The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

The Beichen clan is born to be the sharpest blade beneath the throne of Tangxi.

They talk about protecting the land together, but it's really just a bloodless string in the emperor's hand.

For generations, they held secret power within the royal family, specializing in handling those unspeakable secrets—

The throat of traitors, spies from enemy states, and all hidden dangers that could shake the foundations of the empire.

Merits go unrecorded in history, sins sink into the water.

Only the blood and curses of the enemy, transformed into a rusty dark red, piled up layer upon layer on the surname Beichen.

Every Beichen King, from the moment he received that Xuan Tie King's Seal, was destined to meet a tragic end.

He was surrounded by resentment and hatred, and had countless enemies.

Killing is destiny, and also original sin.

Bei Chenji's father, the previous King of Bei Chen, dedicated his life to the country and eliminated countless potential threats.

The blood on his hands was as black as ink, seeping into his bones, impossible to wash away.

In the end, he did not fall to the open blades of the battlefield, but rather to the poisoned dagger of his most trusted lieutenant who turned against him.

That knife pierced through his chest from behind.

The father didn't even look back as he fell.

With his last breath, he pushed the young boy away and hoarsely roared out a single word:

"run--"

My mother, Hua Qingwan, a woman whose name perfectly matched her appearance and whose beauty was as delicate as a late-blooming flower, tore apart all her fragility that night.

She tore off her magnificent palace dress, changed into coarse clothes, smeared her face with charcoal ash, took his hand, and ran into the vast night.

The sound of the pursuers' iron hooves followed them like a shadow, weaving a net of death behind them.

They evaded wave after wave of manhunts, wandering aimlessly through desolate mountains and wilderness.

When hungry, they would gnaw on tree bark; when thirsty, they would drink from mountain streams; when tired, they would curl up in rock crevices or corners of dilapidated temples, huddling together to endure the long darkness.

His mother held his hand tightly the whole time, even when her palms were blistered, scabbed over, and then broken again.

She never cried.

She would often hold him in her arms late at night, stroking his hair over and over again, humming a little tune from Jiangnan.

The gentle and melodious tune became the only peace during those years of escape.

Until the very end.

It was a stormy night, and the pursuers had blocked all exits.

His mother pulled him along, stumbling and falling as they fled into the deep mountains of the north, where they found a natural ice cave.

The cave was chillingly cold, and even breathing condensed into white mist.

The icicles hung upside down like swords, gleaming with a faint blue light.

His mother took off her only snow-white fox fur coat and wrapped it tightly around him, enveloping him in all the remaining warmth of the world.

The fur coat still retained the lingering warmth of her body, and the faint scent of gardenias mixed with the aroma of medicine became the last trace of warmth in his memory.

And from her lips, frozen into celadon, she continued to utter words of comfort to him.

"Good boy, don't fall asleep, whatever you do, don't close your eyes..."

"It will be warm by daybreak."

"The snow will clear, the night will eventually pass... Don't be afraid..."

She held him tightly in her arms, using her body to shield him from the cold wind blowing in from the cave entrance.

The embrace was initially soft and warm, but gradually became stiff and cold.

Her voice grew softer and softer, eventually turning into a wisp of sigh that dissipated into the deathly silence of the ice cave.

Young Bei Chenji curled up in her increasingly cold embrace.

Outside the ice cave, the wind and snow howled furiously, like the wailing of ten thousand evil spirits.

Inside the cave, time seemed to stand still, with only death slowly unfolding in the silence.

He didn't cry.

He simply stretched out his small, red and purple hands, which were frozen, and touched her cheeks again and again.

The skin touched by my fingertips initially had a slight elasticity, but it quickly froze into hard ice.

He stubbornly stroked her, breathing out white breath, trying to warm her up.

Again and again.

Until their fingers were so frozen they lost all feeling, tiny beads of blood seeped from under their fingernails, blooming like tiny red plum blossoms on the ice.

Three days later, the Hidden Dragon Guards broke through the ice, following a faint trail.

They need to melt the ice to separate the mother and child.

The last glimmer of light in his eyes stubbornly gazed into the void, waiting for a melting embrace.

From then on, Bei Chenji was diagnosed with a beautiful terminal illness—

Thirst.

His body and his soul were desperately yearning for a warm and real touch.

They crave the security of being held tightly in a hug, and the warmth of being alive when skin touches skin.

Yet, deep in my memory, the blood lotus blooming on my father's back and the glacier spreading in my mother's arms always solidify into a transparent barrier when warmth approaches.

He craves warmth, yet instinctively raises his thorns when warmth approaches.

He needed to touch it, but at the very moment their fingertips were about to touch, he avoided it like the plague.

He was like a scalded cat, no longer daring to approach the fire, even though he was shivering from the cold.

All it could do was let out a threatening growl at the light and shadow, hiding itself even deeper into the cold shadows.

From then on, the King of Beichen became a cold, unpredictable, and inhuman figure in the eyes of the world.

He wielded power more illustrious than his father, employed more ruthless methods, and exuded a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay.

His purple robes were as deep as an abyss, his expression icy cold. Standing in the court, he was like an ice sculpture, and no one dared to look directly into the frosty look in his eyes.

No one knows.

Beneath that magnificent python robe lies a soul torn apart day and night:

On one hand, there are memories of bitter cold that chills you to the bone.

On one hand, there is the burning thirst that gnaws at the five internal organs.

He is both ice and fire.

He is both an orphan yearning for embraces and a lonely king who rejects all approach.

This excruciating pain, like being tormented by both ice and fire, is incurable and has no one to confide in.

He alone swallowed his sorrows in every long, lonely night.

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased slightly, and glancing at her master's expression, Qian Su tentatively suggested in a soft voice:

"My lord, actually... Miss Shen is intelligent, kind, and understanding, and one of the very few women who can avoid annoying you. If she truly can be your antidote, perhaps... you could give it a try?"

Bei Chenji did not open his eyes, nor did he utter a word in rebuttal.

"How did her assessment go?"

Qian Su felt somewhat relieved. It seemed that the prince's feelings for Miss Shen were indeed different from those for others.

He continued to report: "Miss Shen has just passed the chess test with excellent results."

"Um."

Bei Chenji only responded with a single word, his expression unreadable.

He originally came today for two reasons: first, to inspect the examination hall; second, to see Shen Yan's assessment; and, incidentally... to cause some trouble for his troublesome niece.

Who knew that by a twist of fate, I would be delayed at Ranxia Studio until now.

"Huh? You can actually eat this?"

Hua Rongshi seemed to have heard something unbelievable; her peach blossom eyes widened, and her face was full of disgust.

"Cousin, I'm begging you, just look at me a couple more times, cleanse your eyes!"

He clutched his chest, looking utterly devastated.

"That Shen Yan, she's all pretentious, she's so affected and artificial."

"She's not even as good as my Little Snowflake. At least Little Snowflake is clearly wicked and openly arrogant."

"What snowflakes?"

Bei Chenji didn't react for a moment.

After a moment, he realized he was referring to Tang Xixue, and a slight twitch appeared on his lips:

"Tsk, Rong Shi, if you had even a plate of peanuts, you wouldn't be this drunk. Are you really drunk?"

Wake up!

"Besides, who can you even touch?"

He asked several questions in succession.

Hua Rongshi gave him a disgruntled look:

"If I can't touch it, can't I at least look at it?"

"At least Xiaoxuehua is pleasing to the eye, but she's really beautiful—cousin."

"You're simply—hopeless." Bei Chenji was speechless.