Chapter 3: 3.第3章 五年后

Such a useless person, yet she had been handpicked as the future Crown Princess since childhood, making her a target for everyone.

With a face as mediocre as a passerby and a cowardly, incompetent personality, the favored children of heaven had naturally never spared her a second glance.

Because the second miss of the Fu family was a massive joke, and no one in the Fu family was willing to acknowledge her.

Mu Lingbo’s pale face was drenched in sweat as her slender wrists supported her as she struggled to rise from the bed.

The sensation of extreme cold and extreme heat clashing within her body nearly caused her to faint again.

The poison... she still couldn't neutralize it.

And these people killing her under the cover of night—were they afraid she might actually live to return?

Her jade-like eyes flickered toward the open door, where Yun Niang’s sharp sword strikes were like meteors leaping across the night sky.

The sword light was cold, blood droplets splattered, and the final thrust aimed straight for the last man in black's carotid artery.

"Wait..." her weak voice drifted over.

"Miss?!!" Hearing that voice, Yun Niang was both shocked and overjoyed.

The longsword, which seemed to have no momentum to stop, abruptly halted at the man in black's throat, red droplets of blood flowing down the blade.

"Don't kill him yet, I have something to say." She stood up, relying on sheer willpower to support her poisoned body as she walked to the doorway, her chilling gaze fixing on the man in black like a sharp blade.

There was less than a month left until the grand wedding. First, she was struck by a strange poison, then she was driven out to this Taoist temple in the outskirts of the city, and now, assassins were attacking under the cover of night.

They were in such a hurry to take her life!

"Who gave you the order?"

The assassin remained silent.

A trace of a cold, mocking curve curled her lips. "Truly loyal! It's fine, even if you don't speak, I can guess. It's nothing more than those people."

This time, she would never allow 'her'—her second life—to continue being a laughingstock for others.

"From this day forward, there is no longer a second miss of the Fu family in this world. Go back and tell your master: as long as Lingbo does not die, when we meet next year, it will surely be the time I come to collect my debt."

Her deep, freezing eyes made her pale face appear as vivid as an Asura, sending a sudden chill through the assassin.

On the desk, a candlestick was casually knocked over, and a great fire spread with frantic intensity.

The overwhelming flames burned so fiercely that half the sky turned a tragic red, and the entire mountain peak was nearly reduced to ashes.

New rumors soon spread like wildfire through Lijing: that disgraceful, useless miss of the Fu family had unfortunately perished in that great fire...

*************

Five years later, in late autumn.

At sunset, the setting sun was like a painting.

Yue City, bathed in the evening glow, was the essential passage for the nation of Haoli traveling toward the nation of Ziwu.

In the woods outside the city gates, besides the slow creaking of the carriage wheels and the rustling of wind through the leaves, there was only...

"Xiao Bao, Mommy seems to have forgotten something."

"Mommy, don't look at Xiao Bao with such suspicious thoughts... Ouch, alright, alright, Mommy's gaze is very gentle..."

"We are almost at another vassal state, but Mommy doesn't seem to have brought the travel permit, so we can't enter the city."

"It's okay, Mommy. Xiao Bao believes the uncle standing at the city gate must love gold just as much as Mommy does... Ouch, actually, he loves gold just as much as Xiao Bao does..."

"Mommy told you, once you go out, don't think about bribery and corruption in everything you do. We must conduct ourselves with integrity."

"What is integrity? Is it edible?"

"Mommy has noticed several uncles on horseback approaching. Xiao Bao will go ask them to 'gift' the travel permit to you."

"It's more suitable for Mommy to make her move if we want to be 'upright'... Ah! My soccer ball!"

Following the child's cry, a black-and-white patterned sphere suddenly shot out from the carriage, quickly disappearing into the woods.

"Now, do you want to go out and find your soccer ball, and while you're at it, bring back the travel permit? Mommy will wait for you."

"Waaa... bullying... When we get back, I'm definitely telling Grandpa Bai... and Uncle Zi... and Auntie Qing... and... no more, no more, Xiao Bao didn't say anything..."