First met that year

That year, Princess Ruizhen had just come of age, at a very innocent age, like the most beautiful flower, pampered and in full bloom. The one who was most often by her side at that time was a maid named Hua Qianyue.

Hua Qianyue entered the palace at the age of ten. She was very similar to the princess in both age and appearance, and was therefore the princess's favorite. The princess loved to take her with her whenever she went to study or play. The two were almost inseparable, and over time even their gait became somewhat similar.

But only a few people know that there is a secret between the servant and the master that only they know...

In the 32nd year of Chu Yuan, Emperor Yun Zhao Yue, who was the seventh prince at the time, relied on the support of his maternal relatives, the Xia family, and the iron-blade Xiao family army at the border to force the crown prince Zhao Qi to be deposed, and then imprisoned the deposed crown prince in Jingyuan Palace.

Who would have thought that when the old emperor passed away and the new emperor took the throne, the commander of the imperial guards, Gao Yuan, actually colluded with the prince's old subordinates and risked his life to rush into Jingyuan Palace to rescue the prince, intending to join forces with forces outside the palace to rebel. Fortunately, Emperor Yun had anticipated this and ordered the elite troops of Xiao Yunjing and Xiao's army to ambush in the palace in advance, and quickly quelled this major rebellion. That day, almost all of the prince's remaining followers were killed, and countless blood and flesh dyed the white jade steps in front of Qianqing Gate red, and the prince Zhao Qi was forced to hang himself in Jingyang Palace. However, the mastermind Gao Yuan took advantage of the chaos to sneak into the palace and kidnapped Princess Ruizhen as a hostage in order to plot his own plans.

Unfortunately, he himself didn't know that the person he captured was not the real Princess Ruizhen, but the princess's personal maid Hua Qianyue by mistake.

At dusk, the sound of galloping horses could be heard on a quiet path. A man with a bloodstained black robe was riding a horse, holding the reins tightly, and in his arms was a delicate and frail woman in palace clothes. This man was Gao Yuan, the commander of the imperial guards who had desperately escaped from the palace.

Hua Qianyue was held tightly in Gao Yuan's arms and bumped all the way. She felt dizzy and her stomach kept churning, but she didn't dare to vomit. At this moment, she still didn't understand what happened. She was just pretending to be a princess and staying in the inner palace as usual, waiting for the princess to come back after having enough fun. Who knew that a ferocious warrior suddenly rushed in, killed the eunuchs and palace maids outside with a knife, and then tied her up and took her out.

The horses' hooves kept on galloping, the grass and trees were flying, and the scorching sun slowly dyed the sky red, just like the scene when blood was splattered all over the palace. There was a burning breath coming from above, but even this breath was bloody, and the rough ropes almost rubbed my wrists to bleed.

Hua Qianyue didn't dare to think about what this person would do to her if he found out that she was not a real princess. She just trembled and closed her eyes. It was not until then that she realized that when people are extremely scared, they can't even cry.

Suddenly, the horse beneath her let out a long chirp and abruptly stopped. Before Hua Qianyue could think about what happened, she heard a clear voice breaking through the air, "Why is Commander Gao walking so anxiously? It's really hard for me to catch up with you!"

Hua Qianyue's heart skipped a beat, and then she heard the man above her say with gritted teeth: "Xiao Yunjing, you're not slow at all."

The man laughed softly, like a cool spring in summer, dripping into Hua Qianyue's heart. She suddenly wanted to know what it would be like for such a person to laugh. So she mustered up all her courage and secretly peeked out from between the man's arms.

The long bumpy ride made her vision a little blurry. In the chaos, she saw a man in white and silver robe, standing on a horse with a spear in hand. The last ray of golden light reflected on his hair crown. He stretched out his hand towards her like a god, and even the bloodstains on his white robe could not smudge him in the slightest.

Hua Qianyue stared at the scene in front of her infatuatedly, and her heart seemed to suddenly feel empty, and after him, no one could fill it.

She watched the man put the silver spear across the horse, and then played with the reins and said loudly: "Commander Gao finally escaped, why add another burden? As long as you give me the person in your arms, I will consider letting you go."

The man above me also laughed, but his laughter was sinister and harsh. He said, "General Xiao, you came here all alone, and you expect me to listen to you based on just a few words. Don't you underestimate my ability?"

Xiao Yunjing's eyes flashed, and he said, "Commander Gao has led the imperial guards for many years and has outstanding martial arts skills. Naturally, no one dares to look down on you." He suddenly raised the corners of his lips lazily and said, "But to deal with you, I only need one person..."

Hua Qianyue felt that Gao Yuan's hand holding her seemed to move. From her angle, she could see clearly that there was a rustling movement in the grass beside them. Her heart skipped a beat and she shouted desperately, "Be careful, there's an ambush!" Gao Yuan's eyes flashed with cruelty, and he raised his hand to grab her neck. Who knew that as soon as he raised his hand, a long spear arrived and was nailed into Gao Yuan's throat in an instant. Gao Yuan raised his head in disbelief, and before he could close his eyes, he had already died.

In a flash, Hua Qianyue didn't understand what happened. She only knew that the horse under her suddenly ran away in panic, and her body was thrown down along with Gao Yuan's body. The whistling cold wind hurt her face, and she shivered and closed her eyes, thinking that she would die. Unexpectedly, she did not fall into the rocks, but into a strong and warm embrace. Hua Qianyue looked up in surprise, and the handsome face was just within reach, but the next moment, she saw a bloody knife at his ribs.

Gao Yuan's subordinates, who were hiding in the bushes, wanted to attack as soon as he gave the order, but they saw their master being killed in one blow. Such a strong power comparison made them almost flee immediately. But they soon discovered that the god-like man in white robes had completely exposed his back in order to save the woman who fell from the horse. After hesitating for a moment, a brave man rushed out and stabbed him fiercely with the sharp knife in his hand, but unfortunately he missed the target in a panic and only stabbed Xiao Yunjing's ribs.

Seeing that the attack was successful, the man was overjoyed and turned around to call on the others to attack together. But he forgot that a tiger in plain water is still a tiger, while an ant can only be an ant. Before he could even fade his smile, Xiao Yunjing had already pulled back his silver spear and pierced his chest.

But Xiao Yunjingbi was seriously injured and had someone in his arms, so he didn't dare to fight. He just relied on his martial arts to keep moving and rolling, and dragged Hua Qianyue back to his mount. He galloped away and left the rest of the people behind him in a blink of an eye.

The two of them rode all the way to a stream. Xiao Yunjing finally couldn't hold on any longer. Seeing that there was no trace of the pursuers behind him, he gritted his teeth and pulled the reins, and then carefully lifted the woman down from his arms. Then he knelt down with his hands covering his wounds, and said, "I'm sorry for being late to rescue you. I hope the princess will forgive me!"

Hua Qianyue was so frightened that she took several steps back. Seeing that he was about to fall, she did not dare to step forward to help him. She could only bite her lip and kneel down, trembling and saying, "My Lord, please forgive me. I am not a princess. I am just a maidservant of the princess!"

Xiao Yunjing was shocked and raised his head to look at the woman in front of him. He found that although she looked like the princess, she was weak and shy. She was just a maid. He was eager to save her and glanced at her from a distance, but he didn't see it.

Hua Qianyue felt the gaze in front of her and dared not raise her head. She was very worried: I was just a servant, but I caused him to be so badly injured. Would he regret saving me? Would he be angry with me because of this?

At this moment, she heard him say in a relaxed tone: "Whether you are a princess or a maid, I have saved a life today after all, which can more or less offset the sin of murder." Hua Qianyue felt relieved when she heard this, and she didn't know why she burst into tears. Perhaps she was too afraid of being abandoned by him, too afraid of seeing the look on his face that disliked her.

Seeing her kneeling there and shedding tears, Xiao Yunjing could not help but smile bitterly and said, "Miss, can you help me up first? If you don't pull out the knife, I'm afraid I won't be able to take you back to the palace alive."

Hua Qianyue finally reacted and quickly helped him sit up. Seeing that he was too weak to have any strength left, she just made up her mind and tore open his shirt. The sudden exposure of his muscular body made her face slightly red, but the shocking wound made her forget to be shy. She just said anxiously with tears in her eyes: "What should I do with this knife? I... I don't know how to use it!"

Xiao Yunjing's face was already very pale. He grabbed Hua Qianyue's hand and guided her to press on his wound. He said weakly: "Press it with this hand, and don't think about anything else. Just press it hard!"

Hua Qianyue was so scared that she was shaking all over, but she knew that if she hesitated a little longer, this man might die from excessive blood loss. So she gritted her teeth, pressed the bloody wound with one hand, and pulled out the knife with the other hand and threw it on the ground. Seeing Xiao Yunjing's face suddenly twisted, she was so scared that tears flowed down her face. She quickly supported him and said, "My Lord, are you okay?"

Xiao Yunjing's forehead was sweating, but he comforted her weakly, "Very good, you did a good job! Can you help me bandage the wound?"

Hua Qianyue nodded with tears in her eyes and said, "I can. I bandaged my father's wounds in the countryside when I was a kid." Xiao Yunjing smiled and leaned against a tree trunk, letting her treat his wounds. The long-term blood loss made his consciousness a little fuzzy, but he knew he couldn't fall asleep like this, so he forced himself to chat with the person in front of him, "Where is your hometown? What does your father do?"

"My hometown is Tongxi Town, Diancheng. My father sometimes goes to the mountains to collect herbs to exchange for money. If he is unlucky and encounters a wild beast, he will get injured, so I learned to bandage his wounds." Hua Qianyue answered as she tore off a piece of cloth, dipped it in stream water and cleaned his wounds. Xiao Yunjing was listening to her soft voice and felt very comfortable, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his chest and frowned with a hissing sound.

Hua Qianyue was startled and stopped her hand immediately, but Xiao Yunjing quickly smiled and said, "It's okay, I can still bear this little pain. Go on, what's your name? Why do you want to dress up as a princess?"

Hua Qianyue knew that he wanted to use the casual chat with her to concentrate his mind, so she quickly replied: "My name is Hua Qianyue, and I am the princess's personal maid. Because I look somewhat similar to the princess, the princess sometimes switches identities with me. She lets me pretend to be her and stay in the palace, and she pretends to be me and goes out to play. Each time it only lasts for a maximum of an hour, but who would have thought that today I would run into that thief rushing in and kidnapping me." This has been the secret between her and the princess for the past two years.

Xiao Yunjing shook his head and laughed, "This Princess Ruizhen is still as restless as she was when she was a child." Hua Qianyue thought he must know the princess and was about to ask a few more questions, but she found that as the blood soaked the cloth, his body became colder and colder, and his face became paler.

It was already dark, and they were in the middle of nowhere, and there was a high chance that they would be pursued by the enemy. Hua Qianyue tied the last piece of cloth for him, and when she looked out, she saw only the darkness of the night, and suddenly she felt panic and at a loss. Xiao Yunjing heard her sobbing, and gently held her hand and soothed her, "Don't cry, believe me, I will take you back."

For some reason, Hua Qianyue felt at ease at the sound of his gentle voice. At this critical moment, she no longer thought about the boundaries between men and women. She simply rested his body on her legs to keep him warm. After thinking for a while, she said, "Why don't I sing a little song from my hometown for you, just to relieve your boredom."

Xiao Yunjing laughed so hard that he coughed a few times and said, "Okay, but don't sing too badly, otherwise I'm afraid I'll be scared and run away."

Hua Qianyue also smiled shyly, then opened her red lips and sang a folk song for him. Although her voice was soft and timid, her singing was beautiful and melodious, as if it took him beyond the darkness in front of him and brought him to see the flowing water in the mountains, green grass and lush flowers. That night, she sang songs and chatted with him, and finally when the sky turned pale, Xiao Yunjing survived the most dangerous moment and fell asleep in her arms.

On the second day, Xiao Yunjing slowly opened his eyes, and saw a charming sixteen-year-old girl standing barefoot in the stream with her skirt lifted up under the rising morning light. Fine golden light sprinkled on her black hair, and the gurgling stream flowed over her white ankles. Her slender figure was reflected in the chain-like waves, swaying gently, like a soft and timeless dream, which has resided in his heart ever since.

Xiao Yunjing leaned against the tree trunk and slowly sat up. For some reason, she suddenly didn't want to disturb this scene. As she washed her feet, she seemed to be humming a song: There are many stars in the sky but the moon is not clear, there are many mountains and uneven roads on the ground, brother must be loyal to sister, sister wants brother to come, until now...

The song was lingering and bold, like a hook gently pulling into her heart. Xiao Yunjing raised the corners of his lips and found that his strength had been restored. He stood up and walked behind her and said, "What are you singing? Can you teach me a few lines?"

Hua Qianyue was startled by the sudden voice. When she saw his eyes and eyebrows clearly, her face flushed. She hurriedly ran a few steps away, and suddenly remembered something. She asked hurriedly: "Houye, are you...are you healed?"

Although Xiao Yunjing's face was still a little pale, his strength had recovered a lot. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, the Shura battlefield didn't kill me, let alone these thieves." He looked around and said, "But we'd better find a place to stay first. This place is not safe enough. I will leave a signal for my subordinates to find us as soon as possible."

Hua Qianyue nodded, and seeing that he was still a little unsteady on his feet, she supported him and walked through the woods. Fortunately, they found a small village after walking for a while. The two of them found a farmer's house, and fearing that the owner would become suspicious, they pretended to be a wealthy couple whose money had been robbed by criminals, and begged to stay here for the night.

The peasant woman of that family saw that the two men were dressed in luxurious clothes and had good looks, and they did not look like bad people at all. She immediately felt sympathy for them, cleaned up a room for them to stay in first, and then quickly cooked a table of dishes and invited them to eat.

The two of them were hungry after a night of eating, so they didn't care about their table manners and ate up the whole table in one swift motion. Xiao Yunjing's body had not yet fully recovered, so Hua Qianyue helped him back to his room to sleep, and he slept until dusk. When he opened the door, he found Hua Qianyue sitting in the yard, carefully mending a robe in the afterglow of the setting sun.

He quickly recognized that it was his own robe. She lowered her head in the backlight with a smile on her lips. Xiao Yunjing leaned against the door and watched her movements quietly. Suddenly he realized that she didn't look like a princess at all. She was not a delicate flower in the palace. She was like a resilient ivy that could emit a unique fragrance no matter how harsh the environment was.

He then walked over and sat next to her, saying, "It's so rotten, why bother repairing it?"

Seeing that he had discovered her, Hua Qianyue said a little embarrassedly: "I don't have anything to do anyway. It would be a pity to throw away such good material." She then smiled and assured: "Don't worry, my craftsmanship is very good, I will definitely be able to repair it well."

Xiao Yunjing smiled noncommittally, then stood up, stretched his back and said, "I'm hungry. Let's go see if Aunt Zhang has anything to eat."

Hua Qianyue quickly stood up, put down her needlework and said, "They have already eaten. I saw you were sleeping and couldn't wake you up. I'll make you whatever you want to eat."

Xiao Yunjing turned his head and suddenly winked at her slyly and said, "When I was in the army, I always wanted to marry a woman who could accompany me and wash my clothes and cook for me. In this way, no matter how hard or tired I was outside, I could see her smiling face when I came back and drink the hot soup she made by herself, and I would feel that I still had a home. I didn't expect that I would really meet such a woman today."

Hua Qianyue's face flushed, and she lowered her head and stammered, "Your Majesty is of noble status, so he can marry any kind of wife he wants. Don't tease me."

Xiao Yunjing's smile suddenly faded, his eyes became somewhat deep as he said, "No, the more noble your status is, the less likely you are to marry the woman you want, and the less likely you are to live the life you want."

Hua Qianyue heard the sadness in these words, and for some reason her heart became bitter and almost shed tears. At this moment, the peasant woman who had just gone out to visit suddenly ran back, looked at Xiao Yunjing with a suspicious look and said, "Just now, a few military officers came to the village and asked if there were any injured people living here. They are not looking for you. You didn't commit any crime and came here."

Hua Qianyue's face changed, and she and Xiao Yunjing exchanged a glance: Someone is looking for him in the house, but who is it? Seeing that the peasant woman's face was more suspicious, she quickly searched through her body to find all the valuable jewelry and handed it to the peasant woman, pleading in a tearful voice: "Sister, my husband really didn't do anything wrong, but he is afraid that those criminals will come to look for him in disguise as soldiers. Please don't tell them where we are! Please!"

The peasant woman took over a pile of valuable jewelry with a hesitant look on her face. At this time, there was a noise outside the door. Hua Qianyue knew that those people might have already come. Without giving it any time to think, she quickly dragged Xiao Yunjing into the house, and let him hide in the cupboard without giving him any chance to refuse, while she stood guard at the door.

Just as he finished all this, the door was pushed open with a bang, and someone shouted, "I heard there's an injured person here, call him out quickly."

Hua Qianyue bit her lip and tried to look calm and said, "I'm the only one here!"

The leader sneered several times, waved his hand and shouted: "Search!"

The people behind him immediately followed the order and searched the house. The house was not big to begin with, so they searched it completely in a blink of an eye. Hua Qianyue became more and more panicked. When she saw someone was about to open the closet door, she rushed over and blocked the door with her body, shouting in a trembling voice: "My husband is in there. He is injured, but he is not the person you are looking for. You are not allowed to hurt him!"

Xiao Yunjing, who was hiding in the closet, recognized the leader's voice and was about to walk out by himself, but suddenly he heard her shout, and his hand that was reaching for the closet door suddenly stopped in mid-air.

He became famous at a young age and had fought in battles for many years. Many people respected and feared him, but no one had ever protected him behind their backs, saying: He is my husband, you are not allowed to harm him!

Her voice was trembling with fear, but her tone was so firm, she completely disregarded her own life to protect him. Xiao Yunjing's eyes suddenly became moist, and something hit his heart so unexpectedly, leaving a mark for his whole life.

The noise outside the door was getting louder. The leader seemed to be getting impatient. Just as he was about to order the woman to be tied up, the door of the closet suddenly opened. When he saw who came out of the door, he knelt down and said happily, "My Lord, I finally found you. I am late. Please forgive me!"

Hua Qianyue was stunned for a moment, then she realized that the person in front of her was actually his subordinate. She was surprised and happy, but then she felt a strong reluctance and hidden pain.

Just as she was in a trance with mixed feelings of sadness and joy, Xiao Yunjing had already walked up to her, held out his hand and said with a smile: "I said I would send you back safely, let's go quickly, the princess must be getting impatient waiting for you."

The word "princess" finally brought her consciousness back to reality. Yes, she would soon return to the palace and be a little maid beside the princess. Perhaps she would never see him again, and he would marry and have children, and they would never see each other again in life or death.

Hua Qianyue has been depressed since returning to the palace. When the princess asked her about it, she only said that she was frightened when she was captured. She often thought of his eyes, smiling, cunning, determined, and the meaningful look when he sent her back to the palace... Just such memories can ignite a small flame, illuminating a faint light in the hopeless rest of her life.

She thought she would live her whole life with memories of him, but the world played tricks on her. Less than a month later, she got the news that Emperor Yun was marrying Princess Ruizhen to Marquis Xuanyuan Xiao Yunjing. It turned out that Emperor Yun was afraid that the reputation of Princess Ruizhen being abducted would spread, so he decided to make the best of a bad situation and marry her to Marquis Xuanyuan, who had made great contributions in saving the emperor. This also created a good story.

When the princess timidly asked her about the current state of Xuanyuan Hou, she suddenly found it ridiculous that she and he had gone through a life-and-death crisis, but it made his marriage to another person possible. And she had to witness him and the princess lovingly accompanying each other every day as a dowry. To her, this was like an eternal purgatory of having her flesh and bones ripped out.

So, under the torture of jealousy and cruelty, she finally did the first cruel thing in her life: she killed the princess, used the Miao secret technique provided by Yu Youer, her closest sister in the palace, to dress up as the princess, and married her to Xiao Yunjing.

In the days that followed, she stroked this face that did not belong to her and wondered whether her choice was right or wrong. Perhaps there was a destiny in the universe that if one did one wrong thing, every step forward would be doomed to fall into a deep pit until one became numb and could no longer distinguish right from wrong.

But she soon stopped thinking about it, because no matter how many chances she was given, she would still make the same choice. Who made her fall in love with him so deeply?

If you cannot get the love you want, you will feel resentment and hatred. When desire enters your heart, you will become a demon in just one thought.