Spring, the twentieth year of Jin'an, Dongling Kingdom
The grand royal palace of Dongling was filled with laughter and joyous chatter. Civil and military officials and vassals from all regions gathered in the Imperial City to celebrate the Empress Dowager's sixtieth birthday. In the imperial garden, full of flowering plants, tables were filled with fruits and delicacies. On a nearby stage, enchanting dancers moved gracefully to the pleasing sounds of music.
In a secluded pathway within the palace, a woman dressed in a magnificent floral brocade dress with peony ornaments in her hair was hurrying after a maid wearing a pink dress. They finally stopped at an old, secluded garden gate.
"Are you sure the Crown Prince asked to meet me here?" The woman heavily dolled up, her thin, painted, dark eyebrows furrowed, her bright red lips started to pout. The combination of her heavy makeup and rosy blush made it unbearable to look directly at her.
Struggling to restrain the disgust from showing on her face, the maid in pink replied, "Would I dare to deceive Miss Mu? After all, you are the future Crown Princess. If I lie, wouldn't that be like seeking my own doom?"
Miss Mu, atrociously dressed, actually the future Crown Princess? Isn't heaven blind! The maid felt pity for the Crown Prince; after today, though, that position of Crown Princess might not belong to this Mu Xianli anymore.
Pleased by the maid's words, Mu Xianli swelled with pride, removed a jade bracelet from her wrist and put it into the maid's hand.
"This is for you. When I move into the Eastern Palace, you will not be overlooked." Mu Xianli entered the garden without waiting, eager to meet the Prince. Usually, the Prince would ignore her, but today he invited her for a private meeting inside the palace. By this, she knew that though he was reticent, the Prince really liked her. She would not let him wait any longer.
The maid weighed the jade bracelet and sneered at Mu Xianli's retreating figure before shoving the bracelet into her sleeve. She watched as Mu Xianli disappeared into the garden, then locked the garden gate and waited. The lock was a precaution; it would be opened when necessary.
Inside, as soon as Mu Xianli opened the door, a particular fragrance filled the air. She frowned. Was it possible that the princely, refined Prince also liked the sweet but slightly sickening scent? It appeared the advice of Cuiyu and the other maids was right; the Prince did like strong fragrances. Luckily, she always listened to them and wore lots of perfume.
"Prince, Xianli is here. Where are you?" Inside the empty room, she called out, fanning herself with her handkerchief. It was early spring, but she was feeling stiflingly hot.
"Prince?" Mu Xianli moved further into the room, but still, there was no sign, no voice of the Prince. Was it possible that the maid had fooled her? Was the Prince not here at all? She felt irritated and thirsty; her breathing had quickened.
"My dear sister, your brother is here," a lewd voice rang out, and a pair of thick arms circled around Mu Xianli's waist.
Despite the fog in her mind, Mu Xianli recognized that the voice and the hands around her were not those of her dear Prince.
"You dirty dog, let go of me!" She was to be the Crown Princess; no one else was allowed to touch her. She tried to free herself, but, despite her martial arts skills, she had no strength left. It suddenly occurred to her; the peculiar fragrance she smelled upon entering the room must've drugged her.
"Hehehe, you little wretch, I'll make you enjoy this, stop struggling, dear sister." The man's face was buried in Mu Qianli's neck, rubbing against it.
Mu Qianli, filled with embarrassment and indignation, turned her head to see the man's face clearly.
"Zhen Jian, you lowly dog, do you know who I am to dare disrespect me like this?" Mu Qianli desired to kill the man behind her, but she had no strength to fight back. The heat wave inside her body rose higher, threatening to engulf her.
"You think I don't know who you are? Miss Mu Qianli of the Mu family, the scar on my face is still fresh, how can I forget you?" Zhen Jian circled around to the front of Mu Qianli, his pig-like face coming close to hers, revealing a long scar on his right cheek. It sat conspicuously on his chubby, white face, somehow looking ridiculous. Seeing Mu Qianli powerless before him, Zhen Jian felt a deep satisfaction. A year ago, this treacherous woman left a permanent scar on his face just for teasing her. This humiliation would be avenged today. Although Mu Qianli was far from comparing to the celestial beauty of the Mu family, he could not help but feel stirred thinking of her under him.
"I am going to be the future crown princess, you dare to touch me, the crown prince will surely kill you," said Mu Qianli resistingly, biting her lip and trying to keep herself sober. Apart from threatening others, she couldn't think of any other way to deal with the situation.
"Hehehe... the crown prince will only thank me, how could he kill me! To tell you the truth, it was him who ordered me to wait for you here," Zhen Jian said and impatiently picked up Mu Qianli, moving his chubby body towards the bed.
"That's impossible, the crown prince won't treat me like this, he knows I am his princess, the future princess," Mu Qianli said with a deathly pale face, disbelief pouring from her shaking head and teary eyes. She didn't want to believe her beloved would treat her this way. In the end, she had been deceiving herself, thinking that the crown prince truly liked her. Little did she know he would resort to such despicable means to avoid marrying her.
Acting roughly, Zhen Jian threw Mu Qianli onto the bed and climbed on top of her, disregarding her screams and starting to undress her.
"Get off, get off, you fat swine, get off!" Mu Qianli screamed hoarsely. She, Mu Qianli, who had been proud all her life, how did she come to this?
"Dongling Jinyin, you're cruel, you're so cruel!" Mu Qianli screamed hoarsely, suddenly running out of breath, her eyes popped out, lifeless.
Ignoring the silence from the woman under him, Zhen Jian thought that she surrendered because of the drug. He took off his own clothes and his big mouth lingered on Mu Qianli's neck as his hands worked on undressing her.
When Mo Yun regained consciousness, she saw a blue canopy and felt a heavy weight pressing down on her, making her breathless.
Feeding her nausea, she kicked Zhen Jian, who was lying on her, in his sensitive spot. After hearing a scream like a pig being slaughtered, she gave him an additional push to roll him off the bed.
Murderous thoughts filled Mo Yun as she sat up and glared at the strangely dressed Zhen Jian, contemplating killing him with a single stroke.
"Ouch, oh!" Zhen Jian did not expect that Mu Xianli, who had been silent, would go for his vital parts. In pain, he curled up on the ground, clutching his lower body with both hands.
Mo Yun felt cold around her chest area. Subconsciously, she gathered her clothing tighter around her, finding something out of place. She was not in her usual mission attire, the black suit, but a long robe with wide sleeves. Her hands, usually rough from handling sniper rifles and grenades, were now slender and fair. It was clear this was not her body, and the ancient, nostalgic room was not a setting she was familiar with.
Wasn't she on a mission in the Middle East? How did she end up here? Wait… did she die? She and her team were in the Middle East on a mission to destroy biochemical weapons created by terrorists. They were under severe attack by these terrorists but managed to eliminate them. However, at the time of destroying the biochemical weapons, the base detonated. With a protective mindset of a team leader, she ordered the team to evacuate the base. When she regained consciousness, she found herself here.
"Ah…" Suddenly, her head throbbed as if wanting to explode. Memories that were not hers began flooding her brain. After a while, the pain subsided, and seeing Zhen Jian rolling on the ground, a killing intent welled up. That swine dared to molest the original owner of this body!
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, it's in here."
Chatter from outside stirred Mo Yun. She smirked, at the audience who had come to view the drama was here. Being an adaptive individual, she had inherited the original owner's memories. Mo Yun decided she would live well for Mu Xianli.
After adjusting her clothing, she calmly descended from the bed.
"You...How could you…" Zhen Jian incredulously gazed at Mu Xianli. He couldn't believe she could stand and even injure him. How did she regain strength? The drug he fed her was supposed to make her weak?
Unbeknownst to Zhen Jian, the spirit in this body of Mu Xianli had already changed.
"Why not? Today, you dirty swine will realise the outcome of offending me." As she spoke, Mo Yun kicked viciously into Zhen Jian's stomach.
"Arghh…" Zhen Jian let out a terrible scream. He felt as if his internal organs were about to be crushed. How could this woman exert such strength?
Accompanied by Zhen Jian's scream, the previously half-closed door was forcefully flung open from outside, and the room was immediately flooded with light.
With her head tilted,Moyun looked at the door and saw a dozen women standing outside, old and young. The leader was a middle-aged woman wearing a phoenix robe and a phoenix hairpin, with a beautiful face. The other was an old lady in yellow, with white hair but still tight skin, only with some slight wrinkles at her eyes. This was none other than the current Empress Dowager and her own aunt, the Queen Mother.
"Oh my...this...this is..." The women outside the door held their faces. They shielded themselves as much as they could, as if the people inside were unquestionably filthy.
"What...what's going on?" The Empress Dowager asked with a face as pale as iron, looking at Mu Xianli. The birthday celebration was going well, but suddenly a palace lady came to report that Miss Mu from the Mu family was meeting with a man privately in the palace.
Who is this Mu Xianli? She is the future princess consort, the fiancée of the prince. Upon hearing this incident, she and the queen came to this place, not expecting the news reported by the maids to be true.
Mu Xianli's hair was disheveled, her clothes in disarray. There were humiliating hickey on her neck. The young master of Lady Zhen's family was half undressed. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened.
"Didn't the Dowager Empress see it herself? Do I need to say anything?", Mo Yun calmly spoke without a hint of panic on his face.
"Xianli! Xianli! How can you be so reckless and commit such a disgraceful act? If I die someday, how will I face your mother?" A middle-aged woman in purple dress, who looked average, grieved as she looked at Mo Yun and shook her head. This woman was none other than Madame Liu, the concubine of General Lu.
"Sister? Who is your sister? Madame Liu, you are a mere slave. Do you even treat my mother as your sister? Hahaha… this is really laughable." In Mu Xianli's memory, she knew that Madame Liu was not a good person. She was only a maid that her mother bought from outside. When she gave birth to Mu Xianli, her mother died during childbirth.
Later on, when Madame Liu was pregnant, General Lu took her in as his concubine. General Lu had no other women, Madame Liu naturally took charge of the household and indirectly acknowledged Madame Liu as the mistress of the Lu family. In Mu Xianli’s perception, Madame Liu got onto her father's bed using schemes and with Madame Liu's intelligent and beautiful daughter who always outperformed her, everyone liked to compare them, making Mu Xianli detest the mother and daughter.
The several ladies standing near Madame Liu, hearing what Yun Mo said, quietly moved away from Madame Liu. What is a concubine? She was just a slave with a slightly higher status than a maid. General Lu had always been a mystery, and they had almost forgotten Madame Liu’s identity as a concubine. To recall it today really reminded them.
The young lady beside Madame Liu, dressed in snow-white clothes, frowned at these words, her eyes filled with blame directed at Mu Xianli. "Madam is, after all, your elder. With what happened, Madam is very distressed. You shouldn't speak this way."
Wasnt Mu Xianli, in a roundabout way, saying that her mother wasn't a good person?
"Mother?" Mo Yun laughed scornfully. "Mu Xian Snow, you must be mistaken. Madame Liu is just a lowly concubine, and you dare to call her mother? The one you should call mother is lying in the Mu family tomb. Everyone says that you are knowledgeable and well-mannered, but it seems you don’t know this basic rule."
This Mu Xian Snow was very beautiful, with fresh and refined temperament, like a fairy. Madame Liu was not even as beautiful, making it apparent that Mu Xian Snow inherited the good genes of the Mu family.
The Dowager Empress glanced sideways at Mu Xian Snow. No matter how beautiful or talented a concubine’s child is, they ultimately can't be put on the stage, they don't know any rules.
Mu Xian Snow bit her lip, her eyes reddening and said, "I misspoke.”
She felt that Mu Xianli was different now, making her lose face in front of the Dowager Empress and the Queen. But she couldn't figure out why.
Mo Yun rolled his eyes, looking at Mu Xian Snow acting as if she was the one bullied.
"Ouch, ouch," Zhen Jian yelped in pain beneath Mu Xianli's foot. Watching in silent horror was his mother, Lady Zhen, who dared not voice out her heartache. Despite her son being trodden on by Mu Xianli, she dared not make a scene in front of the Empress Dowager and the Empress. She was clueless as to why her son was even involved with Mu Xianli, the missy of the Mu Family. However, now that Mu Xianli and her son seemed to be involved, she would surely find a way to deal with her once she married into the Zhen family.
"Lili, how could you be so reckless? This is the Forbidden Palace, how could you conduct secret meetings? Do you no longer wish to be the Crown Princess?" the Empress lamented, looking at Li fiercely as a dash of dim light flashed in her eyes. She had been in this palace for half her life, and knew the ins and outs of the situation. She knew Mu Xianli, who loved the Crown Prince so dearly, would never conduct a secret rendezvous. She was also aware her son was not fond of Xianli, hence, the day's event must have something to do with him. However, it was not the Crown Prince's fault, rather it was Xianli who was behaving undesirably hence not fit to be the Crown Princess.
"A secret meeting? Aunt, saying such a thing truly breaks my heart. You should be aware that in my heart, there is only the Crown Prince. How could I conduct a secret meeting with someone else?" even though Li's words seemed to express sorrow, yet her face showed no sign of sadness. Her Aunt, the Empress, had obviously figured out that this was a clear setup against Li. Her words clearly indicated an intention to give up on Li, hence raising suspicions about who could possibly be behind this.
The court ladies and young ladies accompanying the Empress Dowager and the Empress, also started suspecting a conspiracy upon hearing this. All across the Kingdom of Dongling, everyone knew how madly in love Mu Xianli was with the Crown Prince, her presence was known wherever the prince was. Even though the Crown Prince was not fond of her, their marriage agreement had not been cancelled yet. She would always be the future Princess, why on earth would she harm her future for Zhen Jian, one who’s as fool as a pig?
"Could it possibly be a ploy against Miss Mu?" the words came from the wife of Prince Rong.
Li glanced at the Princess. This Princess was around forty and known for her grace and kindness. Her words clearly indicated that she was taking Li's side. Li gave a thankful look at the Princess and made a mental note of this kindness.
"Today, a palace maid led me over, saying that the Crown Prince was waiting for me. With Aunt, the Empress, governing the palace, I thought nothing could possibly go wrong, so I followed her in. I did not expect to encounter this scenario. However, I managed to keep my wits about me and prevent this swine from having his way," she concluded, kicking Zhen Jian forcefully in the stomach again.
The Empress's face darkened- her words were clearly an accusation against the Empress for not governing the palace properly. When did Li learn to convey her message in this insinuating way, or was she overthinking it?
"Empress Dowager, please discern the truth," Zhen Jian suddenly blurted out. "I had been betrothed to Mu Xianli a long time ago. Today, she invited me here for a secret meeting. When the Empress arrived, she immediately turned against me and even attacked me."
