Futile Devices Scans

Bihan City, the Cold-Repelling City (BC)

By: Cang Wu Bin Bai 

Native Title: 辟寒城 by 苍梧宾白

Genre: Shounen Ai, Historical, Court Drama, Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Adult

Tags: Ancient China Ancient Times Assassins Buddhism Calm Protagonist Clever Protagonist Court Official Cunning Protagonist Empires Fated Lovers Genius Protagonist Investigations Kingdoms Nobles Royalty Schemes And Conspiracies Secret Organizations Seme Protagonist Smart Couple

Content: 99 Chapters + 2 Extras

Status: Completely translated and proofread

Synopsis

Six years ago, the kingdom of Longsha nearly ceased to exist.

Two hundred thousand troops from Yanyuan marched east and pressed against its borders. Hopelessly outmatched, Longsha’s ruler did everything a desperate king could do to keep his country alive: marriages were arranged, princes were sent away as hostages, alliances were bought at enormous cost, and Xiling was acknowledged as Longsha’s suzerain.

The war ended.

The price did not.

Years later, the old king dies, a new ruler must take the throne, and one of the promises made during that crisis finally comes due. Xiling is expected to send a high-ranking official to Longsha to help stabilize the new reign.

Naturally, everyone in Xiling has the same question:

Which unfortunate court official is about to be shipped off to another country to become a political “marriage princess” in everything but name?

Wei Fu somehow finds himself caught in the answer.

On the surface, Wei Fu is exactly what an aristocratic young official ought to be: handsome, cultured, unfailingly courteous, frighteningly intelligent, and blessed with the sort of smiling face that makes him look harmless even while he is quietly calculating three moves ahead. He understands court politics, knows how to make friends over a cup of wine, can untangle an investigation from a handful of clues, and has a remarkable talent for getting other people to do what he wants while leaving them convinced it was their own idea.

Unfortunately for one particular prince of Longsha, Wei Fu has another talent:

He is extraordinarily clingy.

Long before ministers, diplomatic missions, and struggles between kingdoms entered the picture, Wei Fu was a mute child in desperate circumstances.

The person who saved him was Yugong Zhaoye.

Yugong Zhaoye grew up to become one of the most dangerous men in Longsha—a royal prince who moves more comfortably through shadows than banquet halls, an assassin with terrifying martial skill, and a man deeply entangled with the secret organizations that protect the kingdom from places the official court cannot reach.

Cold-faced, brutally practical, and almost impossible to intimidate, Yugong Zhaoye can infiltrate guarded compounds, uncover conspiracies, survive assassination attempts, and calmly put a blade to someone’s throat.

Understanding that Wei Fu is flirting with him is considerably more difficult.

When the two meet again after years apart, Wei Fu remembers perfectly well the person who once saved him.

Yugong Zhaoye remembers the troublesome little mute he brought home.

Those two understandings are not remotely the same thing.

What follows is a reunion in which one man very deliberately moves closer while the other remains spectacularly convinced that all this devotion must surely be some form of brotherly affection.

Wei Fu wants companionship.

Yugong Zhaoye thinks he should take better care of the child.

Wei Fu wants to sleep in the same bed.

Yugong Zhaoye thinks perhaps the child is lonely.

Wei Fu wants him for the rest of his life.

Yugong Zhaoye, after careful consideration, begins wondering whether an elder brother is basically the same thing as a father.

Romance has rarely faced a more formidable opponent than Yugong Zhaoye’s powers of interpretation.

But Bihan City is much larger than its central romantic misunderstanding.

Longsha is a kingdom that survived one catastrophe only to discover that peace has its own dangers. Its treasury is strained. Its ports and strategic territory have fallen under foreign influence. Neighboring states circle one another through marriages, hostages, trade agreements, military pressure, and espionage. The new king inherits a throne surrounded by debts and compromises made before he ever had a say in them.

Wei Fu enters that world as an outsider expected to help govern it.

Yugong Zhaoye protects it from the shadows.

Their paths lead through suspicious deaths, epidemics, hidden identities, secret intelligence networks, old assassinations, royal-family secrets, political marriages, maritime trade, lost maps, buried grudges, and the lingering consequences of a war that shaped nearly every member of Longsha’s ruling family.

At the same time, the story never forgets that its characters are ridiculous people capable of behaving ridiculously.

Deadly assassins bicker like disgruntled relatives. Court officials weaponize dinner invitations. International diplomacy occasionally resembles family drama conducted with armies. A supposedly elegant minister sends obnoxiously noisy animals home as tribute. People attempt sophisticated political maneuvering while their love lives collapse spectacularly in the background. Even characters capable of changing the fate of kingdoms can be defeated by jealousy, bad communication, or one particularly shameless fox spirit refusing to leave someone alone.

And beneath all of it is a surprisingly tender story about two people who met when they had very little power over their own lives.

Years later, they meet again as adults capable of making choices for themselves.

Wei Fu does not simply want to repay an old debt.

Yugong Zhaoye is not merely protecting someone he once rescued.

As the boundary between gratitude, attachment, companionship, and love gradually disappears, both of them must decide what it means to choose another person freely—not because of an old promise, political obligation, family expectation, or debt of gratitude, but because after everything that has changed, they still want to remain beside each other.

For Wei Fu, the answer becomes obvious rather early.

For Yugong Zhaoye…

Well.

Give him a little time.

He is very good with knives.

Feelings are harder.

Bihan City, the Cold-Repelling City is a historical danmei combining court politics, mystery and investigation, espionage, international intrigue, secret organizations, family drama, and a same-age reunion romance between an exceptionally capable smiling fox and the terrifying assassin he has decided to cling to for life.

Despite the political stakes, the story is frequently warm and very funny, with a large supporting cast, multiple side couples, running jokes, and a romance built as much through everyday companionship as through danger.

There is no transmigration, rebirth, or supernatural cultivation setting. The countries, institutions, and historical systems are fictional, and all of the characters belong to the world in which the story takes place.

One-sentence summary:

“Jade wards off the cold; rhinoceros horn dispels dust.”

Theme:

Facing challenges together and achieving shared prosperity.

Table of Contents