Chen Xing has finally arrived in Chang'an and is to meet the Great Chanyu, a man rumored to be so beautiful and adorned in finery that he's beset by marriage proposals. So why is Xiang Shu sitting on the Great Chanyu's throne?

Meanwhile, rumor has it that His Majesty, Fu Jian, will soon enact a decree that any Hu to marry a Han will receive a stipend. What's more, anyone could become a wife, be they woman or man. But those feelings of love are not exactly reciprocal, as a plot to take down His Majesty is afoot, and a mysterious assassin leaves the Hu Dynasty scrambling for answers. But danger or not, Xiang Shu remains conspicuously hesitant to make himself Chen Xing's protector.

Questions abound as Chen Xing, Xiang Shu, and Feng Qianjun fall deeper into a tangled web of secrets. Will the inscrutable Great Chanyu finally say 'I do' to Chen Xing's proposal? Will Chen Xing uncover clues to the Mara case? And can the three men quell the winds of revolt?