Soon the scene resumed, and as if the heavens had taken pity on the cubs, a heavy rain began to fall.

Gan Qiongying was once again forced into a state of being subjected to the rain. She felt herself being awakened by the raindrops, and then she struggled to open her eyes, open her mouth, and drink the rainwater.

The fishy smell of rain, mixed with the blood in her mouth, rushed into her throat. She mustered a little strength, began to get up, carried her brother, whose life was uncertain, on her back, and moved with difficulty toward the house.

They spent the most difficult days in this courtyard, suffering from fever, infection, hunger, and huddling together for warmth.

Just as they were about to die in the courtyard, a group of people broke down the gate, rushed in, and took them out of the courtyard.

However, they were unable to separate the two people immediately. When the rescuers arrived, they found that the two were tightly bound together, with their tattered clothes used as ropes, tied around their waists and arms.

The last thing Gan Qiongying was forced to experience was the pain and stench emanating from the rotting wound on her waist.

Then the scene changes, and they are all saved. King Hui returns in triumph, beheads the enemy general, burns the enemy's granary, and single-handedly forces a halt to the war that has lasted for many years.

With military achievements unmatched by any other prince at the time, he returned to the capital in glory and was immediately appointed as the crown prince, with a group of people around him rising to prominence along with him.

The reason he remembered his children, whom he had abandoned in the palace for many years, was because during the time he was missing, almost all of his children had been killed.

The one retrieved from the palace was also a close call, barely escaping death.

Fortunately, they were saved.

Gan Qiongying looked at the real young Duanrong in her dream. Because of her desperate protection of Hui Wang's sixth son Gan Lin, she, who was originally a disgrace to the royal family, also turned the tide against all odds.

The scene begins to move very fast, everything unfolds naturally, and time flows like water. With the protection of Prince Hui, who has become the crown prince, Duanrong is triumphant and her arrogant and domineering nature begins to gradually emerge.

In addition, the old emperor passed away, and Prince Hui ascended the throne, becoming Emperor Huicheng.

Furthermore, she skillfully used rumors to rewrite the story of Duanrong, the former disgrace to the royal family, into a poignant tale of unwavering loyalty and devotion to a powerful general of the time.

Duanrong was exceptionally granted the title of princess, and Emperor Huicheng, grateful that she had preserved his last remaining bloodline, showered her with such favor that it drew criticism.

The princess, who was bestowed the title of Duanrong, was as close as a brother and sister to the crown prince. They spent all their time together, laughing, joking, and even eating and sleeping together.

These two children, who share the same hobbies and have grown up relying on each other, have an unparalleled understanding that no one else can match.

However, as time went on, Princess Duanrong gradually realized that when she looked at her younger brother, her thoughts were becoming increasingly strange.

Who can stop a young man from falling in love?

A drunken, reckless act of probing caused the siblings to drift apart.

Because only Duanrong was in love with him, Gan Lin, the Crown Prince, already had someone he liked, the daughter of the Minister of Personnel, who was beautiful and intelligent, and had unparalleled talent. She was about to be betrothed to the Crown Princess by the Emperor.

Duanrong, enraged and insane, deliberately invited the daughter of the Minister to enjoy flowers and a boat trip on the lake, and then plotted to make her fall into the lake.

Although she eventually rescued the man and did not kill him, the siblings became estranged as a result and did not speak to each other for a long time.

Before time could dissipate the twisted feelings between them that they dared not develop, Emperor Huicheng suddenly fell seriously ill and was unable to get out of bed.

The already precarious power structure is facing a new round of upheaval and infighting. At that time, the emperor married the daughter of Prime Minister Kou in order to consolidate his position. Emperor Huicheng thought that Zitong, who was his equal, pushed him into hell.

The Kou family is like a great tree, deeply rooted in the ground for many years. Their powerful and intricate influence is like the roots of the tree, and no one can shake it.

It was the Empress at that time, who is now the Empress Dowager Kou Ning'an, who used the nourishing soup she had personally prepared over the years to gradually bring about the death of Emperor Huicheng.

The empire had collapsed, and Crown Prince Gan Lin, whose power was not yet fully developed, had no one to rely on. Even after ascending the throne, he was constantly hampered and became a puppet in the hands of the Kou family.

The once glorious and powerful princess Duanrong was reduced to a laughable fallen phoenix overnight.

The court officials jointly impeached him, listing multiple crimes. Duanrong, who had been arrogant for so long, became the target of public criticism, and it seemed that he was about to be brought down from his high position.

In Gan Qiongying's long dream, the last scene was Empress Dowager Kou Ning'an brewing a nourishing soup once again.

With a sickeningly fake smile, she handed the medicine to the current emperor, Gan Lin.

Gan Qiongying was forced to experience everything in her dream, and the tears in her eyes almost drained her soul.

She felt as if her soul had been forcibly sewn into a broken body, and that body clearly still contained the love, hatred, sorrow, and resentment of another person throughout their life.

Gan Qiongying gasped and woke up with a start. In the moment the dream collapsed, she heard herself shout at the top of her lungs, "The Slave of Immortality!"

Her wildly waving hands were grasped by a pair of strong hands. She opened her eyes, her mind elsewhere, as if she were still floating in a dream, or as if she had transformed into Duan Rong.

Changshengnu was Ganlin's nickname.

It was earlier in the palace that he had asked Gan Qiongying, in a subservient manner, if she still blamed him for wanting Gan Qiongying to call him by his childhood nickname when she addressed him as the emperor.

In the Yinian Hall, the bowl of medicine that the emperor rushed to drink was the very poison that caused Emperor Huicheng to become emaciated and die.

All of this was something Gan Lin willingly agreed to at the time, because only by becoming a puppet emperor could he protect his elder sister.

The former Duanrong, now Gan Qiongying, is the Crown Prince's Achilles' heel that the Empress Dowager holds tightly in her grasp.

It forced that weak child to shoulder a burden that was not his own with his thin shoulders, to take poison every day, to endure a life that seemed to have no end in sight, unable to live and unable to die.

Gan Qiongying burst into tears, her head throbbing with pain.

"Princess, it's alright now. Just bear with it a little longer. The imperial physician will finish the acupuncture soon." A familiar voice comforted her.

Gan Qiongying blinked hard, trying her best to dispel the pain in her heart.

Her blurred vision was quickly wiped dry with a handkerchief, and she saw the worried look in Li Hua's eyes.

Gan Qiongying closed her eyes and finally understood the truth behind a part of the plot that had not been written.

Now I finally understand why the emperor was so thin.

Why did she experience a dull ache in her heart when she saw the emperor?

Because she... is Duan Rong.

Or rather, all of Duan Rong's memories still remain in her reborn body.

And she became Duanrong.

She looked at the child she had risked her life to protect, the man she loved and couldn't bear to criticize or force, and her cousin whom she had relied on and deeply loved since childhood. For her sake, he was wantonly trampled and harmed on the throne.

How can one avoid feeling utterly heartbroken and devastated?