Chapter 23

Dead? Who's dead?
The Crown Princess.
The Crown Princess is...Yan Yiming?
It seems so.
Yan Yiming, who had just married into the Eastern Palace today.
Shouldn't the Crown Prince and Crown Princess be in their wedding chamber at this moment? How could she be dead?
Nan Gongye couldn't process it. He couldn't understand, couldn't fathom, didn't want to accept it, and couldn't bring himself to accept it. How could a perfectly fine person just die like this?
It must be fake, a trick to deceive him. Nan Gongye's hands shook uncontrollably. Trembling and bewildered, he groped for a while before his fingers met the cold, hard surface of the stone table.
How could this be?
An assassination in the Eastern Palace? Were the guards useless? Why would there be an assassin? Why did she have to die?
Why?
It felt as if a needle had pierced his heart, drilling deeper and deeper, the pain sharp and profound until his entire heart was pierced and shattered.
Nan Gongye gasped for air, his breathing unsteady. He pressed a hand to his chest, only to realize the pain had become so overwhelming he could no longer distinguish it.
After what felt like an eternity, it finally dawned on him. Staggering, he rushed toward the Eastern Palace.
The palace was in chaos.
The vibrant red wedding decorations still hung, but now they were swallowed by the darkness, silently humming a dirge.
The Emperor and Empress were roused in the middle of the night. Duchess Yan fainted upon hearing the news.
A joyous event had turned into a funeral. No one could have predicted this outcome. No one imagined that mere hours after the celebration, life and death would be separated.
The woman in red attire, with a beauty that could topple cities, now lay softly in Nan Gongxuan's arms, never to open her eyes again, never to speak another word.
Yan Yiming was truly dead.
She died right before Nan Gongxuan's eyes. He would never forget the chilling glint of the blade that stung his eyes, nor the moment Yan Yiming threw herself forward to block it, followed by the horrifying sound of metal sinking into flesh.
In that instant, something in his chest seemed to burst forth uncontrollably, only to shatter into pieces moments later.
It was at that moment Nan Gongxuan finally realized just how deeply Yan Yiming had loved him, but in the next breath, she had already collapsed before him.
It took a long time for Nan Gongxuan to comprehend, he had lost the woman he loved most.
By the time Nan Gongye arrived at the Eastern Palace, Yan Yiming had already stopped breathing entirely. The skin exposed to the air was deathly pale, and even her lips, once adorned with rouge, had lost their rosy hue.
The Crown Prince held her tightly, appearing as lifeless as a corpse himself.
Nan Gongye had never seen the Crown Prince in such a disheveled state before. That formidable man was now weeping.
Nan Gongye had intended to confront him, why had he been so careless as to allow an assassin to appear? Why couldn't he protect a single woman? But upon seeing the Crown Prince, who seemed to have lost his very soul, Nan Gongye suddenly felt no desire to question him anymore.
According to the Eastern Palace attendants, the Crown Princess had taken a fatal blow from the assassin to save the Crown Prince.
Staggering, Nan Gongye retreated from the room, hiding in the darkness as he crouched down, covering his head in despair.
What in the world was going on?
What was real and what was false? Was it as the servants said, that Yan Yiming had always been in the Eastern Palace? Or was it as he had witnessed, that the woman who should have been in the Eastern Palace had suddenly appeared at the Yue Prince's residence?
No one had seen how she arrived, and no one had seen how she left. Aside from himself, no one had seen her or heard her voice. Shouldn't that mean it wasn't real?
Yet, the few candies clenched in his hand were undeniably real.
Even now, he held them tightly in his grasp.
So Yan Yiming had truly come to find him. Yan Yiming had truly spoken those words to him.
She said she was leaving. She said she had promised him she wouldn't marry the Crown Prince. She told him never to trust a deceitful woman like her again.
It turned out that what Yan Yiming meant by “leaving” was departing forever. When she said she wouldn’t marry him, it was in such a tragic way.
Was she truly injured by an assassin? Did she really die to save the Crown Prince? Or was it all for that promise, the promise she made not to marry the Crown Prince? Did she die for him, or for herself? Was her death an accident, or a carefully orchestrated plan?
The truth was already quite clear.
Nan Gongye clutched his chest tightly, gritting his teeth to suppress the pain, but tears still streamed down his face.
“I don’t love him.”
“I won’t marry him.”
“I’m leaving.”
Leaving, never to return.
The Eastern Palace was attacked, yet the assassins were not captured. The emperor was so enraged that he nearly executed all the guards stationed there.
The Crown Princess had died on her wedding day, an extremely ill omen. However, since her death was to save the Crown Prince, no matter how displeased the empress might have been, she could only feel regret and relief now.
Regret that she had only realized today what a good child Yan Yiming truly was.
Relief that Yan Yiming had taken that blow for the Crown Prince and saved his life.
Yesterday’s joyous celebration had turned into today’s funeral. In the Duke of Ding’s residence, the Dowager Duchess Yan and Duchess Yan, both white-haired, fell gravely ill from the grief of losing their younger kin. To compensate the Duke of Ding’s family, the emperor bestowed generous rewards. The Duke tearfully accepted the honors, and upon returning home, he and his wife wept bitterly together.
A few months later, when the emperor sought to arrange another marriage for the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince refused. In the end, he only took a consort, leaving the position of Crown Princess vacant indefinitely.
Several more months passed, and Prince Yue personally requested permission from the emperor to leave the capital for his fiefdom. Without taking a single wife or concubine, he departed the capital alone for Beiping.
On the day he left the capital, Jinling City remained as warm as spring.
On the day he arrived at his post, Beiping City was frozen for thousands of miles, with snow and wind raging across the sky.
None of this was known to Yan Yiming after she left this world.
Temporarily detached from the fictional world, she still couldn’t return to reality. As had been stated from the beginning, Yan Yiming had to completely conquer all the male leads before she could go back.
Because Nan Gongxuan's favorability remained stubbornly at the last two percent, Yan Yiming took drastic measures, staging an assassination attempt herself.
After blocking that long blade, Nan Gongxuan’s favorability instantly reached one hundred percent.
Nan Gongxuan’s first card was completely conquered.
The system rewarded her with 700 diamonds. Previously, for saving Jian Yu’er, the system had generously rewarded her with 300 diamonds. Combined with various other rewards from completing stages and miscellaneous gains, after conquering the first card, Yan Yiming had accumulated a total of 1,977 diamonds.
Yan Yiming stared at this number, not knowing what to say.
Just 23 diamonds short of a 22-draw, why couldn’t they have given a few more???
Little A thought for a moment and tentatively suggested, “You could draw one at a time. Single draws can bring miracles.”
“I’ve said it before, there is no miracle for me. Given my luck, the chances of drawing nine R cards in a row are pretty high,” Yan Yiming flatly refused.
“Alright then,” Little A accepted 1,000 diamonds in exchange for 11 draw tickets and handed them to Yan Yiming. “Want to do a multi-draw?”
“Yes.”
“Who are you hoping to get this time?”
“Doesn’t matter,” she replied. Previously, she had always wanted to draw Shao Jingyu, but now it didn’t seem so urgent. “As long as it’s not Nan Gongxuan.”
After speaking, Yan Yiming felt a bit uncertain. Pausing for a moment, she cautiously asked Little A, “What if I draw Nan Gongxuan's SR card again this time?”
“Ahem,” Little A coughed awkwardly, “This time, there's the rate-up I promised you. You might even get more than one SR card. You have to believe in yourself, come on!”
She had almost forgotten about the rate-up.
Yan Yiming reached out to take the summoning tickets, took a deep breath, and said,
“Let's do it!”
Eleven summoning tickets were gradually flipped over to reveal the card fronts, one, two, three, four...
Yan Yiming began to tremble. Where was the rate-up?! Why were they all R cards?!
Was this lousy game even worth all the effort she had put into strategizing?
Finally, on the sixth ticket, a pink SR card dazzled Yan Yiming's eyes.
SR, Jiang Yi, “Top of the Golden List.”
Yan Yiming let out a long sigh of relief. Thank goodness, it wasn't Nan Gongxuan.
But with this card, the timeline should be a bit earlier than when she first strategized for Nan Gongxuan. Yan Yiming remembered that by then, Jiang Yi had already reached the fourth rank in the bureaucracy, while this card depicted him just after passing the imperial examination as the top scholar.
With one card secured, Yan Yiming felt a bit more confident and was no longer as nervous as before.
But it seemed to prove the saying: the less you care, the more surprises you get. Though she hadn't been expecting much, the final ticket made Yan Yiming gasp in shock as a golden glow radiated from it.
It was the glow of an SSR card!
As the light faded, the character and name on the card were finally revealed.
SSR, Jian Yuyan, “Elegant Gentleman.”
Which to choose, SR or SSR? Anyone with half a brain would pick SSR. Besides, compared to Jiang Yi, Yan Yiming was more familiar with Jian Yuyan.
After selecting the card, Little A brought up the character customization screen. “Our system has been updated once, and the customization is now more detailed than before. So, host, you can make yourself even more beautiful this time.”
Yan Yiming tapped her finger on the customization screen, thinking for a while. “Pull up Jian Yu'er's data.”
“Jian Yu'er?”
“Jian Yuyan yearns for Jian Yu'er but is held back by his status. What do you think would happen if a woman who looked exactly like Jian Yu'er suddenly appeared?”
Little A's eyes widened instantly. The host's move was truly brilliant!
Excitedly, she pulled up Jian Yu'er's data. “Do you want it to be exactly like Jian Yu'er?”
“Just a tiny bit different,” Yan Yiming replied, then added a small red mole at the corner of the right eye on the replicated face of Jian Yu'er.
Yan Yiming naturally had a crimson mole at the corner of her eye, so when customizing her appearance, she always liked to retain this feature, whether it was the previous Lady Yan or the current face that closely resembled Jian Yu'er.
After examining it from all angles with satisfaction, she nodded. “That's good, let's begin.”
The surroundings suddenly shifted, and when she opened her eyes again, a slight chill enveloped her. All around, red plum blossoms were in full bloom.
Jinling City, Plum Garden.
A fine voice, an exquisite performer, You Ming.
Listening carefully, she could hear the voices of women with exceptionally pleasant tones.
“With Young Master Jian's status, not just anyone can serve him.”
“But even Sister Yu Mei was turned away...”
Jian Yuyan, the number one young master of the capital, had always been fond of beauties and laughter, yet for some reason today, he was particularly difficult to please. Just as everyone was fretting over the situation, a pair of delicate hands took the teacup, and a radiant smile appeared.
“Why not let me give it a try?”