Volume One, Chapter Six: Qige

Only Ning Yunshu and the Emperor remained in the grand hall.

“Seven years without seeing you, and you grow ever more audacious!” the Emperor’s voice brimmed with displeasure. “What crime is it to deceive the sovereign and betray the throne?”

Ning Yunshu lifted her gaze calmly and resolutely. “Father, the peace once secured by marriage alliance was long shattered by the Xiongnu. Since that is so, what crime is it that I returned to court by my own means?”

“Returning to the palace without imperial permission is a crime. And spreading lies in the hall just now is a crime!” The Emperor’s anger deepened.

“Yes, both are crimes! But if I had not spoken so, how would the world see it? Should everyone know that the marriage alliance is void, yet the Great Su princess endures humiliation among the Xiongnu? The court neither hears nor cares. Now, after nearly losing my life to return to my homeland, I am to be sentenced to death?”

Their eyes locked. The grief and resentment in Ning Yunshu’s gaze were impossible to conceal.

“Father, it was wrong to send me to marry in the first place... If it had been someone else, would you have remained silent and indifferent these seven years?” As she spoke, clear tears slipped down her cheeks.

Before Ning Moxue returned to the palace, she was the sole princess. Once, she had believed herself the happiest woman alive, favored above all by the Emperor, destined to live in that happiness forever.

“Absurd! Do you mean to say that it should have been Moxue sent to marry back then?!” The Emperor’s fury reached its peak.

Ning Yunshu bowed her head; Ning Moxue was his irreplaceable treasure, not a subject for discussion.

All of Great Su knew how deeply the Emperor cherished her. In his youth, he had loved a commoner woman—his white moonlight—whose memory he could never let go. That regret and affection transformed into indulgence for Ning Moxue, the white moonlight’s daughter.

The hall fell silent for a long moment.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Eunuch Tian whispered a gentle reminder, “Your Majesty, the princess must have suffered greatly among the Xiongnu these years. Having just returned, her words are but the voice of her grievances.”

The Emperor closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and sighed heavily. His gaze softened as he looked at her. “Shu’er, you are a girl and do not understand the state of the realm. The endless wars with the barbarians are not for lack of desire to bring you back, but the time is not yet ripe.”

Ning Yunshu knew that if she continued to provoke him, her father’s patience would soon be exhausted.

“Now that I have returned on my own, Father, are you pleased?” Her eyes locked onto the throne, her tone softened.

The Emperor was momentarily stunned. Looking at her bathed in sunlight, he recalled the figure that left the palace seven years ago—it felt like a lifetime ago.

Though displeased with her actions today, in the end, she was still the princess he once held in the palm of his hand. And now that her return was known throughout the empire, mishandling it would only invite ridicule.

“Enough! It is good that you have returned.” He swept his sleeve and spoke solemnly, “Shu’er, I must remind you: though you have come back, your position is special. You must be cautious with your words and conduct within the palace.”

“Yes, I shall remember your teachings, Father.” She bowed her head, a flicker of cold resolve passing through her eyes.

When Ning Yunshu stepped out of the Tai Chi Hall, the sky was bright. Aunt Gui and several palace maids, along with the phoenix carriage, awaited nearby.

She descended the long stone steps, the sunlight shining brightly, almost blinding.

A chill wind blew from afar, carrying the scent of earth, making her shiver.

It struck her as somewhat ironic: no one in this palace cared how she had survived those seven brutal years among the Xiongnu or how she had escaped.

What mattered to them was simply why she had returned.

How ridiculous.

She let out a soft laugh.

Aunt Gui and the maids approached to greet her.

Mistaking her laughter for joy over her bestowed title, Aunt Gui said with satisfaction, “Congratulations, Eldest Princess.”

With the princess’s title, the Yongning Hall would no longer be scorned. The princess had endured great hardship during her marriage alliance, but now, finally, her suffering had turned to sweetness.

Hearing this title, Ning Yunshu’s laughter grew more unrestrained.

Eldest Princess? Nothing but an empty name to preserve the royal image!

“Eldest Princess,” a familiar voice called from behind.

She stifled her laughter and turned.

Shen Yan had evidently been waiting for her some time. His expression was grave, his gaze fixed upon her.

“Thank you, General,” she said, still smiling.

Shen Yan frowned slightly, his voice low. “Is everything today as you wished?”

He had not expected that upon her return to the palace, she would present him with such a ‘gift.’

“Of course. If not for your help, how could I have become Eldest Princess?”

Shen Yan regarded her silently.

She had changed much—not only in appearance.

Once, whenever he came to the palace, she would eagerly follow him, even joining him at the training grounds. He rode and practiced archery while she watched.

Back then, she never called him ‘General’ so formally, but sweetly as ‘Brother Yan.’

Her look had changed too. Where once her eyes sparkled when they met his, now he saw only distance and a hint of mockery.

The lies she told in the hall earlier were evidently a calculated ploy to force the Emperor’s recognition of her identity—a cunning and daring far removed from the girl she was seven years ago.

Shen Yan’s intense gaze made her uneasy. Her face darkened. “What business does the General have with me?”

Her tone was cold.

His Xuanwu Army had fought the Xiongnu for years, yet he had never once planned to rescue her.

They had grown up like childhood friends. She had loved him with a one-sided heart, and before she was even of age, she had brazenly petitioned the Emperor for a marriage decree, which led to their engagement.

For him, she had left the palace without permission. When they were attacked, she shielded him and was branded with a heated iron.

Back in the palace, not wishing to implicate him, she told no one of her wound, enduring it with the salves kept in Yongning Hall, leaving the plum blossom-shaped scar on her shoulder stubbornly unhealed.

She had believed that even the coldest heart would one day warm.

But it was not his heart that could not warm—it was that she was not the one who could warm it.

After Ning Moxue appeared, she saw a side of Shen Yan she had never witnessed before: the tenderness beneath his battlefield ruthlessness.

He had once raced a thousand miles alone to kill mountain bandits to save Ning Moxue. Yet for her, sent to the Xiongnu for seven years, he had never come to rescue her—not once.

Shen Yan withdrew a necklace from his bosom, its black cord either its original color or stained with dried blood. Dangling was a solitary wolf’s tooth.

Ning Yunshu’s face tightened. She hurried forward, snatching the necklace from him and clutching it like a treasure, whispering, “Qige…”

Shen Yan slowly withdrew his hand, stiff in midair. “Is it so important to you?”

He had found it in the street that day. It was a common Xiongnu ornament, likely lost when she was injured. He had kept it, hoping to find her and verify—but it was truly hers.

Ning Yunshu cradled the necklace carefully, her eyes stirring with emotion.

She had thought she had lost Qige’s most precious possession—this was the only thing he had left her.

“Who is he?” Shen Yan asked, eyes shadowed with suspicion.

As a veteran fighter against the Xiongnu, no one knew better than him. Qige was a Xiongnu’s name. She treasured a Xiongnu’s keepsake?

“What concern is that of yours?” Ning Yunshu snapped, eyes blazing like a startled cat.

Seeing her so tense, Shen Yan’s hand clenched tighter beneath his sleeve.

He knew well how much hatred he bore for the Xiongnu—their hands had slain his father, brothers, and countless soldiers. And now, she behaved like this for the sake of one of them?

Shen Yan withdrew his gaze from the wolf’s tooth necklace and said gravely, “Since the item has been returned to its owner, I take my leave.”

As he turned to leave, his brow tightened uncontrollably. In his sleeve, he held a bottle of military salve famed for scar removal. The next moment, the bottle shattered, shards piercing his palm.

Ning Yunshu held the wolf’s tooth necklace close, a faint light glimmering in her eyes.

“Qige, look, I am back at the palace. I will never break my promise to you. Wait a little longer. One day, I will come to take you home myself…”