Chapter One: The Fierce Princess Who Returned from the Dead

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A heavy snow had fallen, cloaking the capital in pure white.

The Princess Consort of Prince Jing had thrown herself against a wall in the street, attempting to end her life.

It was shocking news. Crowds of onlookers gathered around Su Jingluo, Princess Consort of Prince Jing—some eager for gossip, others fearful of involvement. They stood at a cautious distance, pointing and whispering.

Su Jinluo opened her eyes in a daze, feeling as if she were a spectacle surrounded by a horde of people dressed in ancient costumes. If not for the splitting pain in her head and the flood of fragmented memories surging into her mind, she might have thought she had stumbled onto a film set.

She was Su Jinluo, a dignified surgeon, who had simply fallen asleep only to awaken in the body of Su Jingluo, Princess Consort of Prince Jing in the Shang Dynasty. Such a casual crossing of worlds!

As for the original owner of this body, the Princess Consort—she too had once been a physician, who had pulled Prince Jing back from the brink of death on the battlefield. When he recovered, he said little, but she herself was moved to tears, pleading to marry the scoundrel prince, Xiao Jingxuan.

Yet in the five years since their wedding—a night that had been more humiliation than celebration—she had been cast aside and forgotten in a remote courtyard. Even her child had been delivered in secret by her servant Ruihuan, with help from outsiders.

The original princess was meek and had hoped only to raise her son in peace, but her luck ran out. When her son, Xiao Yunbai, turned five, he was discovered. The concubine Lin Feifei, with crocodile tears, claimed she adored children, and the scoundrel Xiao Jingxuan promptly ordered the mother cast out but kept the son. He sent Su Jingluo back to her distant family in the borderlands, leaving the child behind. Unable to accept this, the princess lost all hope and died at the very gates of the prince’s mansion, determined to remain near her child even in death.

Now Su Jinluo held her aching head, not only from the force of the original’s self-inflicted blow, but also in frustration at her predecessor’s weakness and forbearance.

Waves of memories still poured in relentlessly. Su Jinluo felt overwhelmed by the sheer torrent of information, and the muddled state of the original’s mind suggested both amnesia and concussion. Ah, the original was so weak she made one want to bang their head against a wall!

Staggering to her feet, Su Jinluo startled the prince’s guards as if they’d seen a ghost. The woman who had just been lying dead was suddenly up and moving—had she come back from the grave?

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“A ghost! She’s risen from the dead, help!”

While the guards struggled to maintain composure, the crowd of onlookers, who had been munching on seeds and watching the spectacle, were now truly frightened. Still, none of them fled—the drama had just gotten even more interesting!

“Where is there a ghost?” Before Su Jinluo could retort, a cold voice rang out. In her former world, this would have been a perfect voice actor.

She turned toward the entrance of the mansion and saw a tall, imposing figure, a strikingly handsome and cold man striding through the snow and wind, his aura commanding all attention.

He was both familiar and unfamiliar. At the sight of Xiao Jingxuan, Su Jinluo felt a pang of inexplicable heartache. The original must have been deeply attached—how else could she still feel sorrow under such circumstances?

“So, you’re not dead?” Xiao Jingxuan glanced indifferently at Su Jinluo, who was staring at him transfixed, his tone laced with a subtle disappointment that she had survived.

Hearing his cold voice, Su Jinluo quickly looked away, blaming the original’s lack of backbone.

“Oh, are you disappointed I’m still alive?” She pressed a sleeve to her still-bleeding forehead. If the blood loss continued, she might collapse, and judging by how things stood, Prince Jing would have no qualms about leaving her at the gates.

Xiao Jingxuan hesitated for a moment; this woman actually talked back. Something seemed different about her.

“Not at all. Whether you live or die is none of my concern,” he replied, his words as sharp as a blade.

But would Su Jinluo care as she once did?

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“Exactly. Years ago, you were on the battlefield, barely clinging to life, and I nursed you back from death. If you cared, would you have treated me like this?” Su Jinluo shot back without hesitation.

“Of course, I must have been blind and foolish, asking for nothing but you when the Emperor offered me any reward. I passed up the chance to make my fortune just for you.”

Words poured from Su Jinluo like a machine gun, unstoppable now that she had nothing left to lose.

“You not only failed to treat me kindly, you subjected me to cruelty. A princess consort relegated to a derelict woodshed to live out her days.”

“You favor your concubines and oppress your wife, steal the legitimate child for the sake of a concubine, and cast out the mother. Oh, cold-faced General Xiao Jingxuan, you were never this ruthless on the battlefield!”

In one breath, Su Jinluo swept out all the grievances the original had suffered over the years. The surrounding crowd was abuzz with murmurs and sighs.

Xiao Jingxuan’s expression grew darker and darker. Had Su Jinluo knocked her brains out? How dare she say all this?