New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

Looking at the Eighth Princess in front of him, with her fair skin and radiant spirit, a stark contrast to his own condition, Zhao Fujin could naturally guess that she was doing very well in Youzhou.

"Your husband from the Jin Kingdom has treated you quite well, so you've actually turned misfortune into blessing. As for us, we must have committed too many sins in our past lives to deserve this retribution in this one."

The thought of being sent to the camp of some Jin nobleman to be used for their amusement made Zhao Fujin feel like she was living a life worse than death. She had already made a decision in her heart: if the other party really did not intend to treat her as a human being, she would smash her head against the main hall of the Jin court and die.

"Fourth Princess, don't be discouraged. I'll beg my husband and the Seventh Princess. Perhaps we can get you out of this prison." Zhao Yingluo held Zhao Fujin's hand tightly, unwilling to let go, as if if she let go, her Fourth Princess would disappear from her forever. Even though their relationship wasn't very good before, these people in front of her were all her blood relatives. How could Zhao Yingluo stand by and watch them die?

"I am already extremely grateful for your kindness." Zhao Fujin's smile was tinged with a hint of misery. "I am the person they specifically named and demanded. I had already guessed my fate. Others may be released, but it is absolutely impossible for me."

"How will we know it won't work if we don't try?" Zhao Yingluo was unwilling to give up. "My husband is resourceful and wise. He will surely come up with a way to rescue you. I will go back and beg him now."

Just as she was about to turn and leave, another princess in the room finally regained her senses. Zhao Yingluo's words were like heavenly music, rekindling the will to live in Zhao Yuanzhu, who had been in despair.

She knelt down at the doorway, reached out and hugged Zhao Yingluo's legs tightly. Her face, covered in grime, was filled with repentance and pleading. Her voice was choked with sobs: "Eighth Imperial Sister, I was wrong back then. I shouldn't have asked you to switch our identities. I deserve to die. I shouldn't have let you come to the Jin Kingdom to marry in my place. Please, Imperial Sister, forgive me and rescue us. I am willing to serve you like a slave to repay your kindness."

Immediately, Zhao Yuanzhu kowtowed repeatedly to Zhao Yingluo, chanting these words over and over, leaving Zhao Fujin and the other two princesses in shock.

"So that's why the Emperor sent his eighth sister, who was already engaged to the Xiang family, to the Jin Kingdom. It turns out there was a secret behind it."

However, from Zhao Yuanzhu's perspective, her actions are not entirely unreasonable.

The new emperor Zhao Huan and Zhao Yuanzhu were born of the same mother. With such a powerful backer, how could she possibly be willing to go to the Jin Kingdom for a political marriage? As the saying goes, everyone looks out for themselves. Pushing Zhao Yingluo, who was about the same age as herself and had no support in the harem, out was the most correct choice for a royal woman.

No one expected that Zhao Yingluo would escape this calamity and live a comfortable life in Youzhou, while she, who had schemed so much, became a female slave sent to the Jin Kingdom.

"I had no choice in treating you that way back then, but it was also my good fortune. Without the marriage alliance, there would be no Eighth Princess today. Please, Eighth Princess, save us. I don't want to die."

With a long sigh, Zhao Yingluo calmed herself down: "You're right. If it weren't for your scheming back then, I would definitely be one of the princesses imprisoned here now. Just for that, our past grievances can be wiped clean."

Zhao Yingluo has a peaceful and unambitious mindset, but she is not a saint. She naturally resented Zhao Yuanzhu's scheming back then, but it was precisely because of her scheming that she was able to meet Tang Qian in a desperate situation and have hope of survival.

"But let me make this clear: no matter how resourceful my husband is, he is still a Song citizen. I really have no confidence that he can rescue you sisters. Everything depends on human effort, but success is up to fate. If we fail, please don't blame me."

Zhao Yingluo's husband is actually a Song man. Wasn't she sent to the Jin Kingdom for a political marriage? How could she marry a Song man?

But that's not the point.

Zhao Yingluo's words caused Zhao Yuanzhu to slump to the ground in despair. She did not believe that a single Song person could save them from their predicament.

Zhao Fujin and her two other sisters hadn't held out much hope to begin with, and instead told Zhao Yingluo not to force it. They worried that if they failed to save her and ended up getting themselves killed, wouldn't that mean they were harming her again?

Princess Zhao Saiyue, who had just turned eight after surviving this ordeal, should have been a carefree golden branch and jade leaf, but now she was a thin and emaciated girl. Zhao Yingluo's eyes were full of heartache. She rubbed her nineteenth sister's head and comforted her softly: "Wait here for two days. I believe that my husband will definitely have a way to get you out."

Back in the carriage at the city lord's mansion, Wanyan Xi frowned slightly upon hearing Zhao Yingluo's plea: "Although I am the seventh princess of the Great Jin, in front of those marshals who hold the power of life and death, I am truly... those women are just their spoils of war. I cannot ask for their help."

Wanyan Xi could ask her father, Emperor Wanyan Wuqi, to bestow a few Song captives upon her to serve as servants in the princess's residence, but she certainly couldn't get those imperial princesses.

"I'm so sorry, I can't help you."

Zhao Yingluo tugged at Wan Yanxi's hand, her smile bitter yet revealing a hint of understanding: "As a woman myself, how could I not empathize with the princess's situation? This is a world where men are superior to women, and how many people in the world can give us the same respect as my husband?"

"So what are you planning to do next?" Wanyan Xi was genuinely worried that Zhao Yingluo might do something irrational. "I told you you didn't need to see them at all. It was your own sister who sent you to the Jin Kingdom in the first place. Why would you want to create unnecessary trouble for yourself?"

"Princess, rest assured, I will not act recklessly. In any case, I will not disrupt my husband's plans. If it is really impossible, I will have no choice but to give up."

Just thinking about the innocent yet bewildered and timid look in her nineteenth sister's eyes made Zhao Yingluo feel a piercing pain in her heart.

When two countries fight, the victor is king and the loser is a bandit. This is the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak. But why is it that when men control the world, and the country is destroyed and the family is ruined, women have to bear the consequences?

"Are women born to be appendages of men? To be traded like commodities?" Zhao Yingluo then lowered her voice and uttered a statement that shocked even Wanyan Xi: "If my husband were to become emperor, what would the world be like?"