The woman who had once been engaged to Xie Yu was named Shen Liuzhen. She resembled Shen Changyin to such an extent that at first glance, others would assume they were related by blood.
Their temperaments were similar as well—both inclined toward cool reserve. But compared to Shen Changyin's beauty, forcibly restrained by her bearing, Shen Liuzhen's eyes were rounder, less sharp, and gentler.
She was also dressed in plain white, giving off a strong sense of déjà vu reminiscent of Shen Changyin.
Today, Shen Changyin herself wore a deep-purple official robe instead.
After bowing to Xie Yu, Shen Liuzhen nodded at Shen Changyin. "Lady Shen."
Shen Changyin did not respond.
Xie Yu asked, "You two know each other?"
She secretly prayed they weren't sisters. She had no desire to be dragged into some melodramatic rich-family sister rivalry.
Shen Liuzhen smiled. "Many years ago, Lady Shen also studied under my teacher."
Xie Yu tilted her head toward Shen Changyin for confirmation.
Shen Changyin tightened her grip on Xie Yu's hand and said lightly, "We met once."
As long as they weren't sisters—that was good. Xie Yu relaxed and smiled. "Then you two really are quite fated."
Shen Liuzhen chuckled softly, took a wooden box from the maid behind her, and faced Xie Yu with a voice as gentle as flowing water.
"Third Highness, time flows like water. After so many years, this gift has finally seen the light of day."
For me?
Xie Yu watched as Shen Liuzhen opened the lid of the wooden box.
Inside, resting quietly on dried grass, was a finely crafted wooden crossbow. It had no excessive decoration, but its internal mechanisms were clearly complex, and its quality was unmistakable.
Finely made creations naturally carried a sense of orderly beauty. This light-brown crossbow was exactly that. The clear lacquer had fully dried, and the wood grain itself served as the best decoration.
General Shen of the Jiangnan Navy explained from the side, "Since the age of twelve, Liuzhen has apprenticed under the finest carpenter in Gusu City. By eighteen, her skill surpassed her teacher's. For the past three years, she has focused on designing and refining this repeating crossbow, perfecting it."
"For three years, she personally handled every step—never letting anyone else touch it. Even I, her mother, was not allowed to lay a hand on it—all so she could present this gift to the Third Highness."
The sincerity was overwhelming. Xie Yu hadn't yet figured out how to respond when Shen Liuzhen scolded softly, "Mother!"
She then looked back at Xie Yu. "Please don't feel pressured, Third Highness. I simply love woodworking. Making a gift for you also brings me joy."
She nudged the wooden box forward. "I've long heard that the Third Highness is extraordinarily brave and never misses a target. Please give it a try—just consider helping me test the quality of this crossbow."
The light-brown crossbow lay before Xie Yu's eyes. It wasn't even half an arm's length, yet the bolts inside gleamed coldly, razor-sharp.
Before firearms appeared, crossbows were the closest equivalent to modern guns—longer range than bows, allowing the user to focus more on aim and wind calculation.
Xie Yu was naturally tempted. Her hand moved—then stopped.
She suddenly remembered that this gift came from her former fiancée. A thin layer of unease surfaced, and she hesitated.
Shen Liuzhen noticed her movement. Her expression didn't change. She continued holding the box, gazing at Xie Yu with quiet expectation.
In the silence, Shen Changyin suddenly chuckled, gave Xie Yu's hand a small shake, and said, "You like it. Then take it."
She reached out, took the wooden box, and smiled at Shen Liuzhen. "Miss Shen's hard work—I accept on my wife's behalf."
"However, Little Xie happened to injure her shoulder yesterday, so I'll keep this gift for her for now."
Xie Yu stood obediently to the side, watching the two women converse. She didn't speak, and her expression didn't change, but inside she was delighted.
Perfect, perfect, perfect—this was ideal. She hadn't offended Shen Changyin, and she'd still gotten the item.
Seeing the gift she had carefully prepared end up in Shen Changyin's hands, Shen Liuzhen's smile didn't fade. She simply said naturally,
"I should be the one thanking Lady Shen. You're temporarily keeping the crossbow for the Third Highness—that truly completes my gift today. Otherwise, it would seem like I wasn't considerate of the Third Highness's injury."
She then gave Xie Yu a graceful bow. "The Third Highness is injured and still came to the pier specially to see me. I'm truly flattered and deeply honored."
"However, this crossbow is delicate and requires maintenance. Its usage also has certain techniques. I've personally written an illustrated manual, and I'll have someone deliver it to Your Highness's residence in a few days."
"I also hope that once Your Highness's shoulder injury has healed, Lady Shen can return this repeating crossbow to you, so you may enjoy it properly."
Oh—there's even a manual. That greatly increases its play value.
Xie Yu wanted to say yes, yes, absolutely—but for the sake of decorum, she only nodded reservedly.
"There's no need for Miss Shen to worry about that," Shen Changyin said calmly. "The Third Highness and I are wives. There's no distinction between yours and mine when it comes to possessions. Just two days ago, we even wore each other's clothes by mistake. Whether this crossbow is with me or with her makes no difference."
The incident of wearing the wrong clothes had, of course, happened late at night two days ago—when both of them were exhausted and had gotten up to drink water.
When Xie Yu heard this mentioned, she felt slightly strange. After all, that was something private between the two of them. It wasn't a big deal, but she didn't know why Shen Changyin had brought it up here.
As that thought surfaced, she looked at the wooden box in Shen Changyin's hands—which was actually quite light—then glanced at Shen Liuzhen. Only then did she finally sense that something was a little off.
She shook her head and decided that this discomfort was normal. After all, one was her current lawful wife, and the other was her former fiancée—someone she had never even met before.
Expecting the two of them to instantly become close friends would be what was truly abnormal.
With that exchange concluded, the empress said to General Shen, "A banquet has already been prepared in the palace. You've been drifting on the water for so many days—it's time to enjoy some food on land."
General Shen accepted gladly, and Shen Liuzhen naturally followed at her side.
For a banquet attended by both civil and military officials, Xie Yu and Shen Changyin naturally couldn't be absent.
At palace banquets, square tables were still customary in the front rows. The tables were fairly large—one person could sit behind a table, or two could share one.
Originally, as newlywed wives, Xie Yu and Shen Changyin could have sat together at the same table.
But perhaps the Internal Affairs Office felt that since both of them held official positions, it wouldn't be appropriate for them to share a table on such an occasion. So they were seated separately, at the front row on the left and right sides.
Instead, General Shen and Shen Liuzhen were seated below Xie Yu.
After Shen Changyin took her seat, she looked over in that direction, her eyes narrowing slightly. Those long, sharp eyes appeared even deeper.
But the expression passed in an instant. She quickly returned to her usual composure and sat gracefully among the guests.
Although the empress was obsessed with superstition and deeply trusted Daoists—so much so that she didn't even have time for extravagance and indulgence—at palace banquets like this, the expected music and dance were still plentiful.
On top of that, General Shen had brought singers and dancers from Jiangnan herself, pushing the number of performances at this banquet to over ten.
The performances were good. The performers were highly skilled. But after watching just two acts, Xie Yu was already suffering behind the table like an elementary school student forced to sit through a gala she could only barely appreciate—of course, one from the early years, when it was still somewhat interesting.
Her attention shifted entirely to the food. She buried her head and ate diligently, completely failing to notice that Shen Changyin and Shen Liuzhen exchanged a look in midair.
Shen Changyin was the first to leave her seat.
Shen Liuzhen watched her back, then stood up and followed.
—
Moonlight drifted lazily through the imperial garden. The most precious flowers, plants, and trees in the world grew here in dense abundance—worthless as dirt.
Shen Changyin stood by the lake, facing the breeze blowing across the water.
Footsteps sounded behind her.
Shen Liuzhen said leisurely, "After all these years apart, Sister, you no longer use my name?"
Shen Changyin kept her gaze fixed on the rippling moonlight reflected on the lake's surface.
Shen Liuzhen wasn't annoyed. She stepped up beside her and smiled. "Eight years ago, I was still at home when I suddenly received news—someone was studying under the name Shen Liuzhen and had even taken a reclusive great scholar as her teacher."
"I guessed immediately that it was you. I even sympathized with you. After all, there are countless academies in this world willing to open their doors to Shen Liuzhen—but no one willing to teach someone called Shen Changyin, a lowly bastard."
"You didn't even dare use your real name. Out of pity, I didn't send anyone to arrest you. I never expected that after several years apart, you'd actually take your own name back."
She smiled. "This world really is unpredictable. Anyone can turn their fortunes around."
Shen Changyin only glanced at her lightly, completely unmoved.
Across both past and present lives, she had experienced too much. Those days of studying under Shen Liuzhen's name already felt like another lifetime.
Now, power, wealth, and people were all in her hands. Shen Liuzhen's words meant nothing to her.
What concerned her more was Shen Liuzhen's current situation.
Shen Liuzhen was three years older than Xie Yu. She had been cultivated with all the family's resources since childhood, sharp and perceptive, her mind intricate yet pure—like a lotus root. By now, she should have been fully mature.
And yet, she was in this state, with no place for her in the Jiangnan Navy.
Shen Changyin gave a soft laugh. "A child without authority."
The smile on Shen Liuzhen's face vanished instantly. Her expression darkened for a moment, before she once again smiled sweetly.
"Sister, I originally thought it was a good thing that you stopped using my name—that you were finally facing yourself. But after seeing you today, I realize that isn't the case."
She casually snapped off a reed and toyed with it in her fingers. "Do you know what I heard the commoners saying today when I rode through the capital streets?"
"They said the Regent and the Crown Princess are a perfect match. They said that day in the streets and alleys, the Regent wore plain white like a moon fairy, and that was why the Third Highness fell in love at first sight and saved you."
"They also said the imperial astrologers personally calculated it—that the Regent's fate and the Crown Princess's fate are a match made in heaven."
"They even said one of you is frail and sickly while the other is strong and healthy, perfectly complementary."
Shen Liuzhen asked with some puzzlement, "But Sister, how do I remember that when you were living in that ruined temple, you wore dirty gray clothes every day—not sickly at all? No matter how starved you were, you never died. Your vitality was as stubborn as a rat's."
She curved her eyes and smiled. "Shen Changyin—those who learn from me live; those who merely imitate me die."
"The sickly one is me. The one who loves wearing white is me. And as for fate—"
She laughed softly. "Wasn't that white jade pendant placed on me in the first place because my fate matched the Third Highness better?"
She lightly touched her chest. "So dangerous. I almost let you turn things around and live like a proper person."
Her smile slowly faded. "Everyone has their destined place, Shen Changyin."
"You've lived well these past two years, even climbed to this position. But a rat is still a rat. A rat's human skin must eventually be peeled off."
"The person whose fate matches the Third Highness is me. The one this marriage should have been set for is also me."
"You—a mirror demon who only knows how to imitate others—should have the sense to exit the stage by now."
Shen Changyin turned her head to look at her.
Rarely, she thought back to her childhood.
Her mother had been a distant branch of a side branch of the Shen family—already unloved, yet possessing striking beauty. Life in the Shen household had been especially difficult for her. And yet, she became pregnant before marriage and gave birth to Shen Changyin.
No one in the Shen family knew who Shen Changyin's other mother was, so they all called her a bastard.
When Shen Changyin was three, her mother fell gravely ill and died. From then on, Shen Changyin lived in a ruined temple, surviving in constant hunger.
Until the winter when she was six.
The clan suddenly summoned all children under ten, collecting their birthdates and times to send to Daoists for calculation.
The mothers of those children were all speaking excitedly—there was a mysterious powerful figure this time.
That powerful figure was choosing a childhood betrothal for her newborn daughter. What she sought was a perfect fate match. As long as one's daughter was matched with that newborn, the family would rise to wealth and power.
They dreamed of money and authority.
Shen Changyin listened quietly and only thought—
If she were betrothed to that powerful figure's daughter, would she no longer have to go hungry?
At the very least, they would feed her and raise her to adulthood.
She reported her birth details. Unexpectedly, she passed the first two rounds of selection.
Clan members took her away, washed her properly, and fed her a steamed bun before bringing her to a small courtyard to stand with the other children who had passed.
Shen Liuzhen was among them.
At the time, Shen Liuzhen was only three years old. She wore moon-white clothing, wrapped up tightly. Her face was pale, but her features were exquisitely delicate. She held a warm hand warmer, watched over by several maids, utterly at ease.
Soon, an old Daoist with white hair and a youthful face entered the courtyard. She was clearly different from the ordinary Daoists from the earlier rounds—her abilities far more refined. After examining the children, feeling their bones, she sent them away.
In the end, only Shen Changyin and Shen Liuzhen remained in the courtyard.
Shen Changyin's heart pounded wildly. She hadn't expected to make it this far. With only two left, her chances had increased greatly.
As long as she was chosen, she wouldn't have to go hungry anymore.
Suddenly, a baby's cry rang out from a room in the courtyard—sharp and loud.
Shen Changyin immediately realized—that was the child. The one whose betrothal was about to be decided.
The chilblains on her hands itched. She hid her hands behind her back, afraid someone would see the swollen, festering red skin and be displeased, casting her out.
In her heart, she prayed silently:
Please—let me be matched with that child.
But it didn't happen.
The Daoist paced back and forth between Shen Changyin and Shen Liuzhen. In the end, she took out a jade pendant and tied it onto Shen Liuzhen.
"Both children are good," she said, "but this one is the better match."
Someone immediately escorted Shen Changyin away.
She couldn't believe it. She struggled, refusing to leave, begging the old Daoist to calculate again.
"I match her! I really match her!"
In the end, she was thrown out the gate like a bundle of firewood.
That was almost the only hope of her entire childhood—and just like that, it was shattered. In the countless hungry days and nights that followed, she would dream of that courtyard again and again.
Later, she secretly studied outside academies, then left Gusu and went elsewhere, using Shen Liuzhen's name to deceive teachers into believing she was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Shen family, so they would teach her for free.
That childhood courtyard grew more and more distant in her memory. She never knew who that powerful figure was. Even later, when she was forcibly married to Xie Yu as a good-luck bride, she never imagined that the person bedridden with illness was the very infant from back then.
It was only after her rebirth and repeated investigations that she finally unraveled this absurd truth.
The memories ended. She smiled faintly and said sincerely to Shen Liuzhen,
"You should ask your mother to reserve a position for you in the Jiangnan Navy. Someone without power sounds as ridiculous as you do now."
"The Jiangnan Navy—and the entire Shen family—will one day belong to me." Shen Liuzhen's eyes widened.
She flipped out another white jade pendant—the very one Shen Changyin had wanted but never obtained back then.
"And this marriage will be mine as well."
It was just a jade pendant. Shen Changyin couldn't be bothered to look at it again.
She turned to return to the banquet, but suddenly heard Shen Liuzhen shout behind her,
"Why did you become like this?"
"You're just copying me! I'm the one destined to be with her—she was born to like me!"
Shen Changyin's steps paused.
Seeing that, Shen Liuzhen raised her voice even more.
"That's why you have to imitate me! You live as my shadow—only then could she possibly accept you!"
"You're a scheming counterfeit! One day, she'll see through you!"
—
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