The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

Hatred, like a poisonous vine growing beneath the icy plains of the North, frantically festered and entwined itself into the heart of Bei Chenji, who was only five years old but already covered in wounds.

My father was a man of unwavering loyalty, working tirelessly in the shadows for the Tangxi royal family, bearing their stigma.

In the end, he was betrayed by his lieutenant, killed by a hail of knives in the wilderness, his body never fully recovered.

His mother was gentle and kind-hearted, and had never harmed an ant in her life. However, in order to protect him, the only remaining bloodline of Beichen, she covered him with all the warm clothes during their escape in the wind and snow, and froze herself into an ice sculpture in the cold cave.

But in the deep palace, did the emperor's uncle, who sat high in the Mingtang and was worshipped by all the people, ever shed a single tear for the tragic deaths of his parents?

Have you tried your best to hunt down the culprit and bring justice to the entire Beichen family?

Or perhaps... the collapse of the Beichen Prince's Mansion, leaving only this five-year-old child to survive, was a cleanup that some people were happy to see happen, or even secretly assisted in.

This doubt, this hatred, reached its peak when he stepped into Baiyujing with that tiny life, as light as a snow feather, in his arms.

What comes into view is the gaze that floats from all directions, the calculations hidden beneath gentle words, and the false concern piled up with brocade.

He held Xiaoxue in his arms, pure as the first snow and fragile as glass, and felt that the world was full of filth and scheming.

This single ray of light, which he retrieved from the edge of hell, was the pure white that could not be tainted in his dark world, the last touch of human warmth in his frozen heart.

A cold, meticulous, and almost cruel plan froze solid in his precocious, almost demonic mind.

Relying on the surviving assassins of the Prince's Palace's familiarity with the palace, they chose a late night when the stars and moon were hidden.

The most elite assassin, Yuan Qi, moved like a shadow, without disturbing the world or leaving a trace, as if completing a silent replacement—quietly taking the Ninth Princess, who was truly sleeping soundly in her swaddling clothes, away from the golden cage.

The little snowflake he picked up from the snowstorm was carefully placed in that warm, fragrant, and luxurious cradle surrounded by stars.

The palace maids and wet nurses who had previously served the Ninth Princess had already been secretly replaced and disposed of by his men under some pretext.

The princess's birth mother—a woman intricately connected to her father's death—also slipped and fell into the frozen pond in the imperial garden in an accident, silently sacrificing herself for the Beichen clan.

From then on, the dust settled.

His little Xue'er was none other than the incomparably noble Ninth Princess of the Tangxi Dynasty.

As for those golden branches and jade leaves that were taken out of the palace walls...

"Abandoned in front of the Shen family mansion."

Five-year-old Beichen Ji stood in the shadows of the study, unlit by the candlelight, and calmly gave instructions to Yuan Qi, who was kneeling on the ground reporting his orders.

The flickering warm light occasionally swept across his still-childish profile, revealing an indifference completely detached from his age.

"The Shen family is known for its integrity and benevolence." His voice was calm and even, without the slightest hint of a child's emotion. "Presumably... they will take good care of this infant of unknown origin."

He gave the child a way out.

This was the last bit of merciful kindness he could squeeze out from his heart, which had been nearly ravaged by blood feud.

As the night wind rises, it carries the lingering chill of lotus blossoms from Mirror Moon Lake, but it cannot dispel the gloom that has accumulated in my heart for many years.

Bei Chenji stood silently in the depths of the courtyard, gazing at the snow-white figure that had grown into a graceful and elegant young woman.

She lived on, just as he wished, and even beyond his expectations, ultimately surviving with brilliance and resilience.

He had almost forgotten that, initially, he had genuinely wished for her to live a peaceful and happy life.

When did he start to think she deserved to die?

A dull ache spread across my chest without warning, slow and heavy, like an ice pick slowly grinding through my veins.

original……

On that bone-chillingly cold night, she silently covered him with a fox fur coat, placing the only warmth and sweetness she could offer into his palm...

He only ever had his little Xue'er.

Just like her, from childhood to adulthood, she always quietly illuminates and comforts those around her with her innate clarity and gentleness.

Over the years, however, he has become utterly disappointed in her because of her absurd behavior after her "illness," treating her coldly and hurling insults at her.

He misplaced his belated guilt and tenderness on another person...

How ridiculous!

It's even more... utterly pathetic.

He even regretted that he shouldn't have taken away Shen Yan's wealth and glory, shouldn't have sent Xiao Xue'er into the palace, and shouldn't have saved her...

Little did he know that the one who saved her from the snowstorm years ago would, years later, warm his heart in the same snowstorm.

Fate turns, precise as a ruler, and ironic as a blade.

He stood in the biting wind, gazing at the moon that could no longer be reached, and only then did he truly understand—

What is the cause of the orchid, and what is the result of the catkin?

Yuanqi is right. Once the scroll is completed, there is no point in regretting the words.

"Xue'er, it was the young imperial uncle who was wrong..."

At this moment, he completely forgot his original intention of investigating the little sword immortal of the Asura Platform.

As far as the eye could see, there was only Tang Xixue, smiling gently in the courtyard.

She was gently tugging at Yun Boyan's sleeve, begging him to teach her the move "One Sword, Thousand Lotuses Bloom".

"Master, teach me."

"……good."

Yun Boyan remembered that his elder brother could no longer open the mirror dream, so he would take on the responsibility of teaching him.

It was only then that Bei Chenji realized that this residence was the one his mother had personally designed and supervised the construction of.

Later, he prevented anyone from getting their hands on the place.

All those who coveted it have turned to dust.

Unexpectedly, it is now his little niece who has taken over.

The bloody methods he used outside would never be applied to her.

He was always tolerant of her.

Even though she had spied on him while he was bathing, set fire to his bedroom, stolen all his personal belongings, and even burned the portrait of his mother that he cherished as his life, making him a laughing stock in the underworld...

He never actually made a move against her himself.

At most, they will merely stand by and watch.

If anyone else had offended him like that, they would have been finished long ago.

Now that he knows she is the stunning young woman whose image was captured on the painted boat, he can no longer be cold and hard towards her.

Those warm memories that he had deliberately sealed away now surged forth like a spring tide breaking through the ice.

He walked in darkness year after year, licking blood from the edge of a knife, and dared not get too close to her, lest his filth stain even a trace of her pure whiteness.

Therefore, his understanding of her was far less profound than that of Tang Xiye.

Moreover, he was an extremely pessimistic and wary person.

He simply assumed that people's hearts were fickle, and even Xue'er, whom he cherished most, had become the person he loathed most.

He was utterly disappointed.

But now, he suddenly realized that those absurd things might not have been her true intention.

Perhaps she just liked someone in the wrong way.

As her cousin Hua Rongshi said: She was merely... affirming his appearance.

Otherwise, why not watch others bathe? Why not steal other people's clothes?

It was him, of all people.

"Xue'er...she just went astray, I shouldn't have been so harsh on her."

The wind swept across the remaining snow in the courtyard. He stood at the boundary between shadow and light, half of his figure immersed in the cold night and half bathed in the cool moonlight.

In the distance, she was dressed in white, as pure and pristine as snow.

He simply couldn't reconcile her with the infamous, utterly absurd Princess Mirror of the past five years.

The woman before him was the one he remembered most, as if she were the first and last light to illuminate his dark life.

In that instant, he seemed to glimpse something, and some bold ideas began to form in his mind.

He has always been adept at understanding people's hearts.

He simply never considered the possibility that she wasn't her.

Over the years, was that person really her?

His Xue'er was so kind, would she really set fire to his mother's only scroll, knowing that it was hanging in the room?

He suddenly realized that he had made a huge mistake.

He watched her grow up. Even if he wasn't as close to her as Tang Xiye, he should never think so badly of her.

"It is not Xue'er who has gone astray, it is I..."

At that moment, it felt as if countless fine needles were piercing his soul.

"I should have realized it sooner..."

The night wind blew into his slightly open clothes, chilling him to the bone, but it was nothing compared to the regret and shame in his heart.

"For the past five years, Xue'er has been all alone... How scared must she have been?"

"Little Imperial Uncle... failed to protect you."

The beginning and the end, like orchids and willows, all have their appointed time.

Only now do I realize that the moment he bent down to pick up that tiny baby in the wind and snow, the thread of cause and effect had already bound him to life and death, making it impossible to break free.

He thought that by not getting close to her, he was doing it for her own good.

However, she fell into darkness alone, completely unaware of it.