So cold.
Breaking free from a dizzy spell she could hardly put into words, Song Shanzhi had not even had time to open her eyes when a gust of wind carrying coarse, stinging frost and snow struck her. She instinctively turned her face away.
Her thin silk dress was clearly no match for the howling wind and snow raging around her. The pale jade-green gauze cape draped over her shoulders had been blown into disarray. Nearly frozen stiff, it brushed against her cheek, waves of icy cold snaking around her limbs, waist, and back, greedily draining what little warmth remained in her body.
Song Shanzhi raised one hand like a shield before her eyes and barely managed to open them against the increasingly violent snowfall.
An expanse of frost-white greeted her.
The snow was falling thick and heavy, driven by the wind into the distance until everything within her line of sight had dissolved into a vast, indistinct whiteness.
Apart from several old trees reduced to twisted, withered branches, there was nothing.
It was as though she were the only person left in this entire world.
Her cape stumbled in the wind and brushed against Song Shanzhi’s frozen, bluish-white hand, abruptly pulling her wandering thoughts back.
Song Shanzhi remembered perfectly what day it was.
The seventh day of the fourth month.
A lucky day she had specifically asked the master at Daci Temple to choose for her—an auspicious day for ending hostilities and breaking with the old.
She had intended to take advantage of such a beautiful spring day, with gentle breezes and warm sunshine, to have it out with Li Wei.
She was going to break off their engagement.
Xiangye had been by her young mistress’s side the longest. She knew that Song Shanzhi had been busy making preparations lately and had even made a special trip to Daci Temple. It was obvious that she was determined to break off the engagement, but Xiangye still held on to a sliver of hope.
“Miss, it’s such a beautiful day. We shouldn’t waste it. Didn’t General Li specially send you a kite a few days ago? Why don’t we go fly it at Cuishan?”
General Li.
Song Shanzhi gave a little huff.
They were clearly the same generation, yet Li Wei had already earned the right to be addressed respectfully as “General Li.”
Li Wei came from a prestigious and powerful family. His mother was the Emperor’s own sister, while his father was the Duke of Wei. Unless something unexpected happened, he would inherit the title of Duke one day as well, living a life of splendor and wealth.
And yet this favored son of Heaven, whose life had been so smooth and predictable that one could see the end of his path at a glance, had quietly joined the army at thirteen.
Over the course of seven years, that impetuous young man whom his parents and elders had repeatedly scolded for being too reckless and rash had established himself through victory after victory.
After that, whenever people mentioned him, they rarely brought up his identity as the heir to the Duke of Wei. More often, they addressed him by the military rank he had earned through his battlefield accomplishments: General.
And Song Shanzhi was determined to break off her engagement with this young general whom the entire imperial court praised as a man destined for greatness.
Xiangye sighed.
If word of the broken engagement got out, it would surely bring grief to those who loved them and delight to their enemies!
What a pity it would be to let such an excellent husband fall into someone else’s hands.
Her mournful sigh drifted through the room like the wind, carrying a faint restlessness. Even the delicate pear fragrance lingering beneath Song Shanzhi’s nose seemed to grow somewhat cloying.
Song Shanzhi lowered her head and counted the things inside the box.
Over the years, Li Wei had given her far too many gifts. She selected several and placed them inside.
If she was going to break off an engagement, at the very least she had to make her attitude clear.
She wanted nothing from him.
Once he agreed, she would return everything else to him.
“Miss, General Li is handsome and extraordinary, with a brilliant future ahead of him. He’s a little cold by nature, perhaps, but he has never had a quarrel with you, has he?” Xiangye racked her brains for good things to say on Li Wei’s behalf, hoping to persuade Song Shanzhi to change her mind.
But the more she spoke, the more determined Song Shanzhi became.
In everyone else’s eyes, Li Wei was perfect in every way, a highly sought-after catch whom every household would be fighting to marry.
But none of them knew how inappropriate the way Li Wei looked at her could be!
Whenever Song Shanzhi thought of those eyes, cold as a frozen lake, and the way he would stare at her without looking away once he had fixed his gaze upon her, she felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck.
The jade-green cape over her shoulders trembled slightly.
She suspected that in his eyes, she was no different from the prey beneath his arrows.
Either way, he would eventually tear her apart and devour her.
“I’ve had enough of my father, brothers, and sisters-in-law telling me what to do at home. Do I really have to spend the rest of my life being controlled by Li Wei after I marry him?” Song Shanzhi snapped the lid shut on the box, her tone bright and carefree. “It’s settled. You’re not allowed to say anything else that might shake the troops’ morale!”
With her protest forcibly suppressed, Xiangye could only lean against the doorway with worry in her eyes and watch the young woman’s retreating figure, unable to hide her excitement.
She had arranged to meet Li Wei beneath the third old willow tree by the Xihe River.
For once, Song Shanzhi arrived early.
Suppressing the nervousness filling her heart, she silently rehearsed the words she had prepared long ago.
No matter what happened, she was going to break off this engagement today!
Suddenly, the air filled with such a strong, acrid smell of saltpeter that it stung the nose.
Almost in the very next instant, an explosion rang out, loud enough to numb the ears.
Before anyone had time to react, the long river that had shimmered peacefully beneath the spring sunlight tore away its gentle facade.
The embankment collapsed.
Water surged in every direction.
The disaster happened almost in the blink of an eye.
The jade-belt river transformed into a raging, monstrous serpent, devouring everything and everyone in its path.
In her panic, Song Shanzhi clutched the box against her chest and tried to grab hold of the old willow tree beside her to steady herself.
Her foot suddenly found nothing.
A violent sensation of weightlessness struck as icy river water rushed over her.
Song Shanzhi’s vision went black, and she lost consciousness.
In the final instant before her consciousness faded, she vaguely heard a heart-rending cry tear through the chaos and reach her mind.
Someone was calling her name.
The voice was filled with unbearable grief, pain, and despair. It was hoarse and shrill, as though someone had taken a dagger and carved a piece of flesh straight from his heart, then clamped a hand around his throat. The choked sobs desperately forced their way through the narrowest gaps, emerging as strange, rasping cries.
Who would grieve so terribly for her?
A gust of cold wind swept over her, interrupting Song Shanzhi’s memories.
This was hardly the time to dwell on that question.
She looked around.
Her entire body had gone stiff from the cold. Even wrapping her arms around herself was an enormous effort.
The snowfall around her was simply too heavy. For the moment, she could not tell which direction she was facing, nor could she make out the slightest trace of Bianjing in this frozen wasteland.
Song Shanzhi did not dare think too deeply about it. Gritting her teeth, she started walking.
Her foot seemed to kick against something hard.
But she had no mind to investigate. Assuming she had kicked a stone, she simply moved a little to the side.
Her thin spring clothes were almost frozen solid. Her face was bluish-white, and she felt like a block of ice herself. Even the breath leaving her lips felt cold.
Fortunately, buildings finally appeared in the distance.
Song Shanzhi forced herself onward and discovered that they belonged to a temple.
Mingyu Temple.
What an unfamiliar name.
Was there really such a temple in Bianjing?
Before she could think any further, someone came to open the door.
Somewhat embarrassed, Song Shanzhi asked if she might stay the night and beg for a little vegetarian food.
Seeing her thinly dressed against the frozen landscape behind her, the young novice found her appearance all the more pitiful.
And yet, everything she wore was exquisite.
His gaze swept over her beautiful face, pale from the cold yet unable to conceal her natural loveliness.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He pressed his palms together, murmured a Buddhist invocation, and stepped aside to welcome her in.
“Female benefactor, this way, please.”
Though Song Shanzhi finally had somewhere to stay, her heart remained unsettled.
She remembered perfectly that when she had left home earlier, the world had still been bathed in brilliant spring sunshine.
She remembered the explosion that had nearly deafened her.
The collapsing embankment.
The ground giving way beneath her.
And that heart-wrenching cry.
Nothing before her now was normal.
With all these worries weighing on her mind, she did not dare eat her fill despite the table of vegetarian dishes set before her.
After eating just enough to settle her stomach and feeling some strength gradually return to her body, she tugged at the oversized monk’s robe she had been given and wondered what she should do next.
She had been frozen in the snow for so long that now, surrounded by warmth with something solid in her stomach, she gradually drifted into a dazed sleep.
The moon hung high in the night sky.
Its hazy, pure light was dimmed somewhat by the muddy snow covering the ground.
Suddenly, a tiny round hole was burned through the window covered in oiled paper, and wisps of smoke began to seep inside.
After waiting for quite some time without hearing any movement from within, the intruder expertly removed the door bolt and slipped inside.
“Is she really a beauty?”
After asking, he added, “The person we’re meeting this time is no ordinary man. If you try to fob him off with some common-looking thing, you won’t like what happens to you!”
Huizeng chuckled obsequiously.
“How could I? You’ll know the moment you see her. This one really is something special. I’d say she’s either some wealthy family’s runaway courtesan or a beautiful concubine. She doesn’t look like the daughter of an ordinary household.”
The two whispered together for a while.
Huizeng carried the lantern forward. The dim, yellow candlelight filtered through the thin oiled paper and fell across the pale, beautiful face of the woman lying on the bed.
The moment Lu Da saw her, he froze.
Huizeng’s heart began to pound.
Even a beauty like this wasn’t good enough?
Just how picky could the nobleman they were meeting be?
Then Lu Da suddenly slapped his thigh and burst into two loud laughs.
“Excellent! Our opportunity has arrived! And what an opportunity! I refuse to believe that even the Grand Minister won’t be tempted by a beauty like this!”
The nobleman they were meeting this time…
Was actually the Grand Minister?
Huizeng’s breathing quickened with excitement, and he hurriedly laughed and offered several flattering remarks.
Song Shanzhi kept her eyes tightly shut, doing her best to maintain the deep, even breathing of someone fast asleep. She did not even dare let her eyelashes tremble, terrified they would notice something was wrong.
So that’s why she’d never heard of any blasted Mingyu Temple before.
It was a den of thieves!
Once she got home, she would absolutely find someone and have this wretched temple razed to the ground!
After her anger subsided somewhat, Song Shanzhi carefully pieced together what she had heard.
Judging from their conversation, they intended to capture her and offer her to the Grand Minister?
Which bastard Grand Minister?
Why couldn’t she remember him at all?
Since when had Bianjing had someone like that?
After his excitement faded, Lu Da spoke again.
“Was the dose of sleeping smoke enough? Don’t let her wake up later. That’d be a hassle.”
Huizeng hurriedly assured him, “It won’t happen, it won’t! I know exactly how much to use. I guarantee she’ll sleep straight through until morning. It won’t interfere with our important business!”
Satisfied, Lu Da began quietly discussing their plans with him.
Song Shanzhi curled her lips.
The sleeping smoke couldn’t hurt her.
…Actually, Li Wei had saved her life yet again.
The evil-averting bead hanging beneath her neck was still giving off a faint fragrance.
It was a gift Li Wei had given her when she turned fifteen and came of age.
The light, pleasant fragrance silently drove away the stale, oppressive smell around her.
Suddenly, Song Shanzhi saw Li Wei in her mind, extending a hand toward her.
She desperately kicked that stern face, which seemed born incapable of smiling, out of her thoughts and instead focused on how she could escape her current predicament.
She couldn’t possibly wait until they delivered her to the Grand Minister’s residence before revealing her identity and waiting for her father, brothers, and sisters-in-law to come get her.
What if these people became frightened after realizing their crime and decided to kill her to eliminate all witnesses?
And then there was this strange weather.
Remembering the bone-chilling cold that had nearly frozen her into a human icicle the moment she opened her eyes, Song Shanzhi unconsciously drew herself tighter.
Could it be…
That, just like in the theatrical stories she’d read, she had somehow fallen by a twist of fate into another world?
In those stories, people usually fell from the mortal realm into the realms of immortals or demons.
So what kind of place was this?
The two men’s conversation gradually died down.
Lu Da rubbed his chin and chuckled.
“You don’t often come across a beauty this exceptional in Fangzhou. This time, she’s—”
Song Shanzhi did not hear what he said afterward.
Her entire mind was occupied by one word:
Fangzhou.
Fangzhou?!
That place was unimaginably far from Bianjing!
Song Shanzhi silently clenched her teeth, desperately forcing down the shock, confusion, and helplessness surging through her.
Damn Heaven!
What kind of ridiculous place had it thrown her into?!