An Jin stood in the center of the stone room, his back to me, wearing a light blue robe that outlined his slim waist and long body. He appeared pure and self-possessed, with traces of severity.
“I once swore before my ancestors’ memorial tablets that I cannot reveal the An family’s secrets to anyone, including my closest loved ones.”
I quietly watched his back. “Since you discovered this yourself, it doesn’t count as me breaking my oath.” He turned around, eyes glinting with cunning, a smirk on his lips, like a cat that had caught a mouse. The previous calm had been an illusion… To lure me in, he had gone to great lengths, even using my collection of erotic art.
“Yaoyao, this is the An family’s secret. It stores all the confidential information of the Great Qi Kingdom since its founding, and the identity passed down through generations of the An family,” he gazed at me calmly. “I am the master of the kingdom’s secret department, the highest commander of all spies in the three kingdoms.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Husband’s Intentions
“According to unofficial historical records, the founding emperor of the Great Qi Kingdom was a cut-sleeve, in love with a man, and reportedly ennobled him to manage the kingdom’s secrets…”
While unofficial histories cannot be fully trusted, they often contain a kernel of truth. Whether the founding emperor of the Great Qi Kingdom was truly a cut-sleeve is no longer verifiable, but the man who managed the kingdom’s secrets, Ancestor An Honglie, did exist.
An Honglie was a remarkable talent characterized by his intelligence, eidetic memory, meticulous thought, and exceptional strategic skills. He became the right-hand man of the Ancestral Emperor, forming a deep bond that transcended kinship. The Ancestral Emperor entrusted An Honglie with managing the core of the Qi Kingdom and designated his descendants as hereditary inheritors of these secrets.
Qi Kingdom, West Liang, and South Rui were the most powerful vassal states of the Great Zhou Dynasty. After the Zhou Dynasty’s turmoil, the three vassal kings declared independence and proclaimed themselves emperors, ushering in the era of the Three Kingdoms.
