Xiao Shuo told her a story.
Decades ago, in the kingdom of Fulan, there was a princess famed for her unmatched beauty. When she was still in her teens, the emperor of Zhou decreed that she would marry his crown prince, Yuwen Tai. Thus she became the crown princess of Zhou.
At first, the crown prince was captivated by her beauty. Though he was indulgent and fickle, they treated each other with outward respect. Soon, the crown princess gave birth to a son, the legitimate heir. The boy was frail from premature birth but bright and intelligent, loved by his imperial grandfather. Thanks to this, even after Yuwen Tai became emperor and surrounded himself with countless concubines, he still showed some regard for the crown princess and their son, eventually making her Empress as custom required.
But once Yuwen Tai ascended the throne, his appetite for women grew boundless. Within a few years, his harem numbered in the hundreds. The Empress, helpless but dutiful, maintained order in the palace. Yet her restraint made her a target. Among the emperor’s new favorites were two sisters, Wang Da and Wang Xu, graceful dancers with delicate figures. The elder soon captured his favor and brought her younger sister into the palace as well. The two sisters, intoxicated by their rising influence, became ruthless, scheming against rivals, even endangering the royal children.
The Empress, already out of favor, discovered that several children’s deaths were linked to the sisters’ plots. Horrified, she realized her own sons would be next. Her eldest was twelve, sickly but clever; her youngest, only five, bright, spirited, adorable. Desperate to protect them, she secretly sent the younger boy away one stormy night, entrusting him to loyal attendants who would escort him back to her homeland, Fulan.
That same night, the Fulan queen lost her fifth prince to illness. When the Empress’s nephew arrived, the Fulan king and queen decided to pass the child off as their own to preserve the secret. The boy was hidden away at an estate under the pretense of convalescence and there he remained for seven years.
When Fulan was later defeated by the rising Wu kingdom, the victors demanded a royal hostage, specifically a legitimate son. The hidden child was brought forth again.
At this point, Meng Guqing could already piece together the rest, the man before her was no prince of Fulan at all, but a prince of Zhou.
From all she’d heard since entering Zhou territory, the empire’s internal affairs were in chaos, even worse than Wu’s. She had often heard the name of Grand Marshal Wang Xiao, the emperor’s in-law who, backed by his two nieces in the harem, wielded unchecked power while Emperor Yuwen Tai languished in indulgence. The court was torn apart by corruption and factional struggle; if not for a few upright ministers resisting him, Zhou might already have fallen.
Just imagining that political mess gave her a headache. No wonder he hadn’t told her the truth earlier, tricking her all the way to the capital before confessing. She could already see her peaceful, carefree days slipping further away. Angry, she snapped, “You liar! Didn’t you say once we reached Zhou, I could do whatever I wanted? Now I find out you’ve got two royal concubines, a power-hungry minister, and a useless emperor for a father! How are we supposed to live peacefully?”
He followed her quickly, utterly unconcerned. “What kind of life we live has nothing to do with them, even my father can’t control me. Why do you care about such irrelevant people?” He truly seemed unable to understand. In his world, if a problem couldn’t be solved, you simply eliminated whoever caused it, simple as that.
Meng Guqing returned to the small cabin in frustration. Having once been an Empress, she had developed a keen sense for politics. She looked at him, troubled. “We’re not hermits hiding in the mountains. Without power or influence, even with your martial skill, you can’t fight the world alone. Politics isn’t decided by fists. Look, we’re not even back yet, and we’ve already faced an ambush. If it weren’t for luck, you might not have survived. Even if your mother still has supporters, the odds aren’t in your favor.”
“Actually… have you ever thought about this? What if we don’t go to the capital at all, and just live among the common folk? I have money, and you have ability, we could live very freely.” Meng Guqing offered the suggestion with some hesitation. After all, he was going back to fight for the throne. The throne—supreme power under heaven. Even she didn’t dare claim she had no desire for it. Why had she allowed Zhao Donglin to depose her back then, almost in a resigned, submissive way? Wasn’t it precisely because she was painfully aware of reality, that no matter how deep a feeling was, it could never compare to the importance of the throne?
Once she thought of this, her heart wavered, a faint urge to retreat rising in her chest. Then she heard him say: “No. I told you, whatever Zhao Donglin could give you, I can too. He made you his empress; it’s not like I can’t. I will give you the best this world has to offer. I said it, and I’ll do it.”
Liking someone, perhaps, was just like this, offering what you believe is the very best with both hands. Meng Guqing couldn’t say she wasn’t moved; she was even a little touched. But, was he forgetting the most important thing?
She couldn’t help but say, “Did you forget? Your imperial father is still alive. And your family’s reins of power are in someone else’s hands now. Do you really think they’ll willingly cough back up everything they swallowed?”
Not only would they refuse, they would use every means to eliminate the legitimate heir. Just look at the assassination they had faced; it told her everything.
By this point, Meng Guqing had completely abandoned the idea of coaxing him to run away. In a situation where it was either you die or I do, with knives already pressed to their throats, hiding was not a viable path to survival. Even if they wanted to hide, that Grand Marshal wouldn’t let Xiao Shuo live. What lay ahead would only be endless pursuit.
Thinking this far, she could already sense a tough battle looming. She sighed internally. This man really was a thief ship: once you got on, there was no getting off.
Meng Guqing looked at Xiao Shuo with a mixture of resentment and helplessness. In red wedding robes under the glow of red candles, the young man was breathtakingly beautiful, and he flashed that cool, slightly deranged smile of his.
“Anyone who blocks the way, just get rid of them. Why do you always forget your husband’s old trade? You really don’t care about me at all.”
…What did he mean by that? Killing the Grand Marshal made sense, and even those two vicious Wang sisters—fine. But was he implying… his own imperial father was also on the kill list?
After all, to give her the position of empress, he had to become emperor himself first, and the current Zhou emperor was the greatest obstacle of all. Judging from the dark, vicious glint in his eyes, she might really be right.
Meng Guqing broke out in a cold sweat. She quickly pulled him down to sit beside her.
“That’s not what I meant. I’m actually not that interested in being an empress… Managing so many people and affairs, it’s exhausting. You really don’t need to fight for it just because of me.”
What she really meant was: Please don’t run back and massacre everyone tonight. If he went on a killing spree, she, standing right beside him, would absolutely be dragged into the chaos.
But when these words entered Xiao Shuo’s ears, they instantly provoked displeasure.
“What do you mean? Zhao Donglin’s empress you could be, but being my empress is suddenly too tiring for you?”
Meng Guqing’s mouth opened and closed, she really couldn’t shoulder this kind of blame. And didn’t he know perfectly well what had gone on between her and Zhao Donglin?
But experience from countless generations of women told her one thing: When a man is already drowning in jealousy, bubbling like a simmering vinegar jar, reasoning is useless. What works is kissing, coaxing, and softening him.
Under the candlelight, the new bride blinked her clear, glowing eyes. Her profile was smooth and jade-white like the finest mutton-fat jade. With a hint of helplessness, she said: “Who wouldn’t be happy to have the title of empress as a betrothal gift? But I’m only worried because those people are strong and numerous, hard to deal with. Compared to those external things, I still think being with the person I like, staying by each other’s side, is more important and happier. Even if I used to be the empress of Wu Dynasty, that’s all in the past. Can you stop bringing it up? If I didn’t want to be with you, when you told me a few days ago to leave, wouldn’t I have gone? But I didn’t, did I?”
So yes, having a soft heart was terrible. Ever since she got tangled up with Xiao Shuo, their boundaries kept brushing and shifting. But with someone like Xiao Shuo, bold, lawless, utterly without a bottom line, who could possibly win against him?
Now that he had wrapped her up this tightly, unless she could return to the modern world, she might never escape him again. And returning to the modern world… was a far-off dream, one that would never come true.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice how the young man beside her was watching her with eyes growing hotter and hotter, until his handsome face suddenly magnified in front of hers.
She blinked. “What is it?”
“We’re already married. Before, you said that people who aren’t married can’t sleep together, can’t kiss, can’t touch. And now?”
Oh right.
After getting married came the wedding night.
And in this secluded wooden hut drowned in the roar of the forest with no one to interrupt them, this was exactly the quiet world he had always wanted.
But today had been so full of shocking, unexpected events; she hadn’t even digested everything yet. She really was not in the mood to get intimate.
Meng Guqing hesitated.
But the young man, who had been holding himself back for a long time, seemed to reach his limit. With the ferocity of a starving tiger, he pressed her down, kissing the corners of her brows, kisses deepening and intensifying. Sparks of heat seemed to burst in the air.
Feeling him tug at the sash of her wedding robe, Meng Guqing grabbed his hand, embarrassed and flustered.
“But I want to bathe first… Can you wait for me a bit?”
At this point she clearly couldn’t refuse anymore. And back in the forbidden grounds, she had already foreseen that sooner or later, he would completely devour her. At the time, she thought he was only playing. But now the marriage contract was signed, refusing to share a bed simply wasn’t realistic.
And she knew very well, he would never allow her to escape. They had already shared a bed countless times since heading south. More than once he had wanted her, and every time she had found some excuse to refuse.
In the past few days when she had been ill, even in her brief moments of consciousness, he had fed her porridge and medicine, wet a cloth to wipe her body, every part of it, even the most private places. He had seen everything already.
And since he had been caring for her constantly, she didn’t actually smell of sweat. Even now she was fragrant, the scent seeming to seep from her very skin and soak into her wedding robes. He was obsessed with that scent, burying his face into her neck, kissing her insistently, refusing to let her go. He used the same excuse again to stop her from bathing.
Meng Guqing tried to bargain again. Even though she had expected this moment, when it finally arrived, she still felt inexplicably hesitant. She just wanted a little more time, a moment to sort out her chaotic feelings about marrying again.
But this man seemed afraid she might run, entangling her tightly, setting fires along her nerves, quickly pulling her into the same heated haze.
Her misty eyes were like a lost fawn in the mountains and the next moment she was caught in the coils of a force that had been poised to strike for a long time.
In that instant of dazed surrender, she felt both her heart and her body being invaded and filled by someone who existed with overwhelming intensity. Being held bare in his arms was already embarrassing enough, but the way he stared at her with that strange, feverish focus made her whole body tremble. His almost reverent sigh brushed her ear: “You’re mine now. And I’m yours.”
The sudden penetration made her body tense. She bit her lip lightly, trying to adjust to the initial discomfort. She wanted to refute him, she had always belonged to herself, never to anyone. But his next line—‘I’m yours too’—made her heart tremble.
She had never heard a man say “I’m yours.”
It was as if he placed himself second, handing over both body and soul to her, letting her do whatever she wished.
His previous flirtations had been so wild and unrestrained that she once maliciously suspected she couldn’t possibly be the first girl he had dragged into intimacy. But now, at the moment of truth, she could feel it, he had no experience. Every thrust was so… deep, reckless, overwhelming—like a tiny boat swept from crest to trough of enormous waves.
As things grew more intimate, she soon had no energy left to think about anything at all. It felt like the winds on the cliff were tearing the roof off and sweeping it inside, because how else could the entire bed be shaking like this?
Her vision blurred, her mind scattered.
The entire night was wild—too wild. The next day, she shattered her personal record for sleeping in, dozing straight until the hour of Shen. The sun was already tilting west when she finally stretched and opened her eyes, exhausted and unwilling to get up. Wrapped in the blanket, she looked at the sunlight streaming through the wooden window, filling the small bedroom. A dry, cool breeze fluttered the bed curtains.
Still spacing out, she saw a figure enter.
The handsome, once-cold face now held a faint smile, so gentle Meng Guqing almost didn’t recognize him. When he set the porridge on the stool beside the bed and told her to get up and eat, she felt a moment of surreal disconnect.
Was this considerate, tender man really the same shameless, deranged person she knew?
The silent expectation of being discarded, one she had faintly braced for, suddenly had nowhere to land.
Maybe… her prejudice of him really was too strong?
But she had no strength to think further. She was still exhausted. Burying her face in the blanket, she mumbled: “No appetite. I don’t want to eat right now.”
Xiao Shuo sat down, lifting both her and the blanket into his arms. He wasn’t angry at all.
“I know you’re tired of porridge after these days. But it’s the only thing I can cook. I wanted to go down the mountain this morning to buy something better, but even rushing, it would take half an hour. And I didn’t want to leave you here alone.”
This place was the outer area of his old assassin headquarters, though the training grounds were deeper in: sheer cliffs reachable only by experts in qinggong skill. After he rose to power, he moved everyone away and abandoned this place. He only brought her here to show her where he used to live, without thinking things through.
Meng Guqing was stunned, almost flustered.
He was… being patient?
He had been different ever since she got sick, though she hadn’t really thought about it. Seeing him like this now made her feel a little embarrassed.
“I didn’t sleep well, that’s why I have no appetite. Just give me a bit and I’ll want to eat later. And please don’t leave me here alone, I’m a little scared.”
Last night, when they bowed to the moon to marry, she had heard wolves howling in the distance. The mountain must be full of beasts. She had never experienced being alone in a deep forest before, it was terrifying just thinking about it.
Seeing her tense, Xiao Shuo held her hand, his voice softening too.
“I won’t leave you alone. Eat first, then we’ll go down the mountain.”
“Leaving so soon?” she asked in surprise. She had thought they would linger in the mountains for at least a day or two, after all, they had just married. Though the ceremony wasn’t what she had dreamed of, what was done was done; its legitimacy wasn’t something her doubts could shake.
Xiao Shuo replied, “We only held a simple one here. Once we return to Shangjing, there will be a proper grand ceremony. Did you think I was joking when I said I’d make you Empress? Why do you always forget what I say?”
“What? There’s still going to be another ceremony?” she asked, stunned. She had assumed that with his eccentric temperament, the modest ritual last night was all he wanted, that it already made them husband and wife. She really had understood him too little, too superficially. As Meng Guqing reflected on that, he continued: “I don’t like troublesome things. What we did last night was my idea of the best way. But the world cares about open acknowledgment and grand announcements, doesn’t it?”
He had said before that whatever others had, she should have as well and clearly, he hadn’t been joking.
Meng Guqing had always thought he was indifferent to worldly conventions, which was why he had kept snatching her away like a bandit. But it turned out he wasn’t ignorant at all. Luckily, her mindset had shifted; she wasn’t so fixated on returning to Gaochang anymore. Still, she decided to test the waters. Sitting up in bed under his gaze, she sipped her porridge and suddenly asked, “Then… will I still be able to go back to Gaochang to visit? If things go as you plan, doesn’t that mean I’ll never be able to return?”
He didn’t hesitate, answering casually, “You can.” After a pause, he added, “But take me with you.”
So when he’d said ‘I’m yours too’ last night, he hadn’t been speaking lightly. Did he truly see himself as hers now? His change startled her, could marriage really transform someone this much?
What she didn’t realize was that his change came entirely from her. That stormy night when assassins came for her, she hadn’t abandoned him to save herself and that had struck him deeply. In his world, if a companion dragged you down, no one would turn back to help, even if it cost nothing. Yet she, an ordinary woman with no martial skill, had stayed.
If even in that moment she hadn’t run, didn’t that mean she truly cared for him? If they loved each other, what obstacle couldn’t they overcome? What could possibly force them apart?
After breakfast and washing up, Xiao Shuo indeed prepared to take her down the mountain. They had almost no luggage. Because she had been ill when they came up, it was her first time seeing the path clearly and “steep” was an understatement. Sheer cliffs surrounded them, narrow plank paths looked ancient and fragile, and at points only one person could pass. Yet he carried her as if treading flat ground, flying from ledge to ledge with the help of vines winding along the stone walls.
She clung to his neck the entire way, eyes shut tight. When she dared to open them just a slit, the sight of the dark, bottomless ravines below made her acrophobia surge anew. After nearly half an hour of leaping and gliding, they finally reached gentler terrain. When her feet touched solid ground again, she drew a deep breath of relief. Her heart must be strong indeed, she thought, to keep up with a man so utterly unbound by worldly restraint.
At the foot of the mountain, they boarded a carriage heading toward Zhou’s capital, Shangjing.
This time, though, it was only the two of them, none of his subordinates were in sight. She couldn’t help but worry. Had they suffered heavy losses last time? They had been comrades-in-arms, living, breathing people; even a brief acquaintance was hard to forget. When she asked, he answered honestly: “There were some losses. The rest, I’ve sent on other assignments. You’ll see them again soon.”
He hadn’t realized it himself, but the organization he’d once led as a network of assassins had already begun to change under his hand. In recent years, as he spent less time in the martial world, what he needed were loyal guards rather than killers and two years ago, he had started reforming them in that direction.
Meng Guqing didn’t know this, nor was she particularly curious. Traveling alone with him felt fine, she had never liked crowds anyway.
At first she was still a bit nervous. With his identity as a Zhou dynasty prince, wasn’t there danger everywhere? But after four or five uneventful days of leisurely travel, like a sightseeing trip, her worries faded completely. And just as she relaxed, they entered the outskirts of Shangjing.
The carriage stopped before a grand mansion. The plaque above the gate read “Meng Residence.” Meng Guqing blinked in confusion and turned to Xiao Shuo. The young man, calm and composed, led her inside hand in hand, asking along the way how she liked it.
He clearly didn’t plan to explain, and she didn’t press because the truth dawned on her soon enough. His identity now was far too sensitive; using the surnames Yuwen or Xiao would draw suspicion. Naturally, he had borrowed hers instead.
By that logic, the situation was still precarious but that thought was quickly overturned by shocking news: the Grand Marshal, Wang Xiao, who had held the reins of Zhou’s power for nearly a decade, had been assassinated.
Meng Guqing looked at Xiao Shuo in disbelief. He waved off the messenger and curved his lips in a faint, amused smile. “What an unfortunate coincidence,” he said lightly.
Unfortunate indeed. She had just been worrying about their predicament and in the next breath, he had already eliminated their greatest threat. Who was this man she’d ended up with?
