echoesofchangan
Synopsis
When Qi Min was five, a brazier devoured half of his face-and with it, his right to be loved. He lived in a purgatory of his own making, sustained only by the cold sustenance of hatred, until he met a woman from a thousand years in the future by the side of a frigid pool.
Yu Qianqian saved him, yet she offered him no pity. She praised his beauty, yet refused to be his prisoner. Thinking he had finally caught the light, he used the most clumsy, obsessive means at his disposal to chain her to his side. In return, she used seven escapes to teach him a single truth: **Love is not a cage.**
After five years of wandering the world, he returned to her with a completely new face, hoping to begin again with a mask of perfection. Yet, with a single touch, she recognized the scarred soul (2) hiding beneath that flawless skin.
She "borrowed" a husband to make him give up hope. Though consumed by the fires of jealousy, he stood before her blade and smiled, whispering that he was willing to die by her hand.
This is a predestined tragedy; it is also a redemption long overdue. He was born to be a Solitary Minister (3), a man whose life's ambition was reduced to three simple words: *"I love you."* She was a clear-eyed traveler, a mere passerby in time, who ultimately chose to stay for him amidst the beacon fires of a chaotic world.
In a sea of hatred and a heaven of passion, they are the embers remaining after the fire. They are each other's tribulation, and each other's only path home. When the dust finally settles, the young lord ascends the throne, and a golden age dawns upon Chang'an, she finally takes his hand to whisper the words that arrived half a lifetime late:
"Qi Min... let's go home."