Her ascension to the position of Empress, or rather Xiao Xun's rise to the throne, was a matter of fate and coincidence.
The late Emperor had two sons, so the throne should not have passed to the line of Prince Zhongshan.
But circumstances changed abruptly. When the late Emperor fell gravely ill, his two sons fought for the throne, resulting in one dead and the other deposed.
On his deathbed, the dying late Emperor had no choice but to adopt the son of his brother. Xiao Xun, the eldest son of Prince Zhongshan, suddenly became the Crown Prince and then the Emperor.
And she, who had married the Crown Prince of Zhongshan, became the Empress of Great Xia, the most noble woman in the realm.
As the most noble woman, she had not seen Xiao Xun for a long time.
After her miscarriage, she remained chronically ill. After a few impatient visits, Xiao Xun stopped setting foot in Kunning Palace.
With the Emperor no longer coming, she became a mere ornament, and Kunning Palace turned into a deserted hall where no one ventured.
It was almost laughable that the busiest time was when she died. Liang Fei came to flaunt her power, accompanied by a large crowd of palace maids and eunuchs.
They forced poisoned wine down her throat, but due to long-term medication, her body had accumulated toxins. The poison countered the poison, and the lethal wine failed to take full effect, delaying her death.
Finally, a young eunuch came to check, grew impatient, and simply strangled her to death.
Having died in such a humiliating and miserable way, how could she not hold hatred!
Filled with grief and rage, she suddenly opened her eyes from excruciating pain, suffocation, and darkness, completely unaware that she had become thirteen years old again. Many girls surrounded her, chattering and laughing. She thought she was still in Kunning Palace, surrounded by Liang Fei's maids.
As luck would have it, someone addressed one of the girls as Miss Liang.
Overwhelmed with fury, she stepped forward and kicked the girl into the lake.
In truth, she had mistaken her target. The Liang Fei who entered the palace was this Miss Liang's younger sister, who at that time was only five or six years old.
But she felt no remorse—the entire Liang family deserved to die.
Before her death, Liang Fei had smugly revealed that many hands had played a part in her downfall, including the Liang family.
Of course, the most deserving of death was Xiao Xun.
He was the mastermind, the one who condoned it all, the heartless and ungrateful, the ruthless and merciless.
It was him—
Xiao Xun!
A Fu reached out to strangle his neck—
The previously lifeless girl suddenly became ferocious, clawing and tearing at him as if fighting for her life, but Xiao Xun found it unsurprising.
Drowning victims often acted this way.
Once someone came to rescue them, they would desperately cling to that person, often causing the rescuer to drown as well.
For Xiao Xun, this was not a problem. He raised his hand and punched the girl in the head.
Stunned by the blow, the girl stopped struggling.
Xiao Xun grabbed the girl and pulled her out of the water, towing her toward the riverbank.
When Tie Ying jumped onto the shore with a clean fur cloak, he saw that the drowned girl had already woken up, coughing by the riverside.
In the distance, many people were rushing over.
First was A Le, who had woken up and, unable to find A Fu, searched for her. Spotting A Fu being dragged out of the water by a man from afar, she let out a scream.
Her scream alerted the other couriers.
The riverside in the early morning grew noisy and chaotic.
……
……
"What happened?"
Zhang Gu asked in surprise, looking at A Fu sitting on the ground, embraced by A Le. A Fu's face was deathly pale, her hair soaked, her entire body drenched and shivering.
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 his arms crossed, detached from the crowd, his face utterly indifferent."A Jiu!" he shouted, stepping forward to grab him. "Look what you've done!"
A Jiu remained silent, not even glancing at A Fu. Instead, his gaze shifted to the man standing on the other side, who was being helped into a thick fur cloak.
"Brother Zhang, that man looks quite noble," he said. "Aren't you going to greet him?"
Zhang Gu glared at him fiercely, having naturally noticed this imposing young man and immediately understanding what had transpired.
"I'll settle with you later!" he said, pushing A Jiu aside and walking toward the man. He bowed in gratitude. "Thank you for saving her, young master."
The young man gave a slight nod. "No need for thanks." He signaled to Tie Ying. "One cloak is enough for me. Give one to this young lady."
Tie Ying acknowledged the order and handed a black fur cloak toward A Fu.
A Le quickly reached out to take it and wrapped it around A Fu.
The young man's attention returned to Zhang Gu. "Where are you soldiers from? Are you with this young lady?"
Zhang Gu replied, "We are Couriers. We were heading to—"
Before he could finish, A Fu, who had been huddled in A Le's embrace, flung off the newly draped fur cloak.
"Who wants your cloak?" she shouted, glaring fiercely at the man. "Who asked you to save me?"
Everyone was stunned.
"A Fu," Zhang Gu said in astonishment. "What are you saying? You nearly drowned."
"I'd rather drown than have him interfere!" A Fu cried, standing up drenched, shivering and gritting her teeth as tears streamed down her face. "This is between A Jiu and me. Who asked you to meddle?"
Everyone was stunned once more.
A Jiu froze momentarily, then seemed to realize something. His body stiffened, his expression shifting rapidly as he tried to retreat.
But he was too late.
A Fu lunged forward, wrapping her arms around his waist, sobbing, "I'd willingly die for you. Even if I died, I'd still be yours."
Zhang Gu and the others stared as if they'd seen a ghost.
A Le, still sitting on the ground, gaped in disbelief.
Tie Ying, however, felt relieved. So it was just young lovers meeting in secret, with all the drama of life and death. He curled his lip in disdain, thinking it a pity that the Heir Apparent's kind rescue had been treated with such ingratitude.
Xiao Xun showed no anger, merely smiling faintly before turning his gaze away.
...
...
Suddenly, numerous guards seemed to materialize along the riverbank, lighting bonfires and setting up tents. They brought strong liquor to ward off the cold and even carried bathtubs.
Zhang Gu clicked his tongue in amazement. Such an elaborate travel entourage was rare even in the capital.
But before he could recover from the shock of recent events, the young man was already surrounded by guards and escorted away, leaving no opportunity for further conversation.
The young man entered a tent to wash, change clothes, and warm himself. Guards stood watch outside the tent, their expressions solemn and vigilant, making Zhang Gu hesitant to disturb them.
Although A Fu's attitude had been highly improper, the young man bore no grudge. He even allocated a tent for her, complete with a bathtub, hot water, and clean robes.
After much tearful persuasion from A Le, A Fu was finally led into the tent to wash and change.
"What prominent family lives around here?" Zhang Gu muttered to himself. Turning to A Jiu, his expression complicated by recent events, he asked, "What's going on between you two?"
A Jiu lowered his head, wiping the water from his clothes—soaked from A Fu's drenched embrace. No one had offered him a tent or fresh clothes.
"Don't say 'you two.' I never said anything," he retorted coldly. "I have no intentions whatsoever."Zhang Gu was about to say something more when A Le ran out of the tent. She lowered her head and walked over to A Jiu.
"Young Master A Jiu," she said softly, "my younger sister asks you to come inside. She has something to say."
A Jiu let out a half-laughing snort. "I'm not going."
A Le dropped to her knees with a thud, weeping. "I beg you, young master. She's my only sister. If anything happens to her, I won't be able to go on living either."
A Jiu spat and was about to retort when Zhang Gu slapped him on the back.
"Get in there and make things clear with her," he cursed under his breath.
The other Couriers also urged him in a disorderly manner. A Jiu flung his sleeve and strode toward the tent.
Everyone watched his retreating figure with complicated expressions.
"To think that A Jiu and A Fu actually—"
"I never would have guessed. A Jiu clearly dislikes A Fu, and A Fu is afraid of A Jiu too."
"Right, A Fu often complains about being bullied by A Jiu. Eek, unless that kind of bullying is that kind of bullying—"
"But we're all together all the time. We never saw them alone."
"Oh, I know! A Fu always goes to fetch water before dawn, and A Jiu often disappears around that time too. So they were meeting in secret—"
"How old is A Fu anyway? How could A Jiu bring himself to do it!"
"What a beast!"
......
......
A Jiu lifted the tent flap and entered. The tent was warm from the brazier and the hot water bathing tub.
The girl had changed into clean robes. Her hair still damp, she sat by the brazier drying it, slowly drinking a bowl of ginger soup from her hands.
Hearing the noise, she looked up from her bowl, her large dark eyes fixed on him.
"So now your identity is no longer that pitiful child who lost her mother and traveled thousands of miles to find her father," A Jiu raised an eyebrow and said coldly. "But rather a lovesick fool obsessed with a handsome, brave, and kind Courier, willing to live or die for him?"
A Fu couldn't help it—she burst out laughing.
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