The most favored and notorious little princess in the palace was demoted to commoner.
After the happy ending of a clichéd story, the disgraced villainess princess was found by a young woman in a small village.
"I am spoiled and overbearing. What business is it of yours?" The fallen princess, wrapped in coarse hemp clothes, kicked over the washbasin.
"It's none of my business." The sharp-tongued young woman gave a cold laugh, holding a bloodstained sword. "But if you splash your bathwater into my courtyard again, you'll sleep in the doghouse with Dahuang tonight."
Meng Chuyu was once the brightest jewel in the entire capital, until the Grand Princess and her consort framed her and a single imperial decree reduced her to a commoner.
Lost in a remote village, she pointed at her savior and scolded, "How dare you! How can Her Highness sleep without a gauze canopy?"
Shen Lian tossed a torn cotton quilt at her face. "Sleep or don't. Tomorrow, catch your own mice for a snack."
--
Later, the little princess discovered:
The sharp-tongued country girl was actually the "Lotus Boat Wanderer" of martial-world legend, who took on bizarre commissions...
"Helping a sow give birth counts as chivalry?"
"Shut up. The flower thief is about to climb over the wall."
"Wait! Why do you wear a lotus mask when you beat people up?"
"...It looks good."
--
A sudden upheaval erupted in the palace, and the Grand Princess seized the throne in a river of blood.
"A-Yu, come back and be my sword." The woman on the throne held out her hand.
Meng Chuyu clutched the hem of Shen Lian's clothes and looked up with a dazzling smile. "Elder Sister, I already use my sword to chop wood and carry water."
--
"The world of martial arts you wanted," Shen Lian said, tossing a wine flask under the moonlight, "is it the carefree life of revenge and vengeance described in poems?"
"It's what I want with you," the drunken little princess said as she fell into her arms, "to bury the stolen osmanthus wine and fill eighty springs together."
"You knew all along that the consort was a woman?" Meng Chuyu crumpled the imperial decree in her fist.
"What does it matter if she's a woman?" Shen Lian's hand paused as she wiped her sword. Suddenly she moved closer. "Your heart is beating so fast right now, Your Highness. Are you afraid of me... or hoping for me?"
--
"I am giving you one last chance."
"Your Majesty," Shen Lian said with a smile, pointing her sword at the palace, "three years ago, you used your empire to protect her innocence. Now it's my turn to use the martial world to protect her recklessness."
Theme: Girls grow together
