In the hills behind the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
A stream burbled through a secluded valley.
For once, Qian Renxue had shed her disguise as Xue Qinghe.
Golden hair spilled over her shoulders, her blue eyes as clear as a freshly washed sky. She wore nothing but a simple little white dress.
Barefoot, she stood on the stones beside the stream, cool water slipping between her toes, ticklish and chilly.
Here, there was no Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, no young mistress of Spirit Hall, no heir to the angel bloodline. There was only a nine-year-old girl.
Only here could she be herself.
Qian Renxue crouched and reached out to stir the fallen leaves on the water, her faintly smiling face reflected on its surface.
This was one of the few moments all year when she could smile.
Then she spotted someone.
A dark-haired young man of about twenty lay on a large rock, his hands behind his head and a blade of grass between his lips.
A fishing rod rested beside him, its line trailing into the water, but his eyes were closed. He was not watching it at all.
Qian Renxue's smile vanished instantly, her hand already reaching for the short dagger at her waist.
This was forbidden royal ground, surrounded by layers of guards. Anyone who could appear here without a sound might be an expert!
"Who are you?"
Her voice was cold as ice-tempered steel.
Without even opening his eyes, the young man gave a muffled reply.
"Take a guess."
Qian Renxue's brows drew tighter. Countless people had treated her with the utmost reverence, but this man could not even be bothered to glance at her.
"This is forbidden royal ground. You..."
"Oh."
The young man rolled over, turning his back to her.
"Then just think of me as some passing fisherman. Keep it down. A fish is about to bite."
Qian Renxue froze.
Her life might have been short, but she had met plenty of people. Never had she met anyone like this.
No reverence, no ulterior motives, not even curiosity. He was like a gust of wind, a leaf-once he drifted past, that was all.
She should have summoned She Long at once to kill him.
But she did not.
Because at that moment, a strange thought surfaced in her mind: This man is interesting.
Qian Renxue released her dagger. After a moment's hesitation, she quietly sat on another stone beside the stream.
The young man did not chase her away.
The two spent the entire afternoon in silence, neither saying another word.
In the end, they caught absolutely nothing...
After that, whenever Qian Renxue visited the valley, he was there.
Sometimes he was fishing, sometimes sleeping, sometimes reading.
Once, she even found him roasting an ornamental carp that he had clearly stolen from the palace.
"Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"
"What's there to be afraid of?"
Qian Renxue rolled her eyes.
"I mean stealing fish from the imperial garden's pond."
"Oh, that fish jumped out on its own. I just felt sorry for it, so I did it a favor and released it into my stomach."
He made Qian Renxue laugh despite her annoyance.
Just listen to him. Was that something a human being would say?
It was the first time she had laughed in front of someone else.
Little by little, she began striking up conversations with him.
She discovered that he really was strange. He never asked who she was, or anything about her life.
Each time, he simply listened quietly as she spoke, occasionally chiming in with a sentence or two. Then he would say, "I'm off," and disappear for ten days or half a month.
Yet whenever she came, he would be there.
It was a feeling she had never experienced in Spirit Hall, or even in the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
She did not have to guess what he was thinking, guard against his schemes, or worry that he would change because of who she was.
He was simply himself: a strange man who fished, stole fish, roasted fish, and basked in the sun in a valley.
Once, she gathered her courage and asked:
"Why are you here?"
He glanced at her. His gaze was mild, yet Qian Renxue felt as though he had seen everything:
"Because it's quiet here. What about you?"
Qian Renxue was silent for a long time.
"Because... only here can I be myself."
He nodded without pressing her, merely handing her a skewered roast fish:
"Then stay a little longer. There are plenty of fish."
Qian Renxue took the fish and bit into it.
It was hot and fragrant, a flavor she had never tasted in the palace.
Suddenly, her nose stung, and she hurriedly lowered her head.
Qian Renxue had always thrown herself desperately into cultivation.
She knew what rested on her shoulders: the glory of the angels, Spirit Hall's expectations, her grandfather's sacrifices. She could not lose. She could not stop.
Once, she pushed herself too hard. Her soul power ran wild, and she nearly suffered cultivation deviation.
When she woke, she found herself lying on a broad, flat rock. The strange man sat beside her, drawing circles in the dirt with a twig.
"The way you circulate your soul power is too rigid."
He spoke without looking up.
"Who taught you?"
"It's Spirit Hall's cultivation method."
"Oh, that one."
He casually drew a few strokes in the dirt.
"I've tweaked it a little. Try again."
Qian Renxue followed his instructions doubtfully, then discovered to her astonishment that her soul power circulated more than twice as smoothly.
"How did you know..."
"Experience."
He tossed the twig aside.
"All right, stop cultivating. The weather's nice today. Come catch fish with me."
"I still have to cultivate..."
"What do you cultivate for?"
The sudden question left Qian Renxue stunned.
"To... grow stronger?"
"And what do you grow stronger for?"
Qian Renxue opened her mouth, but the words lodged in her throat. She could not utter a single one.
She suddenly realized that she did not know the answer at all.
She only knew she had to grow stronger. She did not know what growing stronger was for.
She lowered her head, her eyes filled with bewilderment:
"I don't know."
But the strange man merely glanced at her. He neither laughed at her nor answered for her:
"Then take your time thinking about it. There's no hurry. Tell me when you've figured it out."
Then he disappeared for another month.
During that month, Qian Renxue seriously considered the question of "herself" for the first time.
But she still could not figure it out.
Undercover in the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Qian Renxue needed to gather influence and cultivate trusted followers.
Yet she had always proceeded with extreme caution, terrified of exposing herself.
Once, while visiting the valley, she casually brought up the workings of politics and a case she had come across.
A powerful, high-ranking minister paid lip service to his superiors while defying them behind their backs, and those beneath him could do nothing about him.
She asked the strange man what he would do in her place.
After hearing her out, he said only one thing: "What does he want?"
"What?"
"Everyone has something they want most. Find it, hold it in your grasp, and he becomes your pawn."
Qian Renxue sank into thought.
Later, after investigating for three months, she discovered that the minister had an illegitimate son living away from home, whom he cherished as his own lifeblood.
Qian Renxue secretly took control of the illegitimate son-not by harming him, but by protecting him. Then, at an opportune moment, she let the minister learn of it.
From then on, that minister became her most loyal pawn.
When she returned to the valley, she excitedly told him what had happened.
He merely gave a grunt of acknowledgment and went on roasting fish.
"Aren't you going to praise me?"
"For what? You were always clever. You just used to stand too much on ceremony."
He handed her the roast fish.
"I knew you could learn, but there's one more thing you need to remember."
"What?"