A strange thesis becomes one professor's reality when he's transmigrated to the past and awakens as a doomed prince in this hit danmei (Boys' Love)!An outrageous thesis has just hit the desk of esteemed history professor Jiang Suizhou. Dubiously sourced, it tells the story of the General Huo Wujiu, a man who was captured, incapacitated, and forced to serve as concubine to his enemy's brother--the cut-sleeve prince who enjoyed men in his bed. For three grueling years, the general lived as a prisoner until he escaped and sought vengeance against his tormentors. Convinced the story is pure fiction, Jiang Suizhou brands the thesis a failure, that is, until he wakes up as the cut-sleeve prince himself! Now, stuck lording over his concubine and prisoner Huo Wujiu, Jiang Suizhou's only has one option to avoid facing the general's future Ally himself with Huo Wujiu. Still, this strategy could backfire if Huo Wujiu were to get the wrong idea about his intentions.
Liu Gou Hua is also a new author to me and they turned out to be a very good writer. The narrative flows without repetition and the plot seems to be actually leading somewhere.
After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine is a transmigration danmei novel with a historical setting. History professor, Jiang Suizhou, has just finished rebuking a thesis by his student that seems to be based on imagination, only to find himself transported to a world that is exactly like the thesis described. He’s Prince of Jing, whom history doesn’t know much about, as he was a frail, chronically ill person who died young. His older brother, Jiang Shunheng, is an emperor in exile, and the last emperor of Jing dynasty. And Prince of Jing is just about to take a captured and tortured enemy general, Huo Wujiu, as his concubine, forced by the emperor to humiliate Prince of Jing and Huo Wujiu both.
Having studied the era for years, Jiang Suizhou is well-versed in who is who and how things work, but now his most important guideline is the thesis, which is based on the marriage that history knows nothing about. And according to it, Prince of Jing will die in three years at the hands of General Huo as a retaliation for the suffering in his household.
Jiang Suizhou’s objective is clear: avoid dying. He needs to treat Huo Wujiu, now Madame Huo, so well the general won’t want to kill him. That’s easier said than done. Prince of Jing has a reputation of a cruel man and compassion is out of character. The emperor is a foolish brute controlled by his uncle and enjoys nothing more than tormenting Prince of Jing and Huo Wujiu both. Jiang Suizhou knows that the empire will fall in three years when Huo Wujiu returns to north, but he can’t just hide and wait it out. But he’s almost powerless in the court and every little thing he tries leads to other people suffering.
On the home front, he needs to help Huo Wujiu heal from the torture without rousing suspicions. Outwardly, Madame Huo doesn’t seem to warm up to the prince, but the reader knows he’s taken an unexpected view of the frail prince and thinks he’s in need of protecting. And that has made him regard the prince’s two male concubines with hostility. He’s jealous even, when the prince spends many nights with them. Little does he know that the concubines are Prince of Jing’s advisors. The volume ends with a tiny cliffhanger of them giving advice that will likely infuriate Huo Wujiu and wipe away the goodwill Jiang Suizhou has managed to build.
This was a very good start for the story. It was a bit slow at first, and the pace didn’t really pick up much, but there was nothing unnecessary, the court intrigue was good, and everything happened in a logical order. Jiang Suizhou was a good character in a tight spot balancing between the emperor’s wrath and Huo Wujiu. The latter didn’t have a large role in the first volume, but he managed to make a difference in Jiang Suizhou’s life already. Despite Huo Wujiu’s budding jealousy, the romance didn’t really go anywhere yet, but it has a good foundation here. Prince of Jing’s head eunuch, Meng Qianshan, was a good comical addition with his constant misunderstandings and good-natured meddling.
I think there might be revelations in the future about a deeper connection between the past and the future. Jiang Suizhou looks exactly like Prince of Jing, he shares family name with the emperor, and Prince of Jing’s real name wasn’t revealed. Jiang Suizhou doesn’t know it, as it’s one of the things archives never mention. I’m looking forward to reading more to see where all this leads to.
According to history, Huo Wujiu is a war hero forcefully crippled and married to a neglected prince to humiliate him. Historian Jiang Suizhou transmigrates into said prince, and immediately sets about trying to make sure neither of them wind up dead.
I was iffy about this one in the beginning, but the longer I read the more I found myself caring about the two MLs. It would normally be a little too historical-drama-y for my taste, but Jiang Suizhou’s modern POV is refreshing and I love Huo Wujiu’s careful bluntness.
3.5 stars ⭐️ The title's crazy but this one's pretty interesting! Though this volume is mostly focused on politics with a few cuter moments sprinkled in here and there, the dynamic that's slowly being built between Jiang Suizhou and Huo Wujiu is very cute. I also really liked the two other concubines, the two being allies to the prince instead of antagonists was really nice to see. Overall it's pretty good so far and I'm looking forward to learning more about these characters and how the rest of the plot unfolds....