At the top of Yuping Mountain, beside Lake Bonan.

After a heavy downpour, all the lotus flowers in the pond had fallen, leaving only black stems tangled on the water’s surface. Occasionally, birds would lightly touch down, creating elegant ripples. Cold winds swept across the lake surface, where a long wooden bridge built of rope and planks stood. Though crude in appearance, it was designed to blend with nature, possessing a certain poetic charm.

A gentle breeze blew, flowers bloomed in profusion, and white blossoms adorned the lakeshore. In the water, curious fish surfaced, gently swishing their tails as they examined everything above. The sky was a clear, deep blue without a single cloud after the earlier downpour. The sun dazzled one’s eyes, and despite approaching dusk, it still shone brilliantly.

The wooden bridge followed a winding path to a small pavilion in the middle of the lake. Standing alone in the water pavilion was a young man dressed in red. His clothes fluttered lightly, wide sleeves slightly spread as the clear breeze lifted his jet-black hair and dark red hems. His red garment was embroidered with large crimson roses, like extraordinary flowers blooming in the wind. The man’s face was as beautiful as a painting, with a high, straight nose and slightly upturned eyes. His appearance was exceptional, almost mistakable for a woman at first glance. His narrow, elongated eyes swept casually over the people outside the pavilion. Then, his lips curled slightly in a manner that exuded three parts elegance, three parts nobility, three parts cold beauty, and one part genuine inscrutability.

But then…

“Everyone stand back! Or I’ll kill myself right in front of you!”

A shrill and extremely noisy voice suddenly rang out, instantly destroying the image of a secluded mountain dweller. Indeed, the red-clothed man was struggling to raise a heavy-backed sword to his neck, but his small frame lacked the strength. His two arms trembled for a long time without managing to lift the blade.

“Sigh, Your Highness, we don’t care about your life or death right now. The Emperor has spoken—alive we need to see the person, dead we need to see the corpse. If you don’t return with us, we’ll have to report to the King of Hell ourselves.”

A young guard in a dark blue robe leaned nonchalantly against a pillar outside the pavilion, wearing a bitter expression as he addressed the man inside.

Hearing this, the red-clothed man turned his head and said hatefully: “Fine, Lü Yunxi! Despite how much I’ve valued you, today you kick me when I’m down. When I return to the capital someday, I’ll capture your sisters and bring them into the palace to serve me in bed.”

“Oh, Your Highness,” Lü Yunxi said dejectedly, “As soon as I was unfortunate enough to accept this mission, my eldest sister took my three unmarried younger sisters to live at Nian’an Temple. The moment you set foot alive in Tang City, they’ll shave their heads and become nuns. The razors are already sharpened.”

“What?” The man was momentarily stunned, then displayed an angry expression and shouted: “They would rather enter a nunnery than share a spring night with this prince? This is outrageous!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the man turned toward a large man in brown clothing and said: “Tie You, are you also going to be my enemy?”

“Your Highness,” the big man crouched listlessly on the wooden bridge, his head drooping, almost falling asleep. He mumbled: “I don’t have any sisters.”

“I know that!” the man said viciously. “But you have a daughter!”

Tie You sighed again, staring with unfocused eyes, and said helplessly: “Your Highness, my daughter just turned one month old yesterday. Isn’t it a bit too early to threaten me with her?”

After speaking, Tie You shook his head helplessly and said gloomily: “I couldn’t even attend my little darling’s full month celebration because I’ve been chasing you around this month.”

“Well, you’re all planning to rebel now!”

The man frantically looked around and fixed his gaze on another handsome young man with a jade-like appearance, saying with a stern face: “Sun Di, are you also against me?”

Sun Di smiled seductively, his smile extremely alluring. Blinking his bright eyes, he said to the man: “Your Highness, although I have no sisters, my mother has arranged four concubines for me. I enthusiastically look forward to you taking all of them to the palace to serve you in bed. That would be this humble servant’s greatest honor in life.”

“Your Highness,” a weary voice sounded. A seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth whose body was covered in defined muscles, resembling a sturdy little leopard, spoke while yawning: “Are you done with your posturing? If we go down the mountain now, we can still make it back before the city gates close, and we’ll have seats at the Yuhua Pavilion tonight.”

“What Yuhua Pavilion!” the man angrily said. “I tell you, my determination to escape this time is very firm.”

Everyone looked at him helplessly, with a level of mockery in their eyes sufficient to make the Emperor of Great Xia run in shame to bow at Yan Shicheng’s grave. The meaning was very clear: When have you ever not been determined?

But the man still showed no trace of guilt or embarrassment. He frowned and said righteously: “I will not submit to my father’s tyrannical authority!”

Tie You sighed and, taking an elder’s posture, kindly advised: “Your Highness, the Great Xia Princess has already entered the city, and envoys from various countries have also arrived successively. If you escape at this time and the Emperor of Great Xia finds out, his nose will be bent with anger.”

“Exactly, if not for the monk then for the Buddha. At worst, you can marry her and just not see her, wouldn’t that work?”

“Yes, endure for a moment of peace, take a step back for a broader view. Your Highness, don’t be stubborn.”

“Silence!” the man shouted loudly, and like a moralist, he raised his face to the sky and cried sorrowfully: “I already have someone I admire, and I must keep my position vacant, waiting for her arrival.”

The other four men curled their lips in disdain. He has someone he admires? Unless Great Xia voluntarily acknowledges itself as a vassal to Bian Tang.

Lü Yunxi looked up at the sun, sighed, and said in a deep voice: “Your Highness, it’s getting late. Let’s not waste any more time.”

The man in the exaggerated red robe cautiously took a step back: “What are you going to do? I’m telling you, I mean what I say. Don’t push me too far.”

Tie You clapped his hands twice and stood up from the ground, casually walking forward while saying: “Let’s get to work, finish the job so we can go home early for dinner.”

Sun Di took out a long rope and shook his head helplessly: “It seems this is our only option now.”

…

“What are you doing? Don’t forget who took you in back then. Little Lü, when you lost money at the gambling house, I was the one who ransomed you. Alright, I admit I set up the trap to trick you, but at least I didn’t have someone cut off one of your hands!”

“And you, Sun Di, have you forgotten how miserable you were when your mother threw you out? You even had debts at the brothel, and all the girls in the city looked down on you. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be locked up in the basement of Yihong Pavilion… well, although your mother threw you out because I forced you to admit Qiutao’s child was yours, you also benefited—Qiutao, such a beautiful woman, is now your concubine.”

…

A miserable cry suddenly rose, piercing through the clouds. Birds and beasts within twenty li were startled and scattered in all directions. Bian Tang’s most noble Crown Prince Li Ce let out a heart-wrenching cry on Yuping Mountain, loudly cursing: “A bunch of ungrateful bastards! I’ve been so open-hearted with you, yet at this critical moment, you drag me down. Just wait—sooner or later, I’ll have all the women in your families serve me in bed!”

After quickly subduing and binding him, just as everyone was breathing a sigh of relief, they heard a fine horse casually strolling up the mountain path from below, like a tourist taking in the sights. The horse walked until it suddenly noticed them, then stopped and looked over curiously, seemingly very interested in them. Most importantly, the horse was carrying a person on its back.

Everyone was startled and looked toward that person together.

They saw it was a woman who, though disheveled, was still clearly wearing very luxurious clothing. She wore a lake-green long dress with layered skirts and emerald flowers clustered around, both exquisite and not ostentatious. Her long hair was black and shiny, spread across her back, appearing somewhat messy. Long-legged with a slender waist, she had a tall figure—clearly a beauty with an excellent figure.

However, this beauty’s current situation didn’t seem very good, as she was lying prone on the horse’s back, apparently having fainted.

“Hey? It looks like a young lady who’s sleeping.”

Though tightly bound, someone’s sharp eyes immediately spotted the key issue. He promptly signaled to the others with his eyes: “There’s a woman present, give me some face. Quick, untie the ropes.”

Tie You looked at him and raised his eyebrows: “No way.”

Just then, a mountain breeze blew, lifting the woman’s long hair. Sharp-eyed Li Ce saw clearly, then froze momentarily before opening his mouth wide and shouting: “Lady Hero! Qiao Qiao! Come save me! I’m Li Ce!”

His voice was so sudden that everyone was startled, especially the horse. It had been wandering around the mountain for half a day without seeing anyone, and now with his shout, it thought wolves had come. Immediately frightened, it reared up on its hind legs and neighed shrilly.

The young woman lying on her back innocently fell to the ground with a thud, rolling over before she could stabilize herself. The heartless, faithless horse had already fled for its life!

“Ah!”

Li Ce was shocked, his expression immediately changing. He hurriedly shouted: “What are you staring at? Go save her!”

The Bian Tang royal carriage sped away from Yuping Mountain. From a grove on the mountain emerged several middle-aged men in short blue martial attire, all dressed as woodcutters. One of them said in a deep voice to another: “Go back and tell the Lord, the Crown Prince has escaped marriage for the sixth time. He’s reckless and crazy, even more absurd than the rumors suggest, not worth worrying about. Everything will proceed according to the original plan.”

“Yes!”

The man agreed, immediately blowing a whistle. Soon, a completely black warhorse galloped over. The woodcutter-dressed man mounted the horse and quickly disappeared in a cloud of dust.

The wind blew, and the trees on both sides of the mountain path were lush green. After a heavy rain, everything was renewed, presenting a fresh scene.

And Chu Qiao, who had intended to go to Tang City to find Yan Xun, had entered this commercial heart of the entire continent in such a manner after fainting from poison.

Sometimes, coincidences can be so extraordinary that you might think they’re fake.

So when Chu Qiao woke up in that instant, she also thought she was dreaming, which is why she immediately threw a punch and angrily said: “Why am I dreaming about him?”