Chapter 1 Cousin
In the ninth year of the Tianhe era, the emperor passed away, and a new emperor ascended the throne.
The following year, the reign title was changed to Yuantai.
The summer sun blazes down, scorching every inch of skin, while the lush green crops sway in the breeze in the fields, and the streams murmur gently by the water, creating a peaceful and idyllic scene.
On the ochre-colored path, Jiang Ru, wearing a pair of tattered cloth shoes, moved forward step by step. She had been walking like this for three months.
His once fair skin was now sunburned red, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were soaked with sweat; he looked exactly like a refugee.
She followed the path, encountering several thatched huts built in the mountains along the way. Gradually, a village appeared before her, with its well-arranged houses and bustling voices, which gave Jiang Ru a brief moment of relief.
The words "Muxi Village" are engraved on the stone at the entrance of the village.
The characters used in this era are very different from those used in modern times. If Jiang Ru hadn't memorized these characters beforehand, she probably wouldn't have been able to recognize them.
As if she had met a savior, she threw herself onto the rock, gently stroking the words with her fingers, almost bursting into tears.
God knows what she went through in those three months!
Ancient roads were difficult to travel, mostly unpaved, overgrown with thorns, and without navigation, one always had to be wary of snakes and insects.
A few days ago, she was walking in the mountains when she accidentally stepped on a green snake. Startled, she immediately broke into a breakdance. The snake, startled by her stepping on it, initially tried to attack her, but after staring at her for a long time, it didn't dare to bite her and turned and ran away.
Jiang Ru lay on the rock and cried for a while, until the three characters "Muxi Village" shone a little brighter from her tears, before continuing on her way.
Now that they had found the village where Pei Wu lived, finding him was naturally a piece of cake. With the help of the villagers, Jiang Ru quickly located a mud-brick and thatched hut.
This is the former residence of the Regent.
After observing it carefully, Jiang Ru came to only one conclusion: poor.
The mud house has only two rooms, with a small kitchen separated on the far left. The yard is clean, but it feels too empty, unlike other houses where people raise chickens or ducks or grow vegetables.
The mud house was dilapidated, and even a section of the roof on the right side of the house had collapsed. If it rained heavily outside, it would rain heavily inside as well.
When Jiang Ru first transmigrated, she also felt that her family was poor, but Pei Wu's family seemed to be even poorer. Their house was even dilapidated, and they didn't even hire anyone to repair it.
She stood with her hands on her hips and frowning, about to offer her opinion on the dilapidated mud house, when unexpectedly, the door creaked open, and a slender figure stepped out of the threshold.
Before Jiang Ru could even compose herself, she met a pair of clear, cold eyes.
Those eyes were exceptionally clear, with jet-black, bright pupils. With her phoenix eyes slightly raised, even dressed in coarse white linen clothes, she couldn't hide her otherworldly aura.
He was about ten years old, with a still very youthful face. When he saw Jiang Ru, he seemed stunned and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
When she actually saw this person, his figure did not overlap with the figure Jiang Ru had imagined.
Before meeting Pei Wu, Jiang Ru had imagined many things about him: whether he was shrewd, gloomy, or sharp. But she never thought that the legendary ruthless regent would be such a thin and frail young man.
He looked harmless; although his eyes and brows were cold, he didn't give off a distant feeling. He was clearly a gentle and refined young man, like a spring breeze.
Jiang Ru suddenly recalled a few months ago when she was pinned to the ground and listened to the eunuch's shrill voice reading the imperial edict.
"Prince Pei Zhimiao of Liang has colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country; his crimes are unforgivable... Now, I order the extermination of Pei's entire clan, including his nine generations of relatives..."
It hadn't been long, and the contents of the imperial edict were already blurry in Jiang Ru's memory. She was indignant at the time and argued that she had nothing to do with this traitor.
But the eunuch delivering the imperial decree sneered: "You are the daughter of the aunt of the son of his great-great-grandfather's nephew. You say you have no connection? If we don't execute you, who will we execute?"
Jiang Ru struggled for a long time but still couldn't figure out the relationship between her and Pei Wu. She frantically protested, "I really don't know him, and you're all related by blood, so you can't punish me!"
Unfortunately, the officers and soldiers were only willing to give her a little time to react, and did not give her a chance to argue. They immediately wanted to drag her away to be executed.
Jiang Ru was unable to resist no matter what she did. Overwhelmed with anger, she left before she could even make a move.
She was furious. After all, Jiang Ru and Pei Wu were complete strangers, had never even met, and were separated by an kinship spanning eight lifetimes. Yet, he still managed to find her and wanted to behead her.
Whenever she remembered this incident, Jiang Ru's gaze towards Pei Wu became less friendly. It was hard to imagine that the young man in front of her would be infamous for eternity. Jiang Ru's lips twitched, and she looked at him with a complicated expression.
It's even harder to imagine that she and this infamous boy have even the slightest kinship.
Unfortunately, Pei Wu had no idea what she was thinking. Seeing her standing outside his door, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are you lost?"
No, Jiang Ru shook her head, gathered her emotions, and then lunged forward directly.
She rushed to the boy, grabbed his clothes, and then burst into a heart-wrenching wail.
"Cousin, I've finally found you!"
"Do you know how much I suffered and how many detours I took in order to find you?"
“I walked such a long way, step by step. When I was hungry, I ate wild fruits; when I was thirsty, I drank stream water; when I was tired, I slept wherever I was. How could I have suffered so much?”
She was crying so hard that Pei Wu couldn't get a word in edgewise. He finally managed to find an opportunity and quickly spoke up while she was catching her breath.
Perhaps because he had never experienced such a scene before, Pei Wu's voice was a little dry and nervous: "Don't cry, tell me slowly."
Jiang Ru took a deep breath. Because she was crying, her voice was muffled and difficult to hear: "Cousin, my parents are gone, and I'm all alone. I have no choice but to come and seek refuge with you."
As she spoke, she raised her teary eyes and looked sincerely at Pei Wu.
Jiang Ru had already made up her mind. Rather than waiting to die, she decided to go and find the Regent. After all, they were relatives, and she could at least persuade the young man to stop courting death.
She had finally been reborn; she couldn't continue to live in constant fear that Pei Wu would usurp the throne. If he did, wouldn't Jiang Ru die again?
Jiang Ru looked at Pei Wu with teary eyes, waiting for his reply, and continued, "Cousin, I really suffered so much to find you. I have no home, you are all I have."
As she spoke, she gripped Pei Wu's clothes even tighter.
Pei Wu was urged on by her and stunned by the scene before him, looking at Jiang Ru with hesitation.
He had met his cousin before, and several of his cousins were around the same age as the person in front of him. Pei Wu considered himself to have a photographic memory, but he did not remember ever meeting this "cousin".
Pei Wu wanted to ask, but felt it would be impolite, especially since his cousin was currently clutching his clothes as if he were her lifeline.
Perhaps because of poor food and a long journey, his "cousin" looked very pitiful. Her almond-shaped eyes were wet, her lips were chapped from the sun, and her cheeks were thin and fleshy.
Pei Wu simply asked, "Where do you live?"
Jiang Ru gripped the hem of his clothes tightly: "Shuzhou."
Shuzhou is hundreds of miles from Jinzhou. Pei Wu couldn't imagine how such a young girl could have made it that way.
She was much shorter than Pei Wu and very thin; she must have suffered a lot to find him.
Jiang Ru had no idea what Pei Wu was thinking. She stared longingly at Pei Wu, who was deep in thought, and wondered if she wasn't pitiful enough, so she rolled up her trouser leg, wanting to play the victim.
"Cousin, look, I got bitten by bugs while looking for you."
Several red, swollen welts appeared on her calves from the bites of poisonous insects in the mountains. With the journey pressing, Jiang Ru only applied some herbal medicine, which was far less effective than the insect bites.
However, just as she pulled up her trouser leg, the boy in front of her hurriedly covered his eyes with his sleeve.
Pei Wu, blindfolded, stammered, "Let go of me quickly."
He refused to look, so Jiang Ru could only say "Oh" and loosen her trouser leg.
Only then did Pei Wu cautiously remove his hands from his eyes. He looked at Jiang Ru and let out a long sigh of relief.
Before long, Jiang Ru sat in the courtyard, holding a bowl and drinking water. Pei Wu went to the kitchen and brought Jiang Ru a bowl of thin porridge.
Jiang Ru gulped down a bowl of water, licked her chapped lips, and tasted a hint of blood. She was finally alive.
Pei Wu sat down opposite her and said slowly, "I didn't know you were coming. There's no food prepared at home, so please fill your stomach first. I'll make you something else to eat later."
Although the porridge had gone cold, it was still quite good for Jiang Ru, who had been living a life of hardship.
Before coming to find Pei Wu, Jiang Ru was determined to do whatever it took. She had already decided that she would not give up until she found Pei Wu.
Fearing she might back down, she sold all her family's property and land, carrying with her all her savings. Unfortunately, her family was too poor, and the money totaled only a few coins, so she had to be extremely frugal.
Fortunately, she was lucky; although she took a few detours, she eventually found Pei Wu.
In her previous life, Jiang Ru did not actively seek out news from the outside world, but because Pei Wu was so famous, she would inevitably hear about it to some extent.
This all-powerful regent is mostly portrayed negatively in popular legends. There are even rumors that Pei Wu enjoys eating children, especially newborns just a few months old, with tender flesh and even skin and tendons—the more exaggerated the better.
Although some artistic embellishment was done, Jiang Ru's impression of him wasn't that good after being exposed to him for so long.
His reputation was bad, and as a result, his hometown of Jinzhou was also rumored to be a filthy place.
It was only after piecing together information from her previous life that Jiang Ru was able to determine Pei Wu's approximate location and dare to come looking for him.
Unlike his later infamy, Pei Wu was now highly regarded in the surrounding villages. As soon as Jiang Ru mentioned his name, people eagerly gave directions and even offered to personally bring her to find him.
He also praised Pei Wu a lot in his words, saying that Pei Wu passed the imperial examination at a young age and was a scholar. He said that Pei Wu was a gifted person, had an open mind, was good to his parents, and was clean and honest.
Jiang Ru had heard it so many times that her ears were practically calloused.
She had heard many bad things about Pei Wu in her previous life, so this was the first time she had heard someone say how good he was. It really piqued her curiosity. What kind of person was Pei Wu? Was he really as good as the people of Jinzhou said, or was he really a ruthless killer?
Come to think of it, in his previous life, the people of Jinzhou had always sided with Pei Wu, so much so that after Pei Wu died, the Jinzhou region was labeled as a rebel territory, and it was said that the imperial court would send troops to suppress them.
However, Jiang Ru died at that time, so it's unknown whether Jinzhou was actually massacred in the end.
Jiang Ru pondered for a moment, then put down her bowl and her gaze gradually fell on Pei Wu's face.
Pei Wu's face was very pale, somewhat sickly, and even his lips were bloodless; only his eyes were extremely bright.
When judging a person, the first thing to look at is their eyes. Pei Wu's eyes were clear and unadorned, like pure white gemstones, without any impurities.
This is why Jiang Ru dared to hug him the moment she saw him. The rumors from her previous life were not credible, and the images described by Pei Wu and the people of Jinzhou gradually overlapped.
His coarse linen clothes hung loosely, revealing wrists that were only slightly thicker than Jiang Ru's. His slender body seemed as if it could be blown away by a gust of wind. He was more than a head taller than Jiang Ru, yet Jiang Ru doubted that he even weighed as little as her.
Jiang Ru's body has lost a lot of weight in the past three months, and it's clear that she took good care of herself before. Pei Wu, on the other hand, looks like he's been starving and not getting enough to eat.
Poverty seemed to mean nothing to him, nor did he suffer from hunger; he was content with his lot.
He was very tall, which made Jiang Ru wonder about his age, so she couldn't help but ask him, "Cousin, how old are you?"
Pei Wu was also observing her discreetly. Hearing this, he was taken aback and said, "Fifteen."
To grow this tall at fifteen years old, perhaps it's because he grew too fast and his weight didn't keep up, which is why he's so thin.
In that sense, he was indeed extremely talented, passing the imperial examination at the age of fifteen, making him an outstanding figure among his peers.
Jiang Ru then casually added, "I'll be fifteen soon too, my birthday is July 17th. What about you, cousin?"
Pei Wu: "The first day of the fourth month."
Jiang Ru was three months younger than him, not even fifteen years old, when her parents passed away, leaving her as a lonely little girl. The fact that she came to Pei Wu for help must mean she had nowhere else to turn.
Pei Wu felt a mix of emotions. He looked at Jiang Ru quietly for a long time before saying, "You can stay here for now. I won't let you go hungry."
Pei Wu's paper-thin body made his promise sound less credible, but Jiang Ru was completely relieved. She curved her lips into a smile and gave Pei Wu a big smile: "Cousin, you're so kind. Thank you, cousin."
A note from the author:
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Regarding whether or not the female lead can be killed, I thought I'd say something.
The ancient term "nine clans" also has the meaning of "a lot," not strictly "nine." So, the number of people to be executed is not a fixed number. Moreover, there are no clear historical records. In addition, the novel is fictional, so don't worry too much about it.
Harem Survival Game
Xue Li transmigrated into a palace intrigue game and became a lowly palace maid.
During her first stint under Consort Zhang, she was sentenced to death for her incompetence because Consort Zhang suffered a miscarriage.
The second time she served under Consort Xia, she was beaten to death as an accomplice because Consort Xia was carrying out abortion schemes.
The third time, Xue Li volunteered to do laundry at the laundry department, but he was thrown into a well and drowned after witnessing Consort Zhang having an affair.
...
The nth time, Xue Li went to work at Prince Zhao's residence, but when she was brought into the palace, she was assassinated after overhearing the Eighth Prince's plan to force the emperor to abdicate.
Crown Prince Xue Chong was established because of his age, but he did not receive the emperor's favor.
The concubines plotted to eliminate him, poisoning him and setting traps for him, forcing him to live in constant fear.
Until he realized he had entered a loop.
Consort Zhang poisoned him, and while he was preparing how to retaliate, a palace maid failed to do her job properly, causing Consort Zhang to miscarry.
Consort Xia tripped him up, and just as he was about to retaliate, a palace maid lost her composure and exposed Consort Xia, and they were both beaten to death.
...
On the eve of the nth cycle, the Crown Prince was about to stage a coup when the Eighth Prince attempted to seize power, only to be caught in a trap and killed along with the young palace maid.
The crown prince, having reached his limit, found the young palace maid and asked, "Why are you everywhere?"
Then, his hand was tightly grasped, and the little palace maid's eyes filled with tears: "Hello, do you want to usurp the throne? I'll help you."
The crown prince shook off her hand and sneered, "You'd better survive first."
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