No need to doubt how a dignified princess of a nation would know what a single copper coin looked like. She often wandered the jianghu, and the mountain villages and wild countryside had their own unique charm.
Unfortunately…
Looking at her current state, Mo Xihan tried hard to recall what that person had done to her. She carefully felt the faint abnormalities in her body, and finally stared at the single copper coin in her hand. How could she not understand what had happened!
She… she had preserved her noble and pure body for sixteen years, only for it to be inexplicably defiled by someone?
Her mind went blank for a moment. Her body stiffened into a strange, awkward posture.
"Heh… hehehe…"
The moment she fully reacted, Mo Xihan suddenly let out a sinister laugh. Her exquisite face twisted grotesquely from extreme rage.
Her eyes burned with raging flames. The words that came out of her mouth seemed squeezed through gritted teeth:
"Good… very good. What a bold and audacious little thief, daring to covet this Prince's body while this Prince was unconscious. Simply shameless! Courting death…"
"Is this Prince's golden, jade-like body something he can even dream of touching?"
"…Not to mention him—even the sons of countless princes and noble families in the capital, this Prince has never taken seriously. Yet today, of all days, I actually fell into the hands of some nobody!"
"Pah, pah—Was that person unbearably ugly? Or deformed, some twisted melon or cracked date? He… blah blah blah…"
However, halfway through her furious tirade, Mo Xihan suddenly froze. Her eyes were glued to the single copper coin in her hand.
"One copper coin?"
"That little thief… what does this mean? After defiling this Prince, he actually left behind one copper coin?"
"He—he—"
"..."
Mo Xihan's face darkened completely as she gnashed her teeth in fury.
After a long silence, perhaps because her injured body could no longer endure it, or perhaps because she had been angered to the limit, she suddenly collapsed to the ground.
Before losing consciousness, only one thought remained in her mind:
"She, the graceful Prince of the royal bloodline, a heaven-favored noble who made everyone in the capital avoid her sharp edge—the free and unfettered Prince—right now—"
"Her chastity… was only worth one copper coin…"
"One! Copper! Coin!"
A gentle breeze swept through. In the quiet mountains, only a single figure lay motionless on the ground. The unconscious person's right hand was clenched tightly into a fist. Anyone who didn't know better would think she was holding some priceless treasure.
Unfortunately, no one would ever know.
At that moment, rustling sounds came from not far away.
Looking over, a massive figure slowly emerged from the bushes. Its mottled fur shimmered with a metallic luster under the sunlight.
It was a majestic and awe-inspiring giant tiger.
Its copper-bell-sized eyes revealed a deep, sharp glint. The moment it saw the figure at the cave entrance, excitement flashed in its gaze.
Its tail stood high, and its enormous body drew an excited arc in the air as it bared its fangs and pounced lightly yet swiftly toward Mo Xihan.
...
Meanwhile, the cursing Su Yu paced around the house once, his stomach rumbling with hunger as he searched for something to eat—only to find not even a single hair.
Poor. So poor that even drinking the northwest wind was a luxury, because he didn't even have the strength left for that.
After that ordeal, his body was covered in sticky, foul-smelling sweat. His whole body was covered in bruises and ached terribly. His stomach twisted with painful cramps, and he was poorer than a beggar, locked up in this godforsaken corner.
With such a catastrophic start, he just wanted to die on the spot and start over.
Sigh… purely wishful thinking.
After complaining for a while, Su Yu, with a gloomy face, climbed up from the creaking wooden chair. He opened the door and headed toward the back mountain. He remembered—or rather, the original body's memories showed—that there seemed to be a river in the back mountain.
Sniffing the sweaty stench on himself, he couldn't wait to take a bath. While he was at it, he'd check if there were any fish in the river and catch a couple to comfort his starving stomach.
...
When Du Xi found Mo Xihan, he saw his master leaning against Ban Hua.
Ban Hua, whose ears had immediately perked up at the sound, warily turned its large head. Its tiger eyes stared fixedly, not allowing any threat to approach.
Upon seeing it was someone familiar, it let out a happy low growl, then rubbed against Mo Xihan with great affection, as if trying to wake its master.
"Ban Hua?" Du Xi called the tiger's name excitedly and quickly rushed to his master's side.
Ban Hua lifted its head in response, looking extremely aloof and majestic.
Du Xi stepped forward to examine the unconscious master, but the result made him suck in a sharp breath. "Poisoned… and injured."
"We need to find a doctor as soon as possible."
Without wasting words, Du Xi frowned with deep worry. He carefully lifted his master onto his back, then turned to urge the tiger, "Ban Hua, you go back."
Ban Hua stood up, its tail swaying high. It shook its big head in refusal and nudged Mo Xihan's leg with its nose, blinking at Du Xi to show it wanted to follow its master.
Time was of the essence. Du Xi looked disapproving. "No. Once we leave the mountain, you'll scare people like this."
Ban Hua swung its head in dissatisfaction and bit onto Mo Xihan's clothes, trying to move forward. Helpless, Du Xi could only soothe it: "Be good, Ban Hua. Go back to the forest first. We'll talk after Master wakes up, okay?"
Ban Hua refused to listen and kept walking.
With no other choice, Du Xi 'threatened': "If you don't behave right now, Master will definitely be angry when she wakes up. She might not come see you for a short while!"
The moment the words fell, the highly intelligent Ban Hua stopped in its tracks.
Man and tiger stared at each other.
After a brief standoff, Ban Hua seemed to realize it really couldn't follow its master this time. It rubbed against Mo Xihan pitifully, then—without even glancing at Du Xi—turned its head away in anger and arrogance, unwillingly running back into the deep forest.
Its massive body stirred up quite a gust of wind.
Du Xi couldn't care less whether this 'big lord' was angry. At least its compromise allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.
There was no helping it. Like master, like pet. Ban Hua was just like its master—always flamboyant, arrogant, and domineering. No one dared provoke it.
Don't be fooled by how small and bloodied it was when its master first picked it up, on the verge of death. Under its master's exclusive favor, it had become extremely tyrannical.
Not to mention, Ban Hua was originally the overlord of the forest.
Without thinking further, Du Xi carried his master on his back with an anxious face and sprinted away at full speed.
Su Yu reached the river at the back mountain. The ground seemed to tremble slightly. He widened his eyes and muttered, "Is it an earthquake?"
But when he carefully sensed it again, everything was steady and quiet, as if it had been an illusion.
He shook his head and smacked his lips. "Looks like I'm so hungry I'm hallucinating. I really need to fill my stomach quickly."
Half an hour later.
After swallowing the last tasteless bite of fish, Su Yu burped. Only then did he feel like he had come back to life.
Looking down at his drenched and bedraggled appearance from catching fish, he took off his outer robe, casually rubbed it a few times by the river, then hung it on two branches over the still-burning fire to dry before extinguishing the flames.
Satisfied, he found a hidden spot behind a large rock and happily began washing himself in the river.
Thankfully, it was the end of summer, the hottest season. Bathing with river water felt just right.
Unexpectedly, halfway through washing, he suddenly heard faint whispers not far away. Gradually, they were mixed with heavy panting and shrill, miserable screams—as if someone was suffering immense pain.