That very night, Shen Changyin sent word back to the residence, saying only that military affairs were pressing and she wouldn't return.
Xie Yu didn't think much of it—she even felt reassured.
The joint drills between the Jiangnan Navy and the Imperial Guard were scheduled to last three days, but by the second day, neither the empress nor General Shen appeared again.
Originally, Shen Liuzhen would not have come again. But Xie Yu sent her a letter, inviting her to meet at the viewing platform.
Xie Yu dragged over a chair and sat by the railing of the viewing stand. On the small table in front of her sat a small bowl of freshly taken-down grapes and a cup of iced Pu'er tea.
She ate a few grapes, took a sip of Pu'er, and watched the exciting drills below. In the summer heat, she actually felt a rare sense of ease and contentment.
Until she caught the scent of perfume drifting from behind her.
She knew—the real protagonist of the day had arrived.
Shen Liuzhen also pulled over a chair and sat down across from her.
She was dressed magnificently today.
A long gown of moonlit cloud brocade draped over her, the fabric light as mist, its sheen flowing softly under the sunlight.
A kingfisher-feather hairpin inlaid with pearls was slanted in her hair, delicate tassels swaying gently. Light makeup adorned her face, eyeliner slightly lifted at the corners. Her complexion was pale as frost and snow, jade-like in beauty.
She truly resembled Shen Changyin by several degrees.
Xie Yu froze for a moment at the sight of her lavish attire, then understood the reason behind it.
Shen Liuzhen believed Xie Yu had compromised and was about to accept marriage with her—so she had come dressed in full splendor.
Xie Yu smiled faintly and gestured for an attendant to bring Shen Liuzhen a cup of iced Pu'er as well.
Shen Liuzhen touched the condensation on the cup and shook her head.
"Your Highness, I appreciate the thought, but you truly don't know that my body is weak, and that I'm currently on my monthly cycle? I can't consume cold food."
Seeing her about to launch into that sorrowful, resentful routine again, Xie Yu shook her head and interrupted.
"I will not marry you. Your monthly cycle is your own concern."
Shen Liuzhen sneered. "So this is how you treat me…"
"That's enough." Xie Yu tapped the table lightly with her knuckles. She sounded tired. Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an inexplicable force that brought Shen Liuzhen's performance to a halt.
Xie Yu remained calm.
"I know what you want to do. I know why you're doing it. And I can tell you right now—this will never happen."
Shen Liuzhen's bluntness was actually not a trait Xie Yu disliked. She laughed lightly.
"I think I can seduce you. I think I can marry you."
"I'm beautiful, I come from a noble background, and I represent the Jiangnan Navy. You want to become empress, don't you? You can't bypass me."
Xie Yu gave her room to speak, step by step.
"You've said so much—have you ever considered your own feelings? Do you actually like me, or are you just trying to seduce me?"
"I can like you," Shen Liuzhen said, resting her cheek in her hand, her gaze watery and a little frivolous. "You look noble and handsome, you're brave and strong, and you'll become empress. Why wouldn't I like you?"
Seeing she had no intention of reflecting, Xie Yu decided to be direct.
"Brave and strong? Then why do I feel that the people you hate the most are precisely those who are brave and strong?"
"What nonsense. In this world, who doesn't admire valiant women?" Shen Liuzhen smiled, her eyes trying to hook Xie Yu.
Xie Yu was like a solid wooden door with a high-grade lock—she followed her own plan without deviation.
"A person who has been extremely sickly since birth, who has taken countless medicines and endured endless needles, yet still remains frail—someone who secretly hates her own powerless body—will of course envy a healthy person, and will hate them."
"That person is you."
Shen Liuzhen straightened up, lowered her hand, and smiled again.
"Your Highness, don't slander my character out of thin air."
Xie Yu replied, "It's not slander."
"Yesterday, when you watched them drill, the disgust in your eyes was impossible to hide. When you saw them praised for their valor, you felt contempt and resentment—you nearly pinched your own hand until it bled, didn't you?"
Shen Liuzhen parted her lips, but Xie Yu didn't give her the chance to speak.
"So I ran a test."
"Yesterday, Lady Wang was injured during the drill. I used praise of her valor as an excuse and gave her a bottle of imperial wound medicine prepared by the court physician. This medicine is especially effective at stopping bleeding and promoting healing. I asked you to pass it on to her."
"I've tested this medicine myself. In theory, after using it, her wound should have scabbed over by today and wouldn't tear from normal movement."
She pointed toward the viewing stand below, to Lady Wang standing at the edge of the drill ground, sleeves rolled up, her arm wrapped in bandages. Pink blood was seeping through the white cloth.
"But look. Today she hasn't done anything strenuous. Just walking and sitting normally, yet the wound is bleeding again."
"She didn't use the wound medicine I gave her. She didn't even receive proper treatment."
"Why?" Xie Yu leaned forward.
"Yesterday's drill went very well. General Shen was in a good mood and invited several standout soldiers to the residence where you're temporarily staying, treating them to a banquet and arranging guest rooms for them to stay the night."
Shen Liuzhen's expression slowly drained away.
"During the banquet, General Shen pointed to you and instructed you to find the best doctors in the capital and buy the best wound medicine for those soldiers."
Fear crept into Shen Liuzhen's face.
"How do you know that? How could you possibly know?!"
Xie Yu frowned at her.
"Don't interrupt me. I have my methods."
She continued.
"She was paving the road for you. She wanted her soldiers to remember their future commander."
"But your hatred and contempt for these soldiers drove you to do something foolish. You withheld the wound medicine I gave Lady Wang, and you didn't summon a doctor. You only gave her some bandages and strong liquor, telling her to handle it herself."
"You hate these people. Strictly speaking, you hate the entire Jiangnan Navy. What you hate is soldiers as a group. You hate that they possess what you do not."
Shen Liuzhen withdrew all expression and stared at Xie Yu in silence. When her face turned cold, she truly resembled Shen Changyin even more.
After a while, she suddenly nodded and corrected casually,
"I didn't do anything foolish."
"She's a soldier of the Jiangnan Navy. I don't need her affection. Once I inherit the Jiangnan Navy, I'll have thousands like her. I won't lack one."
"She's just a foot soldier—not worthy of my courtesy. I only need to control the mid-level officers. They'll control her, and through them, I control the entire Jiangnan Navy."
Looking at the woman before her—breathtakingly beautiful, no longer relying on charm, her brows sharp, thin, and cold—Xie Yu knew she was seeing the real Shen Liuzhen for the first time.
She went on.
"A few days ago, I had my people conduct some investigations into your past. I discovered something very interesting."
"For your safety, your mother regularly selected elite soldiers from the Jiangnan Navy to serve as your personal guards."
"They were all exceptionally brave women. Your family is immensely wealthy in Jiangnan, and your mother has made many enemies. You frequently encountered danger—robbery, revenge attempts. These soldiers risked their lives and took countless injuries for you."
"Your mother rewarded them generously. You also publicly expressed gratitude toward them."
"These soldiers didn't stay with you long-term. Your mother regularly rotated them out, sending them back to the army to pursue greater achievements."
"But interestingly, after returning to their units, every one of them suffered some kind of accident within a month—drowning, falling from heights, or simply disappearing."
"Out of fourteen soldiers who guarded you, eleven met misfortune. Another was found dead, her body covered in marks of whipping and abuse. I don't believe this is coincidence."
Xie Yu's face was calm as she stared straight at Shen Liuzhen.
Shen Liuzhen's eyes grew brighter and brighter. As Xie Yu recounted her findings, Shen Liuzhen's expression shifted from cold indifference to excitement—now bordering on fanaticism.
"You found out?"
She curved her eyes and smiled.
"I'm very clever, aren't I? I never act while they're guarding me."
Xie Yu suddenly realized that even she could miscalculate.
She had deduced the truth—but she hadn't expected this reaction. She hadn't expected Shen Liuzhen to be thrilled that her crimes were discovered.
"You don't know how wronged I've been," Shen Liuzhen said, her eyes sparkling. She lifted her sleeve, revealing a slender, pale arm.
"When I was little, they stuck needles into me—so many needles. I was like a hedgehog. It hurt so much."
"I took injections while drinking medicine. So bitter, so thick. Do you know? I couldn't eat anything every day. After the medicine, I was already full."
"I endured so much. I went through more than all of them. I'm stronger than they are—yet they mocked me just because I got sick in winter, just because I couldn't run fast."
Shen Liuzhen shook her head.
"How stupid. Don't you think?"
She pointed toward the densely packed soldiers on the drill ground below.
"They think they're strong, they think they're brave. But in reality? They're just a bunch of idiots—idiots flaunting their inborn advantages in front of me."
Her head twitched like a bird's, nervously jerking.
"Later, I understood. Since they mocked me with their natural advantages, why is it wrong for me to mock them with the intelligence and power I was born with?"
"You're not mocking them," Xie Yu corrected. "You harmed them. You killed them."
Shen Liuzhen spread her hands.
"But the nature is the same. Harm is harm. I was deeply hurt by words too."
Xie Yu clenched her fist—then slowly relaxed it.
"If I wanted to, I could let you experience harm beyond words. I could let you feel all of it."
Her voice was cold.
"But in the end, I decided to give you a chance."
"I know you desperately want to inherit the Jiangnan Navy. But your mother remains powerful and unfallen—you hold almost no real authority within the army."
"For someone like you—sickly, unable to fully control your own body—power is everything. You've tried many times to place your own people within the Jiangnan Navy, to persuade your mother's confidants to pledge loyalty to you. I've uncovered all of that."
Shen Liuzhen picked up a grape, delicately peeled off the skin, ate it, and the flirtatious glint returned to her eyes.
"And then?"
"I can join forces with you. I can have your mother retire peacefully right now and help you ascend to the position of Commander of the Jiangnan Navy. The condition, of course, is that you withdraw from the alliance between you, General Shen, and the Empress, and abandon your current plan."
"In other words," Shen Liuzhen blinked, "I can't marry you anymore?"
Xie Yu nodded. "Immediately. At once. Give up the plan to marry me."
As long as Shen Liuzhen let go on her own, Shen Changyin would never have the option of "sharing Xie Yu with Shen Liuzhen."
Shen Liuzhen propped her cheek with her hand.
"I think your plan makes a lot of sense, but there's one problem now."
Xie Yu tilted her head. "What problem?"
"I kind of like you already." Shen Liuzhen smiled. "You know all my secrets now—you have to take responsibility for me, you know."
A lunatic.
Xie Yu said silently in her heart.
"And the position of Commander of the Jiangnan Navy is really not easy to handle. I'm so weak—those subordinates won't respect me."
"But if I had a brave, fearless, strong Crown Princess as my wife, that would be different. They'd respect me much more."
Shen Liuzhen had thought it through very clearly. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with starlight as she said sweetly,
"I'm determined to marry you. I will never change my mind."
Xie Yu's expression darkened as she stared at the grapes on the table, thinking.
Shen Liuzhen smiled and stood up, walked to her side, bent down—
She was actually about to kiss Xie Yu's cheek.
Before Xie Yu could raise her hand to stop her, a black streak suddenly cut through the air before her eyes, bringing with it a sharp rush of wind.
Shhhhk
The sound of metal piercing flesh rang out, and several drops of fresh blood splattered onto Xie Yu's forehead.
Xie Yu's eyes widened as she turned to look at Shen Liuzhen.
Driven backward by the force of the bolt, Shen Liuzhen staggered two steps back. Her pitch-black eyes were wide with disbelief as she looked down at the crossbow bolt lodged in her chest, then at Xie Yu, then toward the distance.
She couldn't see anything anymore. Her vision blurred completely.
She collapsed heavily onto the ground.
Xie Yu sprang to her feet in shock, cold sweat soaking her back, staring in the direction the bolt had come from.
Shen Changyin stood on the highest deck of a Jiangnan Navy warship. Unhurriedly, she lowered the crossbow in her hand and quietly gazed at Xie Yu.
In the next instant, killing cries filled the sky.
Countless Mighty Army soldiers with red cloth strips tied around their arms surrounded the training ground. The Jiangnan Navy soldiers inside, just like the Imperial Guards, were thrown into confusion, yet instinctively raised their weapons to resist.
Some senior Jiangnan Navy officers witnessed Shen Liuzhen being killed with their own eyes. Their eyes split with fury as they shouted for the Jiangnan Navy to fight the Mighty Army to the death.
At the edge of the training ground, the two sides clashed immediately. The sound of blades and swords rang without end.
The next second, an almost terrifying scene appeared.
Within the dense ranks of the Jiangnan Navy, a soldier drew her blade and, with a backhand motion, slit the throat of a comrade who was still shouting and fighting.
Beside her, another did the same.
Nearly half of the Jiangnan Navy soldiers defected on the spot, charging toward the eastern side of the training ground. Anyone who dared block them was cut down without hesitation.
The yellow earth was dyed red with countless streams of blood.
They merged with the Mighty Army at the edge of the ground, immediately pulling out red cloth strips and tying them around their arms.
Xie Yu saw it clearly—Wang Wuniang was among them.
The Jiangnan Navy had long since been infiltrated by Shen Changyin into a pile of loose sand.
Xie Yu's heart plunged into an icy abyss. She glanced once at Shen Liuzhen's corpse, still warm, then looked up at the top deck of the warship.
Shen Changyin's personal guards were throwing corpses down from the ship. Only Shen Changyin, dressed in white, stood there quietly, watching Xie Yu.
Xie Yu's scalp prickled inch by inch, her whole body trembling. She touched the still-warm blood of Shen Liuzhen on her face.
Suddenly, she understood something.
She never wanted to give Shen Changyin a choice.
And Shen Changyin had never given her a choice either.
—
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