March, the third month of spring. Chongfeng Kingdom, the Prime Minister’s Estate.
“You lecher… go gentler, I can’t even catch my breath!”
“Eldest Miss, in this life, I will surely make you my Queen! In three months…”
“But today is the day of your engagement to my sister.”
“I only have you in my heart. I will never marry that vulgar girl.”
“The capital’s nobility are all in the estate today. If you reject the marriage in public, how will she ever show her face again?”
“Her adoptive father is about to die. The entire Xie family will be exiled and perish on the journey. No one will be left to support her.”
“How could that be…”
Suddenly, with a thud, a large stone landed in the courtyard, startling the trysting couple.
A series of light, hurried footsteps, like a startled little rabbit, fled from near to far.
“Who’s there?”
Their expressions changed drastically as they pulled apart. The man unbolted the door and immediately caught a glimpse of a woman’s skirt fluttering around the corner.
That was the daughter the Prime Minister’s Estate had just brought back—the Third Miss who was supposed to get engaged to the man today, Xie Suisui!
The man lunged forward. Xie Suisui hadn’t run far before her mouth was covered. She was dragged back into the room like a field mouse with its four paws flailing.
“You two…”
Before Xie Suisui could finish her sentence, the man revealed his murderous intent and said, “Kill her.”
Qi Yurou hurriedly picked up a flowerpot from under the corridor and smashed it against Xie Suisui’s head with a loud bang.
Xie Suisui’s vision went black. She swayed for a moment before collapsing to the ground.
Seeing blood spurting from Xie Suisui’s head, the man tested her breath with his finger.
She wasn’t breathing.
The man’s romantic mood vanished instantly. Panic-stricken, he straightened his clothes and said to Qi Yurou, “It’s better that she’s dead! Sister Yurou, there might have been someone else involved with that stone… I’ll go check first.”
“What about her?” Qi Yurou asked anxiously.
“Lock the door first. Once I’ve lured everyone to the front yard, throw her into the well at the corner of the garden.”
“Yu Tang…”
The man patted her hand, comforting her not to be afraid.
Watching the man hurry away, Qi Yurou had no choice but to quickly dress and fix her hair. To have this secret meeting, she had sent away all her maidservants and older nannies.
She couldn’t let anyone know that Xie Suisui had died in her courtyard, and she certainly couldn’t let anyone know she was the one who killed her.
The sounds outside gradually faded; she assumed the man had successfully lured everyone to the front yard. Qi Yurou peered out the door, looking left and right, before dragging Xie Suisui’s corpse toward the well.
Having just engaged in a tryst and then personally killed Xie Suisui, her limbs felt weak. By the time she dragged the corpse to the well, she was panting heavily.
The rim of the well was over two feet high. She needed to rest for a moment before she could lift the body and throw it in.
Squatting by the well, she gripped the railing with both hands, gasping for air.
Qi Yurou didn’t notice that the “corpse” she had dragged all the way, Xie Suisui, had eyeballs that were trembling slightly.
Xie Suisui was currently experiencing the chaos of war.
Yes, a true chaos of war.
The iron hooves of the Northern Yan army were sweeping south. The Emperor of Chongfeng and his subjects were fleeing in panic toward the south.
Those not of our kind must have a different heart. The Northern Yan army showed no mercy. Wherever their iron hooves reached, their curved blades disemboweled the people of Chongfeng, decapitating them to build pyramids of heads beyond count.
For the people of Chongfeng Kingdom, the Great River was the only natural barrier that offered a chance at survival.
Xie Suisui sat atop a horse by the Great River, wielding a pudao, desperately holding back the rioting refugees who were trying to seize the boats along with Yu Tang’s guards.
Yu Tang had already declared himself King. He was boarding the boat with his strategist and his trusted generals.
“My King, we must leave quickly!”
Xie Suisui was reaching her limit, yet Yu Tang still hadn’t given the order to set sail. Everyone was anxious; this was a boat they had seized with great difficulty.
Moreover, the Northern Yan army was almost upon them.
“Wait a little longer.” Yu Tang paced the shore like an ant on a hot griddle.
Dust clouds billowed in the distance. Amidst the rapid sound of galloping hooves, a carriage came flying toward them.
“Out of the way! Move!”
The fleeing commoners cleared a path. Yu Tang breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face. He immediately stepped forward and reached out to help Qi Yurou down from the carriage.
“The boat is ready. Yurou, get on quickly.”
“Brother Tang, you’re so kind!”
Xie Suisui watched Yu Tang in disbelief. She raised her pudao to block the two of them and said angrily, “Yu Tang, you know she and I are mortal enemies. You promised me you would kill her!”
“Men, seize her!” Yu Tang shouted.
His subordinates seemed prepared. They lunged at Xie Suisui, and while she was off-guard, a spear pierced her most heavily injured leg.
Xie Suisui collapsed to the ground, blades pressed against her neck.
Yu Tang knelt down, looked into her furious eyes, and said coldly, “The only one I have ever loved in my heart is the Eldest Miss Qi.”
Qi Yurou smiled faintly and whispered into her ear, “I have a Portable Space. I can provide him with food and weapons for an army of 300,000. I can help him become Emperor. What do you have to compete with me?”
Xie Suisui watched helplessly as Yu Tang took Qi Yurou onto the boat she had fought so hard to secure.
“My King, we must leave immediately,” a subordinate holding a pudao urged, looking at the rioting crowds swarming the boat.
“Wait a bit more.”
Everyone thought he was going to bring Xie Suisui aboard. After all, Xie Suisui was King Tang’s legitimate fiancée.
Instead, they saw another carriage arrive. On it were Qi Yurou’s parents and her elder brother.
Yu Tang had his soldiers cut down the commoners blocking the way and respectfully welcomed the Qi family onto the boat.
“Set sail!” he commanded majestically.
The Qi family was on board. His generals were on board.
Only Xie Suisui was left behind!
“You traitorous dog…”
Xie Suisui’s eyes were blood-red. She scrambled up from the ground, knelt on one knee, tore the bow from her shoulder, drew an arrow, and aimed—
At the boatman!
One arrow through the heart.
Every arrow took a life.
The boatmen were all shot dead.
She drew another arrow, pulled the bow to full strength, and aimed it at Qi Yurou.
Yu Tang stood in front of Qi Yurou. He also quickly grabbed a bow and arrow from a confidant and fired at Xie Suisui.
Both sides staked everything on a single throw.
Because the boatman was dead, the boat began to spin. Yu Tang was struck in the chest by an arrow. Unable to stand steadily, he tumbled off the boat, dragging Qi Yurou down into the Great River with him.
Splash!
Thud!
An arrow struck Xie Suisui’s chest. She collapsed… and a large stone smashed into her head.
Blood clouded her vision. Before she closed her eyes and died, she vaguely saw two hideous faces…
…
When she opened her eyes, she had actually returned to the day of her engagement to Yu Tang.
She had been reborn!
Recalling Yu Tang telling Qi Yurou just now that “in this life, I will make you my Queen,” Xie Suisui knew that Yu Tang had also been reborn.
In her second life, she had started by being smashed to death with a flowerpot!
It didn’t matter. In this life, she would make her move first.
Didn’t they want to fill the well? Let’s fill it with Qi Yurou instead, and let her have a tryst with a four-legged male toad.
She opened her eyes just a crack, warily turning her head to look at Qi Yurou, who was panting by the well.
She wiped the blood from her eyes, kipped up in one fluid motion, grabbed the rope used for drawing water by the well, pounced onto Qi Yurou’s back, and locked her legs around Qi Yurou’s waist.
Qi Yurou was terrified. Her hands let go of the well railing as she jerked her torso upright.
The moment she stood up, the well rope in Xie Suisui’s hands whipped around her neck twice. Xie Suisui gripped both ends of the rope tightly and pulled with all her might.
The posture was ungraceful, but effective.
Qi Yurou was three years older than her, taller and stronger. However, Xie Suisui’s angle was extremely tricky. Her legs were locked firmly around the other woman’s waist, clinging to her like a koala. She couldn’t be shaken off or pulled away.
Qi Yurou’s fair face turned purple from the strangulation. Her vision dimmed, and her tongue began to protrude.
She used all her strength to try and pry Xie Suisui’s hands away. But this was a battle of life and death. Even though blood had matted one of Xie Suisui’s eyes shut, she would not let go.
“Out!”
Following a raspy roar forced through an incredibly narrow gap in her throat, a sharp dagger appeared out of thin air in Qi Yurou’s hand.
Qi Yurou held the dagger and stabbed and slashed at her fingers. Pain surged from her fingers to her brain, tearing at Xie Suisui’s heart, but she could not let go.
If she let go for even a second and Qi Yurou turned around, she would surely be the one to die.
She could only endure the pain. Her hands seemed to have fused with the rope as she tightened both ends with everything she had.
Her head, broken by the flowerpot, was still dizzy. The tendons in her hands were likely severed. Xie Suisui’s strength was failing. She trembled, gritting her teeth and persisting.
Qi Yurou, strangled until she saw stars, grew weak and powerless. The dagger in her hand fell to the ground with a clang, and she lost consciousness.
The two of them collapsed onto the ground together.
At that moment, someone approached from the front yard. Footsteps grew closer—urgent and chaotic.
Xie Suisui’s vision flickered black; she had no strength left.
Suddenly, she saw a red dot flashing on Qi Yurou’s arm. It was dazzling and brilliant, like a mystical light flickering in and out.
What is this?
In a flash of insight, she remembered what Qi Yurou had said in her past life.
“I am the Daughter of Destiny, from a thousand years in the future. I was born walking on Seven-Colored Auspicious Clouds!”
“Transmigration, do you understand? Heaven gifted me a Golden Finger—a Portable Space.”
“I am famous throughout the world. Gold, silver, grain, weapons, medicinal herbs—as long as I want them, I can store them in my Space. My father and brothers all support me. What do you have to fight me with?”
…
That red dot was still flashing, emitting a covetable light. Xie Suisui didn’t know exactly what it was, but her intuition told her it was the miracle Qi Yurou spoke of—the Golden Finger Qi Yurou had flaunted before her countless times.
She picked up the dagger and, without hesitation, carved out that red dot along with the skin and flesh.
Qi Yurou was jolted awake by the pain. She let out a faint groan before fainting again.
The red dot stopped flashing. Xie Suisui’s hands were dripping with blood, soaking that small piece of flesh.
A “buzz” rang in her head, her vision blurred, and the flesh in her hand vanished instantly.
A completely strange place suddenly appeared before her eyes.
It was an open clearing about fifty zhang in diameter. The perimeter was shrouded in mist, making it impossible to tell if there were fields or mountains beyond.
Nearby were several rows of warehouses. Grain was piled high like mountains.
Inside the large hemp sacks were pure white polished rice and white flour!
In the warehouse, several large iron chests with rivets were wide open, filled to the brim with gold ingots, silver ingots, and jewelry.
Xie Suisui was dazed: Where is this?