On her eighth birthday, fifth princess Xiao Jinhe saw the scars on the wrists of her uncle Xiao Yan for the first time, and overheard her father saying "I don't have much time" for the first time.
Her father gave her a jade pendant and said, "It's more important than your life." She didn't know that Xiao Yan's name was engraved on the back of the jade pendant, and she didn't know that this jade pendant would become the last trump card in the mourning hall five years later. All she knew was that her father was ill, and the Queen Mother's soothing soup had an indescribable astringent taste.
From that day on, she tasted medicine for her father every day, secretly sent every package of medicine dregs for inspection, and wrote every seal in code words to Uncle Nine Emperors far in the north. She watched the three royal brothers turn from siblings to enemies, watched the Queen Mother push the three-year-old Sixth Prince into the court, watched her father cough up blood on the throne - and then wiped away her tears and pretended not to know anything.
Five years later, my father died. In the mourning hall, the Queen Mother wanted to establish a sixth prince, and the imperial army surrounded her. Xiao Yan rode into the city with three thousand elites and read out the secret edict: "The country is the most important thing, no matter what." The Queen Mother sneered: "Can the secret edict be self-reliant?" Xiao Yan did not answer, but tied a jade pendant back to Xiao Jinhe's waist.
"I will guard this country for you first."
At the age of eighteen, Xiao Jinhe ascended the throne. She named her sixth brother Prince An and sent Uncle Nine Emperors to the north to guard the border. After approving the last memorial, she picked up the tea cup - the tea was sweet.
"Father, your soup is still bitter. But the country you left behind is sweet."
The jade pendant swayed gently around her waist.
