The morning wind came from the river surface, bitterly cold. A layer of sweat broke out on A’Fu’s back.

This A’Jiu wasn’t joking—he truly intended to kill.

She stood motionless, looking at A’Jiu, neither crying nor making a fuss, her face calm as she said, “You should at least give me a reason.”

A’Jiu smiled. “Look at that—your true face revealed. What does this expression have to do with honesty or pitifulness? I knew from the start that something was wrong with you two.”

A’Fu said nothing, just watched him.

“That mother of yours, sick enough to be dying, yet still had the mind to put on such a performance, speaking of love and affection,” A’Jiu said with a face full of disdain. “She’s from the pleasure quarters, isn’t she?”

Indeed, that presumptuous line of Li Niang’s had attracted attention after all. This boy was far too sharp—and he’d actually guessed correctly.

A’Fu thought for a moment and said, “My mother and father have deep feelings for each other—”

“At a time like that, a moment of life and death, still talking about deep feelings? Did your mother forget she still had you two children by her side?” A’Jiu interrupted her with a scoff. “Little girl, you put on quite a good show, but unfortunately it fell just a bit short, because you haven’t seen what it’s really like when a dying mother has no one to entrust her children to.”

What it’s like when a dying mother has no one to entrust her children to? A’Fu looked at A’Jiu. It sounded like he had seen it.

“What is it like?” she asked curiously.

Whether it was her attitude or that previous statement that angered A’Jiu, his expression turned grim.

“You started by mentioning General Chu—mixing truth with lies. Yang Dachun was fake, which means General Chu might be real,” he said coldly. “So I deliberately let you see the secret letter, and sure enough, that’s what you came for.”

They’d been exposed from the very beginning? Mentioning Yang Dachun, just bringing up Father’s name once—he had thought that far?

True enough—how could he let her see a secret letter? This was indeed her oversight and carelessness.

There was no helping it—she cared too much about Father.

A’Fu looked at him and said, “Young Master A’Jiu, please lower your weapon first. This matter isn’t what you think—”

Before she could finish, A’Jiu’s gaze moved past her toward the river, his expression cold and severe.

A’Fu instinctively looked over too. Mist wreathed the river surface as a large boat slowly approached. A person stood at the bow—she couldn’t see his features clearly, only white brocade clothing with a blue sash at the waist—

Her accomplice? A’Jiu shouted coldly, “Will you talk or not!”

His accomplice? A’Fu speculated, then withdrew her gaze to look at him and continued, “—I didn’t know you had a secret letter. I just happened to see it, and happened to know General Chu Ling, so—”

Again her words went unfinished. A cold flash appeared before her eyes, accompanied by A’Jiu’s icy voice: “Go die.”

A’Fu’s hair stood on end.

He had no intention of interrogating her at all—he only wanted to silence her permanently.

In that instant, the instincts of her thirteen-year-old body took over. She bent to dodge, and the dagger grazed past her face.

But in dodging, the river stones were slippery. Her steps faltered and she fell backward into the water.

Splash.

A’Jiu disappeared from her vision, replaced by the morning sky, and then the icy river water swallowed her.

Just like that time.

Familiar memories instantly engulfed her as well.

A’Fu’s vision blurred, her breathing stopped, and she could hear nothing.

……

……

The Chu family garden in the capital had a lake.

Though the Chu family had fallen on hard times now, their ancestors had been ministers who rose with the Founding Emperor. As one of the earliest meritorious officials to enter the capital, they had seized—been allocated—a residence that had belonged to imperial relatives of the previous dynasty. This residence was most famous for its garden.

It remained a renowned garden in the capital to this day. Of course, now it was called Chu Garden.

She had loved this garden too, especially sitting in it with her cousin and other young ladies, painting and playing the zither—beautiful scenery she had never seen in the border commandery.

But her skills were poor, so they wouldn’t include her in their activities.

That time, she had been mocked and squeezed out again. Her cousin had simply told her to go prepare refreshments for everyone.

Both angry and upset, she had walked away, sent the maids to prepare refreshments, and gone to the lakeside alone to brood.

Then she had stepped on a loose stone and fallen into the lake.

She couldn’t swim, and there was no one around. She thought she was going to die, and then someone descended from the sky—

……

……

A’Fu kept her eyes open in the water, as if she could still see that scene.

She had already sunk by then, so when that person jumped into the lake, he truly seemed to descend slowly from the heavens.

He wore white garments, his eyes bright as stars. He reached out to her, held her, brought her to the surface, and sent her down a road of no return—

A’Fu closed her eyes and suddenly opened her mouth wide, but only half the breath came—ice-cold water poured in.

Help me—

She reached out with all her strength.

These thoughts seemed many, but the entire incident happened in just an instant.

……

……

When A’Fu had not yet fallen into the river, the guard Tie Ying, who had just emerged from the cabin, saw what happened.

Because the distance was too far, he didn’t know what was occurring, only seeing a young man and woman. He assumed they were young lovers meeting by the river at dawn.

He withdrew his gaze and walked behind the person at the bow, saying, “Breakfast—”

Before he could finish saying breakfast was ready, the person in front of him made a sound and said, “Careful—”

Tie Ying’s body tensed in an instant, then he heard a woman’s scream and the splash of someone falling into water.

The girl he’d just seen by the river had already fallen into the water.

What had happened?

Tie Ying looked toward that youth. The youth still stood in place, seemingly unable to see the girl fall into the water, motionless.

The distance was too far to see the youth’s expression clearly, but from his posture, there was an inexplicable coldness.

Was this a lovers’ quarrel, or something else?

Tie Ying was still pondering when he heard another splash—the person at the bow had also disappeared.

Standing at the bow, Tie Ying felt a moment of panic. As a personal attendant, his martial skills were unmatched, but he alone couldn’t swim.

Though his master appeared frail, he had excellent swimming ability.

Tie Ying regained his composure and signaled the boatman to turn and follow.

……

……

A’Fu kept struggling.

This wasn’t the Chu family in the capital, and this wasn’t her previous life. The her from that previous life was already dead.

Having finally gotten a second chance, she didn’t want to die here.

But the will to survive in her heart didn’t mean she could control her body. Whether the thirteen-year-old her or the twenty-something her, neither could swim.

Combined with the trauma of drowning in her previous life, her fear of water was even greater. She quickly swallowed several mouthfuls of water and began sinking toward the riverbed.

A’Fu’s tears flowed out, covered by the river water.

In her last life, though she had died so miserably, at least those who killed her and her status after death were supremely exalted.

In this life, not only was she dying miserably, she was dying at the hands of a nameless nobody, and she too was concealing her name—who knew how long it would be before anyone discovered her.

How could her fate be so bitter?

Perhaps she had never really come back to life at all. All of this was just her imagination in the instant of death.

A’Fu’s hands stopped struggling, her consciousness scattered. But just then, in her blurred vision, she saw someone slowly drifting toward her.

His white garments floated in the water like peony blossoms.

He reached out and wrapped A’Fu in his embrace.

A’Fu looked at his face, soft as moonlight. He kept his mouth tightly closed, revealing two dimples in his cheeks—

Those dimples—they held endless wine, wine that could make one drunk with a single sip. A’Fu reached out to gently touch them. This was her favorite sweet nothing to say to Xiao Xun—

Xiao Xun.

Xiao Xun?!

A’Fu nearly exploded in the water in that instant. Her previously unconscious limbs suddenly trembled, churning the lake water into a whirlpool.

Xiao Xun? Why had she encountered Xiao Xun?

Not in the capital, not in the Chu Garden lake.

In a wild river at the distant border of the Central Plains, having fallen into the water, she had met Xiao Xun again.

Xiao Xun, heir to Prince Zhongshan.

The next Emperor of Great Xia.

The husband who had placed the phoenix crown upon her head.

And the enemy who had discarded her like refuse, granting her a cup of poison wine and a length of white silk.

She was the Empress of Great Xia.