No longer caring about the cracked and scorching water jar, he lifted the woman out with one motion. Chu Li’s face was terrified as he tightly held the woman’s waist, nervously widening his eyes and violently shaking her body, shouting sternly: “Qing Xia! Qing Xia!”

The woman showed no response at all. Her face, burned hideous by the fire, looked like a demon. Chu Li’s eyes instantly became like those of a demon, radiating powerful hatred. He gripped the woman’s shoulders tightly and shouted fiercely at her face: “Zhuang Qingxia, I command you to wake up! If you dare disobey my order, I’ll kill your entire family!”

“Bastard!” A clear, angry curse suddenly came. Chu Li’s face showed shock, then great joy as he hugged the woman’s body and shouted: “Qing Xia, you’re awake? You’re awake, aren’t you?”

“Why aren’t we leaving yet! Do you want to die staying here?” A charming voice immediately came. Chu Li was stunned, only then realizing the voice came from behind him. He spun around violently and saw Qing Xia in white palace maid cotton robes, carrying a woman in bright yellow brocade robes on her back. She kicked aside a door panel lying at an angle and rushed in, grabbing Chu Li’s hand and shouting something loudly.

She was now within arm’s reach, but Chu Li couldn’t hear any sound. He just stared blankly at her unharmed face, his heart instantly filled with immense joy.

“You’re still alive.” Taking a long breath, Chu Li suddenly felt his entire body go weak. His long arms reached out and pulled Qing Xia into his embrace, his voice carrying the ecstatic relief that transformed into this single deep sigh: “You’re still alive.”

Qing Xia’s delicate body stiffened, and a trace of something elusive flashed through her eyes. Then she said curtly: “Let’s go quickly! We can’t stay here long!” She immediately threw the cloak from her body over Chu Li’s shoulders. The soaking wet cloak instantly extinguished the flames on Chu Li’s body. Grabbing Chu Li’s sturdy arm, Qing Xia said calmly: “There are no living people left. Let’s get out.”

“Boom!” The massive palace finally collapsed thunderously in the great fire. At the last moment, Qing Xia and Chu Li leaped with all their might and jumped out of the collapsing palace, lying on the scorching earth.

Bright starlight shone on both of them. Everything seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Your Majesty, Miss Xiangju suffered from excessive shock and urgent fire attacking her heart, which is why she speaks incoherently and cannot express herself clearly. The injuries on her face and body are not serious, but if she wishes to restore her appearance, it will be extremely difficult.”

Imperial Physician Sun from the Imperial Medical Academy said in a deep voice, his face looking very heavy. Qing Xia wore a light blue brocade robe with cloud patterns, standing in the spacious Lanting Hall, appearing somewhat lonely and desolate. She nodded faintly, her voice carrying an indescribable fatigue: “Thank you for your trouble, Imperial Physician Sun.”

“Your Majesty is too kind. It is Your Majesty’s body that needs more care and rest.”

“I understand.”

The elderly man sighed slightly, handed his medicine box to his apprentice beside him, bowed to Qing Xia, and walked out of Lanting Hall. The setting sun cast the old man’s shadow very long, creating a scene of desolation and decline, just like this Lanting Hall, shrouded in traces of decline and sorrow.

“Your Majesty, please go rest. You didn’t sleep at all last night and have been busy all day today.” A girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old walked up obediently, supporting Qing Xia’s arm and gently persuading her.

Qing Xia shook her head and asked in a deep voice: “Is Xiangju sleeping?”

“Imperial Physician Sun gave her acupuncture, and she’s already asleep now.” The girl answered obediently. Seeing Qing Xia’s deep expression, she continued: “The servants’ lives all belong to Your Majesty. It’s Sister Xiangju’s fortune to suffer for Your Majesty.”

Qing Xia couldn’t help but smile bitterly, thinking to herself that since it wasn’t happening to oneself, it was naturally easy to call it fortune. But when real trouble comes, who would willingly suffer in someone else’s place? In this world, whose life is naturally someone else’s property? She shook her head and said nothing. In the spacious hall, only a few maids that Chu Li had temporarily assigned to serve her remained.

Last night’s turmoil severely damaged the Chu Palace. Countless people died miserably, and the old emperor still remains unconscious. Chu Li led twenty thousand troops from the Military Command Camp into the palace overnight to quell the rebellion, and also deployed the Green Standard Army from outside the city to take up guard duties. The capital’s imperial city was in complete chaos overnight, with unstable hearts everywhere filled with the atmosphere of war and disorder. Common people stayed at home, not daring to go out, fearing they would be implicated. By today, the situation had become even more chaotic. Qing Xia knew that with Chu Li’s current military strength, stabilizing the situation would be easy as turning over his hand, but he didn’t do so. Instead, he made the situation even more chaotic, seemingly intentionally muddying the waters. Qing Xia understood the deep meaning behind this, and the court’s civil and military officials understood it even more clearly.

So, using the Thirteenth Prince’s fire as an excuse, the court began a great purge of those who had previously not submitted to Chu Li. From now on, South Chu’s power structure would need to be completely reshuffled.

A painstakingly arranged game, but until the very end, who could determine which one was the mantis hiding in the darkness? Qing Xia slightly closed her eyes, leaning against the beauty’s rest in her bedchamber. The evening sunset cast blood-red light on her body, creating an eerily beautiful radiance.

Chu Li leaned against the door frame, his helmet cradled in his arms. His face showed traces of fatigue after not closing his eyes for a day and night. But at this moment, he didn’t want to disturb her. Many past events swirled through his mind, and the young child from the Great Qi imperial palace years ago appeared before his eyes again.

When he was nine years old, his father sent him to Great Qi’s capital as a hostage. No one knew how he spent those days – alone in a foreign land, having to watch people’s faces in everything, suffering discrimination everywhere. For more than ten years, in the eyes of Qi’s ruler and ministers, he had always been a timid, cowardly, and utterly useless prince from a weak country. He endured all the humiliation and contempt, just so that one day he could stand proudly on high, looking down at those who had once trampled on him, crushing them firmly underfoot.

He met Qing Xia in that year.

Although he had no support in Qi’s capital, as a hostage, he could still get the opportunity to study at the Imperial Academy. And Zhuang Dianru was a senior teacher at the Imperial Academy.

Qing Xia at that time was only six years old – innocent and young, with a warm smile and tender features. Qing Xia had no mother, so she often disguised herself as a book boy, following Teacher Zhuang to the classroom. When the Qi princes were in class, she would sit on the high threshold, propping her chin as she waited for Teacher Zhuang to finish class. He still remembered that the threshold was very high, almost half of Qing Xia’s height. She often had to struggle to lift both legs to step over that threshold. The hostage’s seat naturally wouldn’t be too close to the teacher. Qi had a prosperous population with many princes, and he was always in the last position, looking at the jeweled tassels on the caps of the various princes in front of him, silently daydreaming.

“Oh! What happened to you?”

Even now, Chu Li could clearly remember the scene of their first conversation. That day, the sunlight shone on Qi’s Ronghua Palace as if it were about to melt, with dazzling sunshine everywhere. Summer cicadas chirped in the trees, making people so annoyed they felt ready to explode.

He walked alone on the long corridor, his clothes torn, his face covered with bloody scratches. Snot and tears flowed out, hanging at the corners of his mouth, making him look very dirty. But he didn’t wipe them away. His heart was slowly filled with anger – there was grievance, but also fear.

The new clothes that his wet nurse from Chu had just bought by selling her jewelry were torn by Qi’s Third Prince Qi Yu and his companion readers. At that time, he had just arrived in Qi and didn’t yet understand how to hide his light and conceal his strength. He got angry and fought with them – one person surrounded and beaten by more than ten people. His nose was broken, streaming with long trails of blood. That group surrounded him, clamoring arrogantly, tearing his clothes, then kicking him out of the garden.

At his most wretched moment, he encountered Qing Xia sitting in the corridor of the pathway. She wore a pink little jacket, her small head topped with a high hair bun. Sunlight scattered on her fair skin, creating a layer of golden radiance. Seeing him approach, the little girl suddenly jumped down, pointing at his nose and shouting: “Oh! What happened to you?”

That was their first meeting – he was still a fallen prince from a foreign country, and she was still a young child who knew no sorrow.

From then on, she became his only friend in the vast Ronghua Palace. Chu was weak, so as a hostage, he naturally wouldn’t be treated with courtesy. Time gradually accumulated, making him clearly recognize his situation. He began to hide himself – no longer speaking much, no longer refuting others, no longer standing out. He could even smile obsequiously at Qi’s many princes, could even personally bribe those ancient palace eunuchs. His cowardice successfully deceived all the nobles and dignitaries in Ronghua Palace. Even the King of Qi mockingly laughed at him: “How can a deer’s son fight wolves?”

Only except for Teacher Zhuang at the Imperial Academy. Among all the cold stares and contempt, he clearly saw the unfathomable scheming of this child who was not yet ten years old. Finally, under Qi’s pressure, Chu Li, who was still a hostage in Qi, ascended to the throne of Chu’s Crown Prince. That night, Teacher Zhuang came to his small sleeping palace and asked him word by word in the empty, deserted hall: “You’ve deceived everyone – are you happy?”

Are you happy? Are you happy? No! He had never been happy. He moved forward carefully in the darkness, but there was no one who could help him. He knew that Qi needed to control a puppet crown prince to complete their control over Chu, so he tried every means to make himself fit this standard, all so that after returning to Chu, he could continue to compete for power with those brothers on the court. He understood too well the importance of power and influence – he wanted to firmly grasp his own destiny.