Chapter 1: Rebirth in Liyue

The spring chill was biting. The Baiyu Creek, mixed with unmelted snow and crushed ice, wound and meandered its way down the towering Baiyu Mountain.

A female nun dressed in gray robes and a gray cap sat on a protruding rock by the downstream creek, beating a gray robe. Beside her sat a half-old wooden basin piled high with messy, grayish-white clothing.

The creek gurgled, and the rhythmic thumping of the laundry echoed. This was Qiu Liyue's current life. Ever since the Fifth Prince, Nalan Ye, failed in his uprising, she had been exiled to Baiyu Temple, enduring daily devastation and abuse.

"Sister!" A voice as sweet as an oriole's song drifted from behind her.

Qiu Liyue turned her head to see Qiu Lixing, draped in a purple sable cloak, standing behind her at some unknown moment.

A flash of astonishment crossed Qiu Liyue's face. Her rough hands, covered in chilblains, rubbed frantically against her half-wet gray robe before she pressed them together against her chest. In a coarse, raspy voice, she said, "This... this lowly nun greets the Crown Princess!"

The corners of Qiu Lixing's mouth curled into a smile as bright as spring flowers. "Sister, I have come this time to ask a favor. I wonder if you could make things convenient for me?"

Qiu Liyue looked at the radiant woman in confusion. What could she possibly do? Was she not living this humiliating life for her, and for the Qiu family? Although the position of Crown Prince had not yet been finalized, the position of Crown Princess was already firmly secured. What could she possibly do to help her?

Ignoring the confusion on Qiu Liyue's face, Qiu Lixing called out, "Lianqiao! Qingqiao!"

Lianqiao stood beside Qiu Lixing holding a long-spouted copper kettle, while Qingqiao walked toward Qiu Liyue step by step. An inexplicable sense of crisis gripped her heart. Panicked, Qiu Liyue retreated backward. "W-what are you doing?"

Qiu Lixing sighed and raised her left hand. On her jade-like wrist, a pale red butterfly mark seemed ready to take flight. "If you must blame someone, you can only blame this birthmark of yours!"

As Qiu Lixing spoke, she placed her right hand on her left wrist and pulled hard, and the pale red butterfly mark vanished without a trace.

Qiu Liyue stared at this with wide eyes, her head buzzing. How could this be? How could this be? Her birthmark was... was actually fake?

In that moment of daze, Qingqiao had already reached her back. She grabbed Qiu Liyue's left hand and disdainfully pulled back the gray sleeve, revealing a butterfly-shaped birthmark still faintly visible on the hand almost entirely covered in chilblains.

Qiu Liyue's mind was a chaotic mess. The piercing pain in her hand brought her back to her senses, only to see Lianqiao tilting the copper kettle to pour water over her left hand. The water poured out from the thin, long spout of the kettle, immediately creating large plumes of steaming mist. That... that in the copper kettle was actually scalding boiling water!

The heart-eroding pain traveled instantly from her left hand to her heart. She struggled desperately, but her frail body could not break free from Qingqiao's grip.

"Ah—!" Before her heart-wrenching scream could leave her lips, it was swallowed back by two extremely loud slaps from Lianqiao, sending blood-stained teeth flying from her mouth.

Pain! Pain! Pain! Boundless pain entered through her left hand, sweeping over her entire body and soul like a torrential flood. Finally, her vision went black, and she fainted.

"Miss!" Lianqiao looked at the limp Qiu Liyue on the ground, then looked toward Qiu Lixing.

Qiu Lixing raised her own hand, which appeared as a transparent, shimmering pink in the sunlight. "Wake her up with water."

A bone-chilling cold pulled Qiu Liyue back from the darkness. Her eyelashes trembled, and before she could even open her eyes, she felt another pain on her face. When she struggled to open her eyes wide, she saw one of Qingqiao's green satin embroidered shoes, patterned with "fish playing among lotuses," stepping on her face, while Lianqiao raised the copper kettle again with a smile on her lips.

"W-why? Mother..." The splashing boiling water cut her words short. Qiu Liyue did not understand. Why? She and Qiu Lixing were not just biological sisters, they were twins. How could she treat her like this?

"Mother?" Qiu Lixing laughed merrily. "Mother is my mother, not yours. If it were up to me, I should have let you go find your mother much earlier, but my mother said that would be too lenient toward you, so..."

Qiu Liyue's eyes widened, seemingly unable to believe anything the woman before her was saying. Ever since she was a child, Mother had doted on her immensely. Whatever she wanted, Mother gave it to her without even blinking. If she didn't want to learn needlework, Mother said fine! If she didn't want to learn household management, Mother said alright! If she beat and scolded maids or bullied her younger sister, Mother said she was right! Even when she wanted to exchange names with the woman before her, Mother said it was no problem...

"You fool, don't you know the term 'praise-killing'?" Qiu Lixing had clearly seen through Qiu Liyue's thoughts. "From the moment you exchanged names with me, everything was already predestined."

"Do you know why Chu Junfeng refused the marriage proposal? It's because I showed him a tiny bit of affection," Qiu Lixing said, becoming more boastful as she spoke. "Do you know why the Fifth Prince tried so hard to please you? It's because I made a bet using you..."

Qiu Liyue's eyes felt as if they would burst, and she spat out a mouthful of blood! Why? Why was all of this happening? Mother had told her that if she died, the Emperor would make the entire Qiu family die with her, which was why she lived such a wretched and humiliating life. But the cheerful smile on this woman's face did not seem fake. Why, exactly, was this happening?

Praise-killing? That's it. Since childhood, her mother had been extremely strict with her requirements but infinitely indulgent toward her. She was the number one beauty and the number one talented woman in the capital, and the Mingyue County Princess bestowed by the Emperor, while she... she was the laughingstock of the entire capital...

She wanted to laugh, but she couldn't. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't...

At this moment, she could no longer feel the pain in her hand, for her heart was dead and filled with hatred. But it was too stifling; her hatred was irrepressible. Looking at the woman before her who was gradually becoming a blur, her hatred was irrepressible...

Hatred, irrepressible...

After an unknown amount of time, Qiu Liyue felt pain coming from her left hand again, and her head throbbed faintly. She exerted all her strength just to manage to lift her eyelids.

"Sister, you're awake!" A slightly surprised voice sounded beside her. Qiu Liyue's eyes snapped wide, seeing a beautiful face pressed almost against her own.

"Ah—" Qiu Liyue wanted to scream in terror, but only a soft groan escaped her throat.

"Sister, it's alright now, it's alright. Mother has already beaten Hua Kai and Hua Luo to death with a staff for causing you to fall into the lotus pond!" Qiu Lixing comforted Qiu Liyue with a beaming smile, then commanded, "Lianqiao! Go tell Madam that the Eldest Miss has awakened."

Lotus pond? Hua Kai and Hua Luo? Qiu Liyue's consciousness began to grow muddled. What was going on?

"Sister, fortunately you woke up. Mother has been watching over you for three whole days. If you hadn't woken up, Mother's tears would have run dry," Qiu Lixing teased.

Qiu Liyue lowered her gaze and saw several layers of cotton cloth wrapped around her fair left wrist. Where were the chilblains? Qiu Liyue lifted her other hand as well; there wasn't a single trace of chilblains on her fair, smooth skin.

Looking up again, she saw plum-red curtains and red brocade quilts. The room was almost entirely red, decorated like a bridal chamber. Was this not her own boudoir? Falling into a lotus pond?

Then what was all that just now? That long, agonizing, heart-eroding ordeal—what was it? Was it a dream? Or did Heaven see her hatred was irrepressible and allow her to start over?

She remembered that in that dream, after she woke up in the lotus pond, a Taoist priest had come to her house, saying her fate and her name were in conflict. Since she and her sister Qiu Lixing were twins, only by exchanging names with Qiu Lixing could her life be kept safe.

Upon hearing this, she had begged Mother and her sister Qiu Lixing to exchange names. Her mother agreed immediately. From then on, she was Qiu Lixing, and her sister was Qiu Liyue.

Just as she thought of this, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching.

"Liyue! Liyue!" Her mother Yun Ruo's voice came from outside the door, but in her daze, the voice seemed to come from beyond the heavens.

Qiu Liyue lifted her eyes to see her dearest mother rushing toward her, followed by her father Qiu Jinshan and a Taoist priest in Taoist robes!

This scene! It was exactly like that dream!