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“Outrageous! How dare you—”
“Your Highness, we are merely following the Empress Dowager’s orders. You might as well resign yourself to staying here.”
“Royal Grandmother?”
Jiang Qingqing could hardly believe her ears.
“That’s right. Why bother opposing the Empress Dowager? If you had obediently accepted the imperial decree for your marriage alliance and gone to serve that old emperor of a foreign kingdom, you wouldn’t be left here to die in vain.”
“Exactly! With your beauty, securing a concubine position should have been easy…”
Outside the courtyard, the voices of the eunuchs grew increasingly vulgar.
They were so brazen because Jiang Qingqing was no longer the beloved princess showered with endless affection. Now, she was nothing more than a floating weed—powerless and discarded.
The favored Consort Wan had disappeared.
Emperor Liang had fallen ill.
The Prime Minister, acting under the Empress Dowager’s decree, now ruled the kingdom with full authority.
From this day forward, the Great Liang Kingdom belonged to the Empress Dowager.
Dark clouds hung low, signaling an approaching storm.
Inside a tattered straw hut, Jiang Qingqing sat weakly on a short stool. She hadn’t eaten in two days.
Her consciousness was hazy, and she was on the brink of collapse.
The golden silk-embroidered palace dress she wore starkly contrasted with the dilapidated surroundings.
She never imagined that her own Royal Grandmother could be so ruthless—abandoning her in this desolate village, leaving her to fend for herself.
The area was eerily silent, overgrown with wild grass, and without a single neighbor from whom she could beg for food.
Resting her cheek against her hand, Jiang Qingqing looked listless.
Muttering to herself, she sighed, “If Father doesn’t send someone soon, his only princess is going to die…”
At that moment, a fierce wind howled outside.
Cold gusts mixed with rain lashed against the already fragile hut.
Jiang Qingqing tried to use her body to block the draft, but after a brief struggle, both she and the door were blown over.
“Ah—!”
She fell hard onto the ground, her arm scraping against the rough surface, fresh blood oozing from the wound.
The hut was left in complete disarray.
Raised in the royal palace, pampered beyond measure, the princess had never suffered such indignities.
Even if she somehow survived this storm, how would she endure the days to come?
The Empress Dowager wanted her dead.
Jiang Qingqing genuinely thought that ending it all with a length of white silk might be a better option.
—
“Ding——”
As the thought of suicide crossed her mind, the mini “watch” on her wrist suddenly lit up, flashing a string of English text:
[Connection in progress. Player, please prepare yourself.]
This device had been left to her by her mother, Consort Wan.
But until now, the screen had never once lit up.
Seeing this anomaly, Jiang Qingqing was bewildered. “What does this mean?”
—
At the top floor of Fu Corporation, Fu Zhengnan’s phone vibrated unexpectedly.
A moment later, his call was forcibly disconnected. The voice of a senior executive reporting work was abruptly cut off, and the phone screen automatically launched what appeared to be an otome game interface.
Fu Zhengnan’s gaze darkened slightly.
He had no memory of ever downloading a game.
Casually placing his phone on the desk, he made no move to stop this strange occurrence. He merely tapped his fingers against the table, silently observing the automatic operation on the screen.
Until—
The screen froze on an image.
It was Jiang Qingqing’s face.
The delicate and charming face was tinged with grievance, and those watery peach blossom eyes seemed to pierce through the screen, looking straight at Fu Zhengnan. Her dress was already soaked through, and she muttered softly, “I’m really going to die… If no one saves me, I’ll really die…”
A nearly imperceptible ripple crossed Fu Zhengnan’s otherwise indifferent eyes.
What kind of new trick was this?
Lately, Old Master Fu had been pressuring him to bring home a wife—forcing him into blind dates, orchestrating so-called chance encounters.
And now, he was even resorting to role-playing?
How impressive.
Fu Zhengnan didn’t think much of it. He simply raised his hand to swipe away the interface, but for some reason, the phone was stuck on this screen—he couldn’t even force it to shut down.
[Tap anywhere to proceed with an action and exit the game.]
The line of text on the screen made Fu Zhengnan sigh helplessly.
So the old man was really determined to push this on him.
He glanced at the screen where Jiang Qingqing was displayed. In the upper right corner, three options appeared:
As the screen slowly zoomed out, Fu Zhengnan could now see the entire environment where Jiang Qingqing was situated.
His expression remained calm as he casually tapped all three options without much thought.
Then, without lingering to see what would happen next, he simply exited the “game.”
—
Meanwhile, still staring down at her mysterious wristwatch, Jiang Qingqing failed to notice what was happening around her.
Above her head, the tattered roof was visibly restoring itself at an astonishing speed.
The doors, which had been rattling noisily in the wind, were suddenly reinforced and looked brand new.
It wasn’t until a pile of clean clothes appeared at her feet that Jiang Qingqing snapped back to reality, jumping back in shock.
“Ghosts!”
She had been crouching on the floor, but now, she leaped away as if scalded, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the mysteriously appearing clothes.
“Amitabha… May the Bodhisattva bless me…”
Peeking through her fingers, she cautiously surveyed the small room.
And what she saw… was shocking!
The roof, which had been on the verge of collapse, had somehow been completely repaired by some mysterious “kind-hearted ghost.”
The door frame now had sturdy wooden planks nailed across it, blocking the wind from entering.
If it weren’t for the lingering dampness in the air and the scattered mess left behind by the storm, Jiang Qingqing might have believed the whole ordeal had been a hallucination.
She felt like her mental state was in great shape!
Absolutely terrified!
Ignoring the muddy floor, she quickly clasped her hands together and bowed to the surrounding space, murmuring:
“Great spirits of this house, please understand that I did not come here by choice. If my presence disturbs your peace, could you be merciful and let me be…?”
Deep down, she cursed the Empress Dowager for her cruelty. Not only had she abandoned her, but she had also thrown her into a haunted house!
To her relief, after saying those words, nothing strange happened in the room anymore.
Jiang Qingqing let out a small sigh.
Perhaps… the ghost wasn’t trying to torment her but was merely encouraging her to live?
She cupped her hands to catch the rainwater trickling down from the eaves. With reddened eyes, she took a large gulp.
This rain had come at just the right time.
“Forget it. I’ll take life one day at a time.”
Jiang Qingqing peeled off her dirty palace gown and chose an outfit she liked from the clothes Fu Zhengnan had “sent” her.
Then, she used the remaining garments to pad the hard wooden bed, making it a little more comfortable.
Before sleeping, she didn’t forget to murmur a goodnight to the unseen presence.
“Thank you… You should get some rest too. Just don’t come scaring me, okay?”
—
In that instant, her soft and sweet voice unexpectedly came through Fu Zhengnan’s earpiece.
Miumi[Translator]
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜 I'll try to release 2 or more chapter daily and unlock 2 chapter weekly every Saturday