ALT chapter 2.1 Yan Lin

       She is reborn.

       To the eighteen and a half years old’ her.

　　But neither at the beginning of everything, nor after everything had completely happened.

       When she returned to the capital at the age of fourteen, she began to disguise herself as a man. She pretended to be the Biao[2] Young Master of Assistant Minister Jiang's family in the capital, and followed Yan Lin to wildly play in the capital. In September when she was eighteen, she was summoned to the palace to accompany Princess Le Yang as a study companion. In November of the same year, something happened to the Yongyi Marquis Mansion.

       Jiang Xuening dazedly remembered that in the period of her true youth, Yan Lin was always there.

　　She is not afraid of anything if there is Yan Lin.

       He was born in the family of a General. He had been in the frontier fortress for a period of time. He had the high spirit that most men in the capital didn't have. Dressed in fine clothes and rode on well-groomed horses, walking with a sword, always around her, loving her, protecting her.

       If there is no accident, he should be marrying her and bringing her to his house.

       Only, in this year when she followed Yan Lin, she unexpectedly ran into the King of Linzi, Shen Jie, who came to find Yan Lin.

       At that time, she did not know Shen Jie’s identity yet.

　　But when Yan Lin saw this gentle and elegant, splendidly clothed young man, the first sentence he blurted out was: "Why did you[1] come out?"

       What is Yan Lin's identity?

       The Shizi of the Yongyi Marquis Mansion, which is comparable to the Xiao clan, was personally appointed by the Emperor since long ago and he is very popular in the palace. Wherever he goes, others will respectfully call him with the honorable ‘Young Marquis’ title.

　　There are not many people who can make him use the word ‘you’.

       Jiang Xuening, who always wanted to be the Empress in her previous life, secretly thought about it. After a careful inquiry, she indeed found out that Shen Jie was actually the King of Linzi. It was rumored in the capital that the Emperor had no son and wanted to establish Shen Jie as the Emperor’s (eldest) younger brother.

       So the originally unintentional contact, turned into an intentional approach.

　　Later, something happened with the Yongyi Marquis Mansion, and she married Shen Jie as she wished.

　　Within two years, the Emperor died of illness and passed the throne to Shen Jie, and she also became the Empress.

       However, although Shen Jie grew up in the palace since he was a child, he was different from his other brothers. He was too kind-hearted that he is irresolute and hesitant. He was too gentle that he behaved cowardly. Although he had the means, he couldn't bear to use it on others, so he couldn't even hold down the civil and military officials. He always needed the newly appointed Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor, Xie Wei, to deal with it for him, to encircle him.

       In the end, he was poisoned to death.

　　Jiang Xuening had been put under confinement by Yan Lin at that time, and she could not even see him for the last time.

       People who are too kind cannot be the Emperor.

　　This is the only enlightenment that Jiang Xuening could get from Shen Jie's tragedy in her previous life.

       Now, she happened to be reborn just shortly after she met Shen Jie. Fortunately, she was not too deeply involved with him yet.

       In this life, she does not want to enter the palace again.

　　Kunning Palace is her tomb.

       The simply furnished room is elegant.

       In the cool air of early autumn, still floated with it the scent of wine from last night that has become lighter.

　　Outside the closed window, there was a faint noise from the market in the distance.

       Yan Lin was still holding a sword in his hand. Although he has the stature of a teenager, the clear curve of his back could already be seen. When he pursed the corners of his mouth and didn't have a smile on his face, it was quite impressive.

       He didn’t pay attention to Shen Jie temporarily.

　　He only turned his head back, without being able to get rid of the coldness between the corners of his eyes and the tips of his eyebrows, and asked in a cold voice: "Which hand did he touch you with?"

       Jiang Xuening finally recovered from the trance when she suddenly realized her rebirth. The teenager's eyes that were as bright as the morning star were close to her. They were not yet filled with the suffering when the whole Yan clan had met with catastrophe, nor were they corroded by the darkness of the court's fierce fighting.

       Clean, bright and dazzling.

　　It's like the scorching sun hanging in the sky.

       Just, this question…

　    He is taking the posture of ‘when she answers it, he is going to chop off Shen Jie's paws’.

[1] This ‘you’ is the one with honorifics. There are two ‘you’ in Chinese. A normal one 你 (Nǐ) and respected one 您 (Nín). Try using google translate to listen to the pronunciation if you are curious.

[2] Biao : the relationship between the children or grandchildren of a brother and a sister or of sisters.

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