Volume One, Chapter One: Has She Really Traveled Back in Time?

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 desk as his face turned ashen.

“What? She jumped into the lake? Hurry… hurry and save my child!”

He stood up on shaking legs, with the chief eunuch hurrying to support him as ministers tumbled after them in a panicked rush toward Kunyu Lake.

The officials exchanged bewildered looks, feelings mixed and complicated. Jumping into the lake? Everyone knew Princess Changning was notorious for her mischief, but such a dramatic act was unheard of.

“Your Majesty, please calm yourself. We’ll command the imperial guards to search for the princess at once!” the Prime Minister said, wiping sweat from his brow as he quickened his pace.

“Search? She must be saved alive! I want my child alive!” the Emperor roared.

Meanwhile, the Empress, having heard the news, hastened over in a panic, her face stricken as she muttered, “Oh, my child, how could you be so desperate? I cannot live without you!”

Behind her trailed several young princes and princesses, crying their hearts out, while the consorts all dabbed at their eyes with feigned sorrow.

In the lake, as soon as Princess Changning plunged in, the icy water jolted her to the core.

“So cold!” She struggled upwards twice but had forgotten she couldn’t swim. After swallowing two mouthfuls of water, she sank straight down.

Suddenly, the person who had lost consciousness snapped her eyes open, memories flooding her mind like a torrential river.

Towering buildings, bustling streets filled with cars… She vaguely saw herself being thrown from a vehicle in a crash.

Wasn’t she on a mission? She had spent more than twenty years in that world as a secret agent, only to die when her task ended in failure.

“What’s happening… Wasn’t I dead? Did I travel through time again? And back to here?” She stared wide-eyed at the once-familiar Kunyu Lake, flailing as she tried to swim toward the shore.

She shook her head desperately, attempting to sort out the tangled memories.

“I’ve died twice now? And I’m back to the day of my suicide from two lifetimes ago?!”

She had been Princess Changning of the Great Sheng, imperial decree demanded she marry into Sheye for a political alliance. She’d feigned a suicide by drowning, but ended up truly dying.

Memories from two lifetimes flashed before her, especially the hardships of her last life as an agent. She scoffed coldly.

“Marrying into Sheye doesn’t sound so bad! Once I’m there, why not keep a hundred handsome men? As for the King of Sheye, let him be!”

By now, pandemonium had broken out on the lakeshore.

Every last imperial guard had plunged into the water, thrashing about as if searching for a needle in the sea.

When the Emperor and Empress, followed by the ministers, arrived out of breath, they were beside themselves with worry.

“My child, if anything happens to you, I won’t go on living!” the Empress cried, eyes brimming with tears.

“Hurry and save her! Nothing must happen to my princess!” the Emperor clung to the chief eunuch’s hand, barely able to stand.

Princess Changning struggled toward the opposite shore, listening to the calls from land, her nose stinging with emotion.

“I used to think they didn’t care about me, but it seems they actually do.”

She glanced at the nearest imperial guard in the water and suddenly shouted, “Hey, stop flailing! I’m over here!”

Startled, the guard saw her head above water and shouted, “The princess is here! Quick, save the princess!”

Changning waved them away in annoyance. “Get lost! Don’t touch me, I can swim by myself!”

With graceful strokes like a fish, she climbed ashore and stood, dripping, before the crowd.

A swarm of palace maids rushed to drape cloaks and garments over her, fussing with her hair.

The Empress darted forward and hugged her fiercely, tears streaming down her face. “Ning’er, you nearly scared me to death!”

Changning patted her back, her expression complicated.

“Your Majesty, I beg you, don’t send Ning’er away to marry. Punish me if you must, I’ll take Ning’er home!” the Empress sobbed, falling to her knees as she pleaded with the Emperor.

Changning’s nose prickled with sorrow. After her suicide in her first life, her spirit had lingered in the palace, witnessing her mother’s decline and death three years later, unloved and grieving, and then the death of her youngest brother.

Her eyes reddened. However muddled her mother might be at times, this life she would protect her and her little brother at all costs!

The Emperor sighed, stepping forward to tenderly touch Changning’s face.

Changning looked up at her father and the assembled ministers, sniffing back her tears.

She spoke respectfully, “Father, Mother, I will marry into Sheye.”

Her words plunged the crowd into stunned silence.

The Emperor stared and then broke into a broad, joyful smile. “My child, you truly are willing?”

“Of course I am,” Changning replied, a sly smile curling her lips. “But I have conditions.”

She began counting on her fingers: “I want a dowry delivered across a thousand miles, and I’ll give you the list later. It includes, but is not limited to, jewelry, silk, writing sets, ancient books and paintings as usual, but also grain, vegetable seeds, horses, medicinal herbs, saltpeter, timber, sulfur, craftsmen… Oh, and noodles—no, a theatrical troupe! I can’t be bored in Sheye.”

The Emperor and Empress exchanged a complex look.

Tentatively, the Emperor asked, “And… how many in the troupe?”

“One hundred,” Changning declared boldly. “That place is remote and barren—how could I survive without any entertainment? Otherwise, if I get desperate again, I might just jump in the lake once more.”

Everyone was struck dumb, glancing at each other in disbelief.

Only the Prime Minister couldn’t help but cover his forehead, sighing softly, “This temperament truly must change, it must…”