rare in this world.

Though his heart burned, he maintained his pride as her master.

Until the day he saw his drunken younger brother taking advantage of her beside the pond.

Rage rushed to his head, and he charged over.

The outcome was brutal.

He killed his younger brother, Liu Nuo.

He stared into the dark mouth of the well for a long time.

In truth, he had wanted Liu Nuo dead for ages. He simply hadn’t expected that dream to come true so suddenly.

Turning back, he saw Lou Kongyin standing not far away.

Bewildered, pitiful, and heartbreakingly lovely.

In that instant, Liu Hao threw down his helmet and shed his armor, and all his pride was gone.

Before the girl he loved, he became a pure and simple youth.

“Yinyin, it’s all right. I’ll protect you.”

He spoke calmly, as though nothing had happened.

She gave a faint, beautiful smile.

“Wangye, thank you. Truly.”

Liu Nuo disappeared, and the entire residence fell into turmoil.

Liu Hao wasn’t sure how much Lou Kongyin knew about Liu Nuo’s death.

Even if she couldn’t see him killing Liu Nuo, she must have heard the sounds.

But she never asked or mentioned it. She remained as calm as ever.

Only whenever Liu Hao spoke close to her, her face would redden.

He often thought that having a girl like this beside him for a lifetime would truly be enough.

That spring, the old Prince of the North died, and Liu Hao inherited his title.

The residence’s affairs were complicated, and he became much busier than before. But one thing stayed in his mind:

In the autumn, at the old dowager princess’s birthday banquet, he would announce that he was taking Lou Kongyin as his secondary wife.

He didn’t tell her beforehand.

He wanted to see the beauty’s surprised delight.

Whenever he later recalled that decision, he regretted it intensely.

Why wait until autumn?

Why not marry her sooner?

A moment’s delay. A lifetime’s loss.

One day in early summer, the emperor, so idle his balls ached, came to the northern princely residence to chat.

Liu Hao’s younger sister, Liu Jia, was close to him. She tugged at his dragon robe and acted spoiled.

“Emperor-gege, Jia’er doesn’t want to marry Yang Fan…”

Translator’s note: Gege means “older brother,” also used affectionately for an older male relative or familiar young man.

“Oh? Then don’t!”

Liu Hao smiled beside them.

“The little girl is making trouble again. Your Majesty needn’t pay her any attention.”

But the emperor said seriously:

“I don’t want Jia’er marrying into the Yang family, either. Sooner or later, I’ll deal with them. If she marries in, she’ll only be dragged down.”

Liu Hao looked troubled.

“But if we cancel the marriage agreement without reason, I’m afraid…”

The emperor waved a hand.

“Simple. No need to cancel it. Just find any woman, pass her off as a commandery princess, and marry her over.”

He propped his chin on his hand and thought for a moment.

“That blind girl playing the qin at the banquet earlier left quite an impression on me. What’s her name?”

Liu Jia answered first.

“Lou Kongyin.”

“Her, then. I’ll issue a decree naming Lou Kongyin a commandery princess of the northern princely household, grant her the surname Liu, and have her marry into the Yang clan on an auspicious day.”

Liu Hao was startled.

“Your Majesty, not her!”

“Why not?”

“She’s lowborn and blind. How could the Yang family agree?”

The emperor smiled sinisterly.

“I like doing things the Yang family doesn’t agree to.”

Liu Hao frowned.

In the end, he said nothing more.

The emperor had come up with the idea, but Liu Hao had to carry the blame.

Everyone thought he had deliberately humiliated the Yang family by replacing the commandery princess with a blind maid.

Lou Kongyin thought so, too.

She trembled with anger and felt cold all over.

Liu Hao could only tell her:

“After you marry him, pay close attention to the Yang family’s affairs and pass information to me. The sooner we bring them down, the sooner I can bring you back.”

Lou Kongyin said:

“Wangye, if I marry him, what happens afterward won’t be yours to choose.”

Liu Hao thought she was merely speaking in anger.

He never expected her to actually choose Yang Fan.

For Yang Fan, she betrayed him completely and cast him into an abyss of no return.

Still less had he expected her to have been pretending to be blind all along.

The blind girl he loved, the girl who needed pity and protection, existed only in his imagination.

But he had wronged her, too.

After she married and became pregnant, he instructed Miaofu to give her an abortifacient and get rid of her child.

He hadn’t, however, ordered Miaofu to damage her eyes.

The only person with both the opportunity and the motive to do that could be—

Yang Fan.

And Yang Fan was capable of it.

In the condemned prisoners’ cells, Liu Hao didn’t explain himself to Lou Kongyin.

He thought she probably understood everything in her heart but chose to ignore it.

She knew what kind of man Yang Fan was and still preferred to work with him.

She was a dangerous woman.

Yang Fan was a dangerous man.

Only by playing together could two dangerous people enjoy themselves to the fullest.

He simply didn’t know who would ultimately outplay whom, or who would be played.

In any case, he wouldn’t live to see the ending.

Before Lou Kongyin came to the cell, Liu Hao had taken poison.

As she left, it began to take effect.

Leaning against the wall, he sat down and used all his remaining strength to speak the final words of his life.

“Yinyin, go.”

Through the iron bars, she turned back and looked at him sadly.

In the instant their eyes met, the whole drama came to an end.

(The End)