During the ten years I grew up alongside my childhood friends, Jiang Zechuan scaled a hundred-zhang cliff to gather the spirit medicine that could cure my illness, while Lu Congbai fought ferocious beasts to find a spirit jade that could extend my life. They had both sworn that I was the only one they would ever love. But later, when the orphan girl we had saved together was kidnapped, Jiang Zechuan chose to abandon me without hesitation. Lu Congbai went even further, shooting an arrow through my shoulder and sending me tumbling off a cliff with the bandits. While I lay on my bed, hovering between life and death, they were busy setting off fireworks across the city to celebrate the orphan girl’s birthday. After waking from my brush with death, I finally gave up on them and handed a letter to my maid. “Tell my parents I’ll return to the capital in half a month to fulfill my betrothal to the crown prince.”
