A filha imperial mais favorecida da grande dinastia Sheng, a filha mais velha do atual imperador, a Princesa Changning, seria casada por aliança política. Acostumada a ser arbitrária e dominadora, como poderia suportar tal injustiça? Fez escândalo com o imperador e a imperatriz — primeiro chorou, depois gritou, depois pulou no lago. Ao nadar uma volta e sair da água, mudou de ideia. Casamento por aliança, ela iria, e ninguém a impedisse. Porém, exigia um dote de cem li em vermelho, um enxoval de mil li, queria grãos, sementes, salitre, enxofre, e ainda cem amantes... ah, não, cem atores, senão seria entediante demais. O imperador pensou: de fato, casando-se a milhares de li de distância, a princesa ficaria muito solitária. Aprovou. O Grande General Protetor da Nação, ele era frio, orgulhoso e reservado. Mais tarde, em meio à fumaça da guerra e ao caos do mundo, Gu Han, de Deus da Guerra de semblante gelado, transformou-se num general doentio e possessivo, disposto a matar todo o mundo por ela.
Year 68 of the Great Sheng Dynasty, the seventh day of the fourth month.
By the shores of Kunyu Lake in the imperial palace, sunlight spilled across the shimmering water. Suddenly, a furious shout broke the tranquility: “Aren’t you telling me to sacrifice myself? If you’re so unreasonable, I’ll go see Grandfather and Grandmother the Emperor right now and let them judge who’s in the wrong!”
The outburst stunned all the palace attendants and maids into silence. Even a yellow cat arched halfway on the pear tree froze in place.
A flash of red leapt from the top of the artificial hill, plunging straight into the heart of the lake with a loud splash, sending up great plumes of water.
Everyone on the lakeshore stood dumbfounded.
“Was that… was that Princess Changning jumping into the lake?” an elderly maid asked in shock.
“The princess jumped into the lake!” a young eunuch was the first to recover, shrieking as he rushed to the water’s edge.
The others snapped to their senses and chaos broke out. Some dove into the water, some ran frantically toward the imperial study, and others simply stood and wailed, turning everything into utter pandemonium.
Inside the imperial study, the Emperor was discussing how to handle the marriage alliance with the Sheye Kingdom with his ministers. Suddenly, a young eunuch burst in, sobbing and stumbling, and dropped to his knees, trembling as he kowtowed and cried, “Your Majesty, Princess—Princess Changning has jumped into the lake!”
The vermilion brush in the Emperor’s hand clattered onto the d