Sacrificed to the flag
The capital city is thousands of miles away from the grasslands, and the journey alone would take several months. So after leaving the capital, Xu Yi changed back into her plain clothes. If it weren't for the fact that Xu Yi was sitting in a glittering golden carriage, she would hardly look like a princess.
The guard of honor was supposed to be for protection, but it was actually more like surveillance, to keep an eye on her, the unfavored princess, to make sure she didn't run away halfway and disrupt the marriage alliance.
Xu Yi had already given up on herself, so naturally she wouldn't run away anymore. But she was indeed a princess with a criminal record, so even when she went to the toilet, people would surround it. Xu Yi wasn't like a princess; she was more like a small animal kept in captivity, with absolutely no freedom.
The journey went smoothly at first, but after only two months, some people sent messengers by fast horse, and others left the honor guard, returning to Beijing under the guise of reporting for duty, never to return. Later, more and more people returned to Beijing to report for duty, and the honor guard was reduced to less than half its original size.
Even Xu Yi's maid noticed and began spending money every day to inquire about the situation. After about half a month of inquiries, she finally heard the news: about a month after the marriage procession set off, the grasslands began to stir again, constantly encroaching on the border. Seeing that a war was only a matter of time, no one was willing to go to the border to die again.
The most favored and well-informed people left in the first round; then came those with relatives in key positions; then came the lowest-ranking officials; later even the guards and maids knew about it, and guards began to lead palace maids to escape, and it gradually became a disaster, with large numbers of people fleeing every day...
But since the war hadn't started yet, the marriage procession couldn't be stopped. Finally, the higher-ups, left with no other choice, sent the most old-fashioned and conservative man to be the master of ceremonies. Everyone knew there was no turning back; more and more people were fleeing, and the maids accompanying the bride grew paler and paler. On the eve of their departure from the border town, the maid mysteriously slipped into Xu Yi's room, pulling her along to escape with her. Xu Yi was still very surprised. She asked the maid, "You're taking me with you?"
The maid patted the bulging bundle on her back and assured Xu Yi, "I brought a lot of gold and silver valuables, enough for the two of us to live on. Princess, you don't need to worry. I promise you and me will not suffer in the future."
This was the second time, besides the nanny, that Xu Yi felt she was part of someone else's plan. Without thinking much, she followed the maid's hand and sat up from the bed, heading towards the door. But when the door opened, an old-fashioned master of ceremonies stood outside. His beard and hair were completely white, and his back was hunched, yet he performed a perfectly standard greeting. His aged mouth uttered the two words: "Princess."
The maid pushed him aside and cursed, "Old man, if you want to go and die, go ahead. The princess and I can't go with you. Get out of the way." Then she pulled Xu Yi and walked forward.
Xu Yi heard the old man cry out in anguish, "Princess, if you leave, this will no longer be a marriage alliance. Isn't this just blatantly giving the grasslands an excuse to start a war? You mustn't... you mustn't pin this blame for bringing disaster to the country on yourself... Princess..."
Xu Yi saw the old master of ceremonies slumped to the ground, tears streaming down his face, and felt a pang of pity. She shook off the maid's hand and went to help him up. The maid continued her tirade: "You old codger, if you're going to die, so be it. You're practically half-buried anyway. What crime has our princess committed that she has to go to that death? If you want to die, go die yourself. There's no need to drag our princess down with you." The maid came over and pulled Xu Yi, her voice tinged with anxiety: "Princess, don't worry about him. This war is inevitable. It has nothing to do with whether you go to the grasslands or not. Don't listen to this old codger's nonsense. Only your own survival matters. Other empty titles are just empty titles. You don't have to be a loyal subject in books... Princess..." She then pulled Xu Yi again.
Xu Yi didn't move. The maid saw that she was unwilling to leave and said loudly, "Xu Yi, you grew up in that dilapidated palace. The Emperor didn't feed you or provide for you. You were raised by the old nanny. You have nothing to do with the Emperor. It's unreasonable that you are not given grass when there is none, but you are made to do the work when there is none."
Xu Yi remained silent, which angered the maidservant, who retorted fiercely, "Xu Yi, are you leaving or not? I've been more than kind to you. If you don't leave, I... I'll leave on my own."
After a while, Xu Yi looked up and said to the maid, "Thank you."
Enraged, the maid gritted her teeth and asked again, her voice trembling with tears, "Xu Yi, I'm giving you one more chance, will you... will you leave?"
"I'm not leaving."
"Fine, fine, then... then I can't control you anymore." She said, choking back tears, and ran away.
Xu Yi helped the old master of ceremonies up, only telling him, "Master of Ceremonies, go back and rest. I won't run away." Unexpectedly, after saying this, the old master of ceremonies knelt down before Xu Yi: "I am ashamed. I cannot lead the princess away, but instead, I have to send her to her death with me. I have lived a life without shame before heaven and earth, but I have failed the princess... Princess..." After saying this, he began to sob.
Xu Yi was also moved to tears, but in the end she still accepted this self-destructive logic: "Master of Ceremonies, please rise... I, I know that even if everyone else runs away, I... I can't escape this marriage alliance either, there's no need for this."
The old master of ceremonies, while saying "I am ashamed," wiped his nose and retreated to his room.
The next day, Xu Yi spontaneously put on the elaborate wedding dress, and the old master of ceremonies drove the two of them in a horse-drawn carriage to the grassland.
On the day they arrived at the grassland, the sky was terribly overcast, as if even the heavens sensed that innocent people would die tragically. Looking at the gloomy sky, Xu Yi reflected on her life and realized that death wasn't so bad after all; death simply meant the end, how clean it was!
So when Xu Yi saw thousands of soldiers in armor waiting at the border, he was able to calmly and steadily walk down the steps. As soon as Xu Yi stepped down the steps, a horse galloped towards him. Before Xu Yi could speak, the rider had already drawn his curved sword and slashed at him.
Xu Yi seemed to hear the old master of ceremonies exclaim in surprise: "Princess!"
In the final moments of her death, all she felt was how incredibly fast the scimitar on the grassland was.
She didn't know how much time had passed. Xu Yi seemed to have slept a long sleep, only feeling weak and sore all over. She heard a distant call, but she couldn't make out the words. However, she instinctively felt that the person was looking for her. She searched for the source of the sound for a long, long time. As she got closer and closer to the source, she suddenly felt herself being grabbed. She didn't feel solid; she felt more like an inflated piece of paper, limp like a wisp of gauze, being tightly bound... Then, with a forceful jerk, her hand was thrown into a familiar place, and she opened her eyes, her head still groggy.
Before her eyes was the face of an old Taoist priest with a white beard, followed by a vast view behind him. She seemed to be on a desolate, uninhabited mountain. She tried to move, but found her hands and feet bound and unable to move... Xu Yi looked down and realized that she was sitting on an unmarked grave. Red threads extended from all directions, binding her hands and feet tightly to the mound of earth, leaving her no room to move. Curious, she asked the old Taoist priest, "Why have you bound me here?"
The old Taoist stroked his beard and spoke in a deep, steady voice: "Princess, you are dead."
"I know, I'm asking why you've bound me here? This isn't a royal mausoleum, is it?" In Xu Yi's mind, all members of the royal family should be buried in a royal mausoleum after death.
“Princess, you died a violent death and your body was found in a foreign land. The new emperor has decreed that you are not allowed to be buried in the imperial mausoleum, so he entrusted this old Taoist priest to bury you on this desolate mountain.”
“I did die for my country, and I did a good deed. Even if he wants to silence the gossip, he should at least bury me in the imperial mausoleum, right?” Xu Yi asked, puzzled.
The old Taoist priest laughed heartily: "Princess is wise, indeed. Princess Changling is indeed buried in the imperial mausoleum, but you yourself cannot be buried there."
The eldest princess? Xu Yi thought to herself that the new emperor had bestowed a title upon her, but had secretly imprisoned her body on this desolate mountain, which deepened Xu Yi's doubts: "What is he afraid of?"
The old Taoist priest chuckled again: "Of course, I'm afraid the princess will become a vengeful ghost and seek revenge; I'm even more afraid that he himself will hear you cursing him in the imperial tomb after he passes away."
"Selfish and petty," Xu Yi said bluntly.
The old Taoist nodded in agreement: "The new emperor is indeed a bit stingy, but people always start to reflect on things afterward, which is only natural."
Xu Yi is already a ghost, so what is there left to hide? He immediately retorted sarcastically, "You actually did this kind of thing for someone like that?"
"Hmm," the old Taoist nodded, "Everything in this world has its own destiny. I can only observe from the sidelines and cannot interfere. Cause and effect are intertwined, always tainted with right and wrong. How can I, an old man, control these rights and wrongs?"
"What are you babbling about? With my personality, there's no way I could become a vengeful ghost. Why not let me reincarnate?"
"Reincarnation? Haha, Princess, your reincarnation is still a long way off!" The old Taoist laughed loudly, then left on his own, leaving Xu Yi alone sitting on the desolate mountain grave.
The old Taoist priest still had some conscience. Although he was tightly bound, he still managed to keep Xu Yi in a proper sitting posture. Xu Yi was just a person, or rather, a ghost, sitting on a mound of earth watching the sunrise and sunset, searching for the moon and stars... The address the old Taoist priest was looking for was very peculiar. For many years, Xu Yi had never seen any other person or ghost.
This desolate mountain, from beginning to end, has only ever granted itself to one person.
It's unclear whether the magic power fades over time, but the red threads binding Xu Yi's hands and feet have loosened considerably without him realizing it. He went from being completely immobile to being able to move his wrists, and eventually he was even able to lift his head to support himself.
When the red thread loosened to the point that Xu Yi could walk around the grave, she realized that someone had traversed mountains and valleys, gradually approaching this small area.
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