"This poem is really of low standard." Xia Qingchen thought.

But he still looked at Prince Jing with a serious face, with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes, and said: "Since this girl seduced the emperor's uncle first, the palace will no longer tolerate such a dissolute palace maid, so send her to the military camp as a prostitute."

The woman's eyes widened when she heard that. She crawled to Xia Qingchen's feet on her knees, kowtowed hard, and cried out loudly, "Please spare my life, Your Highness. It was me who seduced you. I admit it. Please don't send me to be a military prostitute. I will work like a slave to repay your kindness."

She hit her head and it was bleeding, but Xia Qingchen remained unmoved and glanced at Maoxian beside her.

Maoxian understood immediately and ordered the eunuch beside him: "Why don't you take the person away?"

Two young eunuchs stepped forward and dragged the woman away from the left and right.

"Xia Huajing, you are greedy for profit and forget your principles. You will not have a good death!" The woman cried and yelled, her voice gradually faded away, leaving traces of blood on the ground where she passed, which was very shocking to see.

Jiang Muyu had never seen such a scene before. He was completely frightened and stood there in a daze.

Prince Jing was so angry that his veins popped up. He looked up at Xia Qingchen who was standing on the steps and said coldly, "Are you satisfied with this result, Your Highness?"

Xia Qingchen curled her lips and sneered, saying, "Why do you say that, uncle? Didn't you say that this palace maid seduced you and threatened you? I am just venting my anger on your behalf."

Prince Jing was unable to refute for a moment, and after being depressed for a long time, he finally left with his sleeves thrown.

Before Jiang Muyu could come to her senses, he took her hand and brought her back to the main hall.

Sitting down on the bed, he gently kneaded her hands and asked in a low voice, "Your hands are so cold, are you scared?"

She nodded and shook her head.

"What does this mean?"

She said softly, "This is the first time I've seen such a scene, so it's inevitable that I'm frightened, but I know that the Crown Prince did this to suppress Prince Jing. He wants to be the emperor, and you want to be the emperor too. You're competitors, so it's probably right for you to do this."

Xia Qingchen smiled and said, "You are wrong. I don't want to be the emperor."

Jiang Muyu blinked, puzzled: "Why don't you want to be the emperor? Isn't the emperor the most powerful in Xuancang Kingdom?"

"It's not just Xuan Cang. In all the countries on the Kyushu Continent, the emperor has the highest status and the greatest power, but he cannot be said to be the most powerful."

He paused and explained seriously: "I don't want to be an emperor because I yearn for a free and easy life, rather than being born in this position like now, doing things I don't like and saying things I don't like."

"Being an emperor doesn't even give you freedom, so why do they all want to be emperor?"

"Being an emperor does not mean you have no freedom, but you must be a wise ruler to not do whatever you want. If I were a tyrant, I could do whatever I want. Anyway, the bad name I get would be spread far and wide, so why would I care so much?"

Jiang Muyu nodded, not quite understanding: "Okay."

Xia Qingchen sighed softly, rubbed her head, and said, "Forget it, it's getting late, go to bed first."

She was indeed sleepy. She yawned lazily, took off her outer robe, and crawled into the quilt.

Xia Qingchen also lay down.

The two of them were separated, each covered with a quilt, but while sleeping, Jiang Muyu would kick off his own quilt, and then when he felt cold, he would follow the heat source and crawl into Xia Qingchen's quilt.

He had long been accustomed to it, so he held the person in his arms and covered him tightly with a blanket.

The next day, they got up early.

Xia Qingchen made another appointment with He Simiao. They had spread the rumor that Prince Jing had an affair with a palace maid in the royal ancestral hall, letting the matter ferment in order to ruin Prince Jing's reputation.

How can you win the world without winning the hearts of the people?

They wanted to make sure that Prince Jing could not get over the people first, and then strip him of his power piece by piece.

Jiang Muyu had no interest in these power struggles. He sat at another table nearby and ordered a bunch of delicious dishes to eat by himself.

Until I heard He Simiao say: "Are you really not going to consider Wanqi Youhui's proposal? If we can get the help of the Wanqi family, our chances of winning will be greatly increased."

She put down her chopsticks, pricked up her ears, and heard Xia Qingchen say, "I will not let my marriage become a bargaining chip for power struggles. This is my bottom line."

Seeing how persistent he was, He Simiao could not say anything more. He sighed and said, "You Xia family are always full of romantic people."

As he said this, he glanced at Jiang Muyu who was eating happily, clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Back then, when the emperor was still the crown prince, he was deeply in love with my aunt. He arranged a marriage for her when she was only eight years old, vowed to marry her, and even kept his harem vacant for her for many years.

If the emperor had not tested the poison himself to save his aunt, his health would not be deteriorating now.

The emperor is a wise ruler. He has been in office for more than ten years. The country is peaceful and the people are safe. He was expected to create a new era of prosperity, but he was often delayed in state affairs due to his health. Others felt that it was not worth it for him, but he himself thought that everything was worth it.

Who can explain the word love clearly?

Xia Qingchen also looked over, with a hint of smile in his eyes but not showing it on his face, and said, "Cousin, even if she wasn't there, I wouldn't agree."

"Okay, okay." He Simiao waved his hands, "My father has already contacted Master Cheng, you wait for the news."

"Um."

Jiang Muyu was eating when Xia Qingchen suddenly walked up to her and said, "It's time to go."

She shook her head and refused: "I haven't finished eating yet."

Xia Qingchen glanced at the half-eaten pork elbow in her hand, then looked at the dazzling array of dishes on the table, and said helplessly, "All of these things are available in the palace."

"That's different. Even if we have all kinds of delicacies at home, we will always miss the food from roadside stalls after eating too much." She said, taking another bite of the pork elbow.

He said helplessly: "I'll ask Maoxian to pack it for you to take back. Now I'll take you to eat Tanghulu."

When Jiang Muyu heard about Tanghulu, he immediately put down the greasy pork elbow and looked at him with a smile: "Okay, okay."

After they left the restaurant, Xia Qingchen took her for a walk on the street but did not see any vendors selling candied haws.

He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed: "It's unlucky today, no one is selling candied haws."

She curled her lips, very unhappy: "Someone told me that the palace kitchen has all kinds of food, but there is no candied haws, and now it is not even sold on the street."

She pretended to go back to the restaurant, and in order to appease her, Xia Qingchen actually agreed to make candied haws for her personally.

Unfortunately, she didn't get to eat the candied haws he made in the end.

…

"Zhao Zhao, what are you thinking about?"

A gentle call brought her out of her memories.

Looking at the handsome face in front of her, she blurted out: "Xia Qingchen?"

Liang Qingchen was stunned, and froze in place. After a moment of stunned silence, he regained some of his senses, stepped forward and held her hand tightly, and said carefully: "Zhao Zhao, you... remember it?"

She nodded.

His pupils trembled, and he stared at her in disbelief, and asked again: "Do you really remember it?"

"real."

"all?"

Jiang Muyu threw herself into his arms, hugged his neck, reached close to his ear, and whispered, "You said you would make me candied haws by yourself, do you still mean it now?"

He hugged her back, buried his face in the crook of her shoulder, and said in a choked voice: "It counts."