Recklessly Breaking a Delicate Branch - Chapter 1

The ninth lunar month’s frost is cold, the dew is chilling, and yellow leaves, heavy with dew, turn to frost.

At the border between the Central Plains and the Western Rong Royal Court, the trees are sparse and the people and horses are in disarray.

Outside the chaotic procession of carriages, striking blood covers the ground everywhere.

A few withered leaves fluttered down from a branch on the cliff, as below, Jiang Wan Shu, unarmed, was forced backward step by step by a group of muscular men holding curved knives.

Her neatly tied long hair was already disheveled from the frantic scrambling, and her exquisite, pale face held a pair of tear-filled, wide, almond eyes, as she desperately shook her head at them.

Jiang Wan Shu’s voice was hoarse, ragged after extreme shouting, “Please, I beg you, let me go!”

As a princess of the state, to fulfill her duty and prevent her father and mother from being troubled, she had knelt outside the palace for two full days without eating or drinking. Only then did her parents reluctantly agree to send her to the Western Rong for a marriage alliance.

Ever since the unification of the Central Plains, the Western Rong Royal Court would occasionally use the pretext of “getting acquainted” with the Central Plains’ border military to secretly attack the border soldiers.

The Western Rong Royal Court was militarily strong, which was a thorny issue for the Central Plains, which had just been unified and was in a period of rebuilding and allowing its populace to recuperate.

In the seventh month of the summer, a negotiation between the Central Plains and the Western Rong Royal Court brought them their first turning point.

As the season entered the seventh month, the Western Rong Royal Court set its sights on her during the banquet in the Glazed Palace.

They specifically requested that if her father, in painful sacrifice, would give his most beloved legitimate princess to the Western Rong Khan as his third wife, it would ensure a hundred years of peace between the Central Plains and Western Rong.

The princess’s power was great, representing the Mandate of Heaven.

Ministers at court suggested accepting the marriage alliance, which greatly angered her father. Yet, they all clearly understood that besides this, there was no other way.

She was going for the sake of peace between the two lands, representing the Central Plains’ desperate desire to cease hostilities with the Western Rong Royal Court. It was for this reason that she felt such despair facing the impending loss of her chastity, which would become a disgrace to the royal family, causing the people of the steppes to revile the Central Plains’ princess for being shameless.

A withered leaf was crushed with a “snap” by Jiang Wan Shu’s delicate little hand. She moved to a certain spot and looked back, only to see the cliff was steep and towering, terrifying her into trembling.

She couldn’t retreat anymore, she truly couldn’t!

Behind her was the abyss; any further retreat would send her plummeting into the chasm!

She turned back to face the bandits who were still relentlessly closing in, and her tears fell like large pearls.

Jiang Wan Shu’s pretty face grew even paler under the coarse laughter of the burly men. She tightly gripped a small stone in her right hand, trying to throw it at the bandits to stop them from approaching.

Unfortunately, her aim was poor, and she missed. Realizing she had no further means of resistance, Jiang Wan Shu involuntarily swallowed.

Her distress only provoked more mockery from the burly men, who laughed loudly as they advanced.

“Hahaha, little lady, just surrender obediently. The big men here promise to treat you well.”

The leader, seeing the beauty had nowhere left to retreat, laughed mockingly.

As Jiang Wan Shu stumbled backward in panic, her embroidered shoe slipped off unnoticed.

In the cool autumn sun, Jiang Wan Shu’s slender foot and ankle were exposed before the bandits, white as winter snow. Even the unbound “lotus foot,” now free of its shoe, was alluring, as if extending a tempting invitation to them.

Bandits who rarely saw such beauty could hardly restrain themselves.

The leading bandit reached out a coarse hand and grabbed her ankle, stained with mud and dirt beneath her crimson dress, yet still appearing ethereal. He pulled her under him in one swift motion.

The beauty beneath him cried out in fright; her hoarse scream startling the birds lingering on the branches to scatter in all directions.

Jiang Wan Shu closed her eyes in disgust and fear, kicking the man on top of her with all her might.

Just as she was about to bite her tongue to end her life and preserve her chastity, the world spun, and a sudden, returning throwing knife sliced through the sky, spinning rapidly toward her location.

The scarlet blood on the throwing knife sprayed in large patches onto Jiang Wan Shu’s exquisite face with an unusual warmth. Only then did she tremulously open her eyes.

The girl’s long, curled eyelashes were dotted with specks of blood. She covered her mouth with both hands, shaking her head uncontrollably while her body convulsed.

A chaotic sound of horse hooves rang out. She looked up and saw a man, towering like a mountain, seated on a warhorse, his back to the setting sun.

The autumn wind tousled the dark, glossy hair on the man’s shoulders. The rider’s physique was mighty and tall. Beneath him, his pair of deeply exotic, hawk-like eyes showed a sharp intensity. His nose was highly bridged, accentuating the chiseled contours of his face.

His body was truly too massive; a large shadow enveloped her, like a mountain, pressing down on her and making it hard to breathe.

Even though Jiang Wan Shu knew the man before her had saved her, she dared not relax for a moment. Her trembling right hand reached for the man’s soft leather boot under his clothes, issuing a plea for help, “I am the Jin Yang Princess, the Great Yin Emperor’s most beloved daughter. If this brave warrior can help me, I will be eternally grateful!”

Blood trickled down her forehead, blurring her eyelashes and preventing her from seeing her savior clearly. In a state of growing exhaustion, Jiang Wan Shu vaguely saw a curve of a smile on the thin lips beneath the man’s high nose bridge.

Jiang Wan Shu tried hard to interpret his meaning, but under the circumstances of extreme insecurity and a body no longer able to support her consciousness, she completely lost consciousness.

Three days later, around noon, smoke drifted from the roof of a tiled house in the sparsely populated deep forest.

The autumn noonday light streamed through the dilapidated window lattice. Jiang Wan Shu, currently lying in bed, seemed to be having a terrible nightmare; her delicately arched eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and her pale pink cherry lips were incessantly uttering something.

The tattered door was opened with a creak by Zhou Yan. He was holding a bowl of food and, upon seeing the movement of the woman in bed, set the bowl down and walked towards the bed.

Jiang Wan Shu was tormented by the dream’s illusions, sweating profusely, as if pursued by ghosts and demons, about to fall into a bottomless abyss the next second.

Nausea, heart palpitations, and the urge to vomit!

The endless sensory terror intensified as the man’s figure blocked the light on her. Not until the man’s rough, large palm touched her beautiful face did Jiang Wan Shu suddenly open her eyes.

The sound of the woman’s extreme panting came from deep within her chest. She saw a tall, big-eared man with an extremely sharp yet strikingly handsome face looking down at her.

In a trance, she was reminded of the man who had rescued her that day on horseback.

As she abruptly sat up, the brocade blanket slid off her. The cool wind blowing in through the window lattice made her feel chilly. Jiang Wan Shu clutched the brocade blanket and looked down at herself.

She was startled to find that the crimson robe she had worn that day was no longer on her and was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the man before her.

Zhou Yan saw through her thoughts and assessed her appearance. Her skin was white as snow, her face peerlessly beautiful, quite pleasing to his eye.

Remembering what his sister had told him, Zhou Yan frowned in doubt, but seeing Jiang Wan Shu’s agitation, he then said, “It’s true that I took your clothes off. If not for me, you wouldn’t be this clean.”

His words were crude, and Jiang Wan Shu was on the verge of tears upon hearing his unreserved statement.

She knew he was referring to the dust she had accumulated during her struggle the day she was in distress.

It was indeed true. If he hadn’t wiped her body clean, given her skin’s sensitivity, red spots would probably be covering her body by now.

But the Jin Yang Princess, born of a noble dynasty, had basic decorum. In such a predicament, she couldn’t suppress the rising shame in her heart and desperately shielded her face with the brocade blanket, only to have the man abruptly pull it away.

“Why so shy?”

“If it weren’t for me, you’d already be the wife of those mountain bandits.”

Seeing that the person before him was finally awake, Zhou Yan stopped holding back. Following his habit of eating after cooking in the kitchen’s warmth during the autumn, he promptly took off his sweat-dampened clothes right in front of Jiang Wan Shu.

Zhou Yan showed off his taut muscles, his sharp gaze fixed upon her. The man’s six-pack looked overly aggressive under the sunlight.

Witnessing this action, Jiang Wan Shu couldn’t help but curl back against the side of the bed, her arms crossed over her chest. She trembled all over as she stared at the man, her foot tightly pressing down on the brocade blanket the man had snatched away.

Seeing her panic, Jiang Wan Shu stammered fearfully,

“Let me go, and I’ll promise you immense wealth.”

The soft voice reached his ears, and Zhou Yan stopped moving, staring intently at her with an unwavering gaze, a smirk reappearing at the corner of his mouth.

The Jin Yang Princess, who had always been praised for her beauty and was used to the gazes of strangers, looked around at the cold, dilapidated walls, plotting how to escape.

Jiang Wan Shu’s almond-shaped eyes were like they held starlight, further drawing Zhou Yan’s attention.

He examined the woman before him with a slightly teasing look, then, arrogantly, he casually fabricated a lie, “I am a mere warrior, raised on the grasslands. Apart from food and warmth, I have no ambition. Immense wealth isn’t enough to make me listen to your every command.”

With that, he glanced down at Jiang Wan Shu’s ankle, seeing that the wound there hadn’t completely healed. He leaned forward. Just as his coarse, large palm was about to press onto the woman’s delicate ankle to check the wound, he was unexpectedly kicked in the chest by Jiang Wan Shu the next moment.

The intense heat instantly scared Jiang Wan Shu into withdrawing her foot. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yan let her off.

Zhou Yan was an eagle raised in the wilderness; he never beat around the bush.

He straightened up, looking down at the girl before him, and mocked, “If I wanted to have my way with you right now, do you think you’d be safe?”

Jiang Wan Shu’s face flushed crimson from the man’s words. She stuttered out, “H-how dare you! This Princess is of noble birth! How can a debauched scoundrel like you casually blaspheme me!”

Hearing this, Zhou Yan suddenly burst into laughter. He had been kind with no reward. This timid little princess must have forgotten that he was also her savior.

What was the saying in the Central Plains?

Oh, right, it was “a life-saving kindness must be repaid with a fountain of gratitude!”

Since the little girl was so impolite, he didn’t need to try so hard to pretend.

Thinking this, the smile on his lips faded. He glanced at her coldly and continued,

“However, I’ve already reached adulthood and am in the prime of my youth. My home is missing a wife who can care for me. If you agree, I might consider granting you the immense wealth.”

He could grant her immense wealth?

At the mention of this, Jiang Wan Shu’s mind seemed to explode. As the legitimate princess of Great Yin, she would never allow her homeland to be insulted so easily!

Jiang Wan Shu immediately sat up straight, her eyes blazing with an undeniable authority. She said furiously,

“My surname Jiang is the national surname of the Great Yin Dynasty, and I am the esteemed legitimate princess of the Yin court! You speak of granting me immense wealth so casually; could it be that you intend to usurp power!”

The man watched her, amused, like a startled rabbit. He leaned down and gently patted her cheek, smiling pleasantly, “If you didn’t provoke me like this, I wouldn’t have this kind of interest.”

Hearing this, Jiang Wan Shu let out a sigh of relief and slapped away Zhou Yan’s large hand from her cheek.

She remained highly vigilant, scrutinizing the man before her, trying to find his weakness. “What exactly do you want to send me back?”

A flicker of dark light crossed Zhou Yan’s eyes, and he stared at the woman before him with displeasure.

She had been in his house for so long, and despite his repeated hints, she still couldn’t abandon her desire to escape him?

Men raised on the grasslands, once they set their minds on a girl, would absolutely not let her escape. If she did, it would be a lifelong disgrace among the young men on the steppe.

Just as Jiang Wan Shu was about to stand up and try to escape from the bed, she didn’t expect Zhou Yan’s movement to be lightning fast. He grabbed her tender, white hand.

Under Jiang Wan Shu’s watchful eyes, the man’s thin lips were cold. He slowly lowered himself, and his lips pressed tightly against the back of her hand.

An uncomfortable warmth transferred from the man’s lips to the back of her hand, scaring Jiang Wan Shu into trying to pull her hand away.

But Zhou Yan was no ordinary person; how could he let her succeed? Zhou Yan’s calloused palm gripped the woman’s slender wrist, making it impossible for her to move easily.

When the man’s thin lips finally left the back of her hand, Jiang Wan Shu pulled her hand back. Zhou Yan, however, was scornful, letting out a soft “Hmph.”

“I saved you and brought you back precisely to marry you. Asking me to let you go back is absolutely impossible!”

An interesting woman, hard-won; how could he let her go?

Jiang Wan Shu’s eyes widened, staring at the man’s transgression. Feeling constantly violated, she screamed in terror, “Ah!”

Zhou Yan looked at the girl before him at his leisure, appreciating her startled look. He took his time, “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”

His words did make Jiang Wan Shu drop her guard a little. After all, if he were truly an ill-mannered savage who would use force without her consent, she wouldn’t be in her current state upon waking up.

Disheveled clothes and pain in the lower body were often the details she saw quickly glossed over in storybooks about noble ladies and their beloved men intertwining.

She didn’t feel any of that, so she knew the man before her hadn’t forced himself on her. But even so, she was unwilling to show him any kindness.

Jiang Wan Shu had lived in the palace for a long time, and her interactions with the concubines had long taught her to read people. The man before her had deep-set eyes, and the way he stared at her suggested a teasing state of mind.

In this situation, she knew the more she resisted, the more he would enjoy the spectacle. She simply curled up and retreated into the corner of the bed, her back against the white wall.

Sure enough, the man stopped moving the next second.

He frowned, lowering his brows, his eyes filled with boredom. Unaware of the time, they simply stared at each other for a long while.

The autumn weather was cool. The wind blowing into the room carried the scent of white rice from the table towards the bed.

The person who had been passed out for days and hadn’t eaten properly suddenly smelled the aroma of the white rice on the table and involuntarily lowered her head.

It had been too long since she had a proper meal. Even though she was accustomed to the delicacies of the palace, she couldn’t resist the smell of the white rice.

She looked up at the man, then pitifully lowered her head again.

She knew that bowl of rice was prepared for her by that man. Asking him to let her eat it—how could she?

But she was truly too hungry. Her stomach was rumbling, and it seemed if she didn’t replenish her energy soon, she would faint from hunger.

She summoned the courage to speak to him but immediately closed her mouth again.

Looking at the handsome man before her, and recalling his bold and almost insulting remarks, she was forced to stand her ground.

But she was genuinely starving. It wasn’t so bad when she couldn’t smell the rice, but now that she did, it only stirred the glutton in her belly.

Jiang Wan Shu had no choice but to shrink into the corner. She could feel her stomach was about to rumble.

Support Recklessly Breaking a Delicate Branch