The air was thick with smoke, and corpses lay piled like mountains.
Qu Jinshu was covered in wounds, hanging from the city walls of Northern Jin like a tattered flag swaying in the wind.
Her face was covered in knife scars, and her emaciated body resembled a twisted, withered branch. The skin on her wrists had been rubbed away, exposing bloodied white bones.
A year of captivity had left her utterly unrecognizable.
Below the city walls stood her husband, He Xiujun, the great general of Xiling, waiting with his ten thousand personal troops to attack the city.
Once they breached the city, the war between Xiling and Northern Jin would finally come to an end.
“He Xiujun, I’ve heard that you and your wife are deeply in love. I now command you to withdraw your troops ten miles away. Otherwise, I’ll have her thrown off the walls!”
Ling Cangwu, the Crown Prince of Northern Jin, appeared atop the city walls. He placed a dagger against the rope suspending Qu Jinshu.
At his words, the soldiers standing beside He Xiujun began to stir uneasily.
Qu Jinshu also struggled to open her eyes and painfully turned her gaze toward him…
After a year apart, she finally saw him again. He was still as handsome as ever, but the look in his eyes felt unfamiliar.
He was the legitimate son of the Marquis of Zhen, while she was the illegitimate daughter of a declining marquis household.
In order to earn her father’s recognition, her mother had taught her martial arts from a young age.
Later, her father sent her to the military camp, where she had to assume the identity of her legitimate elder brother and earn military merits on his behalf.
He Xiujun had taken command of the army in his father’s place. He knew her true identity, but because their families were old friends, he never exposed her.
Gradually, the two became familiar with each other.
After her “elder brother” returned to the capital with military achievements and secured an official position, she finally resumed her identity as a woman.
When she was eighteen, he asked her father’s permission to marry her.
She was overjoyed, believing that her youthful dream had finally come true.
Yes, she had secretly loved him for years.
There had never been a place for her in the Qu family. Everyone looked down on her, even her own biological mother, who treated her as nothing more than a tool to compete for her father’s favor.
He was the only one who had never spoken harshly to her.
She thought he loved her just as she loved him. Thus, she married him with a heart full of happiness.
During the first year of their marriage, he came up with various excuses to avoid sharing a bed with her.
In the second year, he led his troops into battle. She accompanied him as his strategist and deputy general, risking her life for him.
In the third year, she was captured by the enemy while trying to save him from an ambush. Despite enduring more than a year of torture, she never once betrayed him or Xiling.
In the fourth year, the tide of the war finally began to turn.
Using the strategies she had left behind, He Xiujun conquered dozens of cities in Northern Jin one after another.
With nowhere left to turn, the Crown Prince of Northern Jin had her brought before him.
“He Xiujun, are you deaf? If you don’t want your beloved wife to die here in a pool of blood, then obey my command!”
Ling Cangwu was gradually losing his patience. He grabbed Qu Jinshu by the hair and viciously threatened He Xiujun.
He Xiujun finally furrowed his brows, but he still said nothing. It seemed he was still weighing his options.
Seeing this, Qu Jinshu first chuckled before bursting into unrestrained laughter.
The cold wind blew, tossing her hair across her face. The icy look in her eyes only grew colder.
“Crown Prince of Northern Jin, have you never wondered why you were able to capture me as a hostage so easily?”
Ling Cangwu narrowed his eyes, his voice turning sinister. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Qu Jinshu stared at He Xiujun and spoke each word clearly.
“For the past year, I’ve been wondering about something. Back then, I had made all the necessary preparations for you. There was no way you should have fallen into that ambush. Unfortunately, I was so worried about you that I rushed to save you without thinking things through. Now that I think about it, you must have deliberately fallen into their trap just to lure me there!”
“What have I ever done to wrong you? Why would you treat me this way?”
Back in the capital, she had devoted herself to managing the household, caring for her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and silently enduring his indifference.
At the border, she had fought alongside him, killing enemies and shielding him from attacks, both open and hidden.
She believed she had fulfilled every duty expected of a wife. What more could he possibly want from her?
In response to Qu Jinshu’s accusations, He Xiujun’s eyes darkened. His thin lips pressed into a tight line, but he offered no reply.
However, a young soldier beside him suddenly stepped forward.
“Qu Jinshu, you killed our eldest sister! You deserve everything that’s happening to you!”
Qu Jinshu turned to look at him.
Wasn’t that her younger brother, Qu Tong?
Eldest sister… Was he referring to Qu Ya, the legitimate eldest daughter of the Qu family?
Qu Ya. What a familiar yet distant name.
It felt as though a lifetime had passed as a charming face surfaced in Qu Jinshu’s mind.
As the first daughter of the family and the legitimate child of the principal wife, Qu Ya had been pampered and adored since childhood. Everything she wanted was given to her. Unlike Qu Jinshu, she had never needed to practice martial arts relentlessly just to earn a perfunctory word of praise from their father.
Although their father’s and elder brother’s incompetence had led to the decline of the marquis household, Qu Ya had still been a favored young lady. The only thing she couldn’t have her way with was her marriage.
That year, they had just returned from the border. After Qu Jinshu resumed her identity as a woman, Qu Ya disliked her even more and constantly made trouble for her. Qu Jinshu endured it all.
During the second month after their return, they accompanied the Emperor and Empress Dowager on an autumn hunting trip.
At the time, the Empress Dowager noticed Qu Jinshu standing at the back of the crowd and casually asked, “Are you a daughter of the Qu family? Would you be willing to become Prince Jing’s consort?”
Prince Jing was the Emperor’s tenth son.
Back then, Qu Jinshu didn’t even know that Prince Jing was mentally impaired.
All she knew was that she had been controlled for far too many years. Now, she wanted to live for herself.
So, despite the risk of being punished, she gathered her courage and said that she was unwilling.
The Empress Dowager did not punish her at the time.
However, not long afterward, an imperial decree of marriage arrived at the marquis household.
The legitimate daughter of the Qu family was to marry Prince Jing and become his consort.
Upon hearing the devastating news, Qu Ya firmly refused to marry him. But the imperial decree could not be disobeyed, and the Qu family had no choice but to force her into the marriage.
Unexpectedly, in a moment of desperation, Qu Ya swallowed poison and killed herself just as she was about to board the bridal sedan.
Ever since then, everyone in the marquis household had regarded Qu Jinshu as their enemy. They believed that because she had refused to marry Prince Jing, the Empress Dowager had turned her attention to Qu Ya instead.
In their eyes, she was a murderer.
As her thoughts returned to the present, Qu Jinshu suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
She looked at He Xiujun in confusion. “Do you think so too?”
She had always known that He Xiujun loved Qu Ya.
After all, Qu Ya was cheerful, graceful, and beautiful. She was proficient in the four arts of the Chinese literature, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. There were few men in the capital who didn’t admire her.
Yet when He Xiujun had asked to marry her, he had said so many sincere and heartfelt things that she had believed he had already let go of Qu Ya.
Who would have thought that all of it had been a lie?
He Xiujun spoke coldly. “You owe her. You owe Ya’er a life.”
“Heh… Hehehe…” Qu Jinshu laughed until her chest ached.
How absurd. This was truly absurd.
Had they never considered that the Empress Dowager had asked whether she was willing to marry Prince Jing simply because she had mistaken her for the legitimate daughter of the marquis household?
Even if Prince Jing was mentally impaired, he was still a member of the imperial family. There was no way the royal family would allow an illegitimate daughter to marry into the imperial household.
The Qu family simply lacked the ability and courage to defy the imperial decree, so they had shifted all the blame onto her instead.
Qu Tong continued to humiliate Qu Jinshu. “When news of Eldest Sister’s death arrived, Brother Xiujun locked himself in his room for two days, refusing to eat or drink. When he finally came out, he immediately went to see Father and asked to marry you.”
“Do you know why Brother Xiujun never allowed you into his study? It’s because Eldest Sister’s belongings and memorial tablet are kept there. She was the one he truly loved!”
“You guessed correctly. Brother Xiujun deliberately fell into that ambush so that you would be captured. He wanted you to suffer every kind of torture, all to comfort Eldest Sister’s spirit in heaven!”
His words tore away the last remaining veil of pretense.
“Those useless fools actually brought a discarded woman here as a hostage. No wonder they couldn’t get anything out of her during interrogation.”
Seeing that there was no longer any hope of turning the situation around, Ling Cangwu flew into a rage. He tightened his grip on Qu Jinshu’s neck.
Qu Jinshu glanced at the Xiling soldiers gathering restlessly beneath the city gates.
Once the gates were breached, the people of Northern Jin wanted her dead, and so did He Xiujun’s men.
In that case, she would rather choose her own death!
“Come closer. I’ll tell you how to deal with Xiling. I want He Xiujun dead.”
She strained her voice and spoke to Ling Cangwu with great difficulty.
Seeing that she posed no threat anymore, Ling Cangwu assumed she truly hated He Xiujun and was willing to help Northern Jin fight against Xiling.
Thus, he approached without the slightest suspicion.
But in the next instant, Qu Jinshu actually managed to free herself from the rope. She pulled out a piece of porcelain she had secretly hidden and plunged it straight into his neck.
A scream rang out as blood gushed from Ling Cangwu’s neck.
“Bitch!”
As he struggled and convulsed, he struck Qu Jinshu viciously in the chest with his palm.
At the same time, an arrow shot from He Xiujun’s direction pierced straight through her body.
Qu Jinshu, already at the end of her strength, fell from the city walls like a broken butterfly.
The people of Northern Jin cried out in panic.
“Your Highness! Your Highness!”
A faint smile appeared on Qu Jinshu’s pale face.
No matter how deeply she hated He Xiujun, she would never betray her own country.
This was the very land she had once protected with her blood and sweat!
It was just a pity that she hadn’t managed to kill He Xiujun.
Qu Jinshu slowly closed her eyes.
If she were ever given another chance at life, she would make sure to kill him with her own hands.
P.S. The Qu family follows the siblings overall birth order when determining their rankings, regardless of gender. Sons and daughters are counted together, not separately. Please note this to avoid confusion, as other stories may rank siblings by gender.