The Diligence Hall was over sixty meters wide, twenty-five meters deep, and nearly ten meters high—grand and imposing.
It gathered the nation's rulers and their civil and military officials.
Here, the most talented people in the country formulated policies affecting the entire realm. Every word and action required careful thought and repeated verification.
Yet.
Shen Changyin said: "I request to confer the Third Princess as Crown Princess."
The Empress: "Approved. From today, the Third Princess Xie Yu is conferred as Crown Princess."
The court eunuch raised her voice: "All civil and military officials, pay respects to the Crown Princess."
The officials bowed in unison: "We pay respects to the Crown Princess. May the Crown Princess enjoy great fortune."
The Empress: "That's enough for today. Court dismissed. For any other matters, consult with the Crown Princess ."
Officials: "We respectfully see off Your Majesty."
The officials turned to look at Xie Yu. "Your Highness, the Crown Princess."
What? What? What?
What just happened?
Everything had unfolded as smoothly as a hot knife slicing through butter, as if rehearsed millions of times. Before Xie Yu could react, it was all over.
She was the Crown Princess?
Already?
It was already done?
What about the officials' opposition? The Empress's doubts? Her ambitious sisters' resentment?
Where had all that gone? Why had everything proceeded so smoothly?
Who conspired to stage this for me?
She took a deep breath, trying to think.
What should she do first?
Oh, first, she had to get an explanation from Shen Changyin—
Aren't you the one who wanted to be Empress?
Why am I the Crown Princess?
I knew you, you villain, wanted to be my "mother" for a long time.
Since court was over, officials moved out of the Diligence Hall.
Xie Yu spotted Shen Changyin in the crowd, ready to follow.
But she was suddenly surrounded by smiling eunuchs.
"Your Highness, since you are now Crown Princess, this princess's attire is no longer appropriate. Come, let's change your clothes."
Xie Yu wanted to refuse, but the eunuchs grabbed her hands anyway.
Among them were several elderly tailors in their seventies, white-haired, whom Xie Yu dared not push for fear of hurting them.
Thus, she was forced to the Palace Clothing Bureau.
Several elder and younger tailors crowded around her, measuring her waist, neck, and head.
Xie Yu peeked and noticed her head circumference was slightly large.
Just slightly.
Proof of her intelligence!
The tailors took the measurements downstairs, and a group of palace maids surrounded her.
They dismantled her neat headdress, redoing it into a style befitting a Crown Princess. All her hair was tied up, face fully exposed, tidy with no stray strands.
Then, they placed a gold-threaded jade crown on her head.
The moment the crown settled, Xie Yu's head sagged.
So heavy.
Ah, so this is what they mean: To wear a crown, one must bear its weight.
She gritted her teeth.
She was going to end this farce!
She would leave immediately!
The elderly tailors surrounded her again, white-haired, eyes sparkling, enthusiasm unrestrained.
Xie Yu was trapped, unable to move.
She understood—they had been deliberately stationed here. Whose foolish idea was this?
Before she could answer, the young tailors brought forward a bright yellow, perfectly sized Crown Princess robe.aa
Everyone enthusiastically dressed her in the robe.
Xie Yu: "..."
What are you doing? What are you doing!
You really put the future Dragon Robe on me.
Take it off! Damn throne, stay away!
Exiting the Clothing Bureau, more eunuchs escorted her to a carriage.
The carriage drove her to the Eastern Palace.
She got out.
Immediately, a eunuch smiled and said:
"Your Highness, our Dayong Dynasty hasn't had a Crown Princess in many years. The Eastern Palace is from the previous dynasty. The Empress said since you are married to Shen Changyin, living in the palace would be inconvenient. You are permitted to work here without living here."
She spoke fluently, a long explanation.
Xie Yu barely heard it, only saw her lips moving rapidly.
What? Dayong has fast talkers now?
Before she could be dizzy from this, the eunuchs led her forward.
The Eastern Palace was deep, passing through door after door, each with attendants waiting.
Through one door:
"These are your guards. Greetings, Your Highness, the Crown Princess."
Fully armed, sharp-eyed guards shouted: "Greetings, Your Highness, the Crown Princess!"
Through another door:
"This is your reception hall."
Another door:
"These are your civil ministers, assigned to assist you. Greetings, Your Highness, the Crown Princess."
Several ministers couldn't hide their excitement: "Greetings, Your Highness, the Crown Princess!"
Through another door:
"These are your personal eunuchs. Any request, they will fulfill."
Four eunuchs bowed respectfully: "Greetings, Your Highness, the Crown Princess!"
Finally, the last door opened to a scholarly, fragrant study.
"This is your study," the eunuch explained.
"This is your desk."
She pulled out a chair, gesturing for her to sit: "This is your chair."
Xie Yu sat, dazed.
"This is your tea."
A teacup was placed lightly on the desk.
A thick stack of memorials was placed on the desk with a bang.
"These are your documents. Please begin your work."
What?
Wait, what?!
Xie Yu suddenly snapped to attention, staring at the eunuch in shock.
The eunuch had already respectfully exited and even closed the door for her.
Silence filled the study.
Xie Yu looked around at the study, at the documents, then at her hands.
What had just happened?
What?!
Why was she already expected to start working so smoothly?
Becoming Crown Princess—is this a direct expression of chaos?
She rubbed her forehead slowly, unable to accept reality.
Tentatively, she picked up the first document.
She mustered courage, opened it, and read:
"Officials in Jingzhou embezzled silver… appropriated hidden fields… conscripted labor…"
Her courage failed. She closed the document and shut her eyes in despair.
Dayong seemed doomed.
She opened another document.
Then closed it again.
Her mood could be summed up in twelve words:
There was no saving this. She might as well wait for death.
Gritting her teeth, she stood up and rushed through the first gate.
Four personal attendants immediately blocked her path.
She shoved them aside without hesitation.
"I quit. Goodbye."
She strode through the second gate.
The ministers were waiting there. When they saw her coming, they instantly understood the situation.
"Your Highness, the empire needs you."
"Pretend I died."
Xie Yu swept the ministers aside like swatting flies.
She kept walking, passing through another gate—
The Eldest Princess stood there waiting for her, dressed in a lake-blue prince's uniform.
"What are you doing here?"
The Eldest Princess said, "Mother Empress sent me to assist you."
Xie Yu didn't spare her a glance and continued walking.
The Eldest Princess hurried after her. "Little Third, our family's throne has stood for thirty generations—"
Xie Yu: "Let it fall then."
She walked through yet another gate.
The palace guards had already heard that the Crown Princess was trying to escape and knelt before her in unison.
Xie Yu wasn't moved at all. She simply walked around them and kept going.
She finally exited the Eastern Palace.
Her steps halted.
The ministers, the Eldest Princess, the guards, the attendants—everyone who had been following her—stopped sharply behind her.
Shen Changyin was standing directly in front of Xie Yu with two guards behind her. She wore a silver-white robe and raised her eyes lazily to look at her, calm and unreadable.
Xie Yu: "…"
She turned right back around. "Let's go. Time to govern diligently."
She returned to the study and flipped through the documents again.
The more she read, the more hopeless she felt.
How was she supposed to govern a nation surrounded by such useless worms?
Besides, all work and no play would turn even a smart woman into an idiot.
She leaned back in her chair and fell asleep.
[Entering Dream]
She opened her eyes in the dream.
Morning in Jing Shui Village was cool, filled with dense birdsong.
Smoke curled up from several chimneys outside.
Her mood slowly settled into an odd calm.
She stood up.
Today's schedule in the dream was still militia training.
This session lasted three days.
After those three days, she led the militia in a proactive attack and wiped out every bandit within a radius of ten miles.
The bandits fled, screaming miserably.
The most vicious bandit leader cried and begged her to let her surrender to the authorities.
She kicked her hard in the stomach and sneered, "Surrender? Go ahead. I'm the Crown Princess."
The militia women around her burst into cackling laughter, thinking she was being funny.
None of them believed she was actually the Crown Princess.
Xie Yu looked around and laughed as well.
Truly, the core of comedy was tragedy.
[Leaving Dream]
Xie Yu slowly woke up in the Eastern Palace study. The waterclock dripped quietly.
She checked the time. It still wasn't noon yet.
The stack of documents in front of her still stood like a small mountain.
Not a single one had magically disappeared.
No tiny helper had completed her work while she slept.
Tragic.
She decided to keep sleeping.
But—
Just before closing her eyes, a thought struck her. She froze.
She pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down everything from her dream.
To her surprise, she remembered every detail clearly.
If it were truly a dream, she should have forgotten most of it upon waking.
She reread the notes and found the details vivid, precise, and logically complete.
It didn't feel like a dream at all.
It felt as if she had traveled to a parallel world—one where Shen Changyin hadn't rebelled.
And upon waking, she had traveled back here.
How could she confirm this?
Her eyes brightened. She began rummaging around the study.
She pulled open a drawer and found a map of the area around the capital.
She compared the map with what she remembered from her "dream."
Before dreaming, she had known nothing about the mountain terrain near the capital.
In the dream, she had studied it.
Now awake, everything from her dream matched the map—perfectly, exactly, impossibly.
So it wasn't a dream.
It was another real world.
And she could travel there by sleeping.
Was this her cheating ability?
What could she use this advantage for?
A flash of insight—
She could test methods of building power in the dream world.
If they succeeded there, she could replicate them in reality.
She didn't want to keep guessing Shen Changyin's intentions.
Shen Changyin had used power and military force to keep her at her side against her will, whether she wanted it or not.
Whether Shen Changyin wanted to kill her, use her… or liked her—
As long as she had enough power, none of that mattered.
She prepared herself, leaned back, and closed her eyes again.
[Entering Dream]
She returned to the capital—and to the palace.
After a discussion with the Empress, she was granted a noble title:
Princess Jin.
The process went smoothly.
The palace stewards asked her what she wanted as her residence.
She chose the former Chancellor's estate.
A few days later, the palace sent her the assigned housekeeper and attendants.
To her shock, the housekeeper and attendants were exactly the same people as in reality.
Even Litlle Wan was there.
But she didn't dwell on it. She was busy building her power.
She decided her future base would be in the southern districts—since the northern side was already Shen Changyin's sphere of influence.
There, she would raise a force capable of rivaling Shen Changyin's mighty army.
The foundation of this force was the militia she had previously trained.
She expanded the training, widened recruitment to all southern villages, and used her stipend to provide pay.
Everything progressed well.
But once the militia grew large enough, the local garrison became wary.
The garrison and local officials joined forces.
In the second month of the dream, Xie Yu was impeached in court by both the military and the civil administration.
She argued in her own defense.
She lost.
The Empress didn't intend to punish her, but neither did she intend to protect her.
She couldn't out-argue the scheming old ministers.
She had no choice but to bow her head reluctantly.
The militia was disbanded on the spot, scattered back to their villages.
This was to "give face" to the garrison and officials.
After this, she understood clearly: military force alone wasn't enough.
Her faction needed an articulate minister who could defend policies in court.
At first, she could recruit someone temporarily with heavy incentives.
But in the long run, she needed someone loyal who wouldn't betray her.
She set her eyes on Jiang Fang.
Jiang Fang's farming skills were terrible, but her knowledge and eloquence were impeccable.
She could quote classics and fight verbal battles like a champion.
Xie Yu recruited her.
Even so, she couldn't immediately resume large-scale soldier training.
She learned patience.
She understood that building a faction wasn't something achieved overnight.
Preparation had to come first.
Just like Shen Changyin had done in the northwest.
She became serious. She bought a new notebook and began writing down military training plans.
She recorded every idea she had—training methods, combat theories—little by little.
And then—
[Leaving Dream]
Xie Yu woke up and realized lunchtime had finally arrived.
She had barely opened her eyes when she heard a knock.
Zhu Ting stood outside. "Your Highness, Lady Shen was worried you might not like the palace food, so she sent me to bring your lunch."
"Come in."
Xie Yu rubbed her eyes.
She quietly reviewed the events from the dream, confirming every detail with certainty.
It truly wasn't an ordinary dream.
She smiled.
Zhu Ting carried the food box inside. Seeing Xie Yu in surprisingly good spirits, she looked startled.
She laid out the dishes on the round table, glancing at Xie Yu again and again, wanting to speak but hesitating.
Of course Xie Yu noticed. She picked up her chopsticks and said, "Say whatever you want."
Zhu Ting asked, puzzled, "Your Highness, I know you don't want to be Crown Princess, but right now you seem…"
"More motivated than you expected, right?"
Xie Yu picked up a piece of tender fish belly meat, chewed, swallowed, and said, "That's because I figured something out."
"What is it?"
"You've never been to school, so you might not understand. In school, a question you don't know how to solve will appear on test after test, over and over, until you learn it."
Zhu Ting didn't understand at all.
But seeing the Crown Princess in such good spirits made her happy too.
The usually stoic young soldier actually smiled. "Eat more of this roast suckling pig. I raised it myself."
Xie Yu ate happily.
Halfway through her meal, she suddenly lifted her head.
She remembered the recipe for mayonnaise!
No matter what her status was—nothing could stop her love for food.
She had the small Eastern Palace kitchen make a bowl of handmade mayonnaise from egg yolk, oil, salt, vinegar, and the other ingredients she wrote down.
Then she mixed roast suckling pig and rice together, asked for some ground spices, and squeezed mayonnaise on top—
Creating a simple but delicious roast pork rice bowl.
She used her spoon to mix the rice and barbecue together, then took a big bite, narrowing her eyes in pure happiness.
She even gave Zhu Ting a small bowl. The usually composed soldier took one bite, and her eyes lit up.
"This is delicious, Third Highness."
"Told you," Xie Yu said. "From now on, whenever I argue with your Superior Shen, you need to help me."
Zhu Ting held the bowl in both hands and shook her head. "Superior Shen treats me very well too. I can't take sides. Can't the two of you just stop arguing?"
Xie Yu didn't mind. She knew she couldn't buy loyalty with a bowl of barbecue rice. She simply wanted to share good food.
After finishing the barbecue rice, Zhu Ting returned to Shen Changyin's residence with the food containers and reported honestly, "Third Highness is in good spirits and finished her meal."
"Mhm."
Shen Changyin resumed her paperwork, calm and unbothered.
As if she weren't a complete maniac who needed to monitor her fiancée's every move.
Since Xie Yu seemed fine, she did not pursue the matter further.
But that night, close to midnight, Xie Yu still hadn't returned to the Princess's Manor.
Shen Changyin had already sent people to ask at the palace. Those from the Eastern Palace said the Third Princess had left in the afternoon.
The dishes on the table were still steaming faintly—Xie Yu's favorite fish soup and ribs, simple stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and an assortment of snacks and pastries bought from various shops across the capital—all from Xie Yu's favorite places.
The table was completely packed, an extravagant spread.
All of it had been prepared for today, to celebrate Xie Yu becoming Crown Princess.
Shen Changyin sat at the table. After hearing the Eastern Palace's message, she didn't act rashly. She first set aside a portion for Xie Yu, then began to eat alone.
After eating, she waited.
She waited a long time, until the moon was high above.
Nearing midnight, she finally couldn't endure it anymore. She ordered her subordinates to gather the spies stationed throughout the capital, put on her outer robe, and stepped out of her room.
The moment she walked out, she saw Xie Yu standing on the threshold of the courtyard gate.
They had only been apart half a day, but it felt like a long time. The girl who always carried traces of childishness on her face, with emotions so plain and bright, suddenly looked calmer, steadier.
Shen Changyin felt a strange panic.
Xie Yu didn't notice Shen Changyin's complicated expression. She had been busy all day, and upon returning, immediately saw her.
She held a wrapped scallion pancake in her hand. Seeing Shen Changyin dressed to go out, she asked casually, "It's so late. Where are you going?"
Shen Changyin stared at her for a long moment before saying, "I thought you ran away again."
"Ran away? I'm not running anymore."
Xie Yu spoke calmly. "If you add up all the times I ran away, it's almost five. And I still didn't escape. There must be a reason for that."
Her voice was crisp, her attitude peaceful. "I once heard a saying: fate is the best teacher. It repeats a lesson over and over until you learn it."
"Shen Changyin, you are my lesson."
She lifted the lotus leaf–wrapped a scallion pancake in her hand.
"As a lesson, I need to study you, understand you, overcome you, and eventually discard you like the equation one plus one equals two. Only then counts as karmic balance."
Shen Changyin looked at her quietly. "If this is retribution, then I welcome it."
She raised her chin slightly, smiling. "But for now, can you share a little of that scallion pancake with me?"
Xie Yu shrugged. "Sure."
—
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