Clear Branch

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Qing Zhi is the lowest-ranked kitchen maid in the marquis's household. For fourteen years, she never once saw the sky over the front courtyard.

The first time she met the young marquis, the once-privileged young man was wearing an iron cangue, his back covered in crisscrossing bloody welts.

On the journey into exile, Qing Zhi carefully fed him water, but he coldly spat out two words: "Go away."

Qing Zhi had just started to pull off his clothes to apply medicine when the boy's pale face suddenly flushed red. "Please behave yourself!"

She was confused, but still seriously reflected on her actions. "I'll be gentler next time."

Only later did Qing Zhi learn that maids were divided into three ranks. A kitchen maid like her wasn't even allowed to touch the hem of her master's clothes.

She went with him through the filthiest mud and endured the coldest nights. After finally making it to Lingnan, she discovered one morning that his room was empty.

The peach blossoms in the courtyard bloomed and withered, then bloomed again, but in the end, she never saw him return.

After that, she stopped waiting.

Three years later, in a teahouse, the storyteller smacked his clapper. "General Xu Wenzheng of Dingyuan, with a silver spear in hand, broke through the enemy camp! Truly a god of slaughter descended to earth!"

Qing Zhi rested her chin in her hand, lost in thought. Strange. Is he talking about the boy who blushed when I held him down to apply medicine?

A few days later, a troop of armored cavalry suddenly stopped in front of her restaurant.

"Come back to the capital with me."

The man on horseback wore armor that glinted coldly.

Qing Zhi looked up at him with a faint smile and shook her head. "I'm getting married."

She said, "One day, you might marry a gentle, virtuous young lady from a distinguished family, or a brave, spirited daughter of a military household."

But his eyes reddened as he asked, "Why can't the person I marry be you?"

My next historical romance, Unforgiven, is coming soon. Please add it to your wish list.

(The crown princess who holds all the cards and scorns scheming VS the ruthless, twisted prince of an enemy state who schemes against even himself)

Yuan Zhaoning only wanted to live a carefree life as a princess, but her father insisted on making exceptions for her in everything.

When the army went to war, he had her perform the ceremony of presenting the commander with the imperial axe. When he went on an imperial hunt outside the palace, he kept her tied to his carriage.

There was no shortage of gossip among the common people, but nobody dared speak openly for fear of imperial authority.

Then, when she was ten, an imperial decree was issued: The legitimate sons of every official of rank seven or higher, aged seven to thirteen, were forbidden to marry until she chose her consort.

The court was in an uproar, and so were the people. From then on, arrogance, debauchery, and omens of national ruin were all laid at her feet.

Yuan Zhaoning wanted to ask, too: Father, what exactly are you after?

But before she could figure it out, she encountered a man on her southern tour, filthy from head to toe and barely recognizable as human.

A guard stepped forward, but she raised a hand to stop him. Don't pick up some man from the roadside. Just give him a little money and send him on his way.

Who knew if he had come to kill her?

But fate gave her no choice to leave him behind.

Even though she never reached out to him, that man remained entangled with her for half her life.

Yin Chenji was the prince of Yan who was never allowed to see the light of day. On the run, he hid his pride just to stay alive.

Only by living could he take revenge.

That night, covered in blood, he stumbled into the dirtiest alley in Zhao, just as the notorious eldest princess, famous for her cruelty and lust, passed through on her southern tour.

She didn't even get out of her carriage. After glancing over from afar, she said, "It's hard to tell if that's a man or a ghost. Give him some money and send him on his way."

He thought this was the greatest humiliation of his life, but he didn't know that fate had only just begun to act.

Again and again, she pulled him back from the brink, only to personally push him into an even deeper abyss.

He avoided her, hated her, and loathed her to the utmost, but every time he looked back, she was there.

Until an imperial edict of marriage made him her consort.

On their wedding night, red candles burned brightly.

She drove a dagger into his chest and asked with a smile, "Who are you?"

He moved closer instead of retreating, letting the blade sink deep into his flesh. In a low voice, he said, "Isn't it too late for the princess to ask now?"

A born winner and a desperate gambler destroy each other, then fall for each other.

She lives as if the world owes her everything. He lives as if the world deserves to be buried with him.

Theme: Your fate is in your own hands