Xie Yu could hardly wait to share the news. "This flower field was planted by the mountain priestesses. They say they're amazing at making pastries out of fresh flowers. And they can even make vegetarian noodles using flowers. We can eat before heading down the mountain."
Shen Changyin: "But people down the mountain are waiting for the engagement banquet."
"You said it yourself—it's an engagement banquet, which means you and I are the most important. They didn't need to climb a mountain. Only we did. How could they understand our physical exhaustion?"
Xie Yu pointed at the three-story wooden black building ahead. "Come on, let's go pray. Then we can eat and head down."
"I've already met the High Priestess. She's so kind, she said she'll personally cook noodles for me."
But the High Priestess's kindness applied only to members of the imperial Xie clan.
Once both women entered the ancestral shrine, the High Priestess became an evil aunt-in-law toward Shen Changyin—stern and unfriendly.
She lectured endlessly: a royal wife must behave, must look proper, must be gentle, diligent, talented—all things must revolve around the Third Princess.
Xie Yu absolutely did not feel sorry for Shen Changyin. She rubbed her nose.
Honestly… She was getting a little thrilled.
Shen Changyin, that wicked woman, being expected to act respectfully toward her someday? Even she herself had never imagined such an absurd daytime fantasy—but once she imagined it, she couldn't stop.
She wasn't going to feel sorry for Shen Changyin. But she was extremely concerned about the High Priestess's safety. So her eyes kept darting between the two.
Noticing this, the High Priestess tried to shoo her out. Xie Yu didn't move.
She thought: If I leave, what if you end up splattered in blood?
But Shen Changyin stayed calm. Even while being pressured, she remained unhurried—shoulders stable, back straight, as if the priestess's words were nothing more than a breeze brushing past her.
She said, "Third Princess, please step outside."
So you two insist on locking yourselves in here to fight, is that it?
Xie Yu couldn't do anything else. She glanced at the densely packed ancestral tablets hanging on the wall. She remembered how earlier the High Priestess had tried to make her kneel, and she had refused.
But she was sure the High Priestess wouldn't be so gentle with Shen Changyin.
So she warned: "These are my ancestors, not hers. Don't make her kneel. Seriously—don't."
Then she leaned toward Shen Changyin, lowered her voice: "She still has to make noodles for me later. I'm warning you—do not try to take her life."
Shen Changyin tilted her head slightly, leaned close, and whispered: "In Your Highness's heart… am I someone who can kill without leaving a trace?"
Xie Yu nodded seriously.
Yes. That was exactly how dangerous Shen Changyin was in her mind.
After giving instructions to both sides, she finally exited and returned to the flower field, admiring the scenery and pretending she was simply here to enjoy nature.
She even imagined the two inside fighting, and herself bursting in like the woman in that meme shouting, "Don't fight anymore! If you want to fight, go fight in the dance studio!"
She burst out laughing—
Then froze.
A heavy thud echoed—soft, not the sound of something hard.
More like… a corpse.
Her smile vanished. She rushed back into the shrine.
Inside, the High Priestess lay on the floor, throat cut open, blood pooling beneath her at alarming speed.
A masked assassin stood before Shen Changyin, dual daggers in hand. Blood coated the right one.
The assassin lunged at Shen Changyin.
Xie Yu didn't even have time to think. She sprinted forward, tackled the assassin to the ground, ignored the opponent's weapons, and head-butted her so hard the assassin reeled. Then Xie Yu snatched the dagger and slit the throat—turning the blade downward before the blood could spray.
She stood up to ask if Shen Changyin was alright—when her ear twitched.
Multiple faint slicing sounds.
"Get down!" she shouted, grabbing both daggers.
Both women ducked into corners with walls to shield them. A volley of arrows rained down, piercing the corpses of the priestess and assassin.
"Back door!" Xie Yu had memorized the building's layout earlier.
They moved simultaneously. Xie Yu reached the door first and waited two seconds for Shen Changyin before grabbing her hand and dragging her into a run.
She knew Shen Changyin's body wouldn't last long. Soon she wouldn't even be able to speak. So she asked now:
"Your people are still down the mountain?"
"Yes. They should be watching the imperial guards."
"Good. We need to descend."
They raced through the flower field and down the left path. Going down was even harder than climbing. Half tumbling, half scrambling, they made it down twenty or thirty steps before slipping—both their backs slamming into the stone.
A blunt burst of pain spread across their muscles.
Xie Yu tilted her head, listening. Wind. Leaves. Too quiet.
No birds.
"The way down is ambushed. We won't break through." She made the decision instantly. "Do you have a signal flare?"
Shen Changyin nodded and retrieved the delicate flare—but her hands shook too badly to remove the oiled wrapping.
Xie Yu took it, lit it, and watched it streak through the sky with a sharp whistle.
"Your people will come. But the assassins will too. They'll scour the mountain. We have to move—now."
They had to run deeper into the mountains and survive until help arrived.
Xie Yu raised her leg to move—but Shen Changyin wasn't up yet. She sat on the steps, forehead drenched in cold sweat.
"We have to go." Xie Yu crouched, lifted her sleeve, and gently wiped the sweat away. Patient. Steady. "You know we need to move higher. You know we have to keep going."
"Come." She slid her arms beneath Shen Changyin's and lifted her, half carrying her up, then held her hand. "You can do this."
Shen Changyin breathed hard. The rims of her eyes flushed red. She finally drew a deep breath and said simply, "Go."
They ran uphill, deeper and deeper.
The mountains grew wilder, the paths steeper.
Assassins, realizing something had gone wrong at the shrine, began spreading out—encircling them.
A small squad spotted them. Blades flashed, slashing toward both women.
Xie Yu briefly released Shen Changyin. She tossed her a dagger and took the other.
She did not attempt to kill. She knew it was impossible.
So she used the dagger only to block—catching a long blade, then exploiting the assassin's brief surprise to lunge forward, seize the long blade, and turn it to intercept the strike aimed at Shen Changyin—
She had already done everything she could to block most of the attacks, yet she still failed to stop the assassins who were clearly aiming to kill Shen Changyin. One of them picked up a short dagger from the ground and hurled it at Shen Changyin.
A flash of silver. It was too late to swing her blade. Xie Yu instinctively lifted her left hand to block it. She failed to stop it completely, only managed to alter its direction.
She immediately turned to look at Shen Changyin. Shen Changyin had also raised a hand to shield herself and the dagger sliced across her palm, but at least it didn't hit a vital spot.
Only then did Xie Yu feel the pain from the wound on the hand that wasn't holding her weapon.
The sharp sting lasted only an instant before a surge of adrenaline smothered it and her palm was quickly coated in the warm, sticky wetness of blood.
They could not stay here.
She gritted her teeth and swung her long blade forward with all her strength. She no longer defended, only forced the enemy back. Her waist and abdomen were cut twice more, but she finally won a moment to breathe and a sliver of hope for escape.
Run
She reached a hand back and was immediately gripped by another hand that felt slick and slippery with blood. The next moment, they were sprinting forward.
All the blood in her body surged toward her limbs. Her mind held only one thought: escape, survive.
Shen Changyin stumbled as she ran, the taste of blood thick in her mouth, every bone and muscle aching. Yet nothing felt more real than the sensation in her hand.
Their wounds were touching. Their palms and fingers were coated in a thick, sticky layer of blood, nearly slipping apart.
Xie Yu had no choice but to interlock their fingers tightly to keep them from being separated.
Shen Changyin had already experienced countless pursuits like this. Each time, she had crawled through mud and blood alone, struggling with everything she had, and in the end she always ended up captured again, covered in wounds.
After going through something like that again and again, your heart no longer races wildly. You still want to live, but a part of you grows numb. Bruises, cuts, even the sensation of losing too much blood become familiar.
She had shed so much blood in her life, but this was the only time it mixed with someone else's, thick and scarlet and metallic, like something rotting.
She tried her best to keep running, but her body could not hold out. Dizziness washed over her, her vision blurred around the edges. Even the shouts of the assassins behind them were fading.
The world narrowed down to the path ahead and the person fleeing beside her.
At a moment like this, a kindhearted person might say something like You go on without me, leave me here, they are after me anyway.
If Xie Yu were the main target, Shen Changyin would have said that for sure.
But Shen Changyin would never say it, especially not to Xie Yu.
She forced her eyes open and slapped her own forehead several times with her free hand until her mind cleared. Then she took a few deep breaths, trying to steady her rhythm and reduce the burden on Xie Yu.
She whispered directions, choosing paths based on her understanding of the mountain terrain. She picked routes with many forks where their pursuers would be easier to confuse.
Xie Yu listened, dragging her along as they stumbled. Their legs gave out again and again and they nearly fell into the layer of dry leaves covering the mountain paths.
At one point, they almost shook off their pursuers, but in the end a cliff appeared ahead and the assassins appeared behind.
They skidded to a stop at the cliff edge. Xie Yu glanced down, inhaled sharply, then exhaled in a burst like she was expelling all the air in her lungs. She even let out a strained laugh.
I really had to run into a cliff jumping scene. There better be a mystical martial arts master waiting down there to teach me some secret technique.
The cliff was the kind that would make anyone with vertigo collapse and crawl away. A stream flowed far below, its depth impossible to judge.
Xie Yu kicked a small stone over the edge and waited for the splash.
She inhaled deeply and told Shen Changyin "You jump, I jump."
"What"
Xie Yu ignored her reaction and continued "If this is a dream from Inception, we will wake up once we jump."
"What"
"If this is the Olympics, we will get a zero for our dive, but we will definitely become a meme. Super viral."
Anyway, she tightened her hold on Shen Changyin's hand. Jump.
Shen Changyin glanced down. The dizziness struck again and her knees weakened, her weight tipping forward, but Xie Yu quickly pulled her back.
She mimicked Xie Yu, took a deep breath and tensed her expression. Alright. Jump.
Xie Yu pulled her to the edge, checked the distance of the pursuers, then braced her legs and gathered strength.
Shen Changyin said "But I cannot float."
Xie Yu stared at her in disbelief, but they were already leaping forward together.
Aaaahhhh—
Xie Yu's scream echoed through the air while Shen Changyin kept her lips pressed together and eyes shut as they fell.
They hit the water hard, sinking several meters before Xie Yu floated back up.
The human body is slightly less dense than water, so a relaxed person normally wouldn't sink too deep. But Shen Changyin couldn't swim, panicked, flailing her hands, sinking even farther.
Xie Yu opened her eyes, swam to her, tapped her cheek to make her open her eyes, then pressed her arms down to her sides, signaling her not to move.
Most untrained people drown when they try to rescue someone because a drowning person will cling to anything with desperate instinct, dragging both down.
That kind of fear cannot be understood without experiencing it.
But Shen Changyin was unexpectedly calm. She understood Xie Yu instantly, froze her body, and stopped struggling.
Xie Yu quietly guided both of their bodies upward until they broke the surface.
"Just float like this and you can keep your mouth and nose above the water." She said it while taking the first breath of air.
Then the cold sensation around her waist and abdomen hit her. She touched it and knew the flesh must have already opened up, soaked pale from the river water, likely bleeding badly.
They didn't dare go ashore, afraid there were still ambushes.
Xie Yu said "Let's just float for now. We might move faster than we run anyway. Ever heard the saying that you can travel a thousand miles down the Jiangling River in a single day"
Shen Changyin didn't answer. She just held tightly onto Xie Yu's hand, eyes closed, floating rigidly, her face pale.
The fear of water for someone who doesn't know how to swim is something swimmers cannot understand.
Seeing her like that, Xie Yu rubbed her tired eyelids with her free hand and forced herself awake.
"Do you know there is an animal in the ocean called an otter. They sleep in the water. To keep themselves from drifting apart while they sleep, they hold hands."
"Sometimes it is a pair, sometimes a mother with her pup, sometimes even a whole family forming a circle hand in hand."
She yawned and her voice softened, but she continued. "Do you know there is a country up north on an island where people do not walk home after work in the summer. They jump from the bridge into the river and just float home."
She rambled on about many things, some true, some nonsense.
Shen Changyin slowly opened her eyes and turned slightly toward her.
"Well look at that, Sleeping Beauty. Welcome back to the living world. How was heaven?" She was pale from blood loss, but still smiling.
"Hell." Shen Changyin's voice was hoarse and low.
"That is unfortunate. I am definitely going to heaven someday. Or maybe Suhang works too."
As Shen Changyin shifted slightly, a flattened cherry blossom slipped out from her collar, drifting between them.
Xie Yu noticed it. "See I told you we wouldn't die. Especially with this lucky charm."
She picked up the flower, held it up to the light. The sun made the petals almost translucent.
Shen Changyin said, "Give it back."
"I gave it to you."
"It is mine. My talisman." She insisted. Her black hair, soaked with water, clung to her pale face, making her eyes look even brighter.
"Alright, alright, here. There is no dealing with someone like you."
Xie Yu pressed the dried-then-soaked, flattened blossom onto Shen Changyin's forehead.
They drifted toward the center of the river, which widened until it became difficult to reach the shore.
"We keep floating. When the river narrows, I will swim us up."
Xie Yu yawned again, her eyelids softening. She only meant to blink, but darkness swallowed her vision and she couldn't open her eyes again.
—
When she again sensed light through her eyelids, Xie Yu realized something before she even opened her eyes: her wounds did not hurt anymore.
Had Shen Changyin dragged her to shore alone while she was unconscious and somehow found help
Impossible. Only a superwoman could do that.
She opened her eyes and found she was no longer in the river or staring at the sky. Above her was a pale yellow embroidered canopy. She lay on a redwood bed under a silk quilt commonly used in the palace.
She sat up and realized she was back in the Third Princess's residence inside the palace.
This was where she had woken up the day she first transmigrated.
She touched her waist. Her skin was smooth. Not a single trace of injury remained.
Was she dead Had she simply lost consciousness from blood loss and cold water and died quietly And now, without a body, her wounds ceased to exist
If so, was this where she appeared after dying
If heaven really looked like this, it was worse than Suhang.
Or maybe this was like a game. She died, the game restarted, and she returned to the first day she transmigrated: the day Shen Changyin rebelled.
Back to the start.
She jumped up from the bed.
This time she absolutely would not save Shen Changyin again.
Following her old routine, she tried to sneak into the imperial kitchen for some dry rations before running away, but today everyone in the palace was calm, unhurried.
That wasn't right. Last time at this hour, almost all the palace maids were anxious because news had spread that the rebel army was about to break through the city.
Xie Yu was full of doubt, but she still stole a guard's knife, packed some food, and headed to the river to escape the palace.
She waited patiently for a long time. By the time the sky was completely dark, she still had not heard the signal flare that always marked the rebels' assault.
She went to a bustling commercial street and quietly watched the vendors open their stalls, and commoners stroll out with their families after dinner to enjoy the night market.
Arriving at a familiar spot, she found a familiar sugar-figure stall. She bought one but only held it in her hand.
After a while, she saw a four-year-old little dumpling with sparse yellow hair, wearing a pale goose-yellow padded jacket, her body only two heads tall, wobbling forward while holding the hands of her two mothers. The child whined as she asked both of her mothers to swing her.
The two adults had no choice. They held her hands and gently swung her forward and back. The little girl's giggles echoed through the air.
Pearl.
Xie Yu's eyes curved. When Pearl's family approached the sugar-figure stall, she intentionally shook her sugar figurine in front of the child, then bit into it with a loud crunch.
The little one immediately cast her a jealous look.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Cao Pearl." Pearl's soft milky voice answered.
"I love your name, Pearl. I'll treat you to some sugar figurines. Two of them. One Chang'e (Chinese goddess of the moon), one big dragon."
Xie Yu straightened up. Pearl's two mothers tried to stop her but couldn't stop her from paying.
Xie Yu tossed the money down, stuffed both sugar figurines into Pearl's hands, and patted her head.
"Eat slowly, you tiny tooth-dropper."
Before the child could get mad, she burst into laughter and walked away.
She waited a long time. After confirming there was truly no rebellion this time, Pearl went home peacefully with her moms, and Xie Yu successfully left the city.
Happiness and luck came too fast, like a whirlwind. After leaving the city, she felt slightly uneasy.
Was it really this easy?
In her first life she struggled between life and death and still couldn't get the wandering-hero lifestyle she wanted. In her second run the universe delivered it to her doorstep?
So what should she do now?
She first stayed in Stillwater Village for a while, lodging again at Jiang Fang's house with her usual excuse. Her daily life became playing with cats and dogs, farming a little, and occasionally visiting town to watch street performers.
Then she suddenly remembered the beggars in the capital who were supposed to be thrown into prison.
She rushed back only to find that without Shen Changyin's rebellion, the lady's marriage was arranged earlier, and the beggars had already been arrested.
And since there was no Shen Changyin to steal the lady's seal and rescue them, she had to do it herself.
But she discovered the entire capital was filled with undercover royal guards, all holding portraits and searching for her.
Her scalp went numb. She hurriedly disguised herself, freed the beggars, and bolted out of the city without looking back.
After returning to Stillwater Village, she learned her lesson and pre-emptively stopped the water-theft village war, then began training the village militia early in preparation for a bandit suppression.
Last time she had made do under desperate circumstances, without enough time to train.
This time she chose a steady path, insisting that the local grassroots militia would remain useful in defending the village even after wiping out the bandits.
But word spread too far. Before she realized it, she was already training the militias of five villages.
The day she noticed, she looked at the dark mass of young villagers training, then at the improved weapons in their hands, and rubbed her temples.
Was she preparing to wipe out bandits or preparing to rebel?
Whatever. At least in a world without Shen Changyin, she was doing great. It felt amazing.
With that thought, Xie Yu slept sweetly that night, dreaming of the braised pork knuckles the village chief would make tomorrow.
When she opened her eyes again.
The sky was dim yellow. Trees occasionally swept past her field of vision. Her body was icy cold, soaked in river water.
She was still holding Shen Changyin's hand. The pads of both their fingers were wrinkled and unusually soft from the water.
No way. That had only been a dream she had while floating in the water?
Did she resent Shen Changyin so much that even her dreams were about how wonderful the world would be without her rebellion?
Seeing her awake, Shen Changyin tugged her hand.
"The current has slowed. We can reach the shore soon."
Xie Yu nodded and found a shallow spot. With Shen Changyin holding onto her belt, she used the frog-stroke she learned from her eight-hundred-coins children's swim class, slow and steady, leading them both to land.
It wasn't that she didn't want to swim with a prettier style like freestyle. Her waist wound just couldn't handle the strain, so she could only use a gentle "wellness frog" stroke to inch toward the shore.
The two of them walked out of the water and found a large tree in the sparse woods to sit by as a temporary rest point.
Shen Changyin put away the cherry blossom from her forehead and tucked it safely into her money pouch.
She then somehow produced a waterproofed fire striker and handed it to Xie Yu.
"Are you Doraemon?" Xie Yu muttered while gathering small twigs and starting a small fire.
"I'll find bigger firewood." She turned to go, but Shen Changyin, leaning against the tree, pulled her sleeve.
"Your wound." Shen Changyin pushed herself upright, bracing on the tree. "I'll get the firewood."
Xie Yu looked at her. She could barely stand straight and her hand on the tree shook. Xie Yu folded her arms helplessly.
"Ancestor, please sit down. With your sickly body, if you get through tonight without developing a fever that cooks your brain, I'll call that a huge help."
She turned dramatically and walked into the forest with lively steps, leaving Shen Changyin to rest.
Only when she was sure she had walked far enough did she slip behind a large boulder, lift her clothing, and inspect the wound on her waist.
It was two or three centimeters deep, pale and swollen from soaking, the flesh turned outward.
While they were in the river, bits of grass, leaves, and grime had floated in. She needed to clean it before bandaging.
Her face turned pale.
"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt." she whispered to herself.
She pressed the wound hard, pushing the flesh outward. Sweat instantly beaded all over her forehead. Her hands trembled uncontrollably and her back kept bumping against the rock, but she held in every sound.
Fighting through the tearing pain, she picked out the debris lodged in her flesh, then tore a piece of breathable cloth, wrung it out, and placed it over the wound.
By the end, she was soaked again, slumped against the rock.
Her body reacted with an urge to cry. She faced the rock, silently whining, silently contorting her face as she endured the pain.
After a while, she forced herself up, gathered a few sticks, and carried them back.
"Firewood's pretty easy to find here."
Her voice was light and cheerful. The air carried a faint scent of blood.
—
T/N: Sorry for the delay, I lost track of time and didn't realize it was so late.
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