Chapter 1: A Convict's Body

It was June, and the heat in the Lingnan region was so oppressive it left people breathless. Cicadas chirped in waves, a faint breeze brushed past the treetops, and the leaves rustled softly. They sang in competition with one another, forming a symphony unique to summer, full of vitality.

In a small hut surrounded by wasteland and weeds, several frail figures gathered around a crude bamboo bed.

An elderly woman, bent with age and face covered in deep wrinkles, lay weakly on the bed, speaking intermittently: “You… you… must live well… live well, and do not… do not think of revenge.”

She gripped with slight force the hand of the oldest and seemingly most composed woman among them all. “Xiufang, they… they are in your care now.”

As her words fell, her hand, like dried wood, lost all vitality and struck the bamboo bed with a thud.

“Grandmother!” Several different, still-tender voices cried out in unison.

The woman named Xiufang choked up, unable to make a sound. A breath stuck in her chest, and she could only weep silently.

The young girls around her wailed aloud.

Thick grief seemed about to drown the room. The wind stopped, and the weeds that had just been swaying in the breeze also ceased their dancing.

No one knew how much time had passed when one of the girls, a young woman of sixteen, wiped her tears, quietly rose, and stepped out of the room.

“Elder Sister, where are you going?” A little girl, face streaked with tears and hair tied in two buns, ran up and buried herself in Xu Ning’s arms, looking very attached.

“Ran’er.” Xu Ning tightened her grip on Xu Ran’s hand and crouched down. “Elder Sister… Elder Sister is going to find food. Can you go back first?”

Having just lost the grandmother who loved her most, Xu Ran only wanted to stay with her closest sister at that moment, so she said: “I want to come with you, Elder Sister. Is that all right?”

“Ning’er, we still have some coarse rice at home. Where are you going?”

Before Xu Ning could answer, Li Xiufang walked out and asked softly.

Xu Ning sighed. Six-year-old Xu Ran was easy to persuade, but her mother was another matter.

She could only answer honestly: “There’s very little coarse rice left at home, and besides, I want to make a coffin for Grandmother. I want to go up the mountain to take a look.” With that, she raised her head and met Li Xiufang’s gaze.

She lowered her eyes, still carrying a trace of sorrow. When she lifted them again, the resolve in her eyes had completely overshadowed that faint sorrow. She stood there, straight and unyielding.

Li Xiufang’s expression was complicated. Before the family fell, her daughter had always led her sisters in play, noisy and boisterous, even more mischievous than her brothers. Back then she had always worried that after marrying into another family her daughter would suffer at the hands of her mother-in-law and be bullied by her husband, so she had been exceedingly cautious about her marriage prospects. Who could have foreseen that not long after the betrothal was settled, disaster would befall the family?

That family had also unhesitatingly cut ties—but that was only human nature, after all. What would be affected was their entire household, so there was nothing to blame them for. In their place, she would have made the same choice.

On the road of exile, however, Xu Ning had become the most steady one, constantly comforting and caring for them. If not for her, perhaps they never would have made it this far.

Thinking of this, she waved her hand and said weakly: “Have Shu’er go with you, so you have someone to look after each other.”

What else could be done? The family had only ten copper coins to their name. If things continued this way, they would all end up dead here sooner or later. Better to take a gamble.

“No need. The mountain’s conditions are unknown—I’ll go alone. Let Shu’er stay home and cook the evening meal.”

She patted Xu Ran’s hair buns. “Ranran, take good care of Mother at home. Elder Sister will be back soon.”

Xu Ran could only nod sulkily. “Then come back early, Elder Sister. Ranran will miss you.”

Xu Ning smiled at her and turned to leave.

At the moment she turned, the wind rose. The weeds danced once more, and the earth revived with vibrant life again.

Xu Ning went to the original storage room and rummaged around. This must have once been a hunter’s cabin—there were all kinds of hunting tools, but it had been abandoned for years, and a thick layer of dust covered everything.

She took a few arrows and a dull short knife, then grabbed two rust-covered hunting traps and put them all in a backpack, which she slung over her back. By the time she came out of the room, her hair and clothes were covered in a layer of dust.

Following her memory, she walked along a small path. After a while, she saw rice paddies and scattered huts—showing just how remote their dwelling was, with no neighbors anywhere around. If no one in the household could stand up, and there were no men at home, their situation would be dangerous.

“That young lady looks so unfamiliar—whose child is she?” an auntie working in the fields asked.

The moment Xu Ning entered their view, they had noticed her. There was no helping it—even in coarse cloth and hemp garments, she could not conceal the bearing cultivated over more than a decade. She walked along the field ridges like a crane among chickens; it was impossible not to notice her.

“Oh, isn’t Auntie Huang always the one with the best information? How come you don’t know this?” an old man said, wiping the sweat from his brow with a teasing laugh.

“What is it?” This time it wasn’t just Auntie Huang who was curious—a whole circle of people around asked.

“Old Man Chen, don’t keep us in suspense. Hurry and tell us.”

Working in the fields from dawn to dusk, the people there relied on such gossip to enrich their dull, tasteless lives. Some of the impatient ones were already stomping their feet, urging Old Man Chen on.

“I heard…” Old Man Chen deliberately took a sip of water, whetting everyone’s appetite to the fullest. “That she’s from the capital, someone who committed an offense. Now only the old, weak, women, and children are left in the family, barely hanging on by a breath as they made their way here. Not long after arriving, they were assigned to that long-abandoned hunter’s cabin outside the village.”

“Oh, what offense? That serious?” one old woman asked in surprise.

“That’s not something to be spoken of carelessly.” Old Man Chen spotted the village head approaching and quickly shut his mouth.

But after that conversation, those with ill intentions were already rolling their eyes about. In these times, the vicious and wicked were everywhere.

Xu Ning’s hearing was not bad, and she took in their discussion. She could only say that gossip was truly fearsome—the old man’s account was incomplete, but the situation was roughly right.

She had originally been a food blogger in modern times. After a car accident, she arrived in this unfamiliar dynasty as a tiny infant and had lived in the Yongning Bo Manor for sixteen years.

A few months ago, a certain young member of the clan had said: “The Crown Prince is wise and martial, and is naturally greatly respected.” What he meant was to express his admiration for the Crown Prince.

Those words were harmless enough in themselves, but someone unknown had tampered with them. By the time they reached the ears of the current aged Emperor, they had become: “The Crown Prince is wise and martial, and is greatly beloved by the people.”

They had been twisted into an entirely different, treasonous meaning. Thus their entire family suffered disaster. The current Emperor hastily found a clumsy excuse and threw the whole family into prison. They were originally to be executed in full, but the Crown Prince, benevolent and kind-hearted, intervened and saved the women of the Bo Manor, even sending people to care for them along the way, so that not all of them died on the road.

According to the law, exiled women should be sent to hard labor or made into official courtesans. It was also the Crown Prince who pulled some strings so that they were not recorded on the registers, giving them a sliver of breathing room. It was just that for the time being they would likely have to stay in Lingnan for a while, lest the storm pass and people familiar with them discover and report them to the capital, implicating the Crown Prince.

But most of them, though not dead in body, were nearly dead in heart. Falling from pampered daughters of privilege to convicts, in just a few short months they had tasted every flavor of human warmth and coldness. And with fathers and brothers all dead, no one could accept it—she was no different.

Grandmother had been old to begin with. Extreme grief coupled with the hardships of the journey meant she had not lasted more than a few days after arriving in Lingnan. With the pillar of the family gone, she needed to stand up quickly—otherwise, what would become of her sisters and her mother?

At least she had a skill to her name, enough to keep the family from going hungry.

In all the years she had been in this dynasty, she had discovered that there were simply too many undeveloped foods here. Although Lingnan had been a place of exile in ancient times, in her era it was a wonderful place—not only technologically advanced, but with a great variety of food.

If her cooking skills aroused suspicion, she could always say she had read about them in books. She should actually thank her good habit of loving to read back at the Bo Manor.

Just as she reached the foot of the mountain, a dark-skinned man kept glancing at her several times.

Xu Ning frowned and glared at him unfavorably.

Just as she wanted to hurry away and get far from him, the man hesitantly walked over and said, stammering: “Young lady, are you going up the mountain?”

Xu Ning’s frown deepened. She silently gripped the dagger hanging at her waist—this dagger had been given to her by the Crown Prince’s people, along with some silver. She still remembered what the man had whispered when he gave it to her: “The Crown Prince says he can only help you this far. May you be safe and sound from now on.”

So in her heart she had always been immensely grateful to the Crown Prince.

“What is it, sir?”

“The mountain is dangerous—there may be tigers, poisonous snakes, and other venomous beasts. If you’re just going to dig wild vegetables, the foot of the mountain is enough.”

After hearing him out, Xu Ning’s brows relaxed slightly, but she still did not let down her guard.

“It’s fine. I want to go up and take a look.”

She had looked around when she arrived—the wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain were nearly gone, probably dug up long ago by the village women. How many could be left now? Even if there were some, she still wanted to go up the mountain.

The family had almost no money left. If they kept surviving on wild vegetables alone, without carbohydrates and protein, they would eventually collapse from malnutrition. Their only hope lay on the mountain. Take a gamble—maybe a bicycle could turn into a motorcycle? But if she didn’t gamble, her little life would be gone sooner or later.

She politely thanked him and said goodbye to the hunter, her thin, small frame braving the blazing sun as she forced open a path.

Perhaps the dangerous things were all deep in the mountain. She encountered no danger at first, but found quite a few tender wild vegetables.

Xu Ning picked some wild vegetables she recognized; she didn’t dare touch the ones she didn’t, for fear of poisoning.

Walking a bit further, Xu Ning’s sharp eyes spotted a small cluster of lovely mushrooms. She went over to look—they were actually lychee mushrooms, known in her era as the King of Lingnan Mushrooms.

She checked the area around the cluster and indeed found a termite nest. The caps had somewhat pointed tops and were light grayish-brown, while the stems were slender, cylindrical, and pure white.

After pulling up a lychee mushroom, she detected no strange odor, and the base of the mushroom was connected to a slender, dark brown pseudorhiza.

Only after confirming every characteristic did Xu Ning feel safe pulling up all the lychee mushrooms. As for why she remembered all this so clearly—because her modern family had been in the seasonal fruits and vegetables business. Influenced by the family trade, she had loved researching all kinds of dishes since childhood.

Later, when she grew up and finding employment was truly difficult, she began working as a food blogger. It was enough to support herself without being exploited, and she loved the work besides—she did it right up until her death in that world.

Further ahead was the range of the deep mountain. She didn’t dare go on alone; reaching this point was already her limit. So she shouldered her haul of wild vegetables and prepared to head back.

Finally, she could add some dishes for the family, she thought.

Before she had taken more than a few steps, a pair of blood-covered large hands suddenly gripped her ankle. Blood instantly soaked through her foot wrappings.

“Ah—!” Xu Ning screamed in fright.

She stomped hard on the person’s face several times, yet his hand would not loosen—showing just how strong he was. Even on the verge of fainting, he did not forget to hold on tight; his will to live was quite strong.

Her family could barely save itself—she was not about to have a圣母心 outburst and pick up a stranger to bring home.

Xu Ning had no choice but to crouch down and prepare to pry his hand off with force. Just as she crouched, a familiar leaf caught her eye.

She forgot her fear entirely and forcefully pulled the person up. A large patch of sweet potato leaves, stained with a bit of blood, appeared before her eyes.

She was overjoyed—sweet potato leaves meant there might be sweet potatoes underground! She rolled up her sleeves and pulled the sweet potato leaves up by the roots. Small, lovely pink-purple sweet potatoes seemed to glisten in the sunlight. This was a huge harvest—with sweet potatoes, perhaps she could start a small business to make a living!

This time she burst out with all her strength, not only prying the person’s hand open but also moving him onto the ground beside the sweet potato leaves.

She pulled up all the sweet potatoes, patted the dust off herself, and prepared to leave.

While she hadn’t left yet, Huo Xiangli reached out once more and grabbed her ankle, speaking haltingly: “Save… save me. I know… I know where there are… lingzhi mushrooms.”

Author’s Note:
[Female disguised as male, honest female lead × dark, unhinged emperor] Jiang Wu transmigrated into the Yuan Dynasty as an infant and was the only daughter in her family. When her family suddenly met with misfortune, she took her elder brother’s identity and traveled from Yangzhou to the capital, disguising herself as a man to study at the Imperial Academy, hoping to graduate and work her way up from a minor official step by step in order to uncover the truth behind her family’s misfortune. Year after year, she studied diligently and made many good friends at the Imperial Academy. But what delighted her most was that she had luckily gotten on the Crown Prince’s boat. On graduation day, the Crown Prince held a celebration especially for her—and to her horror, the Crown Prince said to her that day: “My heart delights in you.” How could this be? How could two men be together? She fled in panic and, without hesitation, chose a post away from the capital. Three years passed in separation, and by then the former Crown Prince had long since become an emperor above all but one. Then an accident led him to discover her secret of disguising herself as a man. He pressed down on her, and whispered hatefully in her ear: “Ah Wu, you’ve kept it from Us so bitterly!” Reading Guide: ① Slight ensemble cast. ② The early stage mainly tells a series of events at the Imperial Academy; after the female lead’s identity is exposed in the later stage, there will be forceful taking.