Chapter 2

Chapter 2

You thought you had been saved.

You tried hard to reach out to them, only for a ragged reed-flower quilt to be thrown over you.

It was your quilt. You could smell yourself on it.

But right now, you could not say a single word.

They said nothing either.

They simply lifted you through the quilt with both hands and carried you outside.

The sun was sinking in the west.

By the time they reached the mountains, the sky would be completely dark.

Just right for dumping a body.

The mountain path was uneven, and your parents’ hands jolted with every step.

Pain broke through your body in tiny, splintered bursts.

One moment it hurt in your head, the next in your legs.

But none of those places hurt the most.

The place that hurt the most would sound almost laughable if you said it aloud.

At last, they stopped.

You knew they were going to abandon you completely.

Right here, at the edge of this cliff where the wind whipped and roared.

You often came into the mountains.

None of the nearby peaks had sheer drops.

The slopes were not steep enough.

If you did not smash your head on a rock while rolling down, you still had a chance to live.

As your body was lifted into empty air, you suddenly thought of Taohua from next door.

She had married at fifteen.

When she appeared again the following year, a child was already fixed firmly to her back.

She had bent down to roll up her trouser legs before going into the fields.

When she did, the eyes that met yours were the child’s, dark and hollow.

You had only felt a chill crawl over your skin.

It was not only your fate that overlapped with your mother’s.

As you tumbled, no tree came to catch you.

But by luck, you crashed into a soft mass of flesh and stopped.

You could hold on no longer.

Your eyes slipped shut, and you passed out completely.

A night went by.

You woke to the sound of birdsong.

Perhaps because you were still young, after a night’s rest, you managed to crawl up with difficulty.

The soft mass from last night was still lying beside you.

It was a man.

You checked beneath his nose.

He was still breathing.

In truth, you did not care whether he was alive.

You were only examining him to see whether he had money.

You were confident you could make it out of these mountains.

But every step after leaving them would cost money.

Your gaze searched over his body.

It stopped on a jade pendant at his waist.

The pendant was just as books described: warm, smooth, and finely textured.

It had to be of excellent quality.

The carving was good too.

A dragon coiled among clouds, and within the auspicious clouds was carved the character “Mu.”

Dragon and phoenix designs were reserved for the imperial family.

And this “Mu” was the personal name of the current Crown Prince.

Your heart pounded hard.

From excitement.

The man before you was a noble from the highest reaches of the realm.

Your teacher often analyzed the situation at court.

You knew that the current Crown Prince was the legitimate son of the Central Palace.

His succession was proper and justified.

Unfortunately, the Empress had died young, and her natal family had declined.

Meanwhile, the Noble Consort enjoyed deep imperial favor.

The Noble Consort’s son was clever and cherished by the Emperor.

Li Mu’s position as Crown Prince trembled in wind and rain.

You clutched that jade pendant and began to laugh.

You laughed until tears and blood smeared across your face.

You laughed until your whole body shook and every organ in your chest and belly hurt.

Misfortune is where fortune rests.

The ancients truly had not lied to you.

This was not merely the Crown Prince before you.

This was-

Merit, rank, wealth, and glory!

You found some wild fruit to fill your stomach.

After recovering a little strength, you carried the Crown Prince on your back and limped toward a cave.

The mountains were very cold at night.

If you were unlucky enough to meet a rainstorm, neither you nor he would live until tomorrow.

In truth, every step you took felt like torture.

You did not know which bone in your body remained unbroken.

Yet somehow, it was enough to let you cling to one breath and carry a half-dead man along the rugged mountain path.

A half-dead man was very heavy.

But you would remember this day forever.

From this day on, you would no longer be the lowest, most wretched sort of person, with everyone standing on top of your head.

For that, you could not concern yourself with the injuries on your own body.

All the herbs you found were used on Li Mu first.

Your dress was torn to ragged strips as well.

He had knife wounds on his body.

Once they were cleaned, they had to be bandaged.

You understood now.

From the moment your own parents threw you down the mountain, luck had chosen your side.

Otherwise, how could an unremarkable farmer’s daughter ever have the chance to reach the side of a man who stood at the center of power?

The Crown Prince would definitely wake.

You had never been so certain of anything.