Qing Lian was awakened from her semi-conscious state by that ice-cold voice. She struggled to open her eyes wide to look at the woman before her, calling out weakly: “…Ming Shuang…”

Intense pain made her delirious, made her thoughts muddled yet infinitely clear. Before her eyes, Ming Shuang, who had always been timid and quiet, allowing others to bully her, somehow seemed slightly different from before. Her appearance remained the same, yet those dark bright eyes were deep as an ancient well and clear as flowing waves, reflecting the vicissitudes of the mortal world and beacon fires across ten thousand li, reflecting the eternal heavens and earth with sun and moon shining bright.

She heard Ming Shuang ask her word by word: “Where is this? What crime did we commit? Where am I from? What is my background?”

What was wrong with Ming Shuang… had she been beaten into losing her memory? She gasped a few breaths and answered instinctively: “Concubine Rou’s… Cuiwei Palace… Her Ladyship blamed us… for not helping her… apply makeup… properly… You are… from Yunzhou… I heard your father was… an official with a criminal record… To redeem himself… he sent you to the palace… but didn’t expect… the Empress Dowager forbids… women from Yunzhou to be selected…”

The Ming Shuang across from her quieted for a moment, then came her calm voice: “Tell me, what year of Tianbi is it now?”

Why were Ming Shuang’s questions getting stranger and stranger? She thought with extreme exhaustion. How could she not know the Emperor had changed the era name? After Empress Ruiyi’s death, His Majesty changed the era name. Ming Shuang entered the palace that very year… Her dying consciousness couldn’t support her doubts and thoughts, so she answered every question: “Tianbi second year… changed the era name… now it’s… Qianyuan third year…”

She felt the hand holding hers tighten, fingernails mercilessly piercing into her arm. That sharp pain forcibly pulled back her steps that were about to cross into the gates of hell: “Don’t die yet, answer my questions before you die… Is the current Emperor still Xiao Jue?”

She… directly called His Majesty by name… who was she… Qing Lian’s voice was intermittent: “…Yes…”

The person before her let out a long breath, as if relieved. Qing Lian thought hazily, who was she?

In her blurred vision, she saw Ming Shuang gazing deeply at her. After a long while, she bent down to her ear and whispered softly: “You’ve helped me, I must thank you.”

After a pause, that obviously gentle voice somehow sounded like every word was made of metal and stone: “No one can treat human lives as grass, no one can trample on living beings. Go now, I will help you get revenge.”

Her body shook, then she bloomed with an illusory smile as Qing Lian softly collapsed.

She fell into eternal sleep, carrying a trace of satisfied smile.

Ming Shuang said she would get revenge for her.

She believed it.

That night, Qin Chang Ge slept among the pile of corpses.

The injured body needed rest. As for the dead, it didn’t matter. In her past life in the Xiliang Dynasty, as the founding Empress, she had walked through thousands of troops and ten thousands of horses with blood flowing like rivers, her expression unchanged and robes fluttering.

Those murderous past experiences couldn’t be easily forgotten, even after living through one peaceful and ordinary modern lifetime.

For example… martial arts.

This body naturally knew no martial arts, and moreover, Qin Chang Ge frowned, this woman’s constitution was too poor – she even had congenital deficiencies. Which bastard had arranged this useless shell for her?

It seemed she couldn’t practice the extraordinary internal power of her former self. She could only rely on memory to pick some foundational strengthening techniques to practice first. To recover to her previous previous life’s level would probably be very difficult.

But this was still quite good. At the very least, she could recover from her internal injuries relatively quickly.

To survive in this treacherous palace court full of hidden murderous intent, intelligence was naturally most important, but if her body was too weak, she would probably have fewer opportunities for self-rescue and less certainty of success.

If she calculated correctly, after Empress Ruiyi’s death, that person had changed the era name. Her twenty years in the modern world corresponded to only three years here. Now, she had reincarnated into this little palace maid called Ming Shuang and returned.

The game of life begins from today. A gentle yet cruel smile bloomed on Qin Chang Ge’s lips.

Let’s see who would be the victor.