“Who broke their oath first and attacked the other party?”
The water source was not far ahead. After fiercely quarreling, they both felt that their strength had been exhausted and no longer made any noise. Li Rong went down the small slope first and reached the level ground near the water source. Seeing that there were still some grassy areas not too far away from the water, Li Rong was so tired that she didn’t care if it was clean or not and simply sat down.
Pei Wenxuan came over some time after her because he had been busy picking up some dry branches in the forest. When he reached the riverbank, he saw Li Rong sitting on the grassy patches. She seemed rather tired, but she still tried to sit up straight. At this moment, this arrogant and domineering person was quiet and had her arms wrapped around her knees. Her head was lowered, and her face was buried in her knees, not making a sound. Looking at her, she seemed a little pitiful.
Pei Wenxuan also found that he had gotten used to being ordered around by her. He felt a little uncomfortable seeing her this way. He arranged the dry branches and cleared away a patch of mud under the grass. After building a small dirt mound around it, he used a rock to ignite the firewood.
After the fire was lit, Li Rong brought her eyes up and looked in the direction of the source of warmth.
She was tired and sleepy, but the grass and ground were wet. If she laid down, her clothes would eventually get wet. She didn’t want to lie down, but it was also uncomfortable to keep suffering like this.
She could vaguely hear Pei Wenxuan go into the woods again. After a while, he came back with a lot of things wrapped up in his outer robe. Li Rong looked up and found that Pei Wenxuan seemed to have collected a bunch of dead leaves.
He generously piled up the dead leaves and covered them with the outer robe. Then, he called out to Li Rong: “Come here and hold them down. Don’t let the wind blow the leaves away.”
After having said that, Pei Wenxuan turned around, rolled the hem of his pants up to his knees, tied his wide sleeves back, and headed to the river with a sword in his hand.
Li Rong was not someone who couldn’t distinguish between good and bad. She got up and went over to the edge of the spread clothing and laid down. She felt much better in an instant.
After lying down for some time, she heard the sound of splashing water beside her and felt that she couldn’t sleep anymore. She turned over, still lying on top of his clothes, and propped her upper body up and looked at Pei Wenxuan, who was not too far away.
Pei Wenxuan stood in the river with a sword in hand, motionless.
He had quite a bit of patience. Li Rong felt like she had stared at him for half a day, but she hadn’t seen any part of him move except his eyes. He looked no different than when he was hunting down enemies in the imperial court.
Li Rong propped up her chin and looked at the young man in the distance, slowly feeling a bit intrigued.
As long as Pei Wenxuan didn’t open his mouth, that face was indeed worthy of being “first class” in the Capital. There was handsomeness in his elegance but not an impression of frailty, and a bit of indescribable arrogance but not too much for it to be repulsive. Under the moonlight, the figure in white robes holding a sword that silently stood in the flowing river looked precisely like a banished Immortal, a descended Immortal emanating a brilliant light.1
[1] Pei Wenxuan’s outermost robe is the blue, crane-patterned one from the Spring Banquet. This is referring to the white robes beneath them.
Pei Wenxuan didn’t have many good points, but Li Rong genuinely had nothing to say when it came to his face, especially now that he was 20 years old again. He was in the most beautiful years of his youth. Compared to that old man later on, Li Rong liked this look on him better.
Li Rong stared at Pei Wenxuan for a while and noticed that his eyes slightly flashed. His quick hands plunged the sword into the water with a “shua” and raised the skewered fish out of the water.
He threw the fish ashore, turned around and waited. After a while, he repeated the same old trick and stabbed another fish.
After he caught the fish, he squatted by the riverbank and quickly cleaned the fish. After washing his hands, he grabbed a branch he had stripped earlier, skewered the fish and walked back to the fire.
He knew that Li Rong was still awake. When he came by the fireside, he handed the fish skewer to her and impatiently said, “Cook it yourself.”
Li Rong was actually able to roast the fish herself, but hearing Pei Wenxuan’s commanding tone, she decided to ignore him altogether and lazily said: “Bengong does not know how to roast fish.”
“Then don’t eat.”
“But Bengong likes to eat fish,” Li Rong said with a wide smile, “If you don’t roast it for me, I’ll snatch the fish once it’s done!”
Pei Wenxuan was speechless. He could not argue anymore, nor did he want to argue with Li Rong, so he sat down, put the fish skewer on top of two rocks and turned it over the fire to roast.
Surrounded by the sound of flowing water and sizzling of the roasted fish, the two remained silent. After a while, Li Rong spoke up, “When did you come back?”
“More than a month ago.”
Pei Wenxuan looked up at her: “How about you?”
“Around that time.”
There was a moment of silence after the two had spoken. After some time, Li Rong couldn’t help but sigh: “I really didn’t expect you to not hide it from me.”
“What is there to hide?”
Pei Wenxuan coldly said: “But you also didn’t hide it from me either?”
“I’m different from you.” Li Rong lazily said, “I’ve always been like this. I dare to act and dare to face the consequences, why would I need to hide it from you? You’re different though,” Li Rong said, glaring at him, “Traitorous bastard.”
Hearing the two words “traitorous bastard,” Pei Wenxuan sneered: “You dare scold me as a traitorous bastard? I wonder, who broke the oath first and acted against me?”
“Ha,” Li Rong straightened up and applauded when she heard what he said, “Sure enough, Rongqing killed you, didn’t he? A good kill, what a great kill!”
Li Rong cast him a side glance and happily continued: “People who forsake old sentiments for profit and repay kindness with ingratitude like you are never allowed to die peacefully.”
“You still dare to say that?!”
Pei Wenxuan was absolutely furious when he heard her indignant words. He was so angry that he clenched the branch in his hand and fiddled with the fire. However, he still tried to suppress his voice and looked directly at Li Rong: “Li Rong, I’m sure I have never done anything to wrong you. Although you and I often quarrel and sometimes fight, I’ve never betrayed you after so many years, did I? But because of a dispute over the successor to the throne, you actually gave Su Rongqing the order to finish me…”
“You’re sure you didn’t do anything?” Li Rong coldly countered, “You had forsaken our oath that year over the matter of choosing a successor. You could kill me, so why can’t I finish you off?”
“Killing you was simply to fulfill the oath between you and me.”
Hearing this, Pei Wenxuan was stunned. He noticed that something was wrong and quickly asked: “Who broke the oath first and attacked the other party?”
Li Rong heard Pei Wenxuan’s question and also vaguely thought of something. Her face changed in an instant: “Didn’t you poison me first?”
Then, she proceeded to recount: “You came to me first and even gave me a warning. There was a strong, distinct scent on you when you came. Soon after you left, I drank a bowl of medicine and got poisoned. Were you not the person who poisoned me?”
“No,” Pei Wenxuan was shocked but quickly recomposed himself. He immediately confronted Li Rong with the events of his previous life and explained, “I did have spies arranged in the Princess’s mansion in case of unforeseen circumstances. I had someone poison after you sent someone to kill me.”
“When did you die?”
Li Rong frowned. Pei Wenxuan thought for a moment: “After leaving the Princess’s mansion, on the way back, I was intercepted by Su Rongqing and his people.”
“It was indeed my people.”
Li Rong lowered her eyes. The two remained silent for a while and respectively cleared up their thoughts. Pei Wenxuan thought about it and concluded: “So, in the previous life, you actually didn’t want to kill me, but someone made you think that I wanted to kill you, so you wanted to retaliate and kill me before you died, is that right?”
“It should be.”
Li Rong responded in a low voice. Pei Wenxuan quietly looked at her. A few moments later, he let out a low laugh. He wanted to say something but didn’t say it. He just lifted a hand and patted his thigh and sighed: “Normally, you’re very smart, but when you’re too smart, you might be harmed by your own intelligence. Li Rong, in the end, you still didn’t trust me.”
“But did you trust me?”
Li Rong looked at him with a cold expression.
If she trusted him, she would not have assumed that he was the murderer in the first place. She would even be willing to hand over power to Su Rongqing in order to kill him.
As for him, he wouldn’t have planted spies in her Princess’s mansion, prepared to retaliate and kill her at any moment.
“You’re right,” Pei Wenxuan nodded, “It’s rare for real husbands and wives to wholeheartedly trust one another, let alone us? But I’m curious, why did you think that I was the murderer?”
“I died from Fragrant Beauty poison.” Li Rong recalled her state before death. “When you came to see me, there was a strange scent on you. You don’t normally have a habit of carrying fragrant sachets, but you had it with you that day. After that, you and I were discussing the next successor, and you said that if I don’t agree, you could even kill me. After you left, I drank the medicine and died of poison.”
Pei Wenxuan’s expression deepened as he listened to Li Rong talk about her death. Li Rong continued: “There is not enough evidence indeed, but you have suitable motivations and the capability, and all the clues point to you…”
“So you thought it was me.”
Pei Wenxuan nodded and concluded. Li Rong remained silent. Pei Wenxuan seemed amused, looking down at the fish with a bit of self-deprecation in his eyes.
Li Rong knew that she was in the wrong and did not dare to speak. After a few moments, she whispered: “Where did the scent on you come from?”
“If I say it, you might be upset.” Pei Wenxuan’s eyes had a hint of gloating at others’ pain.
Li Rong thought for a while and frowned: “Su Rongqing?”
“Yes.”
Pei Wenxuan lifted the fish skewer up from the fire and looked around once. Seeing that the fish was almost cooked, he handed it to Li Rong. Li Rong absentmindedly took it and put it back over the fire to roast for a few more rounds. She listened as Pei Wenxuan slowly said: “When I arrived, Su Rongqing said that you were very ill and that I needed to wear an herbal sachet when coming in from the outside. Otherwise, you will cough when you see people. I had people examine the composition of the herbal sachet and test it for poison, and there was nothing, so I brought it with me. Besides, your servants were all carrying these fragrant sachets, but mine was relatively new, so that’s why the scent was so strong.”
Li Rong was stunned. Pei Wenxuan stared at her, thinking that she wouldn’t believe him so easily and continued to say: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me either. Anyway, even if Su Rongqing was not behind this, it wasn’t me either. Just don’t hold it against me.”
Li Rong said nothing. She blankly stared into the fire. Pei Wenxuan turned the fish over and looked at her with a smile, seemingly quite happy.
Li Rong found that he had a fearless, unabashed look of enjoying a good play and couldn’t help but be a little fazed.
She believed everything Pei Wenxuan said.
Su Rongqing was someone that she saved with her own hands.
That year, Prince Su2 rebelled, and Su Rongqing’s elder brother spoke up for Prince Su. Later on, he was falsely accused of colluding with Prince Su, implicating the Su clan with treason. At that time, Li Chuan was so furious that he fainted. He put the entire Su clan in prison without going through the Joint Trial of Three Divisions first and put the men to death and the women into exile.
She disagreed with this decision and rushed to beg Li Chuan before the Su clan received their sentence. After being subjected to ten planks, with Pei Wenxuan’s intervention, she was finally able to ask for amnesty for the Su clan.
[2] An Imperial Prince titled Su — lit. Su wang. This character for Su is different from the Su clan name; they are not blood related.
Even if the death sentences can be forgone, it was impossible to escape punishment while still alive. Even though the men of the Su clan could live, they would be subjected to castration. The others couldn’t bear the humiliation, so they all committed suicide in prison. When she arrived, there was only one man “desperate for life and afraid of death” left among the men of the Su clan, Su Rongqing.
At that time, she had told Su Rongqing that she saved him without the intention of asking him to repay her. She could give him silver and a position, so that he could continue to live a good life in the future.
Back then, she didn’t have any special feelings towards Su Rongqing. It was just that he had saved her before, so after he took care of her, bit by bit, she felt grateful, and…vague sentiments towards him. For the most part, she sought to save the Su clan for Li Chuan and her own conscience.
The Su clan was a prominent, noble family. It was difficult for her to sit back and watch if they died in such an ambiguous manner.
At that time, Su Rongqing refused to go.
He knelt before her and respectfully pleaded with her: “This slave’s body is no longer intact. The world cannot tolerate this, but only in the Princess’s mansion can this slave live in peace, willing to serve the Princess, knot grass into a ring,3 and repay the Princess’s life-saving grace.”
[3] knot grass into a ring — being grateful and repaying kindness even in death
Based on an ancient legend of a Jin army officer, Weiwu, who lived with his son, Weike, and beloved concubine. When Weiwu fell critically ill, he asked his son to find a good family for his concubine to remarry into, but later in his delirium, he wanted her buried with him. Weike spared the concubine despite harsh social criticism of not honoring his father’s final wishes. Later on, when Weike was caught in a stalemate on the battlefield, an old man appeared and created a grass knotted ring. The enemy general fell down from his horse and was captured. This man revealed that he was the father of the concubine that Weike had spared, and he wanted to repay Weike’s kindness.
Since he said that, she also kept him because there were quite a few enemies of the Su clan out there. In this life, Su Rongqing cannot enter officialdom, and even if he managed to, it would be difficult to obtain a high position. She could not bear to see Su Rongqing humiliated like that.
Because of the palace punishment, it was natural for him to stay in her mansion. Later, feelings arose between them. Although Pei Wenxuan noticed it, he couldn’t say anything. Li Chuan and the court officials didn’t think much about it either, so this green hat on Pei Wenxuan wasn’t particularly obvious.
[4] palace punishment — the ancient punishment in the palace for men was castration
[5] green hat — signifies that someone has been cheated on by their significant other
It wasn’t that she had never thought that Su Rongqing would not take revenge on her. After all, it was Li Chuan who ordered all the men of the Su clan to be beheaded and exiled all the female family members. It was impossible for anyone to forget this blood feud, let alone the formerly first and most outstanding gongzi of that year? For so many years, she had never dared to give him real authority, observing him and guarding against him while still trying to help him live a better life.
She couldn’t actually kill him because of her own conscience, but she couldn’t actually trust him and give him power.
In the end, he still decided to act. He killed her first, then successfully took her authority in the name of eliminating Pei Wenxuan. If she guessed correctly, he would not leave with the advisors. Instead, he would borrow the excuse of taking revenge for her and enforcing the will of the people to join forces with the Empress, assist Li Xin in ascension, and fight to the death against the remnants of Pei Wenxuan’s faction.
In this way, he can be tightly tied to her faction and have real power. In recent years, Li Chuan was only concerned with cultivating the Immortal path and Taoism. His foundation in the imperial court had long become unstable. Furthermore, his health had significantly declined recently, so perhaps Su Rongqing had an actual chance to kill Li Chuan himself.
She had anticipated this possibility from the moment she took Su Rongqing in, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit regretful when it actually happened.
If the Su clan could survive, then perhaps neither she nor Su Rongqing would end up this way.
Li Rong took a deep breath. Seeing how happy Pei Wenxuan looked, she couldn’t help but say, “What are you so happy about?”
Pei Wenxuan continued to roast fish and drawled out: “I said that this person could not stay a long time ago, but you didn’t listen, and it’s all good now,” He smiled broadly at her, his eyes curving up, “You must have suffered, didn’t you?”
“Are you that happy that I suffered?” Li Rong coldly said.
“That’s right,” Pei Wenxuan said, expressing his pleasure, “Our Imperial Highness the Grand Princess has suffered a loss. What a rare occasion in a lifetime, a spectacle to behold,” Pei Wenxuan raised a hand and placed it on his chest, “I find it extremely comforting.”
“Pei daren is completely wrong about this,” He made her so frustrated that Li Rong laughed out loud and rambled, “Bengong still let him serve by my side for 25 years for better or worse. If he wanted to kill me, I would be also willing. You got involved in this for no reason, so what are you so proud of?”
“You were even willing to let him kill you?” Pei Wenxuan sneered. Li Rong gave him a sideways glance, “Why, Pei daren won’t allow it?”
“Will it even be my turn to even give permission?” Pei Wenxuan angrily laughed, “Princess is like a golden branch with jade leaves. Please do as you like. I just wanted to give the Princess a reminder.”
Pei Wenxuan turned his head and looked at the crackling fire. His voice became colder: “In your previous life, you insisted on getting involved with him and endured how many planks. But in this life, if you dare to get involved with Su Rongqing and things are good, you could marry him, but if things get bad, you might not even be able to keep your life.”
Autumn: There is re-read value indeed, so tread carefully. It’s nowhere as complex as Langya Bang/Nirvana in Fire, but there are little details that will challenge everything you know in the later chapters. As always, thank you all for your support!
Autumn Pond Reflection 
Thankyou~ i hope i can read it everyday
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I’d love to keep up this marathon, but as the later chapters get longer, I want to focus on quality and consistency. Stay tuned though!
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Okay~
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Thank you for updating!!!!
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Omgggg such a heavy chapter, I loved it. I just love them so much lol.
Can I just say I love how petty PWX? I know it’s a flaw but it’s SO funny lmao xD
I’m glad they finally realized neither of them truly wanted to kill each other, altho their lack of trust, yikes… Also SRQ… I have to admit, he’s an interesting character. I don’t begrudge him getting revenge tbh.
Also, it’s so funny how jealous PWX gets over him? Like, yes manly pride and all that, but I don’t think that’s the full extent of it? He’s so dumb omg. Same with LR lol, who turned to drinking and acting out to get over the fact PWX was being a stupidly noble and responsible idiot over QZZ. Like I do think it’s touching how far he went for his childhood sweetheart but imo I think he was dumb to still keep going ‘she’s in my heart’ blah blah blah when it honestly just seemed he felt responsible for her. Then again, he was young and dumb 🤷
Anyway this turned out long but I just love these too smart and bickering idiots. Thanks for the chapter 💖💖💖
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Hahahahaha I’m really enjoying their screen time together. Just get married already! You both put up with each other for years (including hatred) before why not put up with each other again but this time with love~~
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Aww…if each of them can yake a step back and try to squish down their egi, loves may blossoms. They understood each other more than anyone else. They will be a perfect couple with respect and tolerance…
But i guess all of this is necessary to intangled all the misunderstanding and allow each to peer deeper into each other’s heart. Ice cold love might blossoms again then
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Its official PWX is my favourite
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