Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Three days later, the Magistrate’s wife personally saw me out of the residence.

She said I reminded her of an old friend.

Even at the moment of parting, she was still trying her utmost to persuade me to stay.

She pitied me for being all alone in the world, with no one to rely on, and wanted to keep me in the Magistrate’s residence so I could live in wealth and comfort.

I refused.

I was alone, yes, but that did not mean I had no one to rely on.

I was my own support.

The daughter of a river bandit was, naturally, a bandit as well.

Compared to saving people, I was far better at killing them.

Nor did I need wealth and comfort.

Anything I wanted, I would seize for myself.

Just like now. After sixteen years, the Magistrate’s wife and his daughter had fallen ill with the same disease, and both had been cured by a female physician in three days.

Such a fine tale would naturally reach the ears of those who cared to listen.

All I needed to do was proceed step by step and continue doing what I had to do.

After leaving the Magistrate’s residence, I went to the coffin shop, picked up the burial clothes and stone tablets I had ordered, and brought them home with me.

Even after cutting corners and setting up only thirty-two graves, it was still not work that could be finished in a single day.

Fortunately, I had always been calm, steady, and most of all, patient.

So I began digging pits, burying clothes, and erecting tablets every day.

On the third day, the first uninvited guest arrived at my home.

It was Liu Yunchu, a young master of the Liu Family, one of the Three Great Families of the Capital.

He asked me, “Miss, do you know what your true identity is?”

I answered, “I do. My name is Chen Nianwei. I am a village woman, and my status has nothing whatsoever to do with someone like you, my lord.”

He shook his head, every inch the elegant scion of a great family.

“Your surname is not Chen. It is Li.”

“Nor are you some village woman. You are the princess His Majesty lost among the common folk.”

“I have come to escort Your Highness back to the palace, so you may acknowledge your ancestry and return to your clan.”

I pointed Liu Yunchu toward the newly erected graves not far away.

He looked somewhat puzzled.

“I am building graves for the dead. Thirty-two in total. So far, I have only completed seven. There are still twenty-five left. Until they are all finished, I am not going anywhere.”

Liu Yunchu tried to coax me. “His Majesty misses his daughter so deeply that he cannot sleep day or night. How can we make His Majesty wait any longer?”

The attendants around him caught his signal and quickly closed in. With a single order from Liu Yunchu, they could drag me into the carriage by force.

I pressed my hairpin against my throat. The sharp tip pierced my skin, and blood immediately trickled down.

As if I felt nothing at all, I smiled faintly at Liu Yunchu. “If you are in such a hurry, my lord, you may take my corpse back to report on your mission.”

Liu Yunchu’s expression changed slightly, and he took a step back.

“I will give you three days. In three days, you and I will set off for the palace.”

The hand I held the hairpin with did not move.

“If I am a village woman, then naturally whatever you say goes. But if I am a Princess of the Li Family, then I must ask: in this realm, is it those surnamed Li who have the final say, or those surnamed Liu?”

“On what grounds do you presume to order me around?”

Liu Yunchu did not panic at such treasonous words, but he did take another step back.

“I will have my servants help you.”

Still smiling, I refused again.

“Matters within my household are not convenient to entrust to outsiders. If you wish to help, my lord, you must marry me first.”

Liu Yunchu’s face went completely cold.

“Your Highness, three times is the limit.”

Unfortunately, he could not scare me.

I lowered the hairpin, casually wiped the blood from my neck, and met his eyes.

“And if it goes past three, what can you do to me?”

“Either kill me, or do as I say.”