Zeng Wuyou

The majestic imperial city, with its purple pillars and golden beams, vermilion lacquered doors, glazed tiles, and painted buildings and carved rafters, is extremely splendid.

In the imperial garden, there was an elegant and gentle middle-aged man in bright yellow, who was coaxing the crying little girl in his arms with a loving face.

After Bai Roushuang escaped from her inner demonic state, she had regained some consciousness. She was still a little frightened and a little dazed, "Is that you as a child?"

"Yes, it's me and my father," Xu Shulou looked at the man with a smile, "When I was a child, he taught me how to read, often held me on his lap and taught me to recite poems, and even bandaged the wounds of the rabbits I raised with his own hands."

Bai Roushuang was puzzled: "Is this your inner demon?"

"Don't worry, just keep reading."

Bai Roushuang had no choice but to hold back and accompany Xu Shulou to watch the story of the princess's growth. Looking at those silver screens, golden houses, pearl palaces, she almost thought that Xu Shulou was deliberately showing off his superiority in front of her.

Just as Bai Roushuang expected, Xu Shulou was indeed a girl who grew up in a honey pot. Her parents and brothers doted on her. No one around her dared to disrespect the legitimate princess. She could use emerald feathers, pearls, jade plates and delicacies at will. When choosing a son-in-law, the famous champion in the capital did not want to be a royal consort, but when he saw her for the first time at the palace banquet, his face blushed slightly. The biggest worry in her life was probably that the rabbits she raised died of old age, which made her cry bitterly.

Bai Roushuang admitted that she was jealous. Who wouldn’t be jealous of such a life?

The only jewel in the crown of the emperor, the lovely and innocent princess. Bai Roushuang, who had never seen her biological father, felt jealous and envious when she saw the emperor's pampering of Xu Shulou.

Xu Shulou looked at the emperor in bright yellow in front of him, lost in thought: "My father is a truly good man, trustworthy and loyal. He promised my mother that they would be together for life, so he never selected concubines. He always taught me and my brother to be upright gentlemen. He was kind-hearted and the most benevolent. He never beat or scolded the palace maids. Even when his companion who grew up with him committed a serious crime, he was reluctant to kill him."

"..." Bai Roushuang nodded after hearing the first few sentences. The man in front of her was gentle and kind, full of bookish air, and looked like a gentleman. But her last sentence made Bai Roushuang hear some bad clues.

As expected, Xu Shulou changed the subject and sighed softly, "It's a pity that a good man may not necessarily be a good emperor."

As she sighed softly, the peaceful scene before her eyes instantly turned into a murderous atmosphere.

It turned into a chaotic army breaking into the city, with blood and pestles floating everywhere.

Bai Roushuang seemed to have sensed something and asked in a trembling voice, "Senior Sister, which princess of the previous dynasty are you?"

Xu Shulou's tone remained unchanged: "Fang Yi."

Bai Roushuang gasped: "You are..." the princess of a fallen country.

The only daughter of the last emperor of the previous dynasty was briefly and perfunctorily mentioned in history books.

It is said that Princess Fangyi was extremely beautiful and charming, with many admirers. Later, she disappeared with the change of dynasties, which added a bit of mystery to her life. I don't know how many stories have been based on her and speculated about her later life.

Bai Roushuang had read one of the erotic books, which said that Princess Fangyi was not missing at all, but was imprisoned in the mansion by a powerful official of the new dynasty, where she spent every night with him.

Now that she suddenly knew that her senior sister was the protagonist of the erotic novel she had read, Bai Roushuang felt mixed emotions. She was shocked at one moment and felt that it was really outrageous at another. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know where to start.

Bai Roushuang naturally knew that Xu Shulou was from the extinct Xu royal family, but seeing her carefree and tolerant personality, she just thought she was a princess of the prosperous times, living a life of luxury, and not knowing the sufferings of the world. By the time the dynasty changed, she had already joined the Wuchen Island sect and transcended the mundane world.

Bai Roushuang never thought that she had experienced that war.

Xu Shulou looked in the direction of the imperial palace, seeming to know exactly what would happen next.

Bai Roushuang followed her and looked over.

In the imperial palace, in front of the main hall.

The emperor listened to the sound of metal clashing in the distance and whispered to the eunuchs around him: "Let them surrender. The situation is hopeless. Why waste their lives?"

The eunuch wiped his tears, kowtowed to the emperor, and left.

The emperor told the palace servants to flee on their own, and then took Xu Shulou's hand and said, "Father has arranged money and manpower for you. Go quickly and live well."

Xu Shulou cried and begged him to go with him.

The emperor looked at her with a sad look in his eyes, which also showed his concern for her: "I have lost the country of my ancestors. I have no face to live in this world. I should die for my country."

Xu Shulou looked at her mother again. Her always gentle mother shook her head firmly: "I want to accompany your father. I'm sorry, Shulou, your mother can't accompany you in the future."

She cried again and tried to pull her brother's hand. Her brother hugged her and said, "Silly girl, I am a man from the Xu royal family. The new emperor will not let me go. If you run away by yourself, you may have a better chance of survival."

"No, I don't want it!" The pampered little princess knelt before them, but for the first time in her life, they all rejected her request.

The palace maids arranged by the emperor wanted to drag Xu Shulou away. The queen had always seemed calm and composed, and smiled as she said goodbye to her daughter. But at this moment, she could not help herself and ran after her, shouting, "Shulou, remember to put on more clothes when it's cold. Don't be so obsessed with beauty that you refuse to wear thick clothes like before!"

Remember to put on more clothes when it’s cold... It’s hard to imagine that these were the last words the queen mother left for the princess. At that moment, she was just an ordinary mother, admonishing her daughter who was about to leave her forever.

Afterwards, Xu Shulou's parents and brother committed suicide in Hanyuan Hall.

Bai Roushuang watched Xu Shulou being forcibly dragged away by the palace maids, listened to her heart-wrenching cries, and saw the gorgeous jade hairpin on her head fall to the ground and break into several pieces while she struggled. She felt mixed emotions.

On the contrary, Xu Shulou, who was watching from the sidelines, was very calm. She took Bai Roushuang's hand, walked through the chaotic army, stepped on the blood, and left the imperial city.

Bai Roushuang couldn't help but stop and look back at the younger Xu Shulou. The grief and hatred in the other's eyes frightened her.

The two Xu Shulou had very different expressions, which made her feel a strange sense of disconnection.

She couldn't imagine how the innocent and naive little princess who wanted to be pampered and protected by everyone had transformed into the caring, considerate and considerate senior sister in front of her over such a long time.

Xu Shulou said nothing, so Bai Roushuang watched quietly with her. She watched the new emperor, who Xu Shulou had affectionately called "Uncle Xiao", ascend the throne and change the country's name to "Xiao", and watched the top scholar who had fallen in love with Xu Shulou at first sight also become an official of the new dynasty.

Bai Roushuang didn't know whether the little princess had ever fallen in love with this handsome young man. If not, that was probably the only consolation in the matter.

These things were so tragic that Bai Roushuang temporarily forgot her own hatred and focused on speaking up for Xu Shulou.

"You... don't hate it?"

"How can I not hate them?" Xu Shulou looked at the number one scholar. "When I hated them the most, I wanted to kill them one by one and skin them alive."

"Then why isn't senior sister affected by the magic mirror?" Witnessing the destruction of the country and the family again, Bai Roushuang didn't understand why she could remain so calm.

"I have entered the Heart Demon Mirror more than once," Xu Shulou explained, "Every time the Yuankong Secret Realm was opened, I would go in just to see my parents and brother. I was afraid that one day I would forget what they looked like, and I was even more afraid that one day I would forget what my enemies looked like."

"How on earth did you manage to resist swinging your sword in the illusion?" Bai Roushuang had obviously figured out the key to the Heart Demon Mirror. She couldn't help but attack three times in the illusion, which resulted in her becoming one with herself in the illusion and almost getting lost.

Xu Shulou groaned: "The reasons are quite complicated."

Bai Roushuang thought that the senior sister had some secret tricks for cultivating her mind, and perhaps some bitter tears of self-struggle, so she was about to listen attentively, but she heard Xu Shulou said calmly: "At first, I wanted to kill them in reality, so I held back in the Heart Demon Mirror for the time being."

“…”