The sound of a weapon slicing through a cloth shirt filled the air. A young man in black caught a longsword with his bare hands, his brows furrowed. "Who dares to assassinate me?"
His tone was solemn, but it was quite incongruous with his age.
The palace attendants nearby quickly protected him and asked, "Young Master Stein, are you injured?"
Yueji pouted and pointed at Sitai, saying, "You, give me back my sword."
Stey raised his chin. "Who are you? With your skills, you think you can assassinate me? You're far from it."
Princess Yue was furious and scolded the palace servants, "Who brought this unreasonable person to the back garden?"
At that time, Stey's mother and Empress Xue were leisurely drinking tea in a side hall when they heard a commotion in the back garden. Palace servants rushed in to report: "It's terrible! Princess Yueji and Prince Stey are fighting!"
When the two reached the back garden, they saw a boy in black robes and a girl in red wrestling. Yueji's almond-shaped eyes widened and she bit Stey's right wrist.
For a prince of such high status, it would be truly shameless for others to know that a girl had bitten his wrist. But Stey was still young and couldn't possibly restrain himself or calmly consider the differences between men and women. Before he could even blush, he opened his mouth and bit back.
Stey bit her lip, not too hard, not too soft. Yueji tried to retaliate, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back.
By any measure, these two don't look like two people who know kung fu fighting.
Empress Xue was completely stunned by their unrestrained behavior of biting and nibbling at each other, and shouted, "What are you doing?"
Stei released Yueji, secretly glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, then turned his face away and stood to the side.
Tsukihime's lips were slightly red as she pointed at Stey and said, "You scoundrel!"
Si Tai was the young prince of the Prince of Zhabei. The Prince of Zhabei was the emperor's younger brother. Because he lived in the northern part of Xue Kingdom for many years, he ruled the area like a king. Si Tai, who was entering the palace for the first time, had no idea that Wen Lai had a princess of a higher rank than him.
He curled his lip and retorted, "This humble prince will not stoop to your level."
Seeing this, the Princess Consort pulled Stei aside and scolded, "You mustn't be rude. Call her Princess Yueji."
Upon hearing this, Yueji's expression softened slightly, then she became somewhat smug, "You, call me sister."
Stey squinted and looked her up and down, then walked closer to her in his gold-embroidered leather boots.
Yueji thought her queenly aura had finally intimidated Stey, so she raised her chin, waiting for Stey to call her "sister."
Stey's eyes crinkled into a smile as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
Tsukihime was startled and jumped back.
Stey burst into laughter. Although he didn't understand the difference between men and women, he found it incredibly fun to bully Tsukihime.
Yueji blushed and said, "You, you, you, guards, throw him out!"
Stey slammed his fist on the table and laughed, “Whoever dares to chop me up, the entire Zhabei County will be mine!”
Yueji shouted, "I'll cut you down! What is Zhabei County? The entire Da Xue is mine!"
The final step was for the boys and girls to return to their respective homes and find their mothers. After returning home, Si Tai was severely whipped by the Princess Consort. The Princess Consort admonished him, "Next time you see Princess Yue Ji, you must respectfully address her as 'elder sister'."
Still defiant, Stey retorted, "Why should I call her 'sister'? I've traversed the entire Zhabei Commandery, and apart from my father, no one is better at archery than me. I shot six snow leopards... Ouch, Mother, don't hit me! Don't hit me! Mother, dear Mother, ahhh, Ancestor, please be gentle! Am I even your biological daughter?"
This incident left an indelible mark on Stéphane's upbringing. He was confined to his residence for two months for kissing a young girl, missing the winter hunting season. As a young prince, he didn't even manage to hunt a single deer. Stéphane suffered severe psychological trauma and couldn't hold his head up for a whole year. In front of the sons of other tribal chiefs, he would silently kick pebbles and walk past them until the following winter hunt, when he finally regained his self-respect.
From then on, Stei knew that Tsukihime was like a raging flood or a ferocious beast, and he would avoid her whenever they met.
In the twenty-third year of the Lian Tong era, Yue Ji was seventeen years old and went to the battlefield with her uncle for the first time.
She dressed as a man, in armor and military attire, her battle robes fluttering in the wind.
The general who accepted the challenge was Jin Lang from the Li Kingdom. He sat astride his magnificent horse, dressed in fine clothes and riding with great spirit.
After the two sides sounded the drums three times, Yue Ji rashly rode out of the ranks, pointed her long sword at Jin Lang, and challenged him to a duel.
Jin Lang narrowed his long eyes, picked up his precious sword, and rode off to fight. In less than ten moves, the tip of Jin Lang's sword grazed her snow-white cheek, and her helmet fell to the ground amidst the endless yellow sand. Jin Lang was slightly taken aback, the sword stopping at her neck. He said calmly, "Has the Eastern Land lost all its generals and ministers? Sending women to the battlefield."
Then, with a raised eyebrow, he sheathed his sword and returned to his unit.
Tsukihime lost face completely. Her provocation failed, and she was beaten so badly that she was routed. For the next seven days, she covered her face and hid in her military tent, rolling around on her bed until she inevitably rolled off the bed.
It's possible that she rolled around with her face covered for too long, causing her to miss the optimal time for medical attention.
A scar remained on her face, and no matter how many of the finest wound medicines and white jade ointments from the palace were used, it still couldn't be wiped off.
Empress Xue was very worried: Yueji was already a fierce person, and now she was disfigured. Even if she was the emperor's daughter, she would have trouble getting married.
Seeing that Yueji, a princess of the country, was developing rapidly towards the physical and mental characteristics of men, Empress Xue and the Emperor were filled with sorrow and had no one to confide in.
Every time Yueji looked at herself in the mirror, she would grit her teeth and say to the scar, "The humiliation that Dali inflicted on my face, I will repay it tenfold one day."
Flowers bloom and fade, day and night alternate.
As the two-year war came to an end, the State of Xue proposed a marriage alliance, sending Yue Ji in a grand sedan chair carried by eight men to Xue as a gesture of reconciliation.
Perhaps Empress Xue and the Emperor had come to terms with it and felt that it was better for Yueji's husband to become the emperor than for Yueji to become the emperor; or perhaps it was because Yueji had reached marriageable age and the couple thought that Yueji, who spent her days and nights rolling around in the military tent covered in dust, had a very worrying future in marriage, and that a marriage alliance would allow her to marry quickly and well.
When Yueji heard about the marriage alliance, her first reaction was to beat up the palace servant who came to report it, accusing him of spreading reactionary remarks and inciting rebellion, and throwing him out on charges of endangering national security.
The second reaction was a soft sigh, and he said: "Go wash up and go to sleep. It's not easy for anyone to make a living. We still have to fight tomorrow."
The final reaction was to widen her eyes and say sadly: This can't be real, can it? Tell me, this can't be real, right?
Yueji was the only child of the Emperor and Empress Xue, and was destined to inherit the throne. With such a noble status, even if she were to be sent for a political marriage, she should be paired with a person of great stature.
The husband that Da Li chose for her was a Jin general with numerous military achievements.
Although Yueji had a brief encounter with Jinlang two years ago, she was blinded by passion at the time and couldn't remember who the red-robed general who had knocked her to the ground was.
In fact, forgetting each other in the world would be a good thing for both her and Jin Lang. If she had known that the man she was to marry was the one who had humiliated her in front of tens of thousands of soldiers, the most likely outcome of this marriage would have been that Yue Ji would have taken a knife and stormed into the general's mansion to fight Jin Lang one-on-one. Domestic violence involving racial conflicts would have occurred in the general's mansion, leaving an indelible stain on the friendly diplomatic history of the two countries of Li and Xue.
Since Yueji was to be sent abroad to marry, and the Emperor had no other sons, he appointed Sitai as the Crown Prince.
It was late summer and early autumn when the wedding procession left the main hall.
Standing in the corridor, Stein watched from afar as Yue Ji bid farewell to the Emperor under the laurel tree.
She changed into a rose-colored, narrow-waisted, wide-sleeved pleated skirt, tied with a plain white half-moon sash, and covered her face with a light pink veil.
A breeze blew by, gently lifting the veil, and delicate flower petals fell. Tsukihime's usually stubborn eyes curved into a smile.
Stey watched as the convoy slowly emerged from the palace gates, disappearing little by little beyond the palace walls, leaving behind a long trail of carriage tracks. The setting sun cast its slanting rays upon the glazed tiles of the palace eaves, making Stey's purple brocade robe shimmer with golden light.
He was slightly distracted, bowed slightly, and respectfully whispered: "Your Highness, Moon Princess." He then slowly walked back to the main hall, his long figure fading away bit by bit.
After traveling for more than a month, the convoy entered foreign territory.
Beside the ancient road, a dashing young man in a blue robe and long sword rode a white horse, waiting for her with a smile in his eyes.
Yueji lifted the carriage curtain and peeked out to look at the young master on horseback. He was elegant, charming, and polite.
Yueji propped her head up and thought: Men should marry when they are of age and women should marry when they are of age. Marrying him is not a bad thing.
This young man in blue robes, named Lou Zhao, was a military advisor in Jin Lang's army. He was a first-rate swordsman and possessed the lightness skill to make flowers bloom every hundred steps.
The third young master of the Lou family is unparalleled in his romantic and unrestrained lifestyle.
Upon arriving at Anxi Town, Lou Zhao rode his horse closer to her carriage, knocked on the window, and asked in a low voice, "Princess, you must be tired from your journey. Why don't you rest in Anxi for a while and replenish your clothing?"
Along the way, Yueji observed many girls from other countries and realized that compared to them, she was hardly a woman. She resolved to be reserved, demure, and to pretend, and to keep up the act until her wedding night.
So she smiled without saying a word and tapped the window panel from inside the car to indicate her agreement.
Lou Zhao lifted the carriage curtain for her, bowed respectfully, and said, "Your Highness, I am Lou Zhao. General Jin sent me to escort you back to your residence."
When Yueji first met Lou Zhao face to face, he had exquisite features and a handsome appearance.
But he said his name was Lou Zhao. It turned out he wasn't the man she was meant to marry.
Tsukihime lowered her eyelashes slightly, concealing the disappointment in her eyes.
Lou Zhao led her to stroll through the night market and listen to storytelling in Anxi. She watched him chatting and laughing with others, his eyes seemingly filled with a clear light, and his spirited appearance was very handsome.
After crossing the stone bridge, Lou Zhao was suddenly inspired, so he ground ink and picked up his brush to paint a picture of "Princess Leaning on the Bridge Listening to the Rain" as a gift to her. The girl in the picture was dressed in a light dress and her face was half covered by a veil, exuding endless tenderness and affection.
The next day, the situation changed drastically.
For reasons unknown, the Xue Kingdom attempted to break off the engagement and take Yue Ji back with them. At this time, Si Tai had just ascended the throne, and this abrupt decision once again strained relations between the two nations. The Emperor of Da Li felt thoroughly humiliated and immediately ordered troops to be stationed on the Xue border, bringing war to the brink.
Yueji was completely confused. After crossing the border and taking a few steps, a group of dark people from the East came and wanted to take her back.
Amidst the chaos of war, sand and stones flew everywhere.