After the system set its sights on the dragon throne, the princess started courting death every day.

That night, the plum blossoms covered in snow were beautiful and red, their fragrance intoxicating. My beloved horse, exhausted from running, collapsed under a half-dead plum tree.

Qi Yuanshi nestled against the horse's belly for warmth, his mind filled with thoughts: "It's one thing for a person to freeze to death in the wilderness, but how come the one who accompanies me to the end, dying alongside me, is a horse, not Ren Xueqing? If it were her instead... never mind, her frail body wouldn't last a moment in the snow before she catches a cold, and I'd have to take care of her, what a hassle! She's only fit to stay in a warm room, eating and drinking well, she's too delicate. Humph, but she'll be smug after I'm dead. With her father's official position, no one in the entire capital would dare disobey her. If I had known I'd die today, I should have taken a detour to her house and given her a good scolding. What a loss, what a loss..."

The panting of the horse behind him gradually subsided, its body temperature slowly cooled, and the biting wind enveloped Qi Yuanshi, causing his consciousness to gradually blur.

"Qi Yuanshi!"

Someone is calling me.

Qi Yuanshi struggled to open his heavy eyelids. Through his blurry vision, he saw Qi Yuanshen approaching through the snow. Qi Yuanshen weakly raised his frozen hand, offering a handful of bright red plum blossoms, and forced a smile: "Brother, is it pretty..."

"Is it pretty?" Qi Yuanshen asked softly.

Qi Yuanshi snapped out of his daze and snorted softly, "Can a drop of ink look good?"

Qi Yuanshen stood opposite the desk, leaning against the edge of the table with his back slightly hunched and half of his body leaning over the desk. One hand was on the desk, while the other held a fine brush heavily dipped in vermilion ink, suspended above the center of the snow-white Xuan paper on the desk. A round, uneven drop of ink from the brush fell onto the Xuan paper.

"I'm telling you about Fu Qing's innocence, what are you doing painting?" Qi Yuanshi sat up abruptly. "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Qi Yuan glanced at him, and the suspended brush finally fell, the crimson color slowly spreading across the paper. "I don't know, I can't do it, I can't think of it."

Hearing three "no"s in a row truly startled Qi Yuanshi: "Then Fu Qingbai..."

“He has his own methods. There’s no point in us speculating. Let’s just wait for news,” Qi Yuanshen said, stopping the pen in his hand and pushing the Xuan paper under his eyes with two fingers together. On the snow-white Xuan paper was a plum tree standing proudly in the snow, blooming beautifully. “Just wait, good news will come soon.”

However, things did not develop in the expected direction, and the imperial court once again lost contact with Fu Qingbai and his party.

The emperor sat calmly in the court every day, never asking the question. He spent his days with his concubines, and when he was free, he would enjoy flowers and go boating on the lake, which was quite pleasant. Although the officials in the court tried to keep a low profile, it was after all about the lives of tens of millions of people on the border. Every day when he went to court, someone would ask the question. After court, the officials who didn't care would go home to eat and play, while the officials who cared would anxiously gather together and whisper.

Gradually, the tense atmosphere spread from the imperial court to the capital, and people in the streets and alleys sensed something was amiss.

Just as everyone was considering whether to send someone else to the border, good news suddenly arrived—Fu Qingbai bought a large flock of sheep from the farmers and successfully drove the flock to General Fu's side.

No one knows how he found General Fu on the vast, snow-covered grasslands, how he led his men and dragged provisions across the snow-capped mountains, or how he broke through the siege of the Yan Kingdom. But afterwards, he attributed all the credit to "good luck," even though he was only thirteen at the time.

"So what?" Xiang An didn't understand why Qi Yuanshen suddenly brought up Fu Qingbai's matter.

Qi Yuan bowed deeply: "Because the laws of the original country stipulate that the prince consort cannot hold real power."

It turns out they didn't want Fu Qingbai to lose his military power.

A born general, no one had the heart to cause him to suffer an undeserved defeat. Fu Qingbai was an eagle, and the vast sky was his home, not a place to be bound.

Unexpectedly, Qi Yuanshen is still a devoted fan of Fu Qingbai.

“You shouldn’t say this to me,” Xiang An said, her fingertips slowly stroking the rim of the porcelain cup in her hand, “because I have never liked him. I admire him, just like you.”

Qi Yuanshen bowed again: "This humble subject is guilty for once again making wild guesses about the princess's feelings. I beg the princess to punish me."

A jade crown adorned the top of her jet-black hair. Looking down her clean, fair forehead, one could see her bright, clear eyes. Her every gesture was dignified and poised, showing no sign of timidity, even though she was now pleading for forgiveness.

This is the kind of gentleman carefully cultivated by wealthy families in ancient times.

Xiang An slowly twirled the porcelain cup in his hand, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Did Fu Qingbai teach you that?"

"No." Qi Yuanshen lowered his head.

"I hereby punish you by making you copy thirty chapters of 'Women's Virtues'."

“This…Your Highness, this is a book for women to read.”

"You look down on women?" Xiang An gently put down the porcelain cup in his hand, rested his hand on the table, and said indifferently.

“No.” Qi Yuanshen frowned. “It’s just always been this way.”

“It has always been so.” Xiang An seemed to be hearing this for the first time, carefully considering each of the four words before uttering them. Although his tone remained unchanged, it inexplicably made Qi Yuanshen’s heart tremble.

He circled the words back and forth, inexplicably discerning a different meaning within them. Before he could fully grasp it, he heard Xiang An say, "Then let's change it."

It's fine to replace it.

Qi Yuanshen breathed a sigh of relief, the unease that had been lingering in his heart dissipating. "Okay."

After another long silence, Qi Yuanshen was feeling uneasy when Xiang An suddenly stood up, paced around him twice, stopped, and smiled brightly: "What should I do? I can't think of anything for now. How about we owe it to him for now?"

"Owe" is an extremely dangerous word, much like the concept of "favors" or "debts."

Qi Yuanshen didn't want to drag things out. He lifted his robe with both hands and knelt down on both knees. "If the princess can't think of anything right now, she might as well kneel before me for two hours."

He raised an eyebrow, showing his considerable courage. No wonder he was the first to agree when Ren Xueqing mentioned that he had corresponded with the King of Wu and intended to raise an army to break through the capital.

"If you want to kneel, then kneel in the courtyard outside. Kneel for as long as you want, I have no objection."

Xiang An walked outside, and soon after, he heard footsteps following behind him.

In the height of summer, the sunlight was intense, and the ivy in the courtyard had climbed an entire wall. When the wind blew, a single green leaf would dance on the wall. Through the fine bamboo blinds, one could vaguely see Qi Yuanshen kneeling with his head bowed in the center of the courtyard.

“Princess, the sun is strong. If he keeps kneeling like this, he might catch a heatstroke.”

Xiao Ru leaned against the cushion, tilting her head to look at Qi Yuanshen outside the bamboo curtain, her eyes filled with worry. After all, he was the eldest son of the Qi family; if kneeling caused any trouble, the emperor would probably be furious again.

“He chose to kneel himself; it has nothing to do with me.” With that, Xiang An scooped a spoonful of bitter, black medicine and secretly fed it to Xiao Ru, successfully causing Xiao Ru's face to contort and her mouth to tighten. The bowl of medicine cost five taels of silver; it was extremely precious, and no waste was allowed. [Note: 暍病 (ye bing): pronounced in the fourth tone, refers to heatstroke.]