The children in the yard were playing and fighting, but a young man and woman sitting under the shed were both silent.
——Have you really never kissed?
Yan Shang's words left Mu Wanyao speechless.
They have the strangest relationship.
Not friends, not lovers; better than friends, but worse than lovers. When they are together, they are always speechless for a long time, awkward for a long time, and look away for a long time...
Mu Wan shook her fingers slightly, tapping the wood on the table, regretting her loss of composure in front of the child. She couldn't help but think of the few times she kissed him:
One time, I was moved by his sentiments and couldn’t help myself;
One time, I was touched by his thoughtfulness and couldn’t help myself;
There was one last time some time ago. I was either moved by his thoughtfulness or I couldn't help myself.
It seemed like she couldn't help herself.
Mu Wan raised her head and stared blankly at the sky above the shed. Dust was flying in the air. After watching for a long time, she said in a strange tone: "...How can those be considered relatives?"
How can you kiss someone like that?
Yan Shang sat beside her, his drooping black eyelashes trembled slightly, his lips pursed inward, and he said nothing.
Mu Wan's beautiful eyes squinted at the silent man, staring at his straight and stiff back for a long while.
Mu Wan shook his head: "What is that word?"
Yan Shang whispered: “Hmm?”
Mu Wan shook: "Say something."
Yan Shang was silent for a moment, then said, "Those don't count as kissing, but do they count as... forcing?"
Mu Wanyao had nothing to say.
So they both continued in silence.
After being trapped for a long time, the temperature in the shed began to rise, making people feel uncomfortable all over.
Mu Wanyao was irritable and depressed. She could hardly stand this weird atmosphere. Just when she was about to explode, a servant standing outside the shed spoke and saved the two of them: "Erlang, are you going to load all your books onto the carriage?"
Mu Wanyao and Yan Shang both breathed a sigh of relief.
Then they looked at each other again.
Yan Shang smiled politely: "Shall I go check out my book?"
Mu Wanyao stood up calmly and said absentmindedly, "I'll go take a look too."
Yan Shang: “…”
He looked at her with an indescribable look, and then Mu Wanyao instantly realized what he had said. He felt extremely ashamed and hated himself for being distracted at this moment.
It was obvious that Yan Shang was looking for an excuse to separate from her, but she casually said something and followed him again... It seemed as if she did it on purpose.
However, how could Princess Danyang take back what she had said?
Mu Wan shook her head and looked at him: "Why, is it not possible? I just want to take a look at your books, maybe one of them can be given to the children in the nursing home."
Yan Shang sighed, "Your Highness is kind and tolerant."
Mu Wanyao was not grateful: "I am being generous with your book, what are you being lenient with?"
Yan Shang stopped talking.
-----
After they walked out of the shed, although they were still walking one in front and one behind, there was a sense of distance between them, and they were finally not as tense as they were in the shed.
When they got outside, the princess' maids were waiting for them. Mu Wanyao walked to the front and stayed with her maids, keeping a distance from Yan Shang.
Arriving at Yan Shang's humble residence, Mu Wanyao saw that the house was almost emptied. She was absent-minded now, so she wanted to find a random excuse to get away quickly.
So she walked right past Yan Shang and pretended to be kind enough to help him put the books on the shelf.
Yan Shang: "Your Highness, there is no need to do this..."
Mu Wan shook his head: "That's long-winded."
She was organizing the books with her back to him. Yan Shang watched her do that for a moment and then said nothing more. Instead, he went into the inner room with the servants to pack up other things.
Mu Wanyao flipped through the books casually, while Chunhua helped her sort them out. After the books were taken away one by one, Mu Wanyao saw a small wooden box at the back of the shelf. She took it and wanted to hand it to Chunhua. However, Chunhua turned her back and sorted out other books, so she did not take the box handed over by the princess.
"Bang".
The box fell to the ground and the contents scattered out, scaring Mu Wan.
She glanced at the curtain of the inner room with a guilty conscience, and saw that Yan had not come out yet, perhaps he had not heard the noise. She breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly squatted down to pack up the wooden box.
The wooden box contained some random, scattered words that looked like correspondence, but they were probably just drafts that Yan Shang had abandoned. When Mu Wanyao put the draft away, he glanced at the paper casually and couldn't help but stare at it.
She picked up the draft and read it quickly:
This should be a letter written by Yan Shang. However, there are some typos and some crossed-out things, which he deleted, so it is not convenient to send it out.
Mu Wanyao flipped through the letters and saw that he had written a lot of letters, to this friend, to that friend; to Yan's father, and to Yan's younger sister. Today he was concerned about whether the illness this friend mentioned last time had improved, and tomorrow he would send money to another friend with the letter to help the poor friend who could hardly afford to eat.
He wrote to Yan Xiaozhou, the younger sister of the Yan family, and showed his concern for her daily life. At first, he wrote in the letter that he would send two bolts of cloth to his sister, but the next moment he deleted the words "two bolts of cloth" and changed it to "send four bolts of cloth"... He said ashamedly that he did not understand girls' minds and did not know what his younger sister liked, so he simply let her choose for herself.
In the letter, he asked his eldest brother and sister-in-law to take care of the family and advised not to let his father drink too much;
I advised my third brother to stop wasting time and study hard. Even if he didn't want to be an official, he could at least pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi.
Tell this friend that you have eaten something sent to you last time and that it is good, and thank him/her for the letter;
Ask that friend if the wedding date he set last time has not been changed. If it has not been changed, he will attend the banquet on time...
In short, all of these are Yan Shang’s daily correspondence.
They were all trivial matters, but Mu Wanyao thought that everyone who received Yan Shang's letter would feel that he was considerate. He remembered every word of his friends, and he was concerned about every illness... Mu Wanyao flipped through the letters, a little absent-minded.
Some of me envy Yan Shang's friends.
"Your Highness?" Yan Shang's call woke Mu Wanyao from her depressed mood.
She was still squatting on the ground, holding his abandoned draft in her hand. She looked up and saw Yan Shang coming out from the inner room, looking at her with concern.
Yan Shang saw her looking up with a lonely look in her eyes.
Yan Shang extended his hand to her and said softly, "Did you drop the wooden box? It's okay, I'll sort it out. Your Highness, don't worry."
Mu Wanyao looked at the slender, jade-white fingers he stretched out.
I wonder how many people he has reached out to.
She dodged his hand, stood up, threw the letter in her arms to him, and said perfunctorily: "No one is lost, check it yourself."
Without waiting for Yan Shang to thank her, she turned and left the room. Chunhua apologized to Yan Erlang in a daze and went out to chase the princess.
Yan Shang frowned, as if thinking about something.
-----
Mu Wanyao left Yan Shang's room and went directly to find the Princess of Jin who was still praying. Mu Wanyao said coldly that she was not feeling well and would return home first. The confused Princess of Jin was afraid that she would be left behind, so she had to get on the carriage with the princess.
When Mu Wan returned to the princess's mansion that day, she saw that construction was still underway opposite her own gate when she got off the car... She didn't even glance at them.
However, after dinner that night, Mu Wan sat in the third-floor attic of the inner house, fanning herself with a fan. The maid Chunhua brought snacks to His Highness, and saw that the lights were on in the mansion opposite their princess's mansion, and the mansion began to get busy.
A maid came to report: "Your Highness, Yan Erlang just returned home and said that he was grateful for your help in the temple today. He came to pay his respects to your Highness."
Mu Wan waved his hand and leaned on the table, saying nonchalantly: "No need to greet, I didn't help, let him go back."
The maid said: "Yan Erlang brought tea over..."
Mu Wan shook lazily: "Retreat, my princess's mansion is not short of tea."
The maid then withdrew.
Chunhua still stood behind Muwan, observing the princess's expression for a while, then said hesitantly, "Your Highness, I would like to ask for your leave."
Mu Wan shook her head and looked over: "What's wrong?"
Chunhua said: "My brother and sister-in-law have come to Chang'an to settle down, and my mother has also come. I want to go and help."
Mu Wan shook her head and said, "I understand."
Chunhua thanked the princess, and seeing that Mu Wanyao was still sitting there, staring at the brightly lit mansion across from them, Chunhua hesitated for a long time, but still wanted to care about the princess: "What's wrong, Your Highness?"
Mu Wan shook her head in surprise: "What do you mean 'what happened'?"
Chunhua: "Your Highness has been acting strange since he came back this afternoon. Normally, when Yan Erlang comes to pay his respects, Your Highness would meet him when he is free. But he didn't meet him today. It would have been fine if he didn't meet him, but Your Highness is sitting here looking at the mansion across the street... I am very confused."
Muwan shook his head in silence.
In the evening breeze, her profile was like jade, extremely beautiful. However, beneath that beautiful appearance, she hid a frozen heart.
Chunhua squatted beside Muwanyao, feeling a little pity for such a princess.
She still remembered that when she first came to serve Princess Danyang, she was a little scared because she heard that the rich and powerful did not regard servants as human beings. However, Chunhua soon put her mind at ease because her master, Mu Wanyao, was actually a very gentle young princess.
She would not beat or scold her servants, but would chat with them like friends. Even when she went to marry a foreign princess, she would dismiss most of her servants, as she could not bear to see them follow her to Wuman to suffer...
But that was all in the past.
Now everyone thinks that Princess Danyang has a bad temper and is always moody. People in Chang'an, who knows the cruelty of the night when Mu Wanyao led them to fight against Wuman, who knows the fire that Mu Wanyao set in Wuman with his own hands?
Princess Danyang is not a clever princess who can scheme, but she is the only one Chunhua has ever seen who values the people around her. His Highness has such a gentle heart, but they don't know it.
Kneeling beside Mu Wan's skirt, Chun Hua said softly, "Your Highness, I have followed you for so many years. You can tell me anything you want to say. Even if I can't help you, it's good for you to vent your emotions."
In the evening, I lowered my eyes and took a look at Chunhua.
She was a little surprised and a little amused: "Why, do you think I'm sad?"
Chunhua looked at her quietly.
Mu Wan shook off the smile on her lips, narrowed her eyes, and her expression became blank.
Just when Chunhua thought that Mu Wanyao would not say anything, Mu Wanyao's low and hoarse voice slowly rang out in the night wind: "It's nothing serious, I just envy the people around Yan Shang."
Chunhua didn't quite understand.
Mu Wanyao laughed at herself again, "Then I suddenly realized that I am not special or unique to him."
Chunhua: "Your Highness, what do you mean by this?"
Mu Wan shook her head and said, "He never wrote to me, never told me if I was hurt. He didn't care if I slept well at night, and didn't ask me what I was busy with recently. He was like a piece of wood. If I poked him, he would move. If I didn't poke him, he would be dead.
“When I was in Lingnan, he would still care about me, giving me gifts and making me laugh from time to time.
"Now we are in Chang'an. He came to Chang'an in February this year, and it is almost May now. In these three months, I have actually only met him a few times. I blamed him for not coming to pay his respects, so he came to pay his respects; I blamed him for not speaking, so he spoke. I thought he was just like that, but I found out this afternoon that he was just very cold to me. He was extra nice to others."
Chunhua was silent for a while, then whispered, "Your Highness, don't you know the difficulties Yan Erlang is in?"
Mu Wan raised the corners of his lips, somewhat self-deprecatingly.
She said, "I know. He wanted to avoid suspicion. He was afraid that he cared too much about me and I would fall in love with him. He was afraid that he was too nice to me and our relationship would become unclear. He was afraid that he would come to the princess's mansion too often and people would misunderstand that he was thinking about Princess Shang. It was really difficult for him. He had to not offend me and not let me misunderstand him.
"He told me that he cared about me, but also told me that this was just a concern between friends and between the emperor and his subjects, and there was no other meaning. He was so good at maneuvering and maintaining the current difficult situation that even I couldn't help but sympathize with him and praise his good tactics."
Chunhua was silent again.
Then he whispered, "Isn't this good?"
Mu Wan shook his head and said, "It's actually pretty good. I don't have any feelings for him, and I hope he doesn't have any other thoughts. It's just that, I just..."
She looked at the quiet night, at the mansion opposite shrouded in the night fog, and gently covered her face with the fan, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
Mu Wan said quietly, "I am just jealous of those people who can treat others well without any scruples.
"I envy Yan Xiaozhou. How could she be so lucky to have a brother like Yan Shang? Such a brother writes to her all day long, asking her if she eats well, if she lives well, what she wants, what she likes. Such a brother thinks about her every day, sends her cloth today, and sends her snacks tomorrow. If Yan Xiaozhou says she doesn't like it, her brother will stop sending her letters.
"He and Yan Xiaozhou wrote letters all night long. The content was meaningless, but they were very happy to write. He told his sister stories and talked about the customs of Chang'an. He also said that when he was settled here, he would take his sister to live with him... Why was he so nice to Yan Xiaozhou?"
Chunhua answered softly: "Because she is his sister."
Mu Wanyao: "Why can't I be his sister? I am a princess of the Great Wei, why don't I have a brother who treats me so well?"
Chunhua is speechless.
When the Second Prince was still alive, he treated Your Highness very well...but everything changed after the Second Prince died.
The order has changed, the emperor has changed... Everyone around Princess Danyang is either using her or waiting to use her. There is no pure love around Princess Danyang anymore, so Mu Wanyao envies the people around Yan Erlang.
In order to comfort the princess, Chunhua said against her will: "...Maybe Yan Erlang is just seeking fame and reputation."
Mu Wanyao: "But he doesn't seek fame from me."
She laughed at herself: "Am I asking too much, too much?"
Chunhua held back tears: "I hope someone is nice to me, how much is too much?"
The maid knelt at the princess's feet, crying sadly, and she felt really sorry for the princess.
It is always said that the emperor is a lonely man.
But what's the difference between being alone now and being alone?
There were no friends, no relatives. Everywhere he looked, there were enemies. In the huge city of Chang'an, Mu Wanyao didn't trust anyone.
After feeling sad for the princess for a long time, Chunhua wiped away her tears and made up her mind. With her heart pounding, she held the princess's hand and asked, "What does Your Highness want from Yan Erlang?"
Mu Wanyao didn't understand Chunhua's words, and looked down at the maid: "What do you mean?"
Chunhua boldly encouraged the princess for the first time: "If Your Highness just wants to have sex with Yan Erlang, it's easy. Just drug him. Anyway, he's next door to us now."
Mu Wan was stunned for a moment, she raised her eyelids, and actually thought about it seriously.
Then he shook his head: "It's not just about sleeping. I also want him to always treat me well. He has such a good temper. I hope I have someone like him by my side. I covet him to treat me like that."
Chunhua felt terrible in her heart.
I thought this was not a good sign.
It seems that His Highness wants more and more things...
Chunhua said: "But Your Highness will not marry him."
Mu Wan nodded and said, "Yes."
In the silent night, Chunhua said softly: "This is a bit difficult."
Mu Wan repeated languidly, "Yes."
After a long silence, Mu Wanyao heard Chunhua's very light voice: "Your Highness... This is not a good sign. A short pain is worse than a long one. Your Highness should try to break it off. It will save you from getting hurt in the future."
Mu Wan closed her eyes and shook, her eyelashes trembling slightly. Her breath brushed against the feather fan covering her face. For a long time, Chunhua did not hear her speak.
Chunhua sighed softly, and when she stood up, she finally heard Muwan whisper after a long silence: "I'll try."
Chunhua's eyes warmed up as she looked down at the princess, who was curled up like a baby in her mother's arms. Muwanyao closed her eyes and turned her back, her back looking slender and frail.
Having glimpsed the emotional side, one retreats and gives up out of fear.
Chunhua knew that this was difficult...but as a princess who had been married off to a foreign country, she really didn't have the capital to be willful.
The ability to control one's emotions freely is the best for Mu Wanyao.
-----
Mu Wanyao is indeed a princess with a cold heart and a cold lung.
She said she would give it a try, and for the next few days, she really never asked Yan Erlang another question, and never sat in the attic and looked at the mansion opposite.
Yan Shang went out to the Hongwenguan every day, and Mu Wanyao also attended banquets, met ministers and the prince every day. Although they lived in the same alley, they had never met each other.
Mu Wanyao returned to being the cold-hearted princess she used to be.
-----
At dusk, it started to rain. Yan Shang left Hongwenguan and stood in the corridor, looking at the rain and sighing.
It rains a lot in Chang'an, but the sky was still clear when I went out this morning. Yan Shang forgot to bring an umbrella, so who knew it would start raining in the evening?
He was the only one left in Hongwenguan now, and it was difficult to even borrow an umbrella. Yan Shang stood in the corridor watching the rain, waiting for the rain to subside.
While he was waiting for the rain to stop, he looked at the heavy rain between the sky and the earth, and his mind was out of his body, recalling some past events.
Thinking back to the several times he and Mu Wanyao had met, they were all in the heavy rain.
When he first saw Mu Wanyao in the heavy rain on the Meiguan Ancient Road, who would have known that the arrogant girl sitting with a fan was the famous Princess Danyang?
As the two of them got to know each other longer and longer, the bond between them always seemed to be related to rain, just like a layer of mist...
When Yan Shang thought of this, he couldn't help but smile slightly. But he quickly came back to his senses and thought about other things.
He thought that he hadn't seen Mu Wanyao since May.
Sometimes when he went to pay his respects, the people in the princess's mansion said that the princess was not in. I don't know why she didn't see him...did he do something wrong?
Yan Shang thought back to the last time they met. He thought carefully and didn't think anything unusual happened that day.
Could it be that he asked her "Did you really never kiss me?" But she was not the kind of person who would hold a grudge for so long because of a sentence... She was obviously a little princess who held grudges a lot and forgot them quickly.
In the rain, when Yan Shang's mind was in a mess, he suddenly heard the sound of a carriage.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at the dusk rain, where a canopy carriage was slowly approaching. Seeing such a gorgeously decorated carriage, Yan Shang's heart skipped a beat and some strange thoughts came to his mind.
Could it be, could it be...Mu Wan Yao?
Did she know that he was trapped in Hongwenguan and come to pick him up?
This kind of expectation that shouldn't have made one's heart beat fast and made one feel more helpless. Yan Shang stood there in a daze, convincing himself that he must have thought too much, how could it be her.
However, another voice in his head said, how can it be impossible? She is such a person who is hard on the outside but soft on the inside. She would do such a thing for no apparent reason.
The carriage stopped in front of Hongwenguan.
Yan Shang stood more and more stiffly. He watched the carriage stop, but he didn't know whether he should get on or how to face Mu Wanyao whom he hadn't seen for a long time...until a female voice rang out from the carriage: "Why is Yan Lang still here?"
This is not the sound of Mu Wan shaking.
Yan Shang calmed down instantly.
He looked over and identified the carriage. The driver was someone he had never seen before. When the curtain was opened, a beautiful face with the charm of a young woman was revealed.
It’s not Muwanyao.
Suppressing the inexplicable loss in his heart, Yan Shang bowed and said, "It's Her Royal Highness the Princess."
Princess Luling leaned against the car window, looking at the young man standing in the rain. He was as slender as a bamboo, and his sleeves were wet by the rain. The princess' eyes dimmed, and she smiled and said, "Yan Lang, why are you so polite? Are you trapped in the rain? Why don't you get in the car? I'll give you a ride."
Yan Shang said gently: "I dare not trouble Your Highness. I will wait for a while in Hongwenguan..."
The eldest princess said: "Yan Lang, it's raining so hard, how long are you going to wait? Come on in the car, I have something to ask you."
There was a slight pause in his words.
Thinking of what Feng Xianyu had said, asking him to be careful of Princess Luling, Yan Shang thought that if there was any possibility of him and the princess becoming enemies, it would be because of the replacement of the top three winners that day... Yan Shang did not want to offend the princess, so if there was a chance to make things clear, it would be fine.
Yan Shang lifted his robe and got on the carriage, saying softly, "I respectfully obey your command."
The princess chuckled: "Yan Lang, I love someone as gentle and considerate as you."
She lazily lit up the incense in the car's stove, waved her hand lightly, and let the fragrance spread throughout the car.
-----
It was raining heavily that evening. When Yan Shang got on the princess's carriage, Mu Wan's carriage was slowly driving into the alley and heading towards the princess's mansion.
She had just returned from the Crown Prince, and was now sitting in the carriage, thinking about recent events. Mu Wanyao had just learned that the Ministry of Revenue, which the Crown Prince was in charge of, was short of money again... Now this matter had forced everyone to be unable to move forward.
But what is the prince doing? Why does he need so much money?
If I can help the prince solve this problem, will my status be elevated?
While thinking about this, the guard leaned down the window and said, "Your Highness, there is a carriage parked in front."
Mu Wanyao instinctively thought it was Yan Shang.
Because in one alley, apart from the princess's mansion, there is his mansion.
But Yan Shang is a poor guy, how could he have enough money to buy a carriage?
Mu Wanyao didn't want to see Yan Shang. Just as she was about to order her carriage to back up and make way for Yan Shang, a young man's cold voice came from outside: "Your Highness."
It was Wei Shu's voice.
Mu Wanyao opened the curtain of the carriage and saw a servant holding an umbrella. Wei Shu, who was as cold as snow, stood in the rain and bowed to her.
The carriage in front was obviously Wei Shu's, not Yan Shang's.
Mu Wanyao was annoyed that she had guessed wrong. She hadn't seen Wei Shu for a long time, and her eyes lit up. Who wouldn't like a handsome young man with a graceful appearance?
Mu Wan smiled and said, "Juyuan, do you want to see me for something? Stay at my house and have dinner together."
Wei Shu was stunned for a moment.
Then he said, "I'm here to look for Second Brother Yan. Second Brother Yan has moved to a new home. This is my first time here. I didn't expect to be across from His Highness's Princess Mansion."
Mu Wan shook: "...Oh."
Wei Shu, standing in the rain, and Mu Wanyao, sitting in the car, looked at each other.
Wei Shu looked up at the princess in confusion.
He was not a man who knew how to deal with things, and he did not know how embarrassed the princess was at the moment. When the princess did not speak, he just watched in silence, unable to help the princess out like Yan Shang did...
No one came to rescue her. Mu Wanyao felt extremely embarrassed. He was so angry that he immediately let down the curtain and ignored Wei Shu.
Second brother Yan.
It's such a friendly call... maybe too friendly.
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