[Princess and Sinner]
Chu Randeng was the concubine of the prime minister's palace. She was raised in a temple and was not allowed to return home.
On a rainy night at the mountain temple, she picked up a young man covered in blood from the back mountain, hid him in the Zen room, and took good care of him.
On the day when the young man recovered from his injury, he held her wrist, his eyes were deep, and he stopped talking.
I never imagined that we would meet again.
He is the emperor's envoy, and she is the maid who married the princess.
On the day of departure, Pei Zhaoye made a promise: "Your Highness, I will take you home."
Chu Randeng kept his promise and counted the geese flying south three times. Finally, he saw the familiar black armor.
She held up the hem of her skirt and ran over: "Pei Zhaoye, are you here to take me home?"
But he turned his head to avoid it and pushed her away decisively.
Half a year later, the Song Dynasty defeated Yan.
Princess Jinyang returned to the court, but Pei Zhaoye was shackled and became a prisoner for the crime of deceiving the emperor.
Your Majesty sympathized with her suffering and promised her a reward.
She said: "I want to be alone."
"Who?"
"Pei Zhaoye."
In prison, she saw Pei Zhaoye, who was all but proud.
She rescued him and imprisoned him in the deepest courtyard of the princess mansion.
She made him kneel on the porch on a snowy night, ordered him to warm her fingertips with his lips, covered his old wounds with new ones, and asked with a smile: "General Pei was so majestic back then, where is he now?"
Knowing that he was full of blood, when he was trying his best to maintain his duties as a minister, he suddenly approached and teased softly: "General Pei, why are you shaking?"
Until that night, Chu Randeng pieced together the truth from his feverish sleep.
Back then in the Yan Palace, the imperial edict in his hand originally read "Kill the princess to avoid future troubles."
Pei Zhaoye, however, killed the supervisors with one sword and burned the imperial edict, paving the way for her to return as a princess and finding a way for herself to die.
On a snowy night and deep cold, she arrived with the light of day.
She leaned over and pinched his chin, forcing him to look directly at her:
"Pei Zhaoye, your majesty is unkind, and brothers are fighting against each other. In this game of chess, you and I are both pawns. Do you want to join forces with me and become a chess player?"
He raised his eyes, her burning face reflected in his eyes.
After a long time, the pale lips curved: "How do you like my princess?"
Her fingertips slid across the corners of his injured lips: "I want you to stand on the highest position. From now on, you are the king, and I am..."
Before she finished speaking, her wrist was held tightly by him.
In the darkness, his eyes were like those of a beast in a cage for a long time: "Your Highness, you know that walking the same path with me is a more dangerous abyss."
"Why fear the abyss?" She advanced instead of retreating, almost intertwined with his breath,
"I'm just asking, do you still dare to tangle with me one more time?"
——2026.3.16
Intention: good intentions
