"Burn the demon empress who debased the imperial harem!"
That was the sentence Hu Lingyi heard from the rebels before she died.
She had heard this same empty nonsense for seven years, and they still hadn't added a single original word.
A bunch of useless trash!
But as Hu Lingyi thought it over, sorrow welled up in her heart. The only capable one, the great general she had loved more than anyone, had died on the battlefield.
As the flames engulfed her, Hu Lingyi's smoke-stung eyes seemed to see He Qinglan riding toward her. She yanked hard on the reins and stopped in front of her.
"You really intend to enter the palace and compete for a position?"
A still-youthful voice, along with the warm spring breeze, washed over Hu Lingyi's face.
After looking around in disbelief, she forced down her racing heartbeat and shook her head.
"He Qinglan, let's get married."
*
When He Qinglan led the Pingxi Army through the palace gates, the Empress Dowager's chambers had already been reduced to ashes.
She had arrived a step too late. Regret was useless, but at least she could use the young emperor's blood to cleanse Hu Lingyi's path through reincarnation.
On the night of Hu Lingyi's return, He Qinglan drank the daughter's red wine buried on the day Hu Lingyi was born. Lying on her side in the coffin, she gently stroked the clothes beside her, as she always had, her fingers scented with wine.
"Before I went off to war, you asked when I would stop undoing your sash in the middle of a conversation."
"I suppose that time is now, Ruohua."
*
He Qinglan thought she would see Hu Lingyi after death.
She really did see her, but not in the underworld. She had traveled back to the time before her own coming-of-age ceremony at fifteen.
Grass grew lush and birds flew in spring, while willow branches brushed the riverbanks.
He Qinglan looked at Hu Lingyi, smiling at her as she said she wanted to marry her, and felt a sudden impulse.
By the time she realized what she was doing, she had already abducted the Grand Tutor's noble daughter and eloped with her out of the city.
Theme: Be the best version of yourself.
