"My Princess Consort

Chapter 2: The Man Standing on the Clif

Rong Jiu, the eldest daughter of the Rong family and the heiress of the wealthiest family in Liú’ān City, was supposed to celebrate her wedding day yesterday. However, she was swapped, murdered, and thrown off a cliff. The mastermind behind this plot was her own sister, Rong Yuqing, who lived in the same household.

Because Rong Jiu was in charge of the vast wealth of the Rong family, Rong Yuqing and her father conspired to replace her on her wedding day with a fake bride, and then seize the family’s wealth and power.

Rong Yuqing was Rong Jiu’s most trusted sister, so it was no surprise that Rong Jiu fell into the trap.

This gentle and kind girl, in the prime of her sixteen years, lost her life. After she was killed, her body was thrown off a cliff, without even a straw mat to cover her. She became food for the venomous snakes below.

Yesterday was supposed to be the night she had been eagerly anticipating—her wedding night with the man she loved.

However, from the original host's memories, Du Jiu couldn’t find any evidence that the man had any feelings for her. It was likely one-sided.

“Shen Linxuan,” Du Jiu murmured the name of the man Rong Jiu loved.

Du Jiu sat up and softly repeated her new name, “Rong Jiu, Rong Jiu. From now on, I will live well in your place,” as a way to repay the favor for receiving this healthy body.

Rong Jiu began to process her new identity while also scanning her surroundings, preparing to escape. The venomous snakes nearby, watching her closely, caught her attention. One of the bolder ones had already coiled around her.

She curled her lips into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Snakes, huh?”

Suddenly, all the snakes recoiled.

On the steep cliffside, a woman dressed in simple clothing began to climb, her thin figure swaying in the rain like a fragile willow, seemingly ready to break at any moment. Yet she persisted, slowly but steadily climbing higher, like an unyielding wolf.

But then, with a crash, she fell back down, landing on a pile of grass she had prepared earlier.

From the snake den nearby, countless snake heads emerged, watching her. Rong Jiu cursed under her breath in frustration, then stood up and tried again.

“This body isn’t strong enough yet; it needs more training,” Rong Jiu muttered to herself.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she fell again.

“How many times has it been now?”

“Eighteen times.”

“Oh, oh, she’s still going.”

“How tragic.”

If anyone could understand snake language, they would have realized that these venomous snakes were conversing about Rong Jiu and sharing their thoughts on her. Yet none of them bothered to warn her that the cliff was unclimbable—because there was a barrier above, allowing entry but not exit.

The small green snake, injured after being thrown by Du Jiu during their first encounter, had developed a keen interest in this weak human. Ha, no human had ever dared to challenge its authority before, but now she had.

Well done, keep going. This king will watch how you die.

After watching Rong Jiu fall eighteen times, the snakes began to feel a strange sense of kinship with her. As they slithered past her, some even licked her arm, as if to encourage her to continue.

Rong Jiu closed her eyes, exhausted, but then quickly rolled over. The smell of roasted snake meat filled the snake den. After filling her stomach, Rong Jiu continued climbing the cliff.

She wasn’t afraid of the snake den, as their most fearsome poison had no effect on her. Rong Jiu’s reputation as Du Jiu in her past life wasn’t unfounded. For her, poison was something to play with. Falling into this place, the last thing she worried about was being poisoned. Without the threat of venom, these small snakes were nothing more than food to her, a source of nourishment.

It seemed that her immunity to poison had carried over into this world, as this body was also immune to all toxins.

Seven days had passed. The rain hadn’t stopped, as if mourning the loss of someone. Rong Jiu wiped her face, focused on climbing the cliff. Holding her breath, she moved faster than usual this time.

“She passed the barrier!”

The snakes cried out in shock.

“The barrier that couldn’t be breached has been broken!”

The small green snake suddenly shot out of the snake den. It glanced at Rong Jiu, confirming that she had indeed climbed past the barrier. It quickly slithered up after her!

In a few moments, the green snake reached the cliff face, catching up to Rong Jiu. But as soon as it touched the invisible barrier, it was violently thrown back down, letting out a shrill cry.

Startled by the sound, Rong Jiu’s grip slipped, and she fell back down, landing on the pile of grass again. A small green snake was twitching, and Rong Jiu happened to land right on top of it, but she didn’t notice.

“Who was just screaming?”

Rong Jiu turned her head and coldly asked the surroundings. The snakes quickly backed away, expressing in a human-like manner that it wasn’t them.

“Am I hallucinating?”

Rong Jiu muttered to herself. Looking up at the cliff, she took a deep breath and continued climbing. With the experience of the first attempt, the second time was much smoother. Finally, just before nightfall, she reached the top of the cliff.

Rong Jiu reached out and grabbed hold of something firm.