The pavilion was no match for a proper house. After removing the thick snow, and lifting off the straw on top, the tattered corner of a mat was quickly visible beneath.

  "Hurry!" Pei You Rui's hair was disheveled, the silver hairpin that had been inserted at an angle into her bun was already gone; the fox fur coat that had hindered her movement had also been thrown onto the snow not far away. A section of her pale wrist exposed from her narrow sleeve had turned blue-purple in the cold wind. Her slender fingers, smooth as spring bamboo and glossy as frozen fat, were covered with bloodstains due to digging at the frozen snow blocks.

  But at this moment she didn't care about any of that, her eyes fixed intently on the familiar hem of his clothes, her voice shrill as she urged, "Faster!!!"

  Seeing the delicate young lady take the lead in pulling away a bundle of straw, the people below hastened their pace.

  A moment later, the rafters and eaves of the pavilion were tied with spare ropes to several saddled horses. With a shout from the leader of the guards, the horses, whipped into action, strained forward, pulling the roof off the pavilion. The straw, reeds, snow, and wood shavings that had not been cleared away swirled up together, filling the air with a thick white mist!

  Before the pavilion's roof was fully erected, Pei You Rui had already rushed into the pavilion like a gust of wind!

  "Father! Father? How are you?" Amidst the swirling snow, her vision obstructed, she relied on memory to grope for Pei He's position, stretching out a hand to caress her father's face. But what she touched was a small body. As if sensing her alarm, Xiao Qi'er strained his voice to say: "The old master's head is fine!"

  Because he held Pei He's head in his arms at the last moment and used his body to block the collapsing pavilion roof.

  Pei You Rui looked at him after he moved away, revealing her father's intact face, although his eyes were tightly closed, but his breathing was audible. She was so excited that she couldn't describe it, clenched her fists to her lips and bit hard before sobbing out: "Good child... someone come, first take this child out and see if he's alright?"

  He quickly brushed away the straw and snow on his father's cheek, saying carefully, "Dad, hold on a bit longer, we'll get you out of here soon!"

  "No need... " Suddenly opening her eyes, Pei He gazed lovingly at her daughter, but softly sighed, "My child, call all the old folks over, Father... is no more!"

  Pei You Rui was taken aback, and followed her father's line of sight downwards - Pei He's body at this moment was mostly hidden in the straw and snow, amidst the intertwined colors of yellowish-brown and pale white, a bright red streak caught the eye.

  She had just grasped a handful of straw, and suddenly scattered all over her body!

  After a moment of stiffness, Pei You Rui's hand trembled as she stretched out her hand, wanting to touch but not daring to touch, wanting to look but fearing to look even more. This made the servants who were gradually gathering around sense that something was wrong. Several strong men couldn't help but wipe away their sweat and rushed forward, clearing away the straw and snow with a flurry of hands. After they cleared it away, they all narrowed their eyes: an icicle as thick as a baby's arm had pierced Pei He's left chest!

  "Pull it out quickly!" Pei You Rui's outstretched hand suddenly withdrew, covering her mouth tightly, tears gushing out, blown by the north wind, before they had even dripped onto her collar, they had already begun to freeze into ice.

  She quickly put down her hand, waved it in the air a few times, and then violently pulled her hair, originally barely tied up, completely fell off, covering half of her face, looking extremely disheveled. After a brief moment of confusion, she seemed to have finally come to her senses, let out a shrill scream, rolled over and crawled away, wanting to pull out the ice pillar, "Where's the doctor?! Go find the doctor! Quick!!!"

  "Miss Wu, don't pull it out!" Bai Da Guan Shi rushed forward with a sobbing tone and blocked her way, saying in a low voice, "Master's injury is too severe. If you pull it out now, Master will probably..."

  He didn't continue speaking, but everyone present understood what he meant.

  Pei You Rui only felt that her ears suddenly exploded with countless thunderclaps, and after a brief moment of confusion, she wanted to say something, but the sweet and fishy smell surging up in her throat made it impossible for her to make a sound no matter how hard she tried!

  "Cover me with straw, it's warmer." Pei He said as he spoke, blood foam had already emerged from his mouth and nose, but his face was exceptionally rosy, his eyes clear and bright like a child - clearly a last burst of energy before death. "You've all watched my son grow up, I won't make it, my son in the future..."

  Pai Da Guan Shi knew this was a farewell, and he hastily wiped away his tears. He knelt down beside Pai You Rui's body, knocked his head heavily on the ground, and said sorrowfully: "Your old slave will definitely protect Miss!"

  "I have four sons, only one daughter." Pei He raised his arm and grabbed his wrist, forcing back the discomfort of blood surging in his throat, and said with difficulty, "All four sons are married and have children. Over the years, I've guided their studies, arranged for them to marry suitable wives, planned their careers, and taught them how to behave as a person. I thought I'd fulfilled my duties as a father and didn't owe them anything... except for my daughter, who's the youngest and has always been by my side. But I haven't been able to find her a good husband!"

  The scenes of her daughter's childhood are now unfolding before her eyes: the lovely jade snow in swaddling clothes, the innocent and cute pigtails, the pure and shy bean mustard, and the multi-sorrowful and sentimental after the hairpin---as if yesterday was still a small step, learning to speak, and suddenly became a beautiful and elegant young lady.

  Time withered his youth, but also bloomed the flower he carefully nurtured in his palm.

  For sixteen years, the father and daughter had been dependent on each other for survival. Countless warm and joyful scenes flashed through his mind, finally freezing on a summer day several months ago - his usually poised and composed daughter, who had been summoned to the imperial palace and returned, dismissed her attendants, stumbled into the door, rushed into his arms and burst into loud sobs!

  The sorrow and resentment in her crying voice still pained Pei He to the point of being speechless, even after more than a hundred days and nights had passed.

  "He sobbed and said, 'So... I have decided... to allocate half of my property as her dowry, which she can manage without leaving the house; the remaining half will be divided among the four sons. You are the first servant of our family, today I entrust you with this message, when the children return home to handle my funeral affairs in the future, you must stand up for me!'"

  "Daddy, I don't want anything!" Pei You Rui had already been crying uncontrollably, shaking off the maid's supporting arm, and throwing herself at him, shouting hoarsely, "I just want you to get better! I don't want anything else! Just you! Daddy, don't leave me!! A daughter can't live without her father!!!"

  "My son, you're already seventeen years old and will be entering your twenties next year. In ordinary families, girls of this age are already mothers, but you still haven't settled down!"

  Pei He took back the hand that held the steward's hand and covered it on the back of his daughter's hand, which was holding onto her clothes. He choked with sobs, "You are my late-born daughter, but when you were in your swaddling clothes, your mother had already passed away! Your father had grandchildren at that time and didn't want to bother with raising another child, so he didn't remarry, making it so you never got to experience the care of a mother. And your youngest brother is more than ten years older than you, when they were serving as officials outside, you were still young, and since you didn't have much interaction with your siblings, how could there be deep feelings between them?"

  He remembered when his youngest son was still by his side, his daughter was only five or six years old, with a delicate and lovely appearance, smiling whenever she saw someone, such an adorable child, the only girl, how could he not give her the best?

  But this move made the already grown-up young son and daughter-in-law harbor jealousy in their hearts. One winter, the young daughter-in-law deliberately lured Pei Yougui to play by the frozen pond with words, hoping that her younger sister would fall into trouble - if not for Pei Yougui's obedience since childhood and remembering Pei He's warnings, she might have been gone from this world long ago!

  This is still the brother and sister who have been with Pei You Rui for several years, yet they are so vicious. How can Pei He trust other sons' wives to treat his younger sister well after he dies?

  He closed his eyes, sighed and said, "Moreover, your sisters-in-law are not necessarily all virtuous! When Father was around, he suppressed them. Even if they didn't treat you like a treasure, they wouldn't dare bully you! But Father's luck is thin, can't continue to protect you, you also don't have other elders to support you, from now on, you're an unmarried girl, without dependence or support, what will you do?"

  How he wished he could still be alive?

  It's not the fear of the unknown after death, nor is it the greed for wealth and glory in life. All I ask is to arrange a good future for my daughter, ensure that my precious pearl does not fall into despair and become helpless due to her father's passing, and suffer at the hands of others!

  If possible, he would pay any price to exchange for such an opportunity - even if thousands of people pointed and scolded him, even if he could never be at peace for the rest of his life, he would gladly accept it!

  A numbness in his chest, along with a body that was getting colder and heavier, were all telling him that his life had reached its end!

  "Now the only thing I can do for you is to leave you a dowry and these old servants, the stewards. Promise me that from now on, you'll live a good life! Marry a good man, be a good wife and mother, and live happily ever after, so I can rest in peace!"

  Tears suddenly welled up in Pei Hao's eyes, "Father is sorry for you - Father is really sorry for you! My family, the Pei clan of Youzhou, although we couldn't compare to the Su clan of Qingzhou or the Liu clan of Donghu a hundred years ago, was still a renowned and respected family. At that time, the imperial family considered it an honor to form alliances with us through marriage. But over the past hundred years, our descendants have been getting worse and worse with each generation. If Father had made more of an effort, like Jian Pingyu or Gu Shao, who wielded immense power while in office and still held great influence after retirement, even if you were a member of the imperial family, how could they have humiliated you so?"

  "Even if not as good as Jian and Gu, it's like the current officials Jin Su Ke and Liu Bu Xuan Xia. If they were their sons-in-law, Princess Changxing would still be reckless and shameless, but she wouldn't dare to make decisions for Zhao Wang's future!"

  "After all, it's the father who is useless! Wasting the title of Third-Rank University Scholar, he can't even protect his own daughter's lifelong matters - not to mention letting my son suffer unjustly, but also becoming a laughing stock for the imperial capital!!!"

  With a surge of emotions, two lines of blood and tears flowed down, his face twisted in agony. He wrote all over the princess's cruel theft of love and his deep regret for his daughter: "Dad is useless, didn't protect you well! Now that you're dead by the roadside, I'll have to trouble my weak and frail daughter to clean up the mess... How can Dad make it up to you?! How can Dad make it up to your deceased mother?! Dad... Dad is ashamed of being a father and a husband!!"

  "No!" Pei You Rui's eyes were blurry with tears, she hugged her father's shoulder and wailed, "It's me who wronged you, Father! You gave birth to me and raised me, that's already a great kindness. You've always treated me like a precious gem, never disobeying me, spoiling me excessively... what more could I ask for?! It's me, this unfilial daughter, who's unloyal and disobedient, implicating you at such an old age, still worrying about me, this unfilial girl! Now that you're seriously injured, you still have to worry about my future... Father would've been better off not giving birth to me!!!"

  Call off the engagement and turn from prospective daughter-in-law into adopted daughter

  All the flattery and admiration of the past were replaced by whispers - Pei You Rui had always thought that this was the most painful experience of her life, the most difficult moment, she would never forget such humiliation and betrayal!

  Only now, feeling the weakness of her father's breath in her arms and seeing the bright red blood constantly flowing out of Pei He's body, Pei You Rui finally understood what it meant to regret not acting sooner, what it meant to have a thousand arrows piercing one's heart!

  She hysterically cried out, trying to block the gushing blood from her father's mouth and nose with her hands, in an attempt to retain his vitality, but her hands and sleeves were all stained with the piercing red, while Pei He's breathing continued to decline inevitably!

  "It's your father who has ruined you!" Pei He shook his head with great difficulty, and this movement made the blood foam in his mouth surge faster. The bright red blood carried heat out of his mouth, dripped down beside his temple, and immediately condensed into crimson ice. The continuous loss of blood made him feel extremely cold, and even his pupils began to disperse gradually.

  He opened his eyes, trying to see his daughter's face clearly, wanting to take one last look at the child he loved in the final moments of his life. But all he saw was a grayish-white blur, and even with great effort, his words were barely audible, like a whisper: "In my early years, I saw the princes competing for the throne during the previous emperor's reign. At that time, the current emperor was not outstanding, so most of the courtiers at that time relied on the current emperor's brothers from different mothers. Later, it was the current emperor who inherited the great unity - those people who stood in the wrong team did not have a good ending!"

  It's because your grandfather insisted on staying neutral, even when he was being ostracized and threatened, that he managed to survive!

  When it was Pei He's turn, "Your uncle didn't leave behind any descendants, and your several older brothers are only mediocre. So Father never had high hopes for them bringing glory to the family gate, as long as they could hold on to this bit of ancestral property, he would be content!"

  "In this case, your father has been intentionally keeping a low profile and not forming cliques or seeking personal gain all these years. After all, with the abilities of your brothers, they can at most become local officials in their lifetime. If I had fought too hard for them, they wouldn't have been able to keep it anyway, and would have instead invited trouble... if only I had known that doing so would cause my son such great injustice, I would have..."

  A dark red blood gushed out from his mouth and nose, Pei He struggled for a moment, and his voice quickly became low and weak!

  "Your uncle was a close friend of Jian Limo before his death. He said that if my son ever encounters any difficulties, he would rather not ask you, his stepmother, for help, but instead go to him - I regret not listening to his words back then!"

  He said with his last breath, "Dad is so reluctant..."

  He has just decided to abandon the past and return to his hometown with his most beloved little daughter, starting a new life on the land where the Pei family has lived for generations.

  The prospects of the father and daughter were still in his ears, but he could no longer fulfill his promises - he could no longer personally choose a son-in-law for his daughter, send her out of the house, or hear that long-awaited "grandfather". He didn't even have the chance to take his daughter into the city of Youzhou, where the complex relationships between the various families were intertwined.

  Her son, daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter are all far away in the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the sea. This place is still a hundred miles away from the state city - that is a place where Pei You Rui has never been before, a nominal hometown, but actually a strange city and people!

  What will happen next? What kind of hardships and difficulties will he face again with his child who is as precious as a pearl in the palm of his hand?

  A young and delicate girl with a beautiful face like a flower under the moonlight, without father or brother's protection, yet carrying a wealth of ten thousand taels.

  Whether it is induced by deception, or whether it is obtained by coercion...

  Pei He, with a thousand regrets and attachments, with infinite unwillingness and worry, struggled for a long time, before finally swallowing his last breath with a belly full of resentment!

  But his eyes remained fixed on his daughter, reluctant to close for a long time!

  Pei You Rui stared blankly at the deathly pale face of her father, her mouth slightly ajar, her ashen complexion filled with incredulity.

  The north wind howls, like sobbing, like telling a story.

  Goose feather-like snowflakes fell on her face and head, bringing with them a chill that cut to the bone. In just an instant, she was wrapped up like a snow sculpture.

  But Ke Pei felt like she was being pressed into a boiling pot of oil, that kind of instant was like a thousand years of torture, like a tiger trapped in a cage for too long, like a flood stuck on a high dike, roaring and howling, with a determination to die nine times without regret, in the silent rumble, broke through the invisible obstruction!

  "Dad, wake up!"

  "Dad! Don't leave me behind!"

  "Dad, what will I do without you?!"

  "Dad! Don't you want your daughter anymore?!"

  "Dad! Please, I beg of you, wake up... wake up... Dad, I can give up everything, but I just can't lose you... I've already lost everything now, and if you leave me too, what's the point of my life?! Dad... waaahhh... Daddy..."

  After a long time, she suddenly woke up like a dream, and rushed to her father's body like a madman, crying and wailing with a broken heart - but the one who had been both father and mother to her for 16 years, bringing her up and shielding her from wind and rain, could no longer respond to her.

  This is the sixth day of the eleventh month in the twentieth year of Xianjia.

  The capital was deserted as hundreds of thousands of people gathered to watch the ceremonial procession of Princess Changxing, the emperor's eldest daughter.

  The dowry of the emperor's only daughter was extremely luxurious, and the procession of dowry gifts stretched as far as the eye could see. The people at the front had already entered the residence of Princess Changxing, while those at the back were still outside the palace walls.

  The crowd on the street gazed with admiring and curious eyes at the royal guards, who remained majestic and dignified in the vast snow, discussing the auspicious omen of a prosperous year brought by the snow, as well as the noble honor of the imperial princess.

  On the same day, former Hanlin University scholar Pei He, on his way to retire and return to his hometown, was trapped under a collapsed pavilion by the side of the road. While trying to rescue his beloved daughter, he delayed escaping and was pierced in the chest by an icicle, suffering serious injuries that led to his death.

  At the time of death, both eyes are difficult to close, from his beloved daughter down, all servants and guards, no one can shut them.

  In the end, they could only cover their heads and faces with silk handkerchiefs as a makeshift measure.

  It was the imperial capital at that time, inside the mansion of Princess Changxing, large jars of precious agarwood were burning under the hall and in the courtyard, wafting misty fragrance rising like a sea of clouds, accompanied by rows of colorful servant girls fluttering by, tumbling like boiling water, sometimes revealing the flickering flames within, ethereal and otherworldly, as if no longer in the mortal realm.

  Dozens of beauties on the high platform, with wide sleeves and slender waists, sing with their melodious voices, accompanied by the soft music of silk and bamboo, dancing out a scene of prosperity like brocade, singing a verse full of wealth and good fortune.

  Among the carved beams and painted rafters, some leaned on their elbows or held up their cups, gazing out of the crystal windows at the flying snowflakes outside, while enjoying fine wine and delicacies, light songs and dances in a room full of spring atmosphere. No one knew that at this moment, thousands of miles away, on the official road, Pei You Rui was kneeling in front of her father's body, knocking her head to the ground again and again.

  The rustling sound of snowfall, when did it turn into a raging blizzard.

  Under the twilight, her pale face was almost as white as snow, but her eyes were bright like stars on a cold night.

  The snow-covered ground, frozen with a thin layer of ice, was quickly scratched by the delicate skin of the noble young girl. The warm drops on her forehead fell to the tip of her nose, and the familiar yet distinct smell of blood filled the air. Pei You Rui, however, seemed to be completely unaware.

  After persisting in performing the grand ceremony of three kneels and nine knocks, she finally got up with the support of her maid.

  In the snowy night, it was hard to distinguish east, south, west and north, but she still looked accurately in the direction of the imperial capital, as if against the northern wind, heard the joyful drum music from thousands of mountains and rivers.

  After a long time, Fang finally withdrew his gaze under the persuasion of Pei Da's words and looked towards the dark front, whispering softly: "Dad, let's go home - your daughter is taking you home!"