The Twelve Years: Song of the Unsung Friends

A century and more ago, China was embroiled in turmoil and instability. Opium usage was rampant in the country. Foreign powers carved up China’s land into foreign-controlled concessions and leased out lands. The Qing Dynasty was on its last legs. Military warlords and cliques fought for power. People rose up to fight for change, some wanting reform and to institute a constitutional monarchy, some wanting a revolution, to completely change the political situation.

This is the backdrop of our story, which opens in the year 1911. It is truly a historical romance, with many references to historical events and people.

Shen Xi is a wanted criminal of the Qing Dynasty, not for any crime that she committed but because her father was charged as a reformist and punishment was doled out to the entire clan. She has been living hidden away in the dirtiest of places, until one day something happens and she is rescued by the Third Master of the House of Fu, Fu Tongwen. Third Master Fu, the romantic, suave young master known for his love of women and frivolity, whose wealth is countless, sends her abroad to study and guarantees the safety and well-being of the rest of her life. She thinks that the ties between the two of them are merely the letters she regularly posts to him and the replies he sends back, but one day he appears in the parlour of her townhouse in New York. During this time, her interaction with him increases until one day she abruptly makes the decision to return to China. In her travels and interaction with him, she learns that this man who on the outside appears to be (by a modern-day terms), a playboy in reality holds a heart for his country and its people and carries a longing to bring change—to see a China restored to splendour and prosperity.

For years, life has been like a play, and we are all merely actors in it.

The first time she met Master Fu San, he had booked half the venue to support a performer. He liked to sit with one leg crossed over the other, tilting his head slightly as he whispered to the person beside him. In the flickering light, his profile carried a sense of decadent elegance.

It was only later that she saw the truth—amidst the half-light and half-shadow, he sat upon a pile of bones, guarding a vast and boundless land.