Li Cannan carried the food box in both hands, bowed and left the palace. After he straightened up, he stood in front of the palace door for a while.
The edge of her vision included the hems of the eunuchs standing in front of the door, and she suddenly felt as if several gazes were falling on her. However, when she raised her head, she saw that the eunuchs in blue were indeed just standing there respectfully with their heads bowed.
She was silent for a while, then glared at each of them, snorted heavily, turned around and strode away.
My brother will enter the palace today, as my mother had said two days ago. After entering the palace, he will temporarily live in the Linde Palace, which is a palace that is still carefully maintained even if he does not come back to live there for several years. Every year, the rarest flowers and trees that enter the palace are always replaced in this palace.
In fact, Li Cannan had only met his brother a few times.
As far as she could remember, her "brother" was studying in Tianli Academy. She hadn't seen him until she grew up. The vague impression she had of him gradually became more and more unattainable as people talked about him as "a man who knows his destiny", "a man who studies the Book of Changes", "the best in the field of unicorn blood", etc.
She saw him for the first time when she was about six or seven years old. He was indeed a very clean and quiet figure, different from everyone else in the palace. He wore plain clothes and cloth shoes, but seemed to be superior to his other royal brothers.
She walked up to him timidly and pulled at the corner of his clothes, then stood on tiptoe to hand him the scroll in her hand. She had heard that her brother was studying at Tianli Academy and probably didn't like flower balls and wooden horses, so she chose her best painting and calligraphy to make friends with him.
I remember that she tilted her head high at that time, but still couldn't see clearly her face shadowed by the sunlight. Her brother seemed to lower his head towards her, probably just for a moment or a glance, and then turned his head away, took away her hand and waved at her.
It was probably at that moment that she realized they were in two different worlds.
Soon the teacher took her away and sternly warned her not to disturb her brother.
Li Cannan didn't have many memories of her childhood. Some people could remember a lot of past events, but she was the type of person who could easily forget unhappy things. She only remembered this period inexplicably very clearly.
At that time, she had passed the Linxue test and was ranked last. She still didn't really understand what was happening. It was just that many of the kind adults around her either disappeared or ignored her. The bedroom suddenly became very deserted.
At that time, she was thinking about finding a playmate to read storybooks with. It was probably not until this incident happened that she began to vaguely realize something.
After that, they only met during the New Year or some festivals. She and the plain-clothed figure were always far away from each other, and there was no chance for them to talk. Most of the time, her mother felt that using servants to deliver things seemed to be indifferent to family affection, so she sent her to deliver them to her brother.
Just like now.
The Linde Hall was not far from the Penglai Hall. Li Cannan walked there quickly and saw a eunuch in blue standing in front of the door.
She sent the messenger and entered the room. As usual, she did not see her brother. The whole empty hall was decorated so meticulously, yet so deserted. She placed the warm food box on the table, bowed respectfully, and backed out of the palace.
Then she stood up, and this time there were real eyes on her, as a team of palace maids were passing by with banquet supplies.
Li Cannan subconsciously straightened her back and raised her chin slightly, making it look like she had just walked out of the palace. Today, everyone knew that someone lived in Linde Palace, but she was probably the only one who could enter.
Then she turned her head slightly, but was slightly startled. The maid with the broken limb last night also appeared in her sight, standing beside her, waiting for the team of palace servants to leave first.
The Linde Hall had been deserted for many years, and Li Cannan did not expect to see her here. Before she could figure out what to do, she saw a quarrel breaking out over there.
The leading maid withdrew her gaze from her, then turned around and seemed to say something. The maid with the broken limb suddenly raised her head and grabbed her. The two sides quarreled for a few words, and the leading maid slapped her in the face, making her almost stagger.
But she immediately turned around, glared at her and was about to pounce on her, but the next moment she was restrained by other palace maids. Only the leading palace maid was still speaking slowly.
Li Cannan looked at the flushed face, his body struggling hard among seven or eight pairs of arms, like a bird trapped in a net.
She was stunned for a moment and said, "Hey, let her go."
The maids turned around, all of them seemed a little surprised, and cast their eyes on the leading maid. The maid quickly bowed and saluted: "I am Qing'er from Penglai Palace, and I would like to greet His Highness the Eighth Prince."
"...Oh, no need to be polite." Li Cannan looked at her, perhaps she looked familiar, and lowered his eyes and said, "Go and do your thing."
"Eighth Prince, this person has invaded the team for no reason. We are carrying the Empress..."
"Okay, I understand. You guys go ahead." Li Cannan interrupted.
The line of palace maids bowed and left. Li Cannan turned around and saw Meng'er in front of him. Her hair had been washed and combed, but it had become disheveled again from the tug just now. She stared blankly into space. The palm strike was so heavy that the blood on her face almost seeped out.
"...Have you told Li Youlong what I said to you yesterday?" Li Cannan was silent for a while, then raised his head slightly and asked, "Why are you always wandering around the palace alone?"
Meng'er looked at Li Cannan in front of her, slightly startled, then lowered her head, gathered her sleeves, saluted, and actually smiled sweetly: "Thank you, Eighth Prince, for rescuing me. Meng'er is very grateful."
Then she turned and headed west.
…
So she actually really liked the process of climbing the mountain alone. It was as if the whole world only contained her and Mingyue Palace waiting there. Every pain her body felt made her feel more at ease.
Compared to the world outside that really brought meaningless pain, this was the place she liked.
It was almost noon when they climbed up to Mingyue Palace. Although the door lock was cut by Lord Pei that day, Meng'er would still fasten the chain when she left every day. Now she untied the chain and pushed open the door, and the old "creaky" became the first sound here.
Then there was the sound of wooden limbs knocking on the ground. The maid walked to the front of the palace, stood still and clasped her hands together, and said softly, "My Queen, I am here again. There will be a private banquet in the palace today, and Master Yongji will meet with the princes. The person to marry should be chosen after tonight. However, it cannot be changed, and should wait until the engagement."
There was only the fluttering curtain in the Mingyue Palace. Meng'er looked up and was quiet for a while, then continued in a low voice: "Empress, I don't know if you can hear me. Everyone says that you are kind-hearted and have great magical powers. You are like a fairy. Meng'er thanks you for your kindness. After your highness and Meng'er leave, I will definitely build a temple and a shrine for you."
After she finished speaking, she smiled to herself. She no longer felt the pain from the palm marks on her face. She closed her eyes and sniffed, as if she could smell some beautiful scent. Even her steps became lighter, and she staggered towards the outside of the palace with the crisp "thump thump" sounds of knocking on the ground.
She came to the ice surface of Jingchi again. This time there was no Lord Pei's fire to warm herself, so she naturally did not dare to light a fire. She sat down next to the ice hole where she had been knocking, picked up the stone next to it, and took out the iron chisel that had been heated up.
Dull, monotonous knocking sounds echoed over the pond.
"Empress, after I dig open this scenic pond, I will search the entire Mingyue Palace." After a while, Meng'er said to herself.
The dull hammering sounded again for a moment.
"So the secret passage you left behind must be underneath this, but I can't swim, so I'm afraid I'll have to ask Your Highness... or Lord Pei to help me get it. I hope you can open the door for them." Meng'er continued to talk to herself, "When Your Highness has a way to wash away the unicorn blood, we will go and discuss it with the current Queen, and she won't stop us anymore. Even if, even if Young Master Yong Ji suddenly doesn't like Your Highness, we can go somewhere else..."
She sat down on the ground, panting, rubbed her sore wrist, looked up at the sky, her eyes shining brightly.
"...It's so great to have you, Your Majesty." After resting for a while, Meng'er knelt up again. She felt tired again, and all the fatigue that had remained in her body in the past few days came up at once.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
But Meng'er had already gotten used to this feeling. She started hammering again. Sweat flowed down her forehead and quickly condensed. After a while, she began to hum a faint tune.
"... pick the plum blossoms and send them... where? The lotus flowers... are as clear as water..."
Her voice was the only one in the entire old palace and barren mountain.
…
…
Around noon, Pei Ye and Li Wuyan separated. Pei Ye took the girl's small fishing rod under the girl's earnest instructions and returned to the hall. Li Xizhou had already combed his hair.
She had no intention of changing her clothes and was still wearing the red dress, and it seemed that she was not going to take off the golden mask even in such an occasion.
If the master didn't ask, Pei Ye would have no idea what clothes to choose. Li Xizhou looked at him for a while, as if he wanted to give some instructions, but finally gave up and let him follow behind him in his sword suit.
"If you meet Yu Sicheng later, Your Highness can ask him a few more questions. I can observe him more and verify some of my guesses." Pei Ye said.
Li Xizhou glanced at him and said, "At the banquet, I am the host and you are the follower. To those of equal or higher status, I speak in person; to those of lower status, I give instructions and you speak."
"...Oh." Pei Ye was silent for a while, "Mainly, I was worried that he would ignore me if I spoke."
"Have you ever thought about what if he ignores me?"
"That's pretty embarrassing."
"So."
Pei Ye looked around to see if there was anything fan-shaped, and his eyes finally fell on the Qiongju Garden: "I'm actually a little confused. If the matter of marriage was originally decided by the Queen, why did Yong Ji push it now? Is he incapable of deciding, or does he have other preparations? If he gets closer to Li Youlong, does that mean he can go against the Queen's orders?"
Li Xizhou was silent for a while, then suddenly turned around and looked at him: "... Pei Ye."
"Um?"
"What do you think is the best way to arrange this marriage?"
"...I think?" Pei Ye was stunned for a moment, "What, what should I do?"
"What result do you hope for? In your heart." Li Xizhou turned his head, his long hair swaying in the wind. "What do you think is best?"
'Marriage, of course, is about lovers finally getting married.'
Pei Ye thought, but there are no lovers here.
"...For us, it would be best if Yong Ji could not marry anyone." Pei Ye was silent for a while, "First, we cannot let him marry Li Youlong, and second, it would be best if he could ruin Li Cannan. No matter how light the unicorn blood is, it is still unicorn blood. If the King of Yan wants it, we will not let him get it at all."
"But to me, Meng'er is my friend and I hope her wish can come true," he added.
"...That's really a fairy-tale dream." Li Xizhou said with a faint smile.
"Yes, but she wouldn't know what to do without that fairy tale."
Li Xizhou turned his head and looked at the vast ice surface dazzling in the sunlight without saying a word.
"Your Highness, what do you think about this marriage?" Pei Ye asked from behind.
“…”
"Your Highness?"
Li Xizhou was really silent for a long time this time. He turned around, and his golden face was still cold and hard, and his eyes were still beautiful.
She sighed softly: "Don't laugh at me... I just hope that a fairy tale can grow on this land."
The edge of her vision included the hems of the eunuchs standing in front of the door, and she suddenly felt as if several gazes were falling on her. However, when she raised her head, she saw that the eunuchs in blue were indeed just standing there respectfully with their heads bowed.
She was silent for a while, then glared at each of them, snorted heavily, turned around and strode away.
My brother will enter the palace today, as my mother had said two days ago. After entering the palace, he will temporarily live in the Linde Palace, which is a palace that is still carefully maintained even if he does not come back to live there for several years. Every year, the rarest flowers and trees that enter the palace are always replaced in this palace.
In fact, Li Cannan had only met his brother a few times.
As far as she could remember, her "brother" was studying in Tianli Academy. She hadn't seen him until she grew up. The vague impression she had of him gradually became more and more unattainable as people talked about him as "a man who knows his destiny", "a man who studies the Book of Changes", "the best in the field of unicorn blood", etc.
She saw him for the first time when she was about six or seven years old. He was indeed a very clean and quiet figure, different from everyone else in the palace. He wore plain clothes and cloth shoes, but seemed to be superior to his other royal brothers.
She walked up to him timidly and pulled at the corner of his clothes, then stood on tiptoe to hand him the scroll in her hand. She had heard that her brother was studying at Tianli Academy and probably didn't like flower balls and wooden horses, so she chose her best painting and calligraphy to make friends with him.
I remember that she tilted her head high at that time, but still couldn't see clearly her face shadowed by the sunlight. Her brother seemed to lower his head towards her, probably just for a moment or a glance, and then turned his head away, took away her hand and waved at her.
It was probably at that moment that she realized they were in two different worlds.
Soon the teacher took her away and sternly warned her not to disturb her brother.
Li Cannan didn't have many memories of her childhood. Some people could remember a lot of past events, but she was the type of person who could easily forget unhappy things. She only remembered this period inexplicably very clearly.
At that time, she had passed the Linxue test and was ranked last. She still didn't really understand what was happening. It was just that many of the kind adults around her either disappeared or ignored her. The bedroom suddenly became very deserted.
At that time, she was thinking about finding a playmate to read storybooks with. It was probably not until this incident happened that she began to vaguely realize something.
After that, they only met during the New Year or some festivals. She and the plain-clothed figure were always far away from each other, and there was no chance for them to talk. Most of the time, her mother felt that using servants to deliver things seemed to be indifferent to family affection, so she sent her to deliver them to her brother.
Just like now.
The Linde Hall was not far from the Penglai Hall. Li Cannan walked there quickly and saw a eunuch in blue standing in front of the door.
She sent the messenger and entered the room. As usual, she did not see her brother. The whole empty hall was decorated so meticulously, yet so deserted. She placed the warm food box on the table, bowed respectfully, and backed out of the palace.
Then she stood up, and this time there were real eyes on her, as a team of palace maids were passing by with banquet supplies.
Li Cannan subconsciously straightened her back and raised her chin slightly, making it look like she had just walked out of the palace. Today, everyone knew that someone lived in Linde Palace, but she was probably the only one who could enter.
Then she turned her head slightly, but was slightly startled. The maid with the broken limb last night also appeared in her sight, standing beside her, waiting for the team of palace servants to leave first.
The Linde Hall had been deserted for many years, and Li Cannan did not expect to see her here. Before she could figure out what to do, she saw a quarrel breaking out over there.
The leading maid withdrew her gaze from her, then turned around and seemed to say something. The maid with the broken limb suddenly raised her head and grabbed her. The two sides quarreled for a few words, and the leading maid slapped her in the face, making her almost stagger.
But she immediately turned around, glared at her and was about to pounce on her, but the next moment she was restrained by other palace maids. Only the leading palace maid was still speaking slowly.
Li Cannan looked at the flushed face, his body struggling hard among seven or eight pairs of arms, like a bird trapped in a net.
She was stunned for a moment and said, "Hey, let her go."
The maids turned around, all of them seemed a little surprised, and cast their eyes on the leading maid. The maid quickly bowed and saluted: "I am Qing'er from Penglai Palace, and I would like to greet His Highness the Eighth Prince."
"...Oh, no need to be polite." Li Cannan looked at her, perhaps she looked familiar, and lowered his eyes and said, "Go and do your thing."
"Eighth Prince, this person has invaded the team for no reason. We are carrying the Empress..."
"Okay, I understand. You guys go ahead." Li Cannan interrupted.
The line of palace maids bowed and left. Li Cannan turned around and saw Meng'er in front of him. Her hair had been washed and combed, but it had become disheveled again from the tug just now. She stared blankly into space. The palm strike was so heavy that the blood on her face almost seeped out.
"...Have you told Li Youlong what I said to you yesterday?" Li Cannan was silent for a while, then raised his head slightly and asked, "Why are you always wandering around the palace alone?"
Meng'er looked at Li Cannan in front of her, slightly startled, then lowered her head, gathered her sleeves, saluted, and actually smiled sweetly: "Thank you, Eighth Prince, for rescuing me. Meng'er is very grateful."
Then she turned and headed west.
…
So she actually really liked the process of climbing the mountain alone. It was as if the whole world only contained her and Mingyue Palace waiting there. Every pain her body felt made her feel more at ease.
Compared to the world outside that really brought meaningless pain, this was the place she liked.
It was almost noon when they climbed up to Mingyue Palace. Although the door lock was cut by Lord Pei that day, Meng'er would still fasten the chain when she left every day. Now she untied the chain and pushed open the door, and the old "creaky" became the first sound here.
Then there was the sound of wooden limbs knocking on the ground. The maid walked to the front of the palace, stood still and clasped her hands together, and said softly, "My Queen, I am here again. There will be a private banquet in the palace today, and Master Yongji will meet with the princes. The person to marry should be chosen after tonight. However, it cannot be changed, and should wait until the engagement."
There was only the fluttering curtain in the Mingyue Palace. Meng'er looked up and was quiet for a while, then continued in a low voice: "Empress, I don't know if you can hear me. Everyone says that you are kind-hearted and have great magical powers. You are like a fairy. Meng'er thanks you for your kindness. After your highness and Meng'er leave, I will definitely build a temple and a shrine for you."
After she finished speaking, she smiled to herself. She no longer felt the pain from the palm marks on her face. She closed her eyes and sniffed, as if she could smell some beautiful scent. Even her steps became lighter, and she staggered towards the outside of the palace with the crisp "thump thump" sounds of knocking on the ground.
She came to the ice surface of Jingchi again. This time there was no Lord Pei's fire to warm herself, so she naturally did not dare to light a fire. She sat down next to the ice hole where she had been knocking, picked up the stone next to it, and took out the iron chisel that had been heated up.
Dull, monotonous knocking sounds echoed over the pond.
"Empress, after I dig open this scenic pond, I will search the entire Mingyue Palace." After a while, Meng'er said to herself.
The dull hammering sounded again for a moment.
"So the secret passage you left behind must be underneath this, but I can't swim, so I'm afraid I'll have to ask Your Highness... or Lord Pei to help me get it. I hope you can open the door for them." Meng'er continued to talk to herself, "When Your Highness has a way to wash away the unicorn blood, we will go and discuss it with the current Queen, and she won't stop us anymore. Even if, even if Young Master Yong Ji suddenly doesn't like Your Highness, we can go somewhere else..."
She sat down on the ground, panting, rubbed her sore wrist, looked up at the sky, her eyes shining brightly.
"...It's so great to have you, Your Majesty." After resting for a while, Meng'er knelt up again. She felt tired again, and all the fatigue that had remained in her body in the past few days came up at once.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
But Meng'er had already gotten used to this feeling. She started hammering again. Sweat flowed down her forehead and quickly condensed. After a while, she began to hum a faint tune.
"... pick the plum blossoms and send them... where? The lotus flowers... are as clear as water..."
Her voice was the only one in the entire old palace and barren mountain.
…
…
Around noon, Pei Ye and Li Wuyan separated. Pei Ye took the girl's small fishing rod under the girl's earnest instructions and returned to the hall. Li Xizhou had already combed his hair.
She had no intention of changing her clothes and was still wearing the red dress, and it seemed that she was not going to take off the golden mask even in such an occasion.
If the master didn't ask, Pei Ye would have no idea what clothes to choose. Li Xizhou looked at him for a while, as if he wanted to give some instructions, but finally gave up and let him follow behind him in his sword suit.
"If you meet Yu Sicheng later, Your Highness can ask him a few more questions. I can observe him more and verify some of my guesses." Pei Ye said.
Li Xizhou glanced at him and said, "At the banquet, I am the host and you are the follower. To those of equal or higher status, I speak in person; to those of lower status, I give instructions and you speak."
"...Oh." Pei Ye was silent for a while, "Mainly, I was worried that he would ignore me if I spoke."
"Have you ever thought about what if he ignores me?"
"That's pretty embarrassing."
"So."
Pei Ye looked around to see if there was anything fan-shaped, and his eyes finally fell on the Qiongju Garden: "I'm actually a little confused. If the matter of marriage was originally decided by the Queen, why did Yong Ji push it now? Is he incapable of deciding, or does he have other preparations? If he gets closer to Li Youlong, does that mean he can go against the Queen's orders?"
Li Xizhou was silent for a while, then suddenly turned around and looked at him: "... Pei Ye."
"Um?"
"What do you think is the best way to arrange this marriage?"
"...I think?" Pei Ye was stunned for a moment, "What, what should I do?"
"What result do you hope for? In your heart." Li Xizhou turned his head, his long hair swaying in the wind. "What do you think is best?"
'Marriage, of course, is about lovers finally getting married.'
Pei Ye thought, but there are no lovers here.
"...For us, it would be best if Yong Ji could not marry anyone." Pei Ye was silent for a while, "First, we cannot let him marry Li Youlong, and second, it would be best if he could ruin Li Cannan. No matter how light the unicorn blood is, it is still unicorn blood. If the King of Yan wants it, we will not let him get it at all."
"But to me, Meng'er is my friend and I hope her wish can come true," he added.
"...That's really a fairy-tale dream." Li Xizhou said with a faint smile.
"Yes, but she wouldn't know what to do without that fairy tale."
Li Xizhou turned his head and looked at the vast ice surface dazzling in the sunlight without saying a word.
"Your Highness, what do you think about this marriage?" Pei Ye asked from behind.
“…”
"Your Highness?"
Li Xizhou was really silent for a long time this time. He turned around, and his golden face was still cold and hard, and his eyes were still beautiful.
She sighed softly: "Don't laugh at me... I just hope that a fairy tale can grow on this land."
