"I like it..." If a girl says that she doesn't like exquisite dresses and jewelry, she must be saying one thing and thinking another. "But don't these exceed the rules?" Especially the phoenix crown. If she wears it outside, her family will be confiscated and her entire clan will be exterminated.

Cheng Ying said: "It's fine as long as you like it. You don't have to worry about whether it's beyond the rules. We are born without such constraints, right?"

The era in which they were born was indeed free of restrictions, and they were free to wear whatever clothes and jewelry they wanted.

"But this is Taiyan..." Yu Jiao knew clearly that she had long been assimilated into this feudal dynasty, but she was powerless to change the subtle influence of this environment.

As the tide of the times carries people forward, they become particularly insignificant.

Just like when she showed off her caesarean section skills and met Wang Min, Lin Fang and others, although the matter was resolved in the end, the incident still affected her and caused her to undergo changes that she might not even be able to notice.

This is not a society where women can stand out. It is filled with royal authority and hierarchy. If you are not careful with your words and actions, you may lose your life at any time.

This is also the reason why she did not choose to leave the Yu family directly when facing all kinds of difficulties from Mr. Yu and Mrs. Yu.

Without a residence deed and a pass, how could she let birds fly high in the sky and fish leap wide in the sea, especially since she was a woman.

Although Yu Ruhai and his wife are greedy, selfish and narrow-minded, they are not wicked or extremely cruel people. Although they have many right and wrongs, she can save her own life.

She knew that she was not smart and decisive enough at that time and was inevitably manipulated, but that was the best she could do at that time.

She didn't believe that anyone born in an era of equality and freedom could quickly adapt to this era of feudal class and powerful oppression, and could thrive like a fish in water without understanding the general environment of survival.

What's more, her living environment in her previous life was extremely simple, and she was very well protected by her grandfather and senior brother. When her grandfather was alive, there was a Chinese medicine clinic in her home. The patients who came to see her were extremely respectful to her grandfather and treated her very politely.

Later, her grandfather passed away. Before he died, he asked her to close the clinic and told her to go to her senior brother Fu Chuan's hospital after graduation. She understood that her grandfather was worried that it would be too tiring for her to run the clinic alone, and that her senior brother could take care of her in the hospital. Her senior brother did take good care of her.

"This is Xianyang. Taiyan will soon cease to exist. In Xianyang, you can be as free as before and don't have to worry about what dynasty it is." Cheng Ying had already made sufficient preparations. At this moment, the entire city of Xianyang was the paradise he had prepared for Yu Jiao.

Yu Jiao asked: "Brother, how did you adapt when you first came here?"

In fact, Cheng Ying was reluctant to recall the past in front of Yu Jiao. Even if he had to beg for mercy from Yu Jiao, he was unwilling to show weakness by bringing up his bleak and embarrassing past.

"Brother, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't talk about it." Yu Jiao remembered that Liu's grandmother once told her about an old story in the harem involving Cheng Ying. The eunuch holding the pen bullied a young eunuch who had just entered the palace. Censor Song stepped forward to rescue him and also reported the eunuch holding the pen to the late emperor. However, the young eunuch endured and said in front of the late emperor that this did not happen and that the eunuch holding the pen was just teaching him how to do things.

At that time, she was an outsider and had nothing to do with the matter, but now she knows that Cheng Ying is her senior brother, and it is no longer someone else's story. The bullied little eunuch is her senior brother.

Even though he had the mind and strategy of an adult, he suddenly became a person whose life and death were not controlled by anyone. He lived in the palace where imperial oppression was most concentrated, class divisions were most clear, and intrigues and conspiracies were endless. How many times did he have to suffer oppression and endure humiliation before he could step by step reach the position of Cheng Zhangyin of the Silijian?

Thinking of this, Yu Jiao felt bitter.

Her senior brother didn't have to suffer all this. In his previous life, he practiced medicine and saved lives, and he had accumulated so much blessings. He even died to save her life. If God had seen this, he wouldn't have let him suffer all this in this life.

Cheng Ying knew her too well and could tell what she was thinking from her expression. He pretended to smile and said, "It's nothing. It's not me who is standing here in peace, but you." Cheng Ying felt distressed when she thought of the notes she had asked the guards to find out in Qingyu Village.

"It would have been great if senior brother could have found you earlier and recognized you." He should have killed Zhang Daoling before coming to Xianyang. He was kept in the dark by Zhang Daoling, but Jiaojiao did come to Taiyan. For this reason, Cheng Ying did not have the intention to kill Zhang Daoling completely.

Yu Jiao looked up and smiled at him: "It's not too late now. I even thought I would never see my senior brother again." When she said the second half of the sentence, Yu Jiao's eyes were slightly red.

Cheng Ying felt sad and held her hand: "No, even if I am in purgatory, I will break free and find you."

"Don't you want to hear about what happened when I first came to Taiyan? I'll tell you, brother. In the early years of Taiyan, there was a powerful eunuch who was the reincarnation of a demon. He ran rampant, aided and abetted the tyrant, and did all kinds of evil things..."

Yu Jiao burst into laughter, knowing that he was trying to change the subject to appease her, and interrupted him: "Don't talk about yourself like that, I don't want to hear it anymore."

Right and wrong are all judged by the world, and history books are written by the victors. History loves heroic deeds, but no one is perfect. How can we know whether there is a human or a ghost behind the person who is praised? Just as a highly respected person may have abandoned his wife and children, a decisive general may have been a bandit, and a noble scholar may have sold his wife and daughter when he was poor.

People are always complex and multifaceted, and cannot be summed up in one word.

"Okay, Jiaojiao doesn't want to listen, so I won't say anything." Cheng Ying said obediently with a smile.

After spending the night together, Yu Jiao felt that she and her senior brother had returned to their old intimacy. She hesitated to look at Cheng Ying, and after much hesitation, she still asked carefully what she had kept hidden for a long time. "Senior brother, when will you lead the troops to support Kyoto?"

Cheng Ying closed her eyes, feeling as if the sword that was hanging over her head was finally falling.

"Jiaojiao, isn't it good for you to stay with senior brother?" Cheng Ying said with all her might.

Yu Jiao looked at his expression and felt a little uncomfortable. She walked to Cheng Ying, pulled his sleeve, and said softly, "Brother, let's go back to Kyoto together. We can live together like we did in the Qinling Mountains. I will clean up a room for you at Wanfu Bridge after we go back. I have also opened a clinic. You don't have to go to the palace. In the future, we can treat patients together, just like the Chinese medicine clinic when grandfather was here..."

Cheng Ying smiled bitterly and looked down at her: "How can it be the same? Jiaojiao, don't you really know... how I feel about you?"

His eyes were so deep and heavy that it was hard to breathe.

Yu Jiao avoided her sight. If she didn't know in her previous life, how could she not notice it now? Liang Wushuang's face alone was enough to explain what her senior brother was thinking.