Xie Cheng was stunned for a moment, "Zhao Zhao..."

Jiang Muyu frowned and said unhappily, "Master Xie, do you not understand what I am saying? I am now the princess, and you should address me as Madam, but you blurted out my nickname. It seems that your nephew is so arrogant because of Master Xie's teachings."

Xie Cheng gritted his teeth, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty is right. It is we who are rude."

His tone was sincere, but there was a hint of forbearance and reluctance in his eyes.

How could Jiang Muyu not see it? People like Xie Cheng have low self-esteem ingrained in their bones. Even though he has made it through, he still cannot stand anyone trampling on his pitiful self-esteem.

On the side, Xie Beiran was warned by Xie Cheng's eyes, so she had to step forward reluctantly, bowed and said, "My Lord, I am rude, please forgive me."

His tone was careless and insincere.

Liang Jinghe was already used to it. The Duke of Zhenguo was a veteran of three dynasties, and even the current emperor had some respect for him. As the most favored grandson of the Duke's Mansion, Xie Beiran always looked down on others.

Jiang Muyu couldn't teach a child in front of so many people. She sneered and turned away without looking at them.

She handed the food box to Liang Jinghe's servant, squatted down, took out a handkerchief to wipe the tears off Tangtang's face, and her voice softened instantly as she coaxed, "Tangtang, be good. Brother is going to study at the academy. Tangtang is almost four years old, and will soon not be a three-year-old child. You must be sensible and don't pester brother."

Tangtang hummed twice. Although she was dissatisfied, she still let go of Liang Jinghe and cried with milk bubbles: "Brother, can you teach Tangtang to read next time you come back?"

Although Liang Jinghe's expression was not obvious, his tone became much softer. "If you want to learn, I will definitely teach you well, but you have to listen to your father and mother at home."

"Okay." Tangtang nodded.

Jiang Muyu stood up, holding Tangtang's hand, and said to Liang Jinghe, "Come in quickly."

"Yes." Liang Jinghe bowed to her and said, "I bid you farewell for now."

"good."

When Liang Jinghe walked into the school, Xie Beiran followed closely behind.

Xie Cheng turned around and saw her about to get on the carriage, and hurriedly chased after her, "Princess Zhao...Princess Rui, please stay!"

Jiang Muyu glanced at him, handed Tangtang to Yunxuan to take care of, and walked Xie Cheng to the side, saying, "I am afraid that we are alone and might be misunderstood. There are many people coming and going here, so Sir Xie, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"Uh..." Xie Cheng's brows were tightly wrinkled, "Why are you like this now?"

"If you are here to criticize my behavior, then I'd better advise you to stop wasting your breath. I won't change."

"No... I have something..." He pursed his lips and said, "Xie Mio hasn't been feeling well recently. As you know, she has already passed the age of marriage. Although we were born in the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, we are illegitimate children. It's okay for a illegitimate son like me to pass the imperial examination, but as a illegitimate daughter, Xie Mio's only use is to be married off..."

The original owner had heard this story about his background hundreds of times. Every time, he just said it in a different way to gain sympathy and gain benefits from her.

Jiang Muyu interrupted him impatiently, "Don't talk so much nonsense, just say what you want."

Xie Cheng was choked. Seeing that there was no sadness or sympathy on her face, the words he had prepared earlier were of no use at all.

He had no choice but to say, "Originally, my father wanted to marry Xie Mio to Marquis Zhongwu as a concubine, but you also know that Marquis Zhongwu is almost as old as my father now. If Xie Mio follows him, her happiness for the rest of her life will be ruined. Fortunately, the Queen Mother later proposed to send her to the Prince's Palace as a concubine, but the Prince did not seem to agree."

"You want me to persuade the prince?"

"Zhao Zhao, you know that Xie Mio is my only sister. I hope you can help me this time because of our friendship over the years."

"Thank you, sir, what is the relationship between you and me?"

Xie Cheng suddenly grabbed her wrist and said, "Back then, you and I..."

"Master Xie, please respect yourself!" Jiang Muyu interrupted him and pulled his wrist away with force. A smile appeared on the corner of his lips, but the smile did not reach his eyes. "I am already giving you face by calling you Master Xie. Xie Cheng, I advise you not to mention the past in front of me. If it weren't for me, you would have been thrown into jail long ago. How could you have the glory you have now?"

"Shut up! Stop talking nonsense!" Xie Cheng's face instantly turned into an ugly liver color.

Jiang Muyusi was not afraid at all and continued, "Xie Cheng, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be able to get this position of a fifth-rank official! Why? I never refused your requests because we were friends since childhood, so you think I should just accept it?"

Xie Cheng looked at her cold eyes, his eyes wide as bells. He really couldn't believe that the woman who was now aggressive towards him was the little woman who once snuggled in his arms with tenderness and affection.

"Xie Cheng, I'm not the Jiang Muyu of the past. I don't care about your affairs at all. If you want your sister to marry into the palace as a concubine, you should also see if she has the fate to do so." After saying that, she turned and left.

Xie Cheng looked at her back for a long time, then slowly asked, "Are you so heartless?"

Jiang Muyu had already stepped onto the carriage. Hearing this, she said without turning her head, "I forgot to tell you that I rejected the Queen Mother's proposal."

Xie Cheng stared blankly at the carriage leaving the palace, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

He still remembered that once upon a time, the little girl who liked to wear pink clothes would pull his hand and act coquettishly, "Brother Cheng, I recently learned a new song, can you help me take a look at it?"

"Brother Cheng, while the weather is nice, how about we go and fly paper ibis together?"

"Brother Cheng, my birthday is coming soon. Can you give me a painting written by yourself?"

"Brother Cheng..."

The voice like silver bells was still ringing in his ears. The girl looked at him with a smile, her eyes sparkling with deep affection for him.

Then, a pair of calm almond eyes appeared in my mind, as if they were frozen. It was clearly the same person, the same face, but it seemed completely different.

Xie Cheng didn't understand which link had gone wrong.

…

In this room, Jiang Muyu returned to Qingyu Courtyard. Just as he sat down and poured himself a cup of tea, he heard Liang Qingchen suddenly say, "I heard that you met Xie Cheng today."

"You stay in the mansion all day long, so you must be well-informed." As she said this, she glanced at Yun Xuan who was guarding outside the door.

Liang Qingchen was choked and suddenly didn't know what to say.

Jiang Muyu said: "Indeed, we met and chatted for a few sentences."

"What did you talk about?"

"For example..." She raised her eyebrows and smiled, "The affection we had back then."

Liang Qingchen frowned, "What is there to talk about?"

"There's really nothing to talk about." She paused, took a sip of tea, and then said slowly, "His sister Xie Mio is pretty, a beautiful girl from a small family, speaking softly, like a little white flower."

"Why are you talking to me about her?"

Jiang Muyu propped up her chin with one hand and stared at his handsome face, "Liang Qingchen, do you really not want to take a concubine?"

"In no mood."

"Oh, in that case, it's not wrong for me to refuse Xie Cheng's request. He wants me to ask you to accept Xie Mio into your house."

Liang Qingchen said: "Just refuse if you want to."

Seeing that he looked indifferent, Jiang Muyu knew that he was indeed not interested in taking a concubine, so he did not continue the topic and handed the jade token he had taken from Bai Mudan yesterday to Liang Qingchen.

Liang Qingchen asked in confusion: "What is this?"

"The token that Sun Chou used to command his subordinates."

"How did this come into your hands?"

Jiang Muyu calmly took a sip of tea and said, "Don't pretend. I don't believe Yun Xuan didn't tell you."

"Uh..." Liang Qingchen was stunned for a moment, looked at her expressionless face, pursed his lips, and said in a deeper voice: "What do you know?"

Jiang Muyu waved his hands and said, "Don't worry, I won't interfere with your plans, and I don't care about your so-called mission or big things. I only do what I think I should do."

He hesitated for a moment and said, "You...don't you want to ask something?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to know too much. I want to save my life."

Liang Qingchen nodded in understanding.

Then he called Xu Lang in, handed the jade token to him, and said, "Give this to Sui Miao. He knows what to do."

"Yes." Xu Lang took the token and walked out.