Inside the Liuli Palace.
Liu Er followed Liu Tianya and entered the main hall.
Sheathed his blood-stained sword and bowed to the person on the seat, reporting, “Reporting to Ninth Princess, we have captured Su Fu and brought him here. He is currently waiting outside the hall. As soon as you give the order, we can take care of him.”
The woman referred to as the Ninth Princess by Liu Er didn’t immediately respond.
Bathed in the light coming in from outside, she played with a pristine and lustrous white jade finger ring.
It seemed like she was earnestly engaged in a game, furrowing her brows, completely ignoring the two who entered the hall waiting for her response.
Su Tan stood under a palace lamp and couldn’t help but cough lightly.
The person on the seat gradually regained her senses.
She pinched the jade finger ring and threaded it with a fine red thread. With a twist of her wrist, she put it away in her sleeve.
“Bring him in.”
Liu Er received the order and exited.
When he reentered the hall, he had a hemp rope in his hand and dragged the bound Su Fu, who was completely tied up, from outside.
The translucent Liuli floor revealed a crimson line.
Su Fu was thrown to the ground by Liu Er, a cloth stuffed in his mouth. He widened his eyes in fear as he looked at Chu Shao on the high seat and Su Tan standing beside her.
The demeanor and elegance he had as a noble prince had long disappeared. The incoherent sobbing from his mouth was like the struggling of a dying beast trapped in a cage.
The white robe brushed over the Liuli bricks, leaving behind a dark shadow.
Chu Shao descended the steps and stood in front of Su Fu.
With slightly lowered eyes, she looked at him, her voice still as gentle as ever. “Yesterday, you wanted to kill me.”
It was a tone of absolute certainty, without any room for doubt.
Su Fu looked up at Chu Shao, his eyes rounder than the night pearls placed in the hall.
He knew that a great disaster was about to befall him and struggled and sobbed even more urgently, as if trying to say something, to explain it to Chu Shao.
Chu Shao paid no attention and continued, “You sent assassins not only to kill me but also to kill Su Tan.”
“By killing us, you can free yourself from the constraints of Chu Yu’s last words and continue to control Xinyao, becoming the ruler of your own Yao Country.”
“Am I right in what I said?”
Anyone with eyes could see that Su Fu’s mouth was gagged with a cloth, making it impossible for him to answer Chu Shao’s question.
However, Chu Shao frowned slightly. “Why aren’t you answering me?”
Liu Er thought Chu Shao wanted Su Fu to reply and was about to step forward to remove the cloth covering his mouth.
But before Liu Er could take a step, the sound of a sword being unsheathed echoed through the hall.
The sword’s edge emerged, silver and bright, piercing deeply into Su Fu’s shoulder.
Blood sprayed like a fountain.
Chu Shao looked at the splattering blood, seemingly indifferent.
With a twist of her wrist, she drove the blade deeper and asked softly, “Why aren’t you answering?”
Pain and terror overwhelmed Su Fu as he collapsed to the ground, his face pale with fear, squirming like a trapped animal on the verge of death.
Chu Shao pulled out the sword that had pierced Su Fu’s shoulder and asked again, “Why?”
At this point, Su Fu could no longer hear what Chu Shao was saying. There was only one thought in his mind.
Madness, Chu Yu’s daughter is a madwoman!
Blood splattered from Su Fu’s neck and shoulder, but driven by the will to survive, he tightened his legs, trembling and struggling, desperately trying to crawl away.
“Splat!”
The blade fell again, a second sword.
This time it entered through Su Fu’s back, piercing through his entire body.
The sword’s tip touched the floor, producing a clear and crisp sound.
Chu Shao persisted, patiently continuing to ask, “Why?”
Until her white sleeve was stained entirely red with blood.
Chu Shao dropped the sword, turned her head, and said to Liu Er, “Su Fu’s head is intact and still usable.”
Liu Er didn’t understand what Chu Shao was talking about.
Soon, Chu Shao’s next words answered his confusion.
“Take him to Qin Xueting. She’s been practicing her swordsmanship lately and could use a target.”
Liu Er remained silent, not knowing what to say.
However, a hint of concern appeared between Liu Tianya’s eyebrows as he said to Chu Shao, “Ninth Princess, although Su Fu deserves to die, he did rule over New Yao for a year. Killing him abruptly may instill fear in the people, and it may not be a wise long-term strategy.”
“Long-term?” Chu Shao took out a handkerchief, raised her finger, and elegantly wiped the blood between her fingers.
As if she heard an interesting word, she smiled as she wiped, “Why should I think long-term?”
Liu Tianya was taken aback, “If you don’t think long-term, then… don’t you want to restore Yao Country?”
“No, of course, I want to restore the country.”
Chu Shao imitated someone else’s manner and neatly folded the blood-stained handkerchief before responding, “But when it comes to restoring the country, I won’t employ long-term strategies.”
The foundation is still unstable, only seeking speed, it would be too radical.
Liu Tianya couldn’t help but ask, “Why? Could it be that you want…”
Chu Shao interrupted him, “I want this world.”
“And it must be done swiftly.”
….
If others were to hear Chu Shao’s outrageous words, most would be shocked beyond belief.
But if Xiao Jin could hear them, she would only shrug and smile.
It’s just a basic tactic for a second playthrough speedrun.
Unfortunately, Xiao Jin was unaware. She only received a message from Ye Juege, informing her that Chu Shao had entered Liuli Palace with her troops, which was previously built by a large number of commoners collected by Nan Jin.
The contents of the letter were mostly sad and had little joy left.
The little bit of joy that remained was forced because it was written for Xiao Jin.
Of course, Ye Juege was never good at lying, and Xiao Jin could easily see through the feigned emotions.
After reading the letter, Xiao Jin didn’t know how to reply.
She held the pen and contemplated for a long time. The only thing she could write was “take care” in the end.
Releasing the carrier pigeon, Xiao Jin breathed a sigh of relief. But when she turned her head, she found Ming Xun staring at her intently.
Since being confined by Tang Ling, apart from the few people the original owner could use, everyone else had been sent away by Xiao Jin.
Now the Yan Mansion was desolate, with hardly anyone alive, allowing Xiao Jin to save the trouble of wearing the cumbersome attire of nobility.
Casually donning an outer robe, without a crown, she only occasionally tied her hair.
Today, Xiao Jin was too lazy to tie her hair. After washing it with clear water, she simply let it hang loose on her shoulders, allowing the sun to dry it naturally.
Seeing Xiao Jin’s appearance, Ming Xun stopped playing the zither and said to her, “Your Highness, your current look reminds me of the first time I saw you. You had wet hair, just like being taken out of a pot.”
Xiao Jin had no knowledge of the circumstances of the original owner’s first meeting with Ming Xun, nor did she care.
But out of politeness, she nodded slightly.
Ming Xun continued, “At that time, the way you looked at me was exactly the same as when you first woke up some time ago.”
Xiao Jin was puzzled for a moment.
Then she asked, “Why do you say that?”
“I figured that on those two occasions, you mistook me for someone else, which is why you had that expression.”
Xiao Jin looked at Ming Xun, knowing she wouldn’t lie and wouldn’t bother lying.
In an instant, she remembered the portrait hidden between the pages of the book, secured with fish glue.
But the original owner couldn’t have known Chu Shao.
Xiao Jin asked, “And then?”
Ming Xun reached out and brushed away the fallen flowers on Xiao Jin’s shoulder. “Then you praised my zither playing and asked if I would be willing to join your ranks, assuming a false title as a guest official or advisor.”
To have a zither player serve as an advisor, it must be said that the original owner had quite an idea.
“And then?”
“And then, you realized that I wasn’t the person you were looking for, and there was no ‘and then’ after that.”
Xiao Jin pondered for a long time before asking, “How did I realize?”
Ming Xun seemed to have known everything in advance, without asking why Xiao Jin would ask such a question. She simply smiled faintly and said, “There was no need to realize because from the very beginning, it wasn’t true.”
Late at night, Ming Xun returned to her room, holding the zither in her arms.
The osmanthus trees in the courtyard were still blooming. Xiao Jin had Old Zhang bring a jar of wine and poured it into a cup, drinking by herself.
Old Zhang watched as the wine in the jar decreased and couldn’t help but advise, “Your Highness, your injuries haven’t fully healed yet, and alcohol is harmful to the body. It’s not advisable to drink too much.”
Xiao Jin drank a cup of wine and placed it on the stone table.
Her tolerance for alcohol wasn’t good, but tonight, no matter how much she drank, she couldn’t get drunk.
Smelling the fragrance of osmanthus flowers in the courtyard, Xiao Jin spun the wine cup on the table.
Her slender and pale fingers stared at intently, gazing at them for a long time.
Then she turned her head and said to Old Zhang, “You were Crown Prince person, and I killed him. Now it’s late at night, and there are only the two of us in the courtyard. It’s a good opportunity for you to avenge your master.”
Old Zhang was stunned.
“Your Highness, when did you find out?”
Xiao Jin held the wine cup and said lightly, “During the palace coup, Crown Prince told me that the book I had seen was written by him.”
“What’s strange is that after I saw it, the book disappeared. And upon careful thought, only you had the opportunity to enter and leave my study.”
Old Zhang looked at Xiao Jin and sighed, “Your Highness is astute. This old servant is not worthy.”
“No need to feel unworthy. Your eyes are sharp, and your nose is keen. You recognized that the Ziwei token was made of weathered purple bronze, not ancient bronze.”
“Furthermore, you immediately recognized that the sleeve arrow was not a gift from the crown prince, but my own arrow. However, even for Juege, I dare not be so certain. After all, that person has given me many things, and it’s not impossible for there to be an arrow that perfectly suits my taste among them.”
Of course, there was one more point that Xiao Jin didn’t mention.
In the original plot, on the day of Prince Yan’s funeral, only the crown prince and a steward surnamed Zhang accompanied the coffin. The funeral arrangements were also handled solely by the crown prince.
The crown prince was always scheming, and if the original owner was important to him, he would never let his guard down and entrust all matters to someone he didn’t trust.
But in that part of the plot, he entrusted the jade artifacts needed for the burial to Old Zhang.
If Old Zhang was the crown prince ‘s person, then everything could be explained.
Old Zhang remained silent for a long time before saying, “Your Highness, in fact, after the crown prince arranged for me to be placed in the Yan Mansion, it was to have me take care of the trivial matters and ensure your safety. If I were to harm you on behalf of the crown prince, it would go against his intentions.”
“Besides, crown prince instructed that after his death, you would be the only master I have, with no one else.”
Xiao Jin was speechless.
After a while, she looked at the almost empty wine jar and said to Old Zhang, “Fetch me another jar of wine.”
Old Zhang hesitated for a while but ultimately went to get it.
It was likely that both of these wine jars had been secretly diluted with water by Old Zhang, making them less potent. Drinking them was neither satisfying nor intoxicating.
Unable to achieve a state of blissful drunkenness, unable to get drunk.
Fortunately, Xiao Jin’s alcohol tolerance was there. Even if the wine was watered down, she still had the ability to get slightly drunk.
By the end of the drinking session, when the pain in her back and arms from her wounds had subsided, Xiao Jin knew that she was probably about 80% drunk.
Smelling the fragrance of osmanthus flowers in the courtyard, she found it delightful.
Her vision became blurry, and she vaguely saw someone approaching, draping a fur coat over her shoulders.
Xiao Jin woke up and tried to grab the person’s sleeve, but before she could touch it, she heard Old Zhang’s voice, “Your Highness, this is from the crown prince for you.”
The osmanthus flowers drifted down, and Xiao Jin’s hand stopped, folding back, as she accepted the thin book.
After Old Zhang left, she opened the book she had previously looked at and casually flipped through it.
The first half of the book contained some interesting anecdotes and secrets.
When Xiao Jin had read it before, she didn’t know that it was written by the crown prince, nor did she find the content particularly bizarre, as it involved many hidden matters.
The first half of the book contains some interesting anecdotes and secrets. When Xiao Jin read it before, she didn’t know that the book was written by the crown prince, nor did she find the content particularly bizarre, as it involved many hidden matters.
Now, it seems that things like the gu poison are only known by the mastermind behind the Blood Rain Pavilion, apart from a few key individuals from that time.
The second half of the book is filled with old pages, and Xiao Jin vaguely remembers that there were no words printed on them before, but they were probably added by the crown prince.
It contains the brief life of the crown prince and everything he has done.
Xiao Jin is not interested in the crown prince, she just skimmed through a few pages, mainly about how she was coldly treated by Empress Lu and used as a target by Emperor Qi during her childhood.
Afterward, standing under the eaves, she encountered the original owner sitting on the rooftop.
The baby she had rescued in the past can now face the wind, look at the sky, and gaze at the distant mountains. She looks at everything but seems to have seen nothing.
The only thing that the crown prince can see clearly is the casual and unrestrained nature between the child’s eyebrows and eyes.
Occasionally, they would hear the sound of frogs from the Taiye Pond. She glanced at him and lifted her chin, asking, “Do you want to come up and watch with me?”
Xiao Jin didn’t pay much attention and turned to the next page.
She wasn’t interested in the content on this page either, but when she reached the end, she was shocked.
It recorded that one day, the crown prince and the original owner went out of the palace together to eat the delicious tofu pudding at a shop in Yangjiao Alley.
After finishing their meal, the original owner stood under the opened umbrella in front of the shop to avoid the sun.
This was an ordinary occurrence.
Unexpectedly, the original owner suddenly saw a picture book displayed outside another bookstore.
She stared at it for a long time without looking away.
The picture book was titled “The Beauty of the Four Seas,” and it often featured portraits of beautiful women.
The cover of the newly printed book depicted a young woman in white attire who appeared to have just come of age. She wasn’t wearing hairpins, only casually tying up her hair.
After looking at it for a while, the original owner bought that picture book.
Afterward, the two of them went to a teahouse, played a few games of chess, and even ended up saving a young female martial arts in the process.
On the way back home, in front of the crown prince, the original owner tore out the page with the picture of the woman in white, then threw the entire picture book out of the carriage.
Seeing this passage, Xiao Jin seemed to understand why the original owner had a portrait of Chu Shao in her possession.
However, according to Chu Shao, the portrait was painted by a court painter during her coming-of-age ceremony, and it was arranged by Nan Jin. How could a portrait like this, which came from the hands of a court painter, casually circulate among the common people?
The effects of the alcohol were coming back, and Xiao Jin couldn’t understand it, so she decided not to think about it for now.
Just as she was about to leave the courtyard, the system’s voice sounded in her ears:
“Congratulations, host. You have collected the item ‘The Crown Prince’s Book’ for the third side quest. Now, I will grant you access to half of the original owner’s memories and the ability to use memory retrospection.”
Xiao Jin’s focus was on the last sentence: “The ability to use memory retrospection, what is that?”
“It means you can freely enter the fragments of memories you have previously seen. However, you can only choose a designated object, and the usage limit is permanent.”
For now, Xiao Jin didn’t care about this memory retrospection ability because she was more interested in seeing half of the original owner’s memories.
“For now, show me her memories.”
….
The beginning of the memories was a palace adorned with morning glories and evening glories.
The young Princess of Qi always had the same dream, either of a mountain or a river winding its way around water.
Xiao Jin, entering the fragments of memories, didn’t know what those mountains and rivers looked like.
Because the Princess of Qi was already familiar with their appearance, she never thought about them in her daily life, and naturally, Xiao Jin wouldn’t read her inner thoughts.
When the Princess of Qi had this dream, she wanted to climb to the rooftop to see.
To see what exactly that river she dreamed of was like, and which mountain it was.
Unfortunately, no matter how high she stood, the Princess of Qi could only reach the palace rooftop. Her aunt would sternly discipline her and punish her to come down and copy books.
The Princess of Qi felt melancholic and helpless.
After she met the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, this kind of worry lessened a bit.
Because the Crown Prince wasn’t exactly a rigid and proper person, he often liked to sneak out of the palace. He claimed it was to understand the sentiments of the people, but in reality, he was restrained by palace rules and couldn’t bear it anymore.
Using the power of the Eastern Palace, the Princess of Qi accompanied the Crown Prince to “understand the sentiments of the people” in the common folk.
She saw many mountains and rivers, but they never resembled the appearance from her dreams.
Later, when the Princess of Qi grew up, her aunt, Zhao Yang, no longer restrained her, allowing her to leave the palace on her own and see the mountains and rivers outside.
She saw many landscapes but suddenly felt tired.
Because those mountains and waters were all the same, lacking any novelty.
The Princess of Qi thought that perhaps she didn’t truly love those mountains and rivers. What she wanted to find was just an obsession from her dreams.
What exactly that obsession was, she always felt that she would only know once she saw it with her own eyes.
Until that day.
On that day, the Princess of Qi arrived in a small border town of Qi Country.
As she walked, it began to rain.
The Princess of Qi actually liked rainy days, but today, a group of people chased after her, eager to hold an umbrella for her, which annoyed her.
Her rebellious nature protruded a bit more at this moment.
Ignoring the people shouting and chasing behind her, the Princess of Qi ran outside the courtyard, running until she couldn’t hear any voices, only the sound of rain hitting the boat oars in her ears.
She arrived at the bridge, where a small pavilion stood by the lake.
Wearing a wet crown, the Princess of Qi walked inside, her robes trailing on the ground, leaving a trail of water.
She stood under the eaves of the pavilion, looking at the figure sitting behind the ancient zither with their back to her.
The wind blew, and willow branches brushed into the pavilion.
Rain drifted in at an angle, entwining in the white-clothed woman’s hair, dripping in countless strands.
The Princess of Qi watched like this, standing still, not moving.
Until the white-clothed woman noticed the presence of the Princess of Qi, her fingers left the strings, and she turned around, looking at her in surprise.
Only then did the Princess of Qi follow the white-clothed woman’s gaze and raised her hand to touch her eyes, wiping away the rainwater and tears.
She shivered in the cold rain but heard her own hoarse voice.
“Who are you?”
The white-clothed woman answered, “My surname is Ming, Ming Xun.”
“Alright, Ming Xun.”
The Princess of Qi wiped the water droplets continuously falling from her eyes and spoke, “Ming Xun, your zither playing is beautiful.”
Ming Xun’s eyebrows furrowed even tighter.
Because she had just sat down and placed her hand on the strings, she hadn’t even started playing yet.
But the Princess of Qi was not stingy with her words of praise.
In the pouring rain, she spoke to herself, praising this mountain, this water, and this rain.
Finally, the Princess of Qi stood under the dripping eaves and smiled at Ming Xun.
“Thank you, Ming Xun.”
“After seeing you, I finally realized that what I’ve been searching for wasn’t a certain mountain or a certain river, but a person.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Translator’s note: What?! Did the original owner also fall in love with Chu Shao?! How can she say she’s looking for her? Hmmm… Maybe Xiao Jin is also from the book or traveled back multiple times, but her memories were erased? Maybe… Hmmm…
TO BE CONTINUE…Â
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