The Prime Minister's residence is celebrating a joyous event today.
The procession set off from the Prince Sheng's mansion. The grandeur of bridal decorations spread across ten miles, the red silk on the ancient trees standing out vibrantly. People spill over the streets, craning their necks to get a glimpse of this grand wedding feast, a sight hard to come by in a hundred years.
Inside and outside, the Prime Minister's residence is filled with jubilation. Yet within a room separated by a courtyard, a young girl lies still on the bed.
Her face is pale, her body weak, yet her slowly opening eyes are clear and resolute.
Jiang Xianyue lifts her hand with dread. The wide wedding dress falls to reveal her arm, marked with intertwining old and new scars, resembling the gnarly roots of an ancient tree.
In her previous life, she was a unique poison doctor in an apocalypse-era military force. An accidental fall down a cliff led to her soul transmigrating into this Prime Minister's illegitimate daughter who was drained of blood and tortured to death.
Ever since the original body's birth, she was forced to provide blood for her older sister's medical treatment.
Now that Jiang Qing'er was finally recovering from her serious illness, the original owner was discarded like an old shoe, kept in this dark room without even a meal given to her.
"Creak..."
The door is pushed open, letting in the room's first rays of sunlight.
Jiang Xianyue collects her thoughts, an edge streaking through her eyes.
"Father, can my younger sister really take my place and marry that crippled General Wang?" Frantic excitement is barely contained within Jiang Qing'er’s hushed tone.
"Sigh, originally, this marriage alliance was something I asked for you from the Emperor. But, who would have known that Sheng Yu’an lost his leg in battle three years ago.
And, as expected, the forged evidence of Sheng Yu’an colluding with the enemy and betraying the country must have reached the Emperor by now. The lightest punishment would be banishment to the borderlands. How could I bear to throw you into such a fire pit?!
Fortunately, the Crown Prince has affection for you. Together with my plea, the Emperor has agreed to the substitution. Once this wretch is married off, with her physical condition, how long can she possibly live?"
"At that time, even the secret of your sustaining life with her blood will be unknown to anyone!"
"Dad, has the marriage between Qing'er and the Crown Prince been arranged?"
"Naturally, who in the court doesn't know that the Crown Prince admires you? You, just wait to be his Crown Princess!"
Jiang Xianyue watched the father-daughter affection unfolding at the bedside, feeling nauseous.
They took the blood of the host for fifteen years, and now want her to marry the Blind King, to be demoted and exiled, dying in a foreign land.
Where are the family members, it's more like an old vendetta spanning generations!
"The sedan chair from King Sheng's Mansion will be here soon. Dad, we should quickly wake up our little sister, not to miss the auspicious time."
Jiang Xianyue's expression subtly changed, noticing the two getting closer to her. A poison needle silently appeared at the tip of her finger.
With a twist of her wrist, she pretended to worry and sprang up, crying out at the moment the poison needle entered Jiang Qing'er's body, "Sister, what happened to you?"
Before Jiang Taishi could react, he saw Jiang Qing'er falling to the ground with vacant eyes. He was shockingly chilled and anxiously cried out, "Qing'er, don't scare daddy, someone! Call the imperial doctor, quickly!"
As the imperial doctor arrived, the curious guests also swarmed in.
Everyone wanted a glimpse of the bustling drama in Taishi's mansion.
As soon as they walked in, they saw Jiang Qing'er lying on the ground, twitching limbs, and her face visibly crawling with abscesses at a considerable speed. It was terrifying.
"What, what happened?" The crowd was greatly frightened.
Jiang Xianyue suddenly knelt down, sobbing uncontrollably:
"It's all my fault, my blood couldn't cure my sister... Wuuuh, I've drawn so much blood, Lord Heaven, you can't take my sister's life! My sister is supposed to marry the crown prince!"
She cried as she lifted her wedding garment, deliberately showing the terrifying scars to everyone.
Finally, they noticed Jiang Xianyue, dressed in celebratory clothes. "My God! Has Jiang Qing'er been drinking human blood?! No wonder the second Miss is so frail, this bloodletting every day, who could stand it!"
"Such behaviors may bring divine punishment, look at Jiang Qing'er, who was fine just before, and now has become like this!"
"We can't let such a person become the Crown Princess, I will report to His Majesty immediately!"
The royal doctor, in deference to the Grand Tutor’s power, gritted his teeth and continued the diagnosis. After a while, he shook his head gravely, "I've never seen such symptoms, Grand Tutor, I'm helpless. The condition seems irreversible...”
Grand Tutor Jiang’s face paled abruptly, he turned his head fiercely, glaring at Jiang Xianyue, "What did you do to Qing'er?!”
"Dad, how could you think of me like this?" Jiang Xianyue looked shocked, tears falling down continuously, looking weak and innocent. "How could I dare to harm my sister? Dad, look at sister, she seems unable to go on... wuuuh...”
Grand Tutor Jiang turned his head and saw Jiang Qing'er’s breath was only coming in, not out. He immediately rushed up and cradled her in his arms, scrambling to leave.
At the same time, he coldly ordered, "Watch the second young miss, when the bridegroom's procession arrives, immediately send her to the bridal sedan, we cannot miss the auspicious hour!"
The secret was out, he could no longer tolerate this disgraceful person.
The onlookers, like flies to the honey, followed to create a scene, no one cared about the low born girl who was appearing for the first time.
Jiang Xianyue was left in peace, she curled up her lips, her heart filled with a sense of satisfaction.
Jiang Qing'er had been drawing blood from the original for fifteen years and claimed her life.
She would ruin her prized beauty and marriage prospects, making her suffer for a lifetime.
Nevertheless, these are far from enough.
Jiang Xianyue focused her mind, radiated a halo around her and the next second, she appeared in the storeroom of the Prime Minister's mansion.
Here was the dowry that had been prepared in advance by the Prime Minister's mansion.
However, among these, there were only three boxes for the original host, whereas Jiang Qing'er had hundreds.
Jiang Xianyue sneered. This must have meant that even the dowry left by the original host’s mother had been given to Jiang Qing'er, right?
How shameless!
With a wave of her hand, the storeroom was empty in an instant.
Yes, these were her two special abilities – one, teleportation, and the second, the capability to have a storage space.
When she crossed over here, she realized that her abilities had also come along with her.
The poisoned needle just now was drawn from this space, not only that, this space also had a spring that could improve physique, and plants that had mutated during the apocalypse, as well as various medicines she had concocted.
Plus, her ability to teleport five times a month up to a distance of a thousand meters, and her medical skills, even if her combat power was not high, she could stand firm wherever she was.
But before that, gathering some funds was necessary too.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xianyue used her special ability to plunder the Prime Minister's mansion, and raided the granary and the private vault.
Her storage space was filled with 'loot', from large amounts of gold, silver, jewelry, beautiful silk and satin, vintage paintings, rare treasures, to coarse cereals, refined flour, salts, oils, vinegar, medicine, and herbs. Now, the entire Prime Minister's mansion had become an empty shell.
Jiang Xianyue's final stop was the study. She stayed here for a long time and eventually found the memorial to the throne and confidential letters from the Prime Minister. This helped her generally understand the situation.
The nation she resides in is known as Tai Yin, a country with continuing strife along its borders. For decades, Sheng Yu'an led troops to maintain order, sparing the people from the misery of war.
However, the good days were short-lived. The monarch, suspicious and paranoid, feared Yu'an's prestige might overshadow his own. Thus, three years ago, he schemed to cause a severe injury to Yu'an on the battlefield, leaving him disabled and trapped in the capital.
Once foreign enemies learned Yu'an could no longer fight, they attacked repeatedly. Coupled with frequent natural disasters, the lives of the people were thrown into chaos.
The inept and oblivious monarch was still narrowly set on eliminating potential threats, which led to the creation of concocted "false evidence" by the civil officials.
Jiang Xian Yue put down the imperial decree and secret document. The original husband-to-be, Sheng Yu'an, was truly pitiable. However, she was no saint and had no intention of obediently marrying into the Sheng family to share their exile.
A wealthy, beautiful, and powerful woman, she had finally made it from the apocalyptic era to this so-called "era of peace". She was determined to live life to the fullest.
As she thought about using her mysterious power to leave the mansion, an intense piercing pain emanated from her chest, as though a knife was explicitly gouging into her heart.
What was happening?