On her way to the side hall, she saw a man in the pavilion in front of it. Wearing in black, he was gazing into the distance quietly, as if he was thinking something.

His face looked very handsome from the side. Although Empress never considered herself as a provincial woman, she had to admit that his face was too pretty for a man.

A woman with a face like that would be a bane to the county and the people.

“Who are you?” asked the Empress coldly, she moved forward.

The man turned his head, seeming to have been surprised by her question.

“What’s wrong with you, Qiang? Though I’ve got used to your weird doings, you can’t always play the same game,” replied the man. He stood up and wanted to help her onto the chair, but the Empress shook him off.

“Take me to see Shen Qianshan,” she said.

The man paused, his hand hung in the air, and his eyes were full of surprise. After a long silence, he finally uttered in a deep voice. “You indeed forget it again. Shen Qianshan had died six years ago.”

The Empress felt her head not working. Shen Qianshan had died? How could everything suddenly change completely after a sleep?

He was dead already? So this man still couldn’t run away from his fate?

“What did you say? He died six years ago?” The Empress found her leg lose all the strength; she fell onto the ground, and tears began to pour out of her glassy eyes.

Her relationship with Shen Qianshan couldn’t be explained in just a few words.

They were not in love. But they only had each other in this world. How could Shen Qianshan die when they finally had managed to stay in peace and march toward the same goal? This made the Empress think she was a big joke.

So was the book that could change her fate a good thing or not?

It seemed that man hadn’t expected that the Empress really forgot everything.

He came forward and held her up. “How could you still remember that? It happened ages ago. Or is it because you are still in love with him?” said the man amiably.

What did he mean? She had been… in love with him?

Telling herself to forget it, the Empress stood up, she wiped her tears and quickly resumed her calmness. “Why do I have to marry you?”

Even though Shen Qianshan had died, she wouldn’t just randomly pick up a man for marriage and spend the rest of her life with him. Would she have a difficult life? Did she have feelings for Shen Qianshan or not? No one knew the answers to these questions.

The woman who stood here was not her. She didn’t even know who she was.

There was a hard life waiting for her ahead, and it was not in her control. Despite the challenges, she didn’t want to give up.

“So you really don’t remember it anymore. Marrying me is the only way for you to save the Gu Family. The Third Prince is now the Emperor. As you have refused his proposal, you have to save yourself by marrying me, and then help the Gu Family with my power,” explained the man slowly.

How could he talk about the marriage in such a frank attitude? They were not in love with each other.

“What if I say no?” asked the Empress.

“You made the decision yourself. Do you think you have a second option?” replied the man, with a slight smile on his face, which looked quite pleasant.

His words were not difficult to understand. Even if the Empress had known nothing about this world, she understood that it was Shen Zhongbai who was in charge now, and this man still wanted to make her his. Was it out of love or simply a sense of desire?

Desire was the thing that Shen Zhongbai could never conquer. If she had to marry someone, the man before her eyes would be her choice after thoughtful consideration.

Suddenly, an idea popped up in her head. She needed to know what Shen Zhongbai had done.

“I need to have a meeting with Shen Zhongbai down the mountain,” said the Empress slowly. She walked straight into the man and drank up the tea before him. Everything here was like a dream, which required her attention even before she could accept Shen Qianshan’s death.

That she could instantly accept all these things also made her feel curious. Perhaps it was because she still believed her old self could change everything.

In that case, no matter how difficult things she was facing, they were only for now, not the end.

Although she knew that Gu Qiang from the other side of the diary was innocent, the Empress thought that she had done a lot to change the future, the consequence of which had affected her life. She didn’t know where the end would be, but she still hoped to have the life she wanted.

“Why do you want to see Shen Zhongbai?” asked the man.

The Empress didn’t reply. She put the cup back onto the table and smiled, which made the man suddenly fall in blankness.

He had seen so many women, all kinds of beautiful ones, each with her own merits. But none of them was like the Empress.

A good-looking woman would be a feast to the eye. But the woman he had had before were only beautiful on the outside; they had no souls.

Only women with souls were the most beautiful; they could suck his soul out even with a wink or smile.

The man looked away and said nothing.

There were now storms raging in his heart, with waves roaring upside down that nearly could be seen from his eyes. However, he just held back these feelings in silence, and even didn’t dare to look back at the woman, fearing that one more glance at her would make him lose his conscience.

Somehow, he also noticed that the woman was a bit different today. He had known her for six years. Although he was not by her side watching her all the time, he knew all her whereabouts.

For more than once, she had appeared in his dreams; her body and her face were all the same as the one he deeply missed. He didn’t know whether it was because he liked Gu Qiang, or simply because he had been obsessed with her.

Seeing him give no reactions, the Empress kept silent. She grabbed two fruits into her pockets, which gave the man a clear sense of familiarity. She was still Gu Qiang; she had kept some of her old habits.

After a few steps, she turned back as if she had thought of something.

“What’s your name?” asked the Empress.

The man slightly raised his eyebrows. It had been six years. He remembered that she had asked him the same question before when she was standing below the pear tree in her house, looking at him who was also wearing a black suit that day.

But he hadn’t had the chance to answer her back then, as the news of Shen Qianshan’s death suddenly came, and the entire country fell in deep sadness.

Neither did he can find another chance to tell her later. He hoped that she would know his name, wishing he could leave a deep mark in her life.

But he was also aware that sometimes, the living could never eclipse the dead no matter how capable he was.

After Shen Qianshan’s death, Gu Qiang seemed like a ghost; her soul left her body, leaving it in a deep hollow.

“Will you remember my name?” asked the man with a slight smile on his face, which looked quite warm under the sunshine.

Surprised by his question, the Empress shrugged and left. It seemed that she no longer had the interest to know the answer.

The man breathed heavily. What was it? It had been six years, and Gu Qiang still didn’t know his name.

When could she remember his name, Bai Su, in her heart?

While walking, the Empress found someone following her. It was an adorable woman, someone arranged by the man. This suddenly reminded her of the girl who had been on good terms with her, Gusu Liang, whom she hadn’t seen since she woke up. How was she now?

The maid following behind seemed to be quite close to her. “My lady, you would have never known that it was still me, Fu Ling, who accompanied you in the end?” asked her, smirking.

Fu Ling? She couldn’t recall this name in her memory.

Her silence made Fu Ling stop, after which she let out a sneer and hid her gloating expressions, with her eyes floating on the Empress. That was not the reaction she had expected. Why did the master still choose her to be the hostess?

All the women in Yaomeng Pavilion had lost to a mundane woman. How ridiculous!

Shen Zhongbai, the new Emperor, was sitting in his imperial study. A servant was kneeling in the corner covered in the shadow cast by the sunshine pouring through the window.

Throwing the memorials back to the table, Shen Zhongbai asked coldly, “Any news from the Gu Family?”

The man shivered. Although he had foreseen this, he was still scared when the question reached his ear. This must be the last minute of his life.

“According to the Gu Family, they agreed to the marriage, but unfortunately… the Infanta has been engaged to the lord of Yaomeng Pavilion.” While speaking, the servant saw Shen Zhongbai’s sword whoosh toward him.

He stayed there in complete helplessness. But before he fainted, someone rushed over and stopped the sword with his own. It was a blue-coated young man.

“Your Majesty, Infanta Luoping would like to see you,” reported the young man after he put the sword back to the sheath.

Shen Zhongbai suddenly rose from his chair and looked at him, he asked surprisingly. “You mean Qiang is here?”

The young man nodded, but before he could answer, Shen Zhongbai rushed out of the room.

The young man raised his eyebrows. It was only a woman. How could she exert such an influence upon the Head of State? As a boy, he still didn’t understand how mysterious the relationship between a man and a woman could be. He just thought the Emperor must feel a bit disgraced when his proposal had been repeatedly turned down by the Infanta, as all men cared about reputation. This was the only way for him to make sense of the Emperor’s behaviors.