The Eldest Daughter Reborn: She Provoked the Obsessive Crown Prince and Couldn't Escape

"What, haven't you made up your mind yet? There are only three days left until my wedding with A-Luan!" The charcoal fire was burning brightly inside the room, and Yuan Li looked down at his son kneeling on the ground.

"I'll ask you one last question: Do you want the position of Crown Prince, or do you choose to make your beloved A-Luan the Empress of Great Wei?"

Yuan Jiu calmly replied, "Why should I choose? Isn't it because Father Emperor promised A-Luan that I would be the Crown Prince that she agreed to marry you?"

Yuan Li sneered, "You haven't been close to her for long, and you haven't learned anything else, but you've certainly learned to be sharp-tongued very quickly!"

"It is true that I promised her, but A-Luan will also have children with me in the future. Once she has her own son, do you think she will abandon her own son and continue to support you as the crown prince?"

"Back then, when Fu Jin chose you as her husband in front of everyone, if you hadn't been so indecisive, how could A Luan have been so heartbroken? Not to mention that you had a child with Ana Gui behind her back! It was you who pushed her to my side!"

Yuan Jiu looked up at his father, the emperor, and opened his mouth, but ultimately couldn't bring himself to ask the questions.

He should have been the one to bear children with Ah Luan! How did he become her father? And...

Fu Jin's arrival was already strange; since Yuan Li could use the position of Crown Prince to control him even under the premise of the Great Wei ancestral precepts, Fu Jin's identity must be highly suspicious.

He did not deny that he had wavered for the position of crown prince; but if he had known that that momentary wavering would cause him to lose Fu Luan forever, he would never have been tempted!

Only today did he realize that he had lost his Ah Luan for a fake "eldest daughter of the Fu family", and had even pushed Ah Luan to his father's side!

"Haven't you made your choice yet? I don't have that much patience!" Yuan Li frowned and urged.

Yuan Jiu then replied, "What if I... insist on becoming the Crown Prince?"

Yuan Li was stunned, then sneered, "This is truly disheartening! I thought you liked A-Luan so much, but it turns out she's nothing special to you!"

"Have you thought this through? If you choose to become the crown prince, she will have no chance to become the empress!"

"Now that she is no longer the eldest daughter of the Fu family, she will not marry you according to the ancestral precepts of the Great Wei just because you have become the crown prince!"

"She has already been divorced once and broken off her engagement once. Do you want me to break off her engagement with her and the Fu family to lose face in front of the world?!"

"I'll give you three days. Three days from now is the day I and A-Luan will get married. I don't mind making a decision then!"

Yuan Li stormed off, leaving Yuan Jiu alone in the room. He stared blankly at the pots of burning charcoal.

"See? See? What did I tell you in prison?" A young girl floated into the study with its doors and windows tightly shut, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"Only if I die can she live..." Yuan Jiu moved his lips again and said softly.

While he was in prison, it was this girl, who called herself a "goddess," who somehow made him witness Fu Luan's fate—

She was turned into a human pig, abandoned, and left to die a miserable death in the palace stables...

The goddess whispered in his ear, "If you die, she will have a chance to start over. What should you do?"

Yuan Jiu questioned, "Why should I believe you?"

The goddess was not angry. Instead, she smiled and said, "Because... I am a goddess! When the sun sets in the west, look again. If the person who comes has a precious flower pattern between their eyebrows, then they have been reborn!"

"If no one comes, it means..."

Yuan Jiu, half-believing and half-doubting, broke the rice bowl and hid the shards; when the sun set, Fu Luan indeed arrived, with a new lotus flower ornament he had never seen before between his brows...

But she said she would save him, she would even marry him… How could he bear to die? And so…

The goddess laughed and said, "Now you've lived a few more months, but what does it matter? She's still not yours!"

"It's my fault, it's all my fault..." Yuan Jiu didn't care that the woman was still in front of him, and tears welled up in his eyes.

The goddess sighed, made a hand seal, and in an instant the two of them found themselves in the prison of the Ministry of Justice.

Yuan Jiu looked down and realized he was back to the time when he was covered in wounds, and the "goddess" had vanished...

The prison door slowly opened, and the person who entered was none other than Fu Luan! But this time, the floral ornament between Fu Luan's brows wasn't a peony, but a crabapple blossom…

The goddess only told him that Fu Luan, who had painted a lotus flower design, might come to see him, or no one might come at all. But she never mentioned a third possibility...

"Xiao Jiu, don't be afraid. You must preserve your life, bide your time, and wait for the right opportunity. I will definitely rescue you and help you regain your position as Crown Prince..."

Fu Luan, who had painted the crabapple blossom decoration, said the exact same thing to him!