Several maids entered in an orderly fashion and tidied up the room.

Wang Wan sat in front of the dressing table. The maid standing behind her, who was styling her hair, looked at the beautiful woman in the dim yellow mirror and said with a smile, "Miss looks radiant today."

She paused, subconsciously glancing at her face, a blush creeping up her cheeks. She waved her hand, "Alright, you can all go out now. I'll rest for a bit."

"Shall we serve the meal now?"

"No need."

The maids didn't say anything more and respectfully withdrew.

Once everyone was gone, the whole room became empty. Looking at the neatly made, luxurious brocade bed, Wang Wan couldn't help but recall the madness of the previous night.

Her usually gentle and pale face suddenly became as alluring and captivating as if it had been rouged.

She gently rubbed her sore legs, slowly walked to the small couch, and lay down for a short rest.

Summers in Yandu are very hot. Young ladies from the manor would go hunting and playing games like dice and pitch-pot in the suburban mountain villas.

Seeing that her daughter stayed cooped up in the room all day, the third wife urged her to go out for a walk, but seeing that her daughter's health had become increasingly weak, she had no choice but to give up.

Feeling guilty about running away from the wedding, Wang Wan went to see Xie Er and explained to him in person.

He was still the same as before, with a faint smile on his face, but his eyes seemed to hold an unmelting ice, making it impossible for anyone to figure out what he was thinking.

She wanted to offer some words of comfort, but she was also afraid that saying too much would evoke unpleasant memories for him, so she listened quietly as he recounted his past on the northern plateau.

The wind by the lake was warm, and the faint echoes reverberated through the pine forest. His lonely figure appeared somewhat desolate in the sunlight.

She thought of the corpse hidden beneath the frozen lake, and the story of the Great Jin War God and the noble lady from the northern lands that she had heard before she even came of age. A wave of desolation washed over her, and she murmured, unsure how to comfort her.

Xie Xuan didn't seem to mind, and turned back to look at her with a smile.

"Ah Wan, live your life well, don't let yourself have any regrets."

Time flew by, and hearing that the war in the north was becoming increasingly fierce, Wang Wan would go to the Buddhist hall to kneel and pray, and also go to the temples on the outskirts of the city to pray for blessings.

However, her health deteriorated, as if every part of her body was malfunctioning. She became a walking pharmacy, taking medicine day after day, and the room in Qushui Garden was always filled with the smell of medicine.

She often lay in bed, her small face thin and pale, and her spirits were getting worse.

When the weather was fine, she would go for a walk in the garden and carefully sew her wedding dress. The embroiderers in the mansion were afraid that she would get tired and didn't want her to do it herself, but she had nothing to do and was lying in bed all day, almost getting moldy, and just wanted to embroider it herself.

The previous wedding dress was put away and placed on a high platform. This is a new wedding dress that the family has been rushing to embroider. It is elaborate and gorgeous, with flowing sleeves and fluttering ribbons. The material is Phoenix Floating Light Brocade brought by the Xie family from the northern frontier. In the dark night, it looks like it is floating with light when worn, which is beautiful and magnificent.

Seeing how much she valued it, the old women in the manor couldn't help but recall how sickly she looked before her wedding, and they began to gossip among themselves.

Wang Wan didn't care. It was September, and the weather was getting colder. Her heart ached terribly on rainy days, but she still forced herself to embroider her wedding dress by hand when it was warm during the day.

Before winter even arrived, the underfloor heating had already been turned on in her room. The maids filed in one after another, each busy serving her. The incense burning inside could not mask the increasingly strong smell of medicine.

Wang Wan lay in bed, took the medicine soup handed to her by the maid, and drank it. Two days ago, she went to her sixth brother's room to inquire about the war in the north. She heard that the Great Qi had blocked the waterway between Bianqi in the south and cut off the economic exchanges between the north and the capital.

I've also heard that the Western Regions are on the verge of chaos, with several small kingdoms rising up in rebellion and secretly turning against each other, and the entire northern frontier is about to descend into chaos.

She knew that the north had been in turmoil for many years, with barbarian invasions, the Quanrong rampaging in the Hedong area, and the northern noble families and feudal lords colluding with foreign tribes to establish regimes.

Several hundred years ago, the barbarian tribes joined forces with the northern gentry to establish the Great Yan Empire in the north, annexing many small states. However, the empire later suffered internal divisions and its power diminished considerably.

After Your Majesty ascended the throne in Jiankang, you destroyed the Southern Liang, suppressed the aristocratic clans, unified the south, and launched several northern expeditions, conquering the north, defending the territory, expanding the borders, and pacifying the north. If this expedition can completely destroy the Great Yan and capture Xilin Pass, it will cut off the route for the barbarians to move south into the Central Plains.

Xilin Pass is located at the junction of the Beichuan Plain and the Lichuan River. To the north lies a vast plain with no natural barriers. The loss of Xilin Pass by the Great Yan Dynasty demonstrates that the Central Plains' troops can attack the northern frontier at any time, while the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions have no natural defenses.

"Miss, the weather is nice today, would you like to go for a walk?"

Wang Wan came to her senses, placed the medicine on a tray, glanced at the sunlight outside through the window, and got out of bed wearing her shoes.

Before winter even arrived, she put on a fox fur coat and went outside. Her delicate, pale face looked even paler in the sunlight.

Since Xie Xuan left, she would often write letters to him at the post station, which was the Xie family's post station he had mentioned before he left. They usually talked about trivial things, what she had eaten or seen that day, which opera was good, who had gotten married, and how the lotus flowers in Shilixiang had withered and how beautiful the chrysanthemums were in full bloom.

He often wrote back to her, talking about the lone wolf of Tianshan, the grasslands of northern China, and the endless white glaciers. He also mentioned that a mother wolf on the Hui grasslands had given birth to wolf cubs and that he wanted to take one of them for her to raise.

A month has passed since the last letter, and she has not received a reply from him. She went to ask her sixth brother, but news from the north was tightly blocked, and he was far away in Yandu, so he did not know what had happened.

Time flies, and the weather has become increasingly cold lately. It snowed outside, and the north wind howled, like sharp knives scraping against one's face, causing a sharp pain.

Wang Wan emerged from the post station, her figure slender, her bright eyes glistening with tears. She wore a red cloak woven with soft fur, the white down around her neck fluttering in the wind, making her small face appear even more frail and pale.

When the maid saw her come out, she was about to go forward to help her into the carriage when she suddenly saw the person fall backward.

"Miss."

Wang Wan's health has been very poor lately. She is bedridden most of the time, and her face is pale and sickly. She only came out today because she was struggling to stay awake.

She held the maid's hand tightly, covered her mouth with a handkerchief in one hand, and coughed violently.

The maidservant's eyes widened when she saw the large amount of blood on her white handkerchief. She hurriedly said, "Quick, quick, help Miss into the carriage and back to the manor."

As soon as she finished speaking, a sharp pain shot through Wang Wan's heart. Her delicate, jade-like face turned a terrifyingly pale and transparent color. Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth and dripped down her chin onto the snow, a horribly red sight.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but before she could speak, she collapsed into the arms of the maid behind her and fainted.

"Miss----"