“Lu Jingyuan is dead!”
“Dead? How is that possible?”
“The Turks have swept straight into our territory. How can the general rest in peace?!”
An elderly man, well over seventy, trembled as hot tears spilled down his cheeks. “How could this happen? How could this happen? Lu Jingyuan was the bravest general protecting our Great Sheng!”
It was New Year’s Eve in the twenty-fifth year of Chengzhao, in the capital, Jingdu.
Snow fell thickly, and the cold pierced to the bone. Yet on what should have been the liveliest festival of the year, there was not a trace of celebration. Suddenly, the massive city gates swung open under the force of cavalry, and soldiers entered carrying a coffin among their ranks.
Their mournful cries echoed along the road as they marched.
At last, they arrived at the General’s Mansion.
As the frozen corpse approached, Jiang Yu stumbled backward two steps, unable to control herself. Her face was deathly pale. Once the most exquisite beauty in the capital, she now had streaks of white in her hair, her beauty carrying an unbearable air of sorrow.
Only yesterday, she had been thinking that Lu Jingyuan’s reply to her letter would arrive soon. She had read countless books, all so she could defeat him in their endless verbal battles.
Never had she imagined that what awaited her would be a notice of his death.
When the battered battle flag came into view, Jiang Yu shook her head and refused to approach. Raising her voice, she asked the deputy general, “Where is Lu Jingyuan?”
Liu Fufeng struggled to contain his grief. Trembling, he stepped aside and forced himself to say, “Young Madam, please restrain your grief.”
Everyone knew that whenever the husband and wife of the General’s Mansion met, they were bound to quarrel. They were a notorious pair of enemies in the capital, unable to stand the sight of each other and once nearly divorced.
Yet now he had died in battle on the northern frontier, his soul unable to return to his homeland.
Though they had been a pair of bitter enemies, no one had longed for Lu Jingyuan’s return more than Jiang Yu.
Liu Fufeng did not know what to say. He let out a sigh, and the soldiers stepped aside.
Behind them stood a black coffin, its lid covered with a thin layer of snow that felt icy to the touch.
Jiang Yu thought he was always so afraid of the cold. How could he possibly lie in such a freezing coffin?
Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared at Liu Fufeng in disbelief.
“Young General, we’ve brought him back.”
At that moment, the members of the Lu family also hurried over. The instant they saw the coffin, they burst into tears.
Jiang Yu heard their sorrowful cries behind her, drifting away in the wind, but she could barely make out what they were saying.
Suddenly, she asked, “How did he die?”
“We found him in a valley near Tiemenguan,” Liu Fufeng replied with difficulty. “The Turks attacked from both the front and the rear. The young general fought until his troops were exhausted and their provisions ran out.”
“Impossible!”
Jiang Yu lunged forward and seized Liu Fufeng by the shoulders, shaking him like a madwoman as tears streamed down her face.
“He promised me he would win this battle! He said he had something to tell me when he came home! How could he possibly be dead?!”
Liu Fufeng had grown up alongside Lu Jingyuan and was like a brother to him. Now, he could no longer hold back his own tears.
Jiang Yu wiped her face and rushed to the coffin. Trembling, she brushed the snow from its lid.
“Open it! I want to see him!”
“No, you mustn’t!” Liu Fufeng pulled her away, weeping as he spoke. “The young general fought until his final breath. His body has long since…”
“I want to see him! If I haven’t seen his remains with my own eyes, then he hasn’t died in battle!”
Jiang Yu gritted her teeth and struggled to her feet. Ignoring everyone’s attempts to stop her, she pushed the coffin lid open with all her strength.
No one could restrain her. They could only stand beside her and weep quietly.
Inside the coffin lay the young general, his body stiff and his appearance so horribly disfigured that he was barely recognizable.
Jiang Yu lifted the white cloth covering his face. Once she confirmed that it was indeed him, she whispered in a trembling voice, “Impossible…”
He had been such a handsome young general, a distinguished young nobleman whose looks ranked among the finest in the capital. How could he have been reduced to this?
Liu Fufeng tried to cover her eyes, but Jiang Yu desperately struggled free.
Clutching the coffin, she broke down in tears. Large drops fell onto his armor, which was already riddled with wounds.
In his hand, he was still clutching half of a broken jade hairpin.
Jiang Yu tried to remove it from his fingers, but his body was stiff, and his grip was so tight that she could not pry it loose.
She suddenly remembered the day before he had departed for the northern desert. They had been in the middle of another cold war. In the dead of night, when neither of them could sleep, he climbed through her window and called out to her in a peculiar voice.
“Jiang Yu, I’m leaving. Give me your favorite hairpin.”
Jiang Yu had been equally restless and irritable, unable to sleep. She had turned her back to him without saying a word.
Lu Jingyuan’s low voice came from outside the window, sounding somewhat muffled.
“Jiang Yu, then I’ll… be going.”
The following day, she discovered that he had taken the hairpin she wore most often. Furious, she had cursed him for several days.
Yet in the end, he had died on the battlefield with her favorite jade hairpin still clutched tightly in his hand.
Jiang Yu’s legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground, utterly devastated.
Liu Fufeng closed the coffin lid, then crouched beside her and handed her a letter that had been crumpled and battered beyond recognition.
He closed his eyes in grief and said quietly, “We found this on the young general. Your name was written on it.”
The paper was stained with patches of dried blood. Jiang Yu’s fingers trembled as she carefully unfolded it. Only a few lines appeared before her eyes.
“My beloved wife, my dearest:
“By the time you read these words, my bones will have rotted beneath the deep snow of the northern frontier, and my soul will have departed this world. Lifting my brush feels like lifting a thousand pounds, and every word I write is stained with blood. In the past, I was stubborn and trapped by my own pride, and I wronged you in more ways than I can count. Ten years of marriage, yet we became like stars forever separated in the heavens. It was not your fault. I was the one who was blind.
“Now that I have given my life to my country, I have no regrets. The only thing I regret deeply is failing you. I beg you to take good care of yourself and not waste your thoughts on an unfeeling man like me.
“Your husband, Lu Jingyuan, wrote these final words.”
Jiang Yu remembered how her second sister in law, Lady Song, had once advised her that after ten years of a miserable marriage, with her husband away at war and never returning, she might as well marry someone else.
At the time, Jiang Yu had smiled and replied, “If I marry someone else, what if we end up quarreling after the wedding too? I’m tired of arguing. I’d rather enjoy some peace and quiet. Look, isn’t my life already quite good?
Even my cat has grown so big.”
Lady Song had not known what else to say. She had only sighed.
“I just think that a woman as young and wonderful as you shouldn’t have wasted her best years in the Lu family. In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed…”
Jiang Yu squeezed her eyes shut and clutched the letter tightly. A single salty tear rolled down her cheek.
Half a year later, war erupted throughout Great Sheng, and thick smoke filled the skies.
Although the Turks had withdrawn their troops, Great Sheng was already on the brink of collapse. It could no longer withstand the rebel army advancing toward the capital.
Within Chang’an, the people fled in every direction.
Jiang Yu stood atop the city wall, her long skirt billowing in the wind. She clutched the letter in her hand. She was only twenty five, yet she had grown so thin that she was almost unrecognizable, with gray streaks in her hair.
Beneath a tree in the courtyard the couple had once shared, there was peach blossom wine he had buried for her. Three years had passed since he died, and she had never opened it.
The peach tree they had planted together had withered and then sprouted new buds. But she would never live to see it flourish in the spring, its branches lush and full.
The country may fall, but its mountains and rivers remain. Spring returns to the city, where grass and trees grow thick.
In the twenty sixth year of Chengzhao, Great Sheng fell.
As she lay dying, an arrow pierced her throat. In her final moments, she thought bitterly:
This should not have been her fate!
If she were granted another life, she would never allow their magnificent homeland to fall into the hands of others. She would never allow Lu Jingyuan to die on the battlefield!
Beside Taiye Lake, the water shimmered beneath the light, reflecting the pavilions along the shore. Their images swayed upon the rippling surface, creating a scene that seemed almost otherworldly.
Deep within the layers of palace halls, the faint sounds of strings and flutes drifted through the air. A royal banquet was underway.
At that moment, inside a side hall of the imperial palace, Jiang Yu suddenly opened her eyes.
A beam of light struck her pupils, leaving her momentarily disoriented.
She had just experienced an extraordinarily long dream. She had dreamed of the vast desert, the lonely smoke rising above it, and the setting sun sinking beyond the endless river. He had been half buried beneath the sand, his body nearly swallowed by the earth. Blood and yellow sand had mingled beneath a sky filled with flames of war. Even the bloodstains on the spear in his hand had dried and hardened.
She had tried to run toward him, but she could not touch his cold body.
She drew a deep breath and felt salty tears sliding down her cheeks, followed by another stream of tears.
Jiang Yu’s entire body ached. She touched her little face, which was wet with tears, then dazedly rolled out of bed and stared blankly at the embroidered shoes on the floor. Her mind was in chaos, and she could not stop crying.
Had she finally stopped dreaming?
Yet she soon realized that something was wrong.
Beside the bed lay a pair of delicate pink shoes with ornate cloud shaped tips. They had been kicked aside and lay scattered in disarray.
When Jiang Yu was young, she loved beautiful and elaborate accessories. But after Lu Jingyuan died in battle, she had abandoned them all in favor of plain, understated clothing.
She had always loved cleanliness and could never tolerate a mess. How could she have left her shoes lying around like this?
Stunned, she picked up the bronze mirror beside her and looked at her reflection.
The young girl in the mirror had skin as smooth as jade and delicate, graceful features. She wore no makeup, yet her beauty seemed enough to outshine the spring itself. Her almond shaped eyes were clear and bright, unlike the lifeless gaze she had carried after Lu Jingyuan’s death. A rosy flush colored her cheeks, and there was none of the haggard pallor that had marked her after ten years in the Lu family.
Her thoughts were in turmoil. Her entire body felt sore and numb, the back of her head throbbed dully, and the air was permeated with the crisp scent of alcohol.
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind her, slightly hoarse.
“Have you finished crying, Young Lady?”
Jiang Yu’s mind went completely blank.
She slowly turned around, and a handsome, striking face abruptly entered her field of vision.
Only then did she realize that someone else was lying beside her.
The young man rested his head on his folded arms. He had a high nose, thin lips, broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a firm abdomen shaped by years of martial arts training. His long ponytail had come loose, and the ribbon that tied his hair was still tangled messily around her wrist. His brows and eyes carried the same carefree, unruly arrogance she remembered so well.
Tears shimmered in her eyes as she stared at him without blinking. No matter how long they had been separated by death, she would recognize Lu Jingyuan’s face even if he had been reduced to ashes.
When he had been alive, Jiang Yu had hated that reckless, arrogant expression of his, especially when they were in bed together. He had been unbearably irritating.
But seeing him again now, she felt as though all their past grievances and conflicts had vanished in an instant.
Jiang Yu’s nose stung, and her eyes grew even redder.
Seeing that she was about to cry again, Lu Jingyuan sat up. His brows furrowed slightly as he impatiently threatened her.
“If you keep crying, the Empress Dowager’s people will barge in. We’ll both have our skin peeled off.”
He was still exactly the same as before, showing not the slightest inclination to indulge a woman.
In the next instant, however, Lu Jingyuan suddenly fell silent.
Jiang Yu had actually cupped his face in her hands.
Her palms were warm, her skin fair and tender, and her tear filled eyes gazed at him with a sorrow that he could not understand. Through her watery gaze, he caught a glimpse of an indescribable melancholy that made her look heartbreakingly vulnerable.
Lu Jingyuan froze, unable to move.
She murmured, “Don’t go… Lu Jingyuan.”
Her mind was still hazy, and she could not distinguish between dream and reality. If this was a dream, it would eventually fade away. She might as well spend as much time with him as she could while she still had the chance.
The young girl sobbed softly. Looking into her eyes, Lu Jingyuan suddenly found himself at a loss.
Jiang Yu was renowned throughout the capital as its foremost accomplished young lady. As the legitimate daughter of the Jiang family, she had her own pride and had never been one to show weakness.
Yet she had never been so fragile in front of him.
Lu Jingyuan hesitated for a moment before stiffly allowing her to do as she pleased. He could only let out a helpless sigh.
Jiang Yu gradually regained some clarity. She released him and wiped away her tears, then paused as she felt the lingering warmth on her hands.
Her eyes widened slightly. Dreams had no warmth, and everything she had just touched had felt so real. Lu Jingyuan’s face, his voice, and the soreness and aching in her body…
Could it be that none of this was a dream?
Could this really be happening?
Jiang Yu abruptly raised her head and looked around the room.
The palace lanterns outside cast dim yellow light through the lattice windows, illuminating the hall. A folding screen stood beside the bed, its painting of beautiful women rendered in vivid colors, each face exquisitely drawn. The subtle patterns on the bed curtains shifted with the breeze, making the room look like a side hall somewhere within the imperial palace.
The scene seemed strangely familiar.
Then she remembered.
This was the fifteenth year of Chengzhao, in a side hall of Yong’an Palace.
She was fifteen years old, and this was the night she and Lu Jingyuan had accidentally spent a night of passion together!
Both of them had been deliberately set up. After drinking heavily drugged wine, they had wandered into the wrong room, and what was done could not be undone. With matters having gone this far, the emperor had issued an imperial marriage decree, binding the two who had always been at odds with each other together and beginning a doomed marriage.
She had been given another chance at life!
Jiang Yu’s fingertips dug painfully into her palms.
In her previous life, Lu Jingyuan had protected her reputation by insisting that he had forced himself on her. Too young and naive to understand, she had believed him and treated him as a lecher.
He had silently accepted the blame. After their marriage, the incident became another reason for their endless arguments, leaving them unable to stand the sight of each other.
Only much later had she learned that he had taken responsibility to protect her reputation and shield her from punishment. For that, he had even endured thirty strokes of the cane.
While her eyes still burned with unshed tears, Lu Jingyuan had somehow moved to the edge of the bed. He sat there, lowering his head as he tied his bootlaces, looking utterly baffled.
“I’m the one who was taken advantage of, so why are you the one crying?”
In her previous life, Jiang Yu would have cried and cursed at him in response. This time, however, she merely wiped the redness from the corners of her eyes and retorted in a hoarse voice.
“Who’s crying? Lu Jingyuan, stop pretending you have nothing to do with this. If you hadn’t been sleeping on the bed in a drunken stupor, would any of this have happened?”
Lu Jingyuan scoffed and raised an eyebrow.
“Jiang Yu, don’t twist the facts. You were the one who drank too much, stumbled through the door, and crashed right into my arms. How is that my fault?”
With that, he stood up and headed toward the door to secure the latch.
Jiang Yu silently put on her outer robe and stopped arguing with him, lowering her head as she straightened the garment.
Even after being given another life, he was still just as sharp tongued and infuriating as ever!
Yet, for some reason, that familiar feeling gave her an unexpected sense of comfort.
The person preserved in her memories was gradually becoming vivid and real again.
Just as she was lost in thought, the light and shadows cast by the palace lanterns outside suddenly began to sway violently.
A rush of hurried footsteps sounded beyond the door, accompanied by an elderly woman’s sharp reprimand.
“Search every room carefully! Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has ordered us to investigate the disturbance in the side halls. We must find out exactly what happened!”
In the next instant, the doors to the side halls began to swing open one after another. Even the door latches rattled from the force.
“Nothing in this room!”
“Nothing here either!”
“This is the last room!”
Lu Jingyuan had just secured the latch. His expression darkened as he grabbed Jiang Yu by her slender arm and shoved her farther into the room, shouting angrily.
“Hide in there and don’t come out! If the old woman asks you anything, tell her I forced myself on you. Do you hear me?”
Jiang Yu stumbled backward as he pushed her away.
She stood behind the narrow folding screen, looking at his grim profile.
In her previous life, Lu Jingyuan had stubbornly insisted that he had been drunk and had violated her. He had fabricated every last detail so convincingly that both the emperor and the Empress Dowager had believed him without question, reprimanding him for his disgraceful conduct.
In this life, she would not let him bear the blame alone.
Rising onto her toes, she glared fiercely at him and immediately scolded him.
“Lu Jingyuan, what are you trying to do? Do you really think the emperor and the Empress Dowager will believe your nonsense? Someone set us up! Can you please use your brain for once?”
Lu Jingyuan was so furious that he almost laughed. His voice turned icy.
“Why should a young woman like you bear such a charge? Remember this clearly. I forced myself on you. Don’t come out and do anything stupid!”
Jiang Yu grew frantic with anger and tried to shove him aside.
“You idiot! Let me out!”
Lu Jingyuan was far stronger than her. He seized her wrist and barked, “Idiot, shut up!”
The next moment, the door was thrown open.
Granny Sun, accompanied by palace maids and guards, rushed in. She found the two of them standing there with their clothes in disarray, looking as though they might come to blows at any moment.
Her expression immediately darkened.
“Young General Lu! Miss Jiang! How dare you!”