Why Not Cross the River by the Same Boat

[No cheat ability, no transmigration, no rebirth; pure historical romance with a nation-and-realm-scale backdrop + high-IQ spy and power struggles]

[An undercover double agent + a growth-type little female thief: the story of a lone wolf who plays a raising game, turns a rabbit into one with fangs, and then insists on spending life together with her]

She is the most insignificant thief in a chaotic age, using every means possible just to survive.

She steals ten taels of silver from a young master, never realizing that he is the notorious traitor general whose hands are stained with the blood of his own people.

Her desperate will to live actually arouses his interest. He lights an incense stick and plays a battle royale game with his plaything.

"I'll give you one incense stick's worth of time to run. Don't let me catch you, or else—

You will fall into eternal ruin."

She flees to a prestigious family, changes her appearance, and marries into the household as a wife, thinking she can live out the rest of her life in peace. When she looks up, she sees him smiling at her, gentle and dangerous, calling her "sister-in-law."

She loses this game and becomes his slave.

He means what he says, and with a cold heart throws her into a sea of knives and flames. Yet she discovers that under his tempering, she has gained a suit of armor impervious to blades and spears, and can stand in the chaotic age with nothing but a woman's backbone.

He is like a boat crossing the river; he only ferries her one stretch before disappearing into the darkness. Who exactly is he?

The road out is long, and the road back is distant. We are all lost travelers—why not cross the river in the same boat?

This novel is set in an imaginary world modeled after the Song dynasty, with historical references to the Jingkang Incident and the founding of the Southern Song. All characters are fictional; please do not map them onto real people or overanalyze.