Hong Zheng era, year twenty-four, winter seemed colder than all of the previous years. It was only today that heavy snow stopped falling.
Thirty li outside of the capital, a black horse carrying two people galloped past a person who was searching for someone's whereabouts. Horse hooves continuously struck the snow-accumulated earth and the distance increased. Shortly after, it began to snow again.
"Your highness, the horse cannot run much longer while carrying the both of us... set me down here." The voice of the person sitting behind him was faint but the tone was gentle as usual.
"No, you are heavily injured, if thrown into the snow, you will die shortly after." Jing Shao wiped his face and then urged the horse to continue galloping. After he was released from prison, he realized the situation was not quite right. He and the injured prince consort were being pressured. If he had not killed a lieutenant and stolen a horse, he suspected that the two of them would have been beheaded just a short distance away from the capital.
"My body is already at its limits, sooner or later I will die. You should quickly let me down." The person behind him sounded anxious. The horse was a colt, they had been riding for a while now and the horse was beginning to tire. If the two of them continued like this, neither of them would survive.
"No. If we die, we die together." Jing Shao said loudly against the cold wind. This person was his prince consort. He had favored his side consort and neglected his official wife. But in the end, the one who accompanied him in prison was this person, the person he had neglected for over 10 years!
Jing Shao was the second son of Empress Yuan. At the age of fourteen he joined the army and entered the battlefield, securing victory and earning his title. He was allowed to take a wife. In order to maintain peace within the family, there was an unwritten rule that all children born from side consorts and concubines must marry a male wife. He was birthed by Empress Yuan, yet Empress Wu unexpectedly forced him to marry a male wife, which ruined his qualifications to inherit the empire. Therefore he was resentful and never gave his prince consort the respect and honor he deserved. He also refused to help his older brother obtain the throne...
"Haha, what qualifications do I, Mu Hanzhang, have to have your highness die together with me?" The person behind him laughed bitterly.
"I am sorry. If we survive this ordeal, I will listen to you." Jing Shao comforted the person behind him while tightening his grip on the reins. Another 5 li and they will reach Wang Yue slope. There, there is a narrow trail, he discovered while hunting, that could be used to escape.
"Ke ke..." Because Mu Hanzhang had spoken in the harsh wind, he could not help but cough on the Prince's back. A wisp of blood trickled down the corner of his pale lips. While in prison he had blocked an attack for Jing Shao and injured his internal organs. The pain had already subsided but now due to the coldness, he began to cough up blood. He could not help but offer a wry smile, simply lying on Jing Shao's back.
After so many years, none of his maids or concubines dared brave this difficulty with him, not resenting them was impossible, but this person had insisted on accompanying him until death. Just then, Mu Hanzhang almost tumbled off.
He was the son of a noble family, born to a concubine. He had never asked for a title, instead, only asking for the chance to make a name for himself during the civil examinations. However, his father and stepmother had married him off to the Prince of Cheng as a male wife a year before his test! He was a man, yet his freedom had been taken away and he was confined to stay in the house. He would no longer be able to achieve his goals. After so many years, he did not know whether to resent his stepmother or blame his irresponsible husband.
