In Great Lin country, Border City Yucheng.

In the cold winter of the twelfth lunar month, the snow swirled in the air, blanketing the ground with a layer of snow.

A skinny boy with a purplish tint on his face curled up under the eaves of the alleyway, his clothes were thin, and he was shivering from the cold. He clutched tightly at half a piece of dry, hard, and moldy sesame cake in his arms.

“How cold…”

He tossed and turned in the corner, trying to generate some warmth.

No matter how much he tried to do that, it was all useless as it was the coldest time of the year.

After a while, the boy stood up tremblingly with the help of a wooden stick.

He glanced at the empty alley, then looked down at the broken bowl under his feet and sighed: “Forget it, the New Year’s Eve is here, and everyone is celebrating the New Year’s reunion. How can anyone give me alms…”

He didn’t have much hope of getting something today. Moreover, the weather was cold and windy again, so he didn’t need to continue begging on the street at the risk of freezing to death.

The boy bent down to pick up the broken bowl and walked out of the city while stepping on snow.

When he was passing a house, its lights were brightly lit, and he could hear the cheers and laughter of a family reunion clearly.

Hearing the sound, the boy stopped in the snow, and through the door crack, he saw the family warming themselves at a fireplace and showing a lonely expression.

After a while, the boy sighed softly and looked down at the half-sesame cake in his arms. He murmured, “It’s New Year’s Eve today. It seems that I can’t keep you any further.”

The boy took the cake to his mouth and just opened his mouth to bite when he suddenly noticed a figure lying in the snow not far away.

His eyes flickered slightly. He stepped forward and saw that it was a little girl six or seven years old.

The boy looked around and hesitated for a moment but finally pretended not to have noticed her and tried to walk away.

This was an era of war and chaos where people struggled to live. It was also the season of heavy snow. As a beggar, it was challenging enough to live by himself, and he had no extra energy to save other people’s lives.

But after a short walk not far away, the boy stopped again and looked back with some hesitation.

He struggled internally for a long time but finally turned around and walked back toward the girl lying in the snow.

The boy stretched out his fingers to probe the little girl’s breath and found that although her breath was weak, she was still alive.

He cast away the wooden stick in his hand, put the broken bowl in his pocket, bent down, picked up the girl with difficulty, and staggered out of the city.

Soon after, the boy carried the girl into a dilapidated temple outside the city.

“Girl, I lost half my life just to save you.”

The boy’s face was pale, and sweat poured down. The lack of nutrition all year round made his body extremely weak, and he almost died halfway when he returned with the girl in his arms.

The boy laid the girl aside, skillfully raised a fire with a flint, and then carried the girl near the fire for warmth.

With the warmth of the flames, the girl’s face, who had pale countenance as if almost frozen to death, gradually improved.

After a while, the girl’s long eyelashes trembled slightly. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the boy in confusion.

“W-where is this? Who are you?”

The girl rubbed her eyes as if she had just woken up.

The boy added a piece of firewood to the fire and said with a wry smile: “I should be the one asking you this question. Looking at your dress which is made of brocade, you should be a young lady of some well-to-do family. How could you faint in the snow with no one to come to assist you?”

“I can’t remember. I… I…”

The girl tried her best to recall, but her head started to hurt as soon as she remembered something.

The boy shook his head and advised, “If you can’t remember anything, don’t force it. Don’t make it difficult for yourself.”

The girl’s eyes turned red as she hugged her knees and curled up.

“Father, mother…”

After all, she was a six or seven-year-old child. She began to weep when she didn’t see her parents for a while.

The boy stepped forward and patted the girl on the shoulder as he comforted her gently: “Don’t be sad, your parents should have just encountered something. They will definitely return to get you…”

“Yes, my parents are very good people. They will definitely come back to get me!”

The girl wiped away her tears and nodded while choking in between her sobbing.

The boy breathed a sigh of relief and asked with a smile, “By the way, my name is Jiang Zhige. What about you? What’s your name?”

The girl lowered her head slightly and said sadly, “I can’t remember clearly. I only remember that my surname is Nangong…”

“Is that so? You don’t even remember your name? Well, I’ll give you a name. Your first name will be Rou. Nangong Rou, how about it?”

Jiang Zhige blinked. He didn’t know how to write a lot of words, but he happened to see the word “Rou (soft)” written somewhere. He remembered it until now, but he didn’t expect it to come in handy now.

Hearing that, the girl clapped her hands happily and said with a smile, “It’s good. It’s good. Now I have a name too!”

….

The outside world was in an uproar. The awe-inspiring Demon Emperor Jiang Zhige was actually a beggar when he was young?

“I knew that Fairy Nangong had a long history with the Demon Emperor, but I didn’t expect that the name of the Fairy Nangong was actually given by the Demon Emperor himself.”

“The Nangong Family was not weak back then. However, Fairy Nangong somehow ended up in such a bad situation. Something must have happened.”

“Wait a minute! Don’t you realize that if it wasn’t for the Demon Emperor’s rescue, Fairy Nangong would have frozen to death in the snow?”

“Shh! Fairy Nangong is still nearby…”

Hundreds of cultivators in the hall whispered. Because Nangong Rou was not far away, they dared not discuss her past loudly.

However, Nangong Rou could still hear these comments, but she didn’t care too much about it. She looked at the picture in the light curtain with a confused expression.

“Why… are my memories of that year so vague…”

Nangong Rou’s heart was in a mess. She only knew that she and Jiang Zhige knew each other when they were young, but she had long forgotten that such a past existed.

Is it because I have been practicing for thousands of years, so I can’t remember what happened back then?

Seeing that Nangong Rou’s expression was not right, Qu Yun, who was next to her, suddenly felt her heart throb, thinking that Nangong Rou was reminiscing about her past.

“Xiaorou, the kindness of saving you from that cold winter is admirable, but his betrayal and robbing of your family heirloom are enough to offset this kindness. But the blood feud of killing your father is not something that could be forgiven.”

“I know.”

Nangong Rou’s facial expression once again steeled, and she looked at Jiang Zhige in the center of the hall with eyes full of disgust.

Qu Yun was right. The kindness of saving her life was admirable, but she could never forget the hatred from killing her father.

Besides, the reason why Nangong Rou hated Jiang Zhige the most was not because of stealing family heirloom and killing her father, but because she was betrayed by Jiang Zhige when she trusted him the most.

In the past, Nangong Rou would have definitely questioned Jiang Zhige as to why a treasure could make him betray her and even her father.

But now, Nangong Rou had matured through a lot of emotional upheavals. She and Jiang Zhige were destined to be enemies who stood on opposing sides.

…

“Do you remember where you live?”

“I don’t remember…”

Jiang Zhige looked helpless. If Nangong Rou still remembered where her home was, he might be able to take Nangong Rou back.

Now Nangong Rou had lost her memory, and her so-called parents did not know where she was, he was afraid she would be stuck with him for a while.

Nangong Rou didn’t notice Jiang Zhige’s annoyance and asked curiously, “How old are you this year?”

Jiang Zhige’s face was full of memories. He counted his fingers and said, “After this year, I should be nine years old.”

Nangong Rou’s eyes lit up, and she asked excitedly, “Then you are two years older than me. Can I call you brother?”

Jiang Zhige was stunned when he heard the words and looked at Nangong Rou at a loss.

“Can’t I?”

Nangong Rou was disappointed when she saw him hesitate, thinking that Jiang Zhige would disagree.

Jiang Zhige returned to his senses and nodded with a smile: “Yes, of course, then you will be my sister in the future!”

Nangong Rou immediately bounced around with joy while addressing him as brother.

Jiang Zhige blushed and scratched his head. He didn’t know how to respond to the Nangong Rou.

At this moment, Nangong Rou’s stomach suddenly made a rumbling sound.

She stopped and covered her stomach. She asked, “Brother, I’m hungry. Can we go eat?”

“Meal… Let’s go for a decent meal later. You can bite on this for now.”

With a forced smile, Jiang Zhige took out the half sesame cake from his pocket and handed it to Nangong Rou.

He felt very lucky in his heart. If he had eaten the sesame cakes at that time, he would have caused Nangong Rou to be hungry now.

As for meals, Jiang Zhige had never eaten a decent meal since he was a child. In good times, he could beg for food on the roadside, but in bad times he could only dig tree roots and drink water from streams to satisfy his hunger.

Nangong Rou was really hungry. She took the sesame cake and ate it clean.

Jiang Zhige, facing her, swallowed his saliva when he saw it but pretended to be calm on the surface.

Nangong Rou still looked unhappy after eating the sesame cake. She pouted and asked, “Brother, this thing tastes too bad. I’m not even full. Can we go eat something delicious?”

“Rou’er, don’t worry. Brother will take you somewhere to eat after a while.”

Jiang Zhige’s expression was a little stiff. The sesame cake, which was no different from an exotic delicacy for him, turned out to be unpalatable in Nangong Rou’s mouth.