My parents abandoned me in the countryside for sixteen years. When I finally returned, I discovered that the story about my mother having consumption was a lie. My father was a prince with power over the court, my mother was perfectly healthy, and my younger sister, Shen Zhixia, was a princess beloved and doted on by everyone. They tricked me into becoming a corpse carrier, a job everyone despised, just to squeeze every last bit of value out of me. The money I’d earned through three years of blood and sweat meant nothing to them. They beat and humiliated me, and even nearly killed me to silence me. Just when I was desperate, Crown Prince Zhao Heng, whom I had once helped on the battlefield, came looking for me. Faced with my parents and sister’s feigned pleas for forgiveness, I severed every tie with them.
