Chapter 11 Waiting for His Highness to Grow Up...

Her throat tightened. "What...?"

"It would be better to keep it in mind until His Highness grows up..."

There was a hint of illusory tenderness in his voice, as if he was afraid of disturbing a big dream.

"When Your Highness grows up, he will slowly understand that this country..."

His voice was soft, as if he was coaxing a child.

"...Ultimately, Your Highness will have to carry it personally."

He suddenly chuckled, the moonlight flowing between his brows, as if he were an immortal who had descended to the world.

"This country..."

"Just like the Nine Rings that His Highness was so determined to solve when he was thirteen, you can't be impatient, and you can't be replaced by him." He suddenly chuckled.

Those few casual words stirred ripples in Song Youning's heart, and the moonlight, like water, quietly flowed over her slightly trembling eyelashes. This was the first time she truly realized that Li Funing might understand her better than she had imagined.

Li Funing looked at her straight back, his eyes full of heartache.

He did not urge her to grow up as eagerly as those courtiers, because he knew that growth can never be achieved by being urged by others.

If some roads are destined to be walked alone, then he just needs to be that ever-burning lamp, always lit when she looks back.

As the carriage turned onto Suzaku Street, the outline of the palace wall in the distance gradually became clearer. The thread of the world and the burden on our shoulders also became clearer than ever before.

In the dead of night, Song Youning paced barefoot on the carpet in the bedroom, feeling uneasy.

The humiliation I experienced in the restaurant today and Li Funing’s words are still fresh in my mind.

The title of princess suddenly became as heavy as a thousand pounds, weighing her down so much that she could hardly breathe.

Song Youning felt extremely restless and kicked the soft pillow at his feet away. Suddenly, he found a wooden box under the pillow. It was covered with a layer of dust and looked like it had been there for a long time.

"What's this?"

Song Youning had been wandering outside the palace and was not familiar with the things in his own bedroom.

She walked over and opened the box as if possessed by a ghost. Inside was a box full of letters.

And each of these letters contains a vivid life.

When she unfolded the first piece of rough linen letter, crooked handwriting covered the entire page:

"My dear Princess, my daughter Niuniu can make her own velvet flowers. She uses the method you taught her. Now we can earn one or two taels of silver a month..."

A piece of dried rapeseed flower was sandwiched between the pieces of letter paper, which seemed to still carry the fragrance of the Nanling sun.

The second letter came from the daughter of a tea merchant in southern Fujian. The aroma of tea could be faintly smelled in the letter:

"The baking method described in Princess's Travels revived the damp spring tea from the entire mountain. Now we have built a women's tea shop, and everyone is learning how to test the tea soup color like you..."

The thickest letter came from a village deep in the mountains of Shu. A villager who could write wrote:

"Princess, the post road you walked on has now become a place for nobles to travel. The villagers along the way are all running their businesses according to the methods you taught them. Some have opened food shops, some have taught embroidery, and even the most conservative clan leader said..."

Moji paused here:

"They say the princess is a noble lady in our village and they want to build a longevity tablet for her. It is a blessing for us people to have a monarch like the princess in the future."

Song Youning's tears fell drop by drop as the letter opened.

She suddenly realized that she was much stronger than she had imagined.

A familiar smell came from behind her, and Li Funing was standing behind her without her knowing.

He stood quietly behind her, letting the moonlight cast their shadows on the wall, one tall and one short, but equally tall.

"Your Highness, do you know why these are collected?"

He finally spoke, his voice as deep as the lingering sound of a guqin:

"Um?"

"Because of these, I have seen Your Highness's wisdom and the truest side of His Highness's heart."

Song Youning turned around, her eyes sparkling brightly in the moonlight.

"Your Highness is of noble status, yet he is not arrogant or extravagant. He wanders the countryside, not relying on power to help the people, but using his own talents and virtues to benefit the people. This is not a temporary favor, but a long-term benefit."

He bent over and picked up the scattered paper.

"I originally thought Your Highness's travelogues were just a minor pastime, a frivolous pursuit, until one day I was sorting through the yellowed account books of the Ministry of Revenue..."

He pulled out a handful of yellowed account books from his pocket, his fingers paused on a page of densely packed records, his voice stagnant.

"I'm surprised to find that in the past few years, the finances of various places have improved a lot compared to before, especially the places Your Highness has visited, where people are flocking to them and making a fortune every day."

He handed over the yellowed account book.

"For example, last month, His Highness's article on the preservation method of Lingnan lychees doubled Lingnan's fiscal revenue."

He shook out a map of the Lingnan lychee trade route from his sleeve, with red lines marking it spreading like a spider web.

"Lychees, which originally cost three cents per pound, can now be sold for thirty cents at the border. Accurate routes can also reduce transportation time and costs. The promotion of 'Da Gan Feng Wu Zhi' has even led to lychees being sold as far as the Western Regions..."

"The fruit-picking girls pooled their money to build a girls' school, and the cargo porters built brick houses..."

He handed her the blueprint in his hand:

"The Ministry of Rites talks all day about 'hens crowing at dawn' and 'the world is upside down'..."

But the one who truly cares about the lives of the lower classes is... His Highness."

"Those sour scholars always say that Your Highness is enjoying the mountains and rivers, but haven't you seen many children having enough to eat because of this 'playing in the water'?"

"Your Highness wrote about the frost-cracked fingers of the laundry women and the blinded eyes of the embroiderers...only then did people begin to realize the plight of women."

"Your Highness wrote about three female shopkeepers in Jiangnan jointly opening a weaving workshop, girls from Longxi forming a horse caravan, and the female generals of the Yang Clan working together to suppress bandits. This actually set off a wave of enthusiasm in the capital, and everyone said they wanted to emulate the "heroines" described by Your Highness and carve out a future for themselves."

"Your Highness, please look,"

He smiled and unfolded the account book and travel notes, "The sigh of the woodcutter you met while admiring the plum blossoms, the casual chat of the boat girl while you were boating..."

"These fleeting words from the romantic world actually touched upon the pulse of people's livelihoods even earlier than the imperial court did."

Outside the window, the night spread over the palace walls, and inside the window, the lights flickered: "So, whether it is a true state or a false state has never been mentioned in the memorials."

"Rather, it is in the mundane world that Your Highness...inadvertently walks through."

He suddenly walked closer, gently wiped away the tears on her face, and gently held her in his arms.

Song Youning was held in his arms, smelling the faint fragrance on his body and slowly relaxing her body, her fingers unconsciously clenching the collar of his shirt.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She only felt something surging violently in her chest.

No one had ever told her, nor had anyone seen through her true self beneath her flirtatious exterior. This was the first time she felt that he truly understood her. Even though it was only the tip of the iceberg, it was enough for her.

His words were like a heavy hammer, shattering all her stubbornness over the years.

The Wang Po who sold sugar-coated fruits, and the girl from the Longxi caravan who secretly slipped her an embroidered handkerchief.

Whether they were faces I met by chance or officials I approached deliberately, they all appeared so clearly before my eyes at this moment.

A tear rolled down without warning and hit the back of his hand, burning him terribly.

Li Funing felt her trembling body and tightened his grip a little, but was afraid that if he used a little more force he would hurt her.

Song Youning's tense body gradually softened in his arms, releasing its strength bit by bit like spring snow melting. She leaned against his arms as if relieved of a heavy burden, not thinking about anything, even if only for... a moment.

His warm body temperature penetrated the fabric of her clothes, like a fire in winter, smoothing the turbulent waves in her heart into calm ripples.

She gently rested her forehead against his chest, her breath filled with the warm scent of spring grass from him.

The eyelashes that were extremely restless just now now drooped quietly.

The fingers that were clutching his collar slowly loosened and loosely wrapped around his waist.

Whether it was the self-doubt that had kept her tossing and turning, or the calculations that she had pondered alone, they all found temporary shelter in the warmth of this small space.

The sound of the midnight drum came from outside the window.

All the villages, border crossings, and workshops that I have passed by in the past are now living a peaceful and stable life under this starry sky.

"Li Funing."

"I'm here..." He responded softly, afraid of breaking her brief moment of peace.

Her voice was soft, but extremely serious, and her eyes were full of brilliance.

"I have no regrets"

A hint of doubt flashed in Li Funing's eyes: "Hmm?"

She clutched the corner of his clothes, her knuckles turning white, "I never regret choosing you..."

When Li Funing heard the last sentence, he felt like something hit his chest hard.

"I... don't regret it either."

His voice was so hoarse that he had to clear his throat, and his voice sounded a little flustered.

The moonlight shone on her straight back, like armor.

At dawn, the first oriole began to sing. The sound was very soft, but it was enough to wake up the whole country.

The next morning

As usual, Song Youning was processing memorials in his study, and Li Funing was adding notes for him. The two of them seemed like a young couple who had been married for many years, their relationship was plain and tacit.