She Came to Heal, Stayed to Conquer

A dilapidated wooden hut, as if forgotten by time in the deep mountains and forests.

The mud-packed walls are full of cracks, like the wrinkles on an old man’s face, telling endless stories of change and decay.

The wooden boards of the roof have long since rotted, and a few strands of sunlight filter through the gaps, but they cannot dispel the chill and dampness inside the cabin.

Everywhere, spider webs cloak the room like a veil of grayish-white gauze. The floor is covered with thick dry straw, which rustles when stepped on.

In the nearby empty space, several earthen bowls and jars are placed haphazardly, with two half-eaten coarse buns inside one of the bowls.

In one corner, a wooden chamber pot stands with peeling red paint, emitting a pungent stench of mold and feces, making it nauseating.

In this suffocating environment, a woman with matted long hair, a filthy face, and a dress so dirty that its original color can’t be discerned, stands on tiptoe, clinging to a small wooden window, shouting.

”Let me out! Please, let me out!”

Hearing her shout, a dark, scarred face appears outside the window, impatiently scolding her.

”Get back, follow the rules, what are you yelling for?”

The scarred face’s voice is rough and hoarse, like wood scraped with sandpaper.

The woman recoiled in fear but gathered the courage to plead again, ”Big brother, big brother. Please, could you help me find out how many women are still in the stronghold?”

The scarred face sneered, ”There are still plenty! Just wait patiently!”

”There are many more?” Disappointment flickered in the woman’s eyes, ”Big brother. Can you secretly let me out? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

”Don’t even think about it! Do you think this is your backyard, where you can come and go as you please?”

The scarred face glared at her and moved away from the window.

”Hey, big brother. Don’t go!” The woman, unwilling to give up, continued to plead. ”Big brother. Since the chieftain has many women, why not... why don’t you take me for yourself and then let me go? How about that?”

The scarred face did not show up again, but she could hear his voice filled with disdain.

”You’ve got quite the imagination! My standards are high, far beyond what you can aspire to.”

”Hahaha.”

Just then, a sleazy laugh came from outside the window: ”Scarface, why not do a good deed and take her in! She looks rather pitiful to me.”

The woman, hearing someone speaking on her behalf, quickly nodded in agreement.

”Yes, big brother. It would be no loss to you to take me in. I am a high-born Commandery Princess, my father is the Champion Marquis, and the Empress is my aunt!”

As it turns out, this disheveled woman was once the illustrious Princess Changle, Su Wanlan.

The reason why Princess Changle had fallen into such a miserable state, resembling a beggar, was all due to Zhao Zun being too busy and forgetting about her.

Zhao Zun had Xiao Zhengfei send people to capture her and keep her here, planning to use her to exchange for Han Lei if necessary.

Later, after receiving a letter from Han Lei, Zhao Zun finally felt relieved and got busy following Han Lei’s instructions to set up a cement factory in Fufeng County.

What followed was sneaking onto the battlefield for a surprise attack. In all this busyness, Zhao Zun completely forgot about the insignificant Princess Changle.

And this forgetting led to much suffering for Princess Changle.

With no new orders from Zhao Zun, the trusted aides were afraid to let her go on their own accord.

But after all, the other party was a Commandery Princess, so those guards responsible for her could only find ways to delay, in case trouble fell on Zhao Zun in the future.

But no matter how they delayed, Princess Changle was never allowed to step out of this wooden cabin, doing everything—eating, drinking, and relieving herself—inside.

Every morning, the guard on duty would bring Princess Changle a day’s supply of water and food, and then take the chamber pot out for cleaning.

Princess Changle lived in this wooden cabin, with no sense of day or night.

For two whole months, she didn’t know where her maids and attendants were held, nor did she know how much time had passed. She only knew that the sky outside the small window turned from dark to light and light to dark again.

All she knew was that she was kidnapped by a group of bandits and taken up the mountain. The chieftain here was a greedy and lecherous person, so the bandits captured women from all over to present to the chieftain to gain his favor.

What puzzled her was that though the chieftain was licentious, she was not offered to him even once since her capture, and the chieftain didn’t even want to see her face.

Despite knowing the chieftain wasn’t a good person, she hoped she could meet him. Because, as long as she could leave this room, she could find a way to escape.

But the guards outside always said that the chieftain had many women and told her to wait in line.