The mad princess forces love upon him, and the aloof imperial advisor trembles every night.

Babies, the ratings just came out, they'll go up later.

Let's get straight to the point: a guide to avoiding pitfalls!

1. The introduction is there, and the main text is even longer, no less, no less, no less.

2. Double clean! Double clean! Double clean! (I'm saying it three times because it's important, it's ingrained in our DNA.)

The female lead is a domineering and crazy princess whose life motto is, "If it can be solved with a chain, don't bother with words." Her daily life, but not limited to, involves: forceful flirting, forceful kisses, and forceful locking, covering everything from the floor to the bed.

Male lead: A cold and aloof imperial advisor whose lifelong enemy is the madman he himself taught. Daily routine: being flirted with, kissed, locked up, forced... (cough)... then his eyes redden slightly, and he says in a hoarse voice, "I hate you" (actual translation: Do it again).

【Friendly Reminder】: This is a "heartbreaking sweet and sour pork ribs" dish, sweet and sour with a touch of pain, not just pure sugar water, but guaranteed to leave you full in the end.

ending he, he he

Author's survival instinct: You can criticize, but don't be too harsh, otherwise I might just abandon the outline and give up.

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——————Beginning of main text—————

The Star-Picking Tower, with its nine layers reaching the sky, is shrouded in clouds and mist like a celestial palace.

Thirteen-year-old Chu Qingyue knelt before the cold jade steps, weeping uncontrollably.

"Grand Preceptor..." She looked up, tears rolling down her face, which was beginning to show its exquisite beauty.

"Please, please don't send Yue'er to be married off. The King of Beiming is fierce and lustful; if Yue'er goes, she'll never come back..."

At the end of the high platform, a man in purple robes and silver hair sat quietly like a statue carved from ancient jade.

Si Chen, the Grand Preceptor of the Great Chu, is a deity revered by all the people of the Great Chu, and has lived for 413 years.

He cultivated the path of ruthlessness, his brows and eyes were covered with frost and snow that had never melted since ancient times, and his glassy eyes were empty and blank, like looking at flowers through a fog—he saw mountains as not mountains, and people as not people.

"I don't want to be the Ninth Princess anymore, okay?"

"I will be your Taoist attendant in this Star-Picking Tower, accompanying you to watch the moon and count the stars... until we grow old and die."

Si Chen finally opened his eyes.

Her glassy eyes were empty and misty, as if reflecting thousands of stars, but they couldn't reflect her tearful appearance.

"The divination indicates this; fate is unavoidable." His voice was as cold and clear as shattered jade striking ice.

Chu Qingyue looked up at her tear-streaked face: "Then, will you... miss Yue'er?"

He did not answer.

He raised his slender, jade-like hand and gently brushed it across the top of her hair, as if brushing away a speck of dust.

"Go."

Chu Qingyue was stunned.

It was at that moment that she truly understood that in the eyes of the Grand Preceptor, who had lived for four hundred years, she was no different from the dust falling from the eaves.

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Outside Chaoyang Gate, the wedding procession stretched out like blood.

Si Chen stood before the steps, his purple robe fluttering in the wind.

He brought her here, breaking the century-old rule of not leaving the Star-Picking Tower.

"Princess, take care," he said calmly.

Chu Qingyue suddenly grabbed his sleeve, her fingertips turning white from the force: "Grand Preceptor, you can save me...you clearly can!"

"Tell Father that I am an omen of misfortune, that I will bring disaster upon him... or wait a few more years, and I will personally lead my army to crush the Northern Sea!"

"Your Excellency, when you pulled me from the icy lake eight years ago, you said, 'This woman is not destined to die!'"

"If I shouldn't die, why send me to my death today?"

Her tears, which she had been holding back, welled up again: "Or... did you save me back then, only to have this day come?"

"Ninth Princess, don't you understand?"

A sweet laugh broke in.

The Fifth Princess, Chu Qingyao, approached gracefully, her golden hairpins jingling softly.

"The Imperial Advisor was born with the fate of the nation, and his eyes were only on the great Chu land."

"I saved you because you're useful, I gave you away because you should use you—how can you not understand such a simple principle?"

Chu Qingyue didn't look at Chu Qingyao, but stubbornly stared at Si Chen: "I want you to say it yourself."

Si Chen did not answer. He lowered his eyes and looked at her tightly gripping sleeve.

Then, he pointed his fingers as a sword, and a wisp of spiritual energy silently swept across—

The sound of tearing silk was crisp and piercing.

Half of her purple sleeve fluttered to the ground, like a butterfly with a broken wing.

"Take care, Princess," he repeated, turning to leave.

"etc!"

She took three steps back, lifted her elaborate wedding dress, knelt down, and, under the watchful eyes of the court officials and palace attendants, kowtowed three times to Si Chen's back.

The first tap, forehead touching the bluestone, resounded throughout the surrounding area:

"Thank you, Grand Preceptor, for saving me from the frozen lake eight years ago, allowing Yue'er to live for these extra eight years."

The second tap revealed faint traces of blood:

"Thank you, Grand Preceptor, for your eight years of teaching, which enabled the orphan girl to learn to read, see the stars, and experience warmth."

On her third kowtow, she kowtowed heavily, her brow colliding with a sharp stone that Chu Qingyao had "unintentionally" kicked—

Blood trickled down her forehead like a cinnabar talisman.

But she smiled, a smile as poignant and beautiful as a flower blooming in a pool of blood:

"With the final kowtow, the Imperial Preceptor Xie determined the fate of the nation with a single divination, sending Yue'er to marry far away in the Northern Underworld, thus bringing twenty years of peace to the Great Chu."

"If I die on this journey, it is because Yue'er is incompetent. I will not blame heaven and earth, nor will I hate the Imperial Preceptor... I only wish to receive a stick of incense from the Imperial Preceptor every Qingming Festival."

She slowly stood up, blood sliding down her nose and dripping onto her bright red wedding dress.

Then, staring at Si Chen's retreating figure, which had not returned, she spoke each word clearly:

"If Heaven takes pity on me and allows me, Chu Qingyue, to return by sheer luck, I will personally ascend the tower to properly thank you for your kindness today."

The wedding dress, as red as fire, disappeared into the sedan chair.

Before the sedan curtain fell, she took one last look.

—That person still stood at the head of all the officials, dressed in purple robes and with silver hair, untouched by the dust of the world, like a cold moon hanging in the ninth heaven, forever clear, forever distant, forever unable to shine on the muddy human world.

The moment the carriage drove out of Chaoyang Gate, a deep, resonant bell rang from the top of Zhaixing Tower.

The Imperial Advisor, Si Chen, sealed off the building and went into seclusion.

Meanwhile, on the official road a hundred miles away, Chu Qingyue reached out and wiped the bloodstains from between her eyebrows.

The wound is deep and will likely leave a scar.

She stared at herself in the bronze mirror for a long time, then suddenly let out a very soft laugh.

Yeah.

From now on, the moon is the moon, and dust is dust.

But if the dust does not die, it will eventually cover the moon.

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Seven years later, on the way back to the capital.

The moonlight, like blood, spilled onto the official road through the forest.

"Respectfully sending the Ninth Princess on her journey!"

Before the words were finished, dozens of masked men in black emerged from the forest like ghosts, forming a fan shape to surround the cavalry.

The leader sat upright on his horse, his silver armor gleaming coldly in the blood-red moonlight.

She was none other than Chu Qingyue, the Ninth Princess of the Great Chu, who was sent to Beiming for a political marriage seven years ago, but instead used the soldiers accompanying her dowry to wipe out the entire territory of Beiming.

"Heh." She chuckled softly, a chilling madness lurking beneath her words. "I've been away from the capital for seven whole years, and yet there are still people who recognize this face..."

She slowly rotated her right wrist, the knuckles making a series of soft clicking sounds.

"It's so moving that I want to gouge out your eyes, soak them in wine, and admire them every day."

"but--"

She leaped off her horse, her red robes billowing like flames burning the sky.

"I do not wish for you to see me off on my way."

"I like it—"

The twin swords were drawn, their clanging sound tearing through the night sky.

"Go to the Yellow Springs, clear the way for me."