She became Empress, or rather, Xiao Xun became Emperor, by both heaven’s will and coincidence. The Late Emperor had two sons, so the throne should never have passed to the Prince of Zhongshan’s lineage. But circumstances changed dramatically when the Late Emperor fell gravely ill, and his two sons fought against each other—one died, one was deposed. The dying Emperor had no choice but to adopt his brother’s son. Thus, Xiao Xun, the eldest son of the Prince of Zhongshan, transformed overnight into the Crown Prince, and then into the Emperor. And she, who had married the heir of the Prince of Zhongshan, became the Empress of Da Xia, the most noble woman in the realm.

This most noble woman had not seen Xiao Xun for a very long time. After her miscarriage, she remained in poor health, and after a few impatient visits, Xiao Xun stopped coming to Kunning Palace altogether. With the Emperor no longer visiting, she, as Empress, became merely a figurehead, and Kunning Palace turned into a cold, deserted place where no one dared to set foot.

Ironically, the most crowded moment was when she died—Consort Liang came to gloat, surrounded by a throng of palace maids and eunuchs. They forced poisoned wine down her throat, but due to the medicines she had taken for so long, her body had built a tolerance to poison. The toxic wine didn’t work as effectively as they’d hoped, and she wouldn’t die. Finally, a young eunuch came to check on her, and, growing impatient, simply strangled her to death.

She died so wretchedly, so tragically—how could she not harbor hatred?

Full of grief and rage, she suddenly opened her eyes from excruciating pain, suffocation, and darkness, not realizing she had become thirteen years old. She was surrounded by many girls chattering and laughing, and she thought she was still in Kunning Palace, encircled by Consort Liang’s palace maids. By unlucky coincidence, someone called one of the girls “Miss Liang.”

In a fit of rage, she stepped forward and kicked the girl into the lake.

In truth, she had kicked the wrong person. The Liang who entered the palace as a consort was this Miss Liang’s younger sister, who was only five or six years old at this time. But she felt no remorse—all members of the Liang family deserved to die. Before her death, Consort Liang had smugly explained that her tragic fate was orchestrated by many people, the Liang family among them.

Of course, the one who most deserved to die was Xiao Xun. He was the mastermind, the enabler, the heartless and merciless one. It was he—

Xiao Xun!

A-Fu reached out to strangle his neck—

The previously half-conscious girl suddenly became wild, clawing at him with a desperate look as if she wanted to fight him to the death. But Xiao Xun wasn’t surprised. Drowning people were all like this. Once someone came to save them, they would desperately cling to that person, which was why many rescuers ended up drowning themselves. This wouldn’t be a problem for Xiao Xun—he raised his hand and delivered a punch to the girl’s head.

The girl was dazed by the blow, and her struggles ceased.

Xiao Xun grabbed the girl, pulled her to the surface, and swam toward the riverbank with her in tow.

When Tie Ying jumped ashore with a clean fur cloak, he saw that the drowning girl had regained consciousness and was coughing at the edge of the river.

In the distance, many people came running.

First was A-Le, who woke up to find A-Fu missing and then saw her being dragged from the water by a man. She let out a scream.

Her scream alerted the other postal soldiers.

The riverside in the early morning became noisy and chaotic.

…

…

“What happened here?” Zhang Gu asked in surprise, looking at A-Fu, who sat on the ground, embraced by A-Le. A-Fu’s face was pale, her hair dripping wet, her entire body soaked through, trembling violently.

How could she have fallen into the water?

Although A-Fu was frail, she had always been cautious. This shouldn’t have happened.

His gaze shifted to the side, where a young man stood with folded arms outside the crowd, his face impassive.

“A-Jiu!” he shouted, stepping forward to grab him. “This is your doing!”

A-Jiu remained silent and didn’t look at A-Fu. Instead, he glanced at the man standing on the other side, who was being helped into a thick fur cloak.

“Brother Zhang, that person looks like someone important,” he said. “Shouldn’t you go greet him?”

Zhang Gu glared at him fiercely, having also noticed the distinguished young man. One look and he could guess what had happened.

“I’ll deal with you later!” he said, pushing A-Jiu aside and walking toward the young man. He bowed and expressed his gratitude: “Thank you for saving her, young master.”

The young man nodded slightly: “No need for thanks.” He gestured to Tie Ying: “One coat is enough for me, give one to the young lady.”

Tie Ying acknowledged and handed a black fur cloak to A-Fu.

A-Le quickly took it and wrapped it around A-Fu.

Meanwhile, the young man’s gaze returned to Yang Gu: “Which postal station are you from? Are you traveling with this young lady?”

Yang Gu replied: “We are postal soldiers, we are going to—”

Before he could finish, A-Fu, huddled in A-Le’s arms, threw off the fur cloak that had just been wrapped around her.

“Who needs your clothes?” she shouted, glaring fiercely at the young man. “Who asked you to save me?”

Everyone was stunned.

“A-Fu,” Zhang Gu said in astonishment, “what are you saying? You almost drowned.”

“Even if I drowned, it’s none of his business,” A-Fu cried out. She stood up, dripping wet, trembling, and gritting her teeth as tears streamed down her face. “This is between me and A-Jiu; you had no right to interfere.”

Everyone was shocked once again.

A-Jiu was momentarily startled, then seemed to realize something. His body stiffened, his expression changed, and he tried to step back.

But he was too late.

A-Fu lunged forward, grabbing his waist, and sobbed: “I would gladly die for you! Even in death, I am yours alone.”

Zhang Gu and the others looked as if they had seen a ghost.

A-Le, sitting on the ground, gaped in astonishment.

Tie Ying, however, understood—it was a case of young lovers meeting in secret, with life-and-death dramatics. He curled his lip in disdain. Unfortunately, the Young Master had kindly saved someone only to be treated like dirt.

Xiao Xun wasn’t angered; he merely smiled faintly and turned his gaze away.

…

…

Guards seemed to appear at the riverside instantaneously, lighting bonfires, setting up tents, bringing strong liquor to ward off the cold, and even carrying bath tubs.

Yang Gu watched in amazement—this kind of traveling entourage was rarely seen even in the capital.

But because of the shocking events that had just occurred, he was momentarily dazed, and the young man had already been escorted away by his guards, giving him no chance to speak further.

The young man entered a tent to wash up, change clothes, and warm himself. The guards surrounded the tent, their expressions solemn and vigilant, making it uncomfortable for Yang Gu to disturb them.

However, despite A-Fu’s highly inappropriate attitude, the young man didn’t take offense. He even allotted her a tent with a bathtub, hot water, and clean robes inside.

A-Le persuaded and pleaded tearfully until she finally led A-Fu into the tent to wash up and change.

“What prominent family lives around here?” Yang Gu muttered. Then, turning to see A-Jiu and remembering what had just happened, he asked with mixed emotions, “What does all this mean?”

A-Jiu kept his head down, wiping the water from his body—having been embraced by the soaking wet A-Fu, he too was drenched, but no one had offered him a tent or new clothes.

“Don’t say ‘this means,’ I haven’t said anything,” he sneered. “I don’t mean anything at all.”

As Zhang Gu was about to speak, A-Le ran out from the tent and approached A-Jiu with her head lowered.

“Young Master A-Jiu,” she said softly, “my little sister wishes to speak with you inside.”

A-Jiu gave a scornful laugh: “I’m not going.”

A-Le fell to her knees with a thud and cried: “Please, young master, she is my only sister. If anything happens to her, I won’t be able to live either.”

A-Jiu spat and was about to say something when Zhang Gu slapped him on the back.

“Go in and clear things up with her,” he scolded in a low voice.

The other postal soldiers also urged him in confusion, and A-Jiu flicked his sleeve and strode toward the tent.

Everyone watched his retreating figure with complicated expressions.

“I never thought A-Jiu and A-Fu would—”

“It’s hard to believe. A-Jiu seemed to dislike A-Fu, and A-Fu was afraid of A-Jiu.”

“Yes, A-Fu often complained about being bullied by A-Jiu. Wait, perhaps that kind of ‘bullying’ was actually—”

“We’ve all been together, and we never saw them alone.”

“Oh, I get it now. A-Fu always fetches water before dawn, and A-Jiu often disappears around that time too. So they were meeting in secret—”

“How old is A-Fu? How could A-Jiu do such a thing!”

“What a beast!”

…

…

A-Jiu lifted the curtain and entered the tent, which was warm with a brazier and the hot water in the bathtub. The girl had changed into clean robes and was sitting by the fire, drying her wet hair, slowly sipping a bowl of ginger soup.

Hearing the sound, she looked up from her bowl, her large dark eyes watching him.

“So now your identity is no longer that of a poor child who lost her mother and is traveling a thousand miles to find her father,” A-Jiu raised an eyebrow and said coldly. “Instead, you’re a lovesick girl willing to die for a handsome, brave, and kind postal soldier?”

A-Fu couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing.