Handsome Siblings

Jiang Feng, son of a distinguished family, elopes with Hua Yunu, a maid of the Floral Palace, and on the road she gives birth to twin boys; the two are then hunted down and killed by the palace mistress. To take revenge on Jiang Feng, the Floral Palace mistress separates the twin brothers, raising them apart and teaching each his own martial arts, waiting only for them to grow up and kill each other—such is the poisonous scheme she has plotted for years. The one taken back to the Floral Palace is Hua Wuque: beautiful in face, peerless with the sword, gentle and restrained in temperament, every gesture proper and correct. The other child, carried off by Yan Nantian, is Xiaoyu'er; Yan Nantian is nearly killed by the Ten Evils in the Valley of Evils, and Xiaoyu'er is raised by that band of villains, each taking turns training him. Xiaoyu'er is extraordinarily gifted, cunning and resourceful, and loves mischief above all; as he roams the jianghu he stirs up one uproarious incident after another and becomes a troublemaker feared by all. The two utterly unrelated paths of upbringing finally converge through jianghu grudges and romantic entanglements: Tie Xinlan's deep devotion, the hypocrisy of Jiang Biehe and his son, and the schemes of the Twelve Stars and figures of every stripe push the two brothers, who have never met, to the point where they must fight to the death. Yet both are kind at heart, and neither can bear to strike. In the end Xiaoyu'er uses a clever ploy to force the Floral Palace mistress to reveal the truth of those years; the brothers recognize each other, and the twenty-year poison scheme collapses entirely. The book opens with hatred and closes with forgiveness, interweaving witty duels of wits with flashing blades and swordplay; it is one of Gu Long's longest and most populous representative novels.