Mu Xiaolou leaned against Mu Hongjin and talked for a while, then was called away by Aunt Tong. The maid beside him helped Mu Hongjin stand up, walked a few steps forward, and came to the colorful wall with murals.

The hall was large and deserted, with the only lively thing being the mural. The flow of people in the market and the traffic on the canal depicted all the bustle of Jiyang City. Everyone's face was full of joy and happiness, a lively and vivid look that she had not seen for many years.

After all, ever since she took the throne of princess, the place she spent most of her time in was this empty palace.

Mu Xiaolou will be sent out of the city today. The so-called birthday banquet for the prince's uncle is just a cover. The princes have not had any contact with each other for many years, so as not to arouse the suspicion of His Majesty. Everyone is at peace in their own place. Now the people of Wutuo are hiding in the dark, and Jiyang is about to be in trouble. She, the princess, cannot escape. She must stay in the city and live and die with the people who cannot leave. This is the character of the Mu family, but Mu Xiaolou cannot stay. She is the only hope of Jiyang. If... If it comes to the worst, as long as Mu Xiaolou is alive, everything will still be hopeful.

"Several lords have already ordered the evacuation of the people." The maid said softly, "Your Highness is worried about the little prince?"

Mu Hongjin smiled and shook his head, "I'm worried about Jiyang City."

The willow tree outside the window has long branches dipped in the fresh green of spring and stretches to the edge of the pond, causing tiny ripples. The carp in the pond are vying to peck at the water, and the whole pond is full of vitality.

It is like this every spring; the only thing that changes is the people.

When Mu Hongjin was young, she liked life outside the palace. As the youngest daughter of King Mengji, when her brother was still alive, she was like all the innocent jewels in the palms of the rich families in Jiyang, spoiled by someone, and lived a passionate and lovely life. But life changed after her brother passed away at the age of sixteen.

King Mengji began to ask her to learn many things and set many rules. Only then did Mu Hongjin truly understand how hard her brother's life was. But it was hard, and King Mengji had no other heirs. As someone who would take care of the entire palace in the future, it was understandable that she had to suffer for it.

But if even her marriage was controlled by others, Mu Hongjin would find it hard to accept.

Now that I think about it, she was used to being spoiled, and she was young and hot-headed, so she dared to leave. She had no idea how to deal with the court officials who were broken off the engagement after leaving her father alone in the palace. If it were Mu Hongjin today, she would not have such courage.

The more you take on, the less freedom you have to be yourself. The courage to risk everything only comes once in a lifetime. After that age and that time, it will never come back. Together with your younger self, it will disappear in the long river of time.

Originally, Mu Hongjin really liked Liu Buwang.

The young man in white was cold and aloof, upright and self-sustaining, but sometimes he was naive and unsophisticated. Although he had extraordinary skills and extraordinary abilities, he could earnestly help the farmer find a sheep and never complain. But Mu Hongjin thought that these so-called advantages, such as kindness and innocence, were all additional. She liked Liu Buwang from the very beginning when Liu Buwang stood in front of her with a sword under the peach tree and drove away those bad guys for her.

The hero saves the beauty, the legend has made many happy marriages. She was determined to follow Liu Buwang, and she used all her tricks, including coaxing and deceiving him. Unfortunately, Liu Buwang always treated her coldly and politely, and did not show any favor to her.

Mu Hongjin was a little disappointed, but then she thought, compared to others, Liu Buwang was already good to her. Although he made little money, he would order an extra plate of apricot blossom cakes for her when they ate at a hotel. When they stayed at an inn, he would spend more money to buy her a thicker mattress. He put the money in a conspicuous place and turned a blind eye to her behavior of secretly taking some to buy rouge. If he didn't have a bad impression of her, he would never tolerate it to such an extent. Therefore, Mu Hongjin always felt that with one more step and more time, it would be a long time before Liu Buwang fell in love with her.

Until Liu Buwang's junior sister came down the mountain to look for him.

The junior sister's name was Yushu. Unlike the hot-tempered girls from Jiyang, she looked frail, as if she could be blown away by a gust of wind. Her skin was as white as a porcelain doll, like the girl under the seat of Guanyin. She was ethereal and spoke softly, which made people feel pity for her. But Mu Hongjin could see a hint of hostility in the girl's eyes.

She was careless at that time and didn't realize anything. When she heard that Yushu was the daughter of Taoist Yunji, she came down the mountain because she was afraid that Liu Buwang couldn't handle the social etiquette down the mountain and came to help. So she developed a good impression of her and treated her as a sister.

Mu Hongjin didn't notice the difference when the two-person trip became a three-person trip. Yu Shu was always well-behaved, and unlike her, she never caused trouble for Liu Buwang. A month passed in a flash.

On the day when Liu Buwang was supposed to return to Qiyun Mountain, he originally planned to take Mu Hongjin up the mountain with him. However, inside and outside Jiyang City, people were searching for the missing little prince. The officers and soldiers were on high alert and checked everyone, even at the foot of Qiyun Mountain.

Mu Hongjin couldn't go up to Qiyun Mountain.

She pulled Liu Buwang into the room, looked at him seriously and said, "I can't go back with you."

The boy thought she was making trouble again, so he asked, "Why?"

"Let me tell you," Mu Hongjin hesitated for a moment and told the truth, "I am the daughter of King Meng Ji. The person the soldiers inside and outside the city are looking for is me."

Liu Buwang was stunned.

"My father wanted to marry me to the son of a court official to consolidate his position as a vassal king. I didn't want to, so I ran away. I didn't expect to meet you. I have been very happy in the past month, Liu Buwang," she didn't call him "young hero", but called him by his name, "I don't want to marry him, but I can't go up the mountain with you. What should I do?"

The girl was no longer as lively and noisy as before, but looked at him quietly, her eyes full of complete trust, and perhaps, a bit of unconscious dependence.

Liu Buwang didn't know what to say. Perhaps he had already realized that Mu Hongjin's identity was unusual. The girl who lived in the Mengji Palace was a rich girl, and she was different from the ordinary girls in Jiyang City.

Liu Buwang thought for a long time and said to her, "In that case, you wait for me in this inn. I will go up the mountain to tell my master about this matter, and then I will come down the mountain to pick you up in two days to find a way to solve this matter."

Mu Hongjin was a little reluctant: "Are you leaving now?"

"I'll be back." The boy said uncomfortably.

On the day of his departure, Mu Hongjin saw him off in the open space behind the inn. There was some uneasiness in her eyes, as if she had foreseen something. She couldn't help but grab Liu Buwang's sleeve and said to her, "Liu Buwang, remember what you said, you must come back."

"Don't worry." He patted her head soothingly for the first and last time.

Liu Buwang and Yushu left, and Mu Hongjin waited for him in the inn. She believed that Liu Buwang would come back. Although Liu Buwang didn't like her yet, he was a man of his words.

Two days later, Liu Buwang did not come back.

Mu Hongjin was still waiting in the inn. She thought that maybe Liu Buwang was delayed on the way. It had rained for several days and nights, and the mountain road was difficult to walk on. Maybe he couldn't go down the mountain immediately. Or maybe Taoist Yunji had something to tell him, and he had to finish it before coming over.

Another five days passed, and Liu Buwang still hadn't shown up. Mu Hongjin began to get a little anxious. The world was so uneasy, could he have been robbed by passing bandits? Although he was a powerful swordsman, he was kind-hearted. Even she could fool him, so how could he really defeat those sinister and dirty villains?

On the tenth day, someone finally came to the inn, but it was not Liu Buwang, but a soldier. The leader of the soldiers stood in front of her, speaking in a respectful and cold tone, "Your Highness, it's time to go home."

Mu Hongjin was taken back to the Mengji Palace. She was locked in the room, banging the windows and shouting, "Let me out!"

No one answered.

She began a hunger strike in protest, and her father, King Mengji, ordered the door to be opened.

Mu Hongjin rushed to King Mengji and cried aggrievedly: "Father, how could you let them lock me up!"

"Hongjin," King Mengji said with a smile, shaking his head, and brought the dishes on the tray placed before her, "These are all your favorite snacks."

"I don't want to eat." Mu Hongjin turned his head away, "I want to leave the house."

King Mengji was not angry. He was silent for a while before asking, "Are you waiting for the young man named Liu?"

Mu Hongjin raised her head suddenly, her eyes unable to hide her surprise: "How did you know?"

"He's not coming back."

"No, he will come back!" Mu Hongjin couldn't help but say, "He promised me, he won't break his promise."

"Really?" King Mengji said calmly, "How do you think I found your whereabouts?"

Mu Hongjin was stunned.

The cruel words uttered by her father instantly shattered the beautiful dream she had been deceiving herself with. "It was he who told me where you were."

"He sent you back personally."

Mu Hongjin didn't understand why Liu Buwang sent her back to the palace. She didn't want to believe what King Mengji said, but Liu Buwang seemed to have disappeared from her life and never appeared again.

Mu Hongjin gradually came to believe it.

If a person like that really wants to find out about someone, how can he not find a way? She has persisted for more than half a year, but she can't hold on any longer.

Half a year later, Mu Hongjin got married to the son of an important official of the dynasty. Although she was married, she was still called "king husband". Her position as a vassal king was secured, but the prince she gave birth to still took the surname "Mu".

Wang Fu was not as bad as Mu Hongjin said before, but he was not outstanding either. The two lived a life of mutual respect. When her husband took a concubine, she gladly accepted it without jealousy or envy. Wang Fu was also very sensible and treated her with respect. To outsiders, this was the most perfect marriage among blind marriages. However, Mu Hongjin felt that her freshness and vitality had bloomed quickly like a short-lived flower in that spring day, and then quickly withered and disappeared.

She always felt that her heart was empty and she didn't know what she was looking for. So she could only spend more time on her official business in Jiyang City.

A red carp jumped out of the water, stirring up the entire pond. After a moment, the red tail just touched the surface of the water and quickly disappeared.

Mu Hongjin stared at the water in a daze.

She told He Yan that Liu Buwang did not come to the inn to fulfill their agreement, and the two never met again. In fact, she lied. After that, she and Liu Buwang actually met again, but that meeting was not a pleasant one.

It was the second year after she gave birth to her child. She took her youngest son and her husband to the Bao Temple in Jiyang City to burn incense and pray. The Buddha statues were swaying and the Buddhist chants were echoing in the distance. She prayed that her youngest son would grow up safely and healthily, and that Jiyang City would have good weather and good harvests, and that the people would live in harmony. When she finished praying and was about to leave, she saw someone peeping outside the temple gate. Mu Hongjin asked someone to go, and the guards caught a young woman and brought her over.

After not seeing each other for so many years, the woman was still as gentle and well-behaved as when they first met. There was a hint of fear and panic in her eyes as she looked at Mu Hongjin.

Mu Hongjin was startled. It was Yu Shu.

She subconsciously wanted to look for Liu Buwang. Yu Shu was here, so maybe Liu Buwang was here too.

Yu Shu seemed to understand what she was thinking and blurted out, "He's not here!"

"Oh?" Mu Hongjin looked at her and smiled meaningfully.

Time will make a woman grow up rapidly. Mu Hongjin is no longer the careless and silly girl who couldn't even distinguish her rivals from her lovers. She certainly understood where the hostility in the girl's eyes came from in the past, but Mu Hongjin never regarded her as an opponent.

She tilted her head, squatted down, and stared at Yu Shu's face with interest: "It doesn't matter if he's not here. If I catch you, he will show up naturally."

Yu Shu's face changed drastically.

Mu Hongjin stood up, his expression cold: "Just say that a female assassin appeared in the temple, intending to assassinate me, and has been captured by the guards."

There was a red shadow at the corners of her eyes, delicate and gorgeous. She was no longer the clear-eyed, innocent girl.

Mu Hongjin did not return to the palace, but lived in the temple. She sent away all the guards and servants, asked the king's wife to take the young son away, and waited alone for the man to appear.

At midnight, the man really showed up.

After years of separation, he looked like he had lost his youthful naivete and became more lonely and unfamiliar. The first thing he said when he saw Mu Hongjin was not to ask how she had been doing these years, but to ask, "Where is Yu Shu?"

There was no emotion at all, as if the two of them had always been strangers who had nothing to do with each other.

Mu Hongjin lowered her head, wanting to laugh. She almost doubted whether those days, that spring day outside Jiyang City, were just her own imagination. She regarded Liu Buwang as a hero who suddenly appeared in her life, but Liu Buwang saw her as just an unexpected accident that he didn't want to appear.

"In prison." Her voice was also cold.

Liu Buwang looked at her.

He had changed a lot, and she was so strange. The girl in his memory was not the same as the cold and arrogant woman in front of him, wearing a red robe and a golden crown.

"Yu Shu couldn't possibly assassinate you."

"Why not?" Mu Hongjin laughed sarcastically, "You can know a person's face but not his heart, and I don't even know her."

"You let her go." Liu Buwang said, "Catch me."

The way he looked at her was cold and emotionless, without the helpless doting or annoying concession of the past. There was only the calmness of a stranger, and perhaps a little disgust for the "powerful and wealthy".

How ridiculous.

"Why?" Mu Hongjin took a step forward and looked him in the eyes. "She is just a junior sister. Why do you protect her like this? Do you like her?"

She was just testing him, Mu Hongjin didn't know what she was expecting. Maybe she was expecting him to deny it quickly, then look at her and say "You are the only one in my heart". What a vulgar plot. Mu Hongjin would spit in disgust when she saw it in the past, but now, she was looking forward to hearing it from him.

Unfortunately, stories are just stories, and legends are just fiction. The love and affection in the world only increase resentment in the end. Many lovers turn against each other, and many couples disappear from the world.

Liu Buwang said: "Yes."

She said, "What did you say?"

"I like him."

The young man's voice was frank and direct. For a moment, Mu Hongjin felt her fingers trembling. She had wanted to hear these words from Liu Buwang before. She had cheated him and used all kinds of tricks to get them. Liu Buwang was very strict with his mouth. She was so angry many times that she felt that his mouth was made of stone and could not be pried open.

Now it comes out so easily.

It turned out that it wasn't impossible to pry it open, it was just that the person being spoken to was not her.

She felt more and more ridiculous. All the things that happened in the past flashed through her mind. When she was a carefree girl, she didn't see Yu Shu's feelings for Liu Buwang. When she was the princess of Mengji, she saw it, but she didn't take Yu Shu seriously.

It turned out that they were in love with each other and she was the one who overestimated her own abilities.

Princess Mengji, what's the use of being a princess? In love, she was defeated and didn't even have a chance to compete with the other party. And she still thought about him for so many years.

"Were you the one who informed father about what happened to me in the inn?" she asked.

Liu Buwang said: "Yes."

"When you left, did you never think of coming back?"

"yes."

Mu Hongjin took a deep breath, as if to let herself see more clearly, to feel more pain, to uproot something in her heart, and never look at it again. She asked: "Liu Buwang, have you never been moved by me?"

Liu Buwang stared at her with his beautiful eyes, his expression as indifferent as a passerby, and he only said one word: "Yes."

"So that's how it is." She murmured, her eyes a little hot, but she still raised her lips and said, "Since you only love your junior sister, does that mean you are willing to do anything for her?"

Liu Buwang looked at her: "What do you want to do?"

Mu Hongjin's fingers stroked his shoulders, her tone ambiguous and frivolous: "If you become my lover, I will let her go."

Liu Buwang remained calm from beginning to end, with no expression on his face. Only at this moment, he seemed to be stung by something and quickly took a step back, avoiding Mu Hongjin's contact.

Mu Hongjin's body stiffened, and she raised the corners of her mouth in a mocking tone, "Why, you don't want to? Being the lover of a princess is not a blessing that everyone has."

Liu Buwang stared at him intently. His white clothes were spotless, the precious sword on his waist gleamed, and he looked as bright and clear as when they first met. Such a person who was so elegant and dust-free could not possibly accept such humiliation.

She had to humiliate him. Why did she feel so bad about it for so many years, but he could just pretend it never happened? What Liu Buwang couldn't do for her, he definitely couldn't do for Yu Shu.

Otherwise, what would she, Mu Hongjin, become? A touchstone to prove their true love?

Then, she saw, in the dimly lit Buddhist hall, Liu Buwang slowly knelt down and calmly replied, "Okay."

Mu Hongjin felt a sudden pain in his heart and almost couldn't breathe.

What else is there to prove?

That's enough. The question was clear. The doubts that had troubled her for years, the results that she had been seeking but could not get, whether good or bad, happy or sad, all had been answered. Jiyang women dared to love and hate, and could take it or leave it. The princess also had her own pride. She had the entire Jiyang City. Was she going to risk her life for a man?

It's just a bad fate.

She raised her chin and said coldly, "But I don't want to."

"How can a person like you stand by my side?" Every word she said was like a knife cutting her heart. Even Mu Hongjin herself was surprised. How could she have such deep feelings for Liu Buwang in just a month? How could she feel so reluctant when she cut off this evil fate with her own hands?

"Take your sweetheart and get out of Jiyang City," she said.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

His voice was still muffled as always, and Mu Hongjin's tears fell in the darkness.

"You and I will go our separate ways. Liu Buwang, from now on, you and your little apprentice sister will never be allowed to enter Jiyang City. Otherwise, I will kill you every time I see you."

The red corners of the robe drew a brilliant, splendid glow in the dark night. Like a clear boundary, it showed that the two of them had nothing to do with each other from now on. It was also like the petals under the peach tree when they first met, covering the entire ground, dazzling people, and indulging in a spring dream, never wanting to wake up again.

But dreams always end.

She let Yushu go and returned to the palace, pretending that the incident had never happened. She and the king's husband were still in harmony, and their years were peaceful, but even though they were in harmony, she still felt unhappy.

A few years later, King Mengji passed away. Mu Hongjin gradually became busy. A few years later, the king's husband also passed away, and she devoted all her energy to her youngest son.

Later, her son also passed away, leaving only Mu Xiaolou to depend on her.

Mu Xiaolou was born, and she looked a lot like her when she was young. So she always doted on Mu Xiaolou, just like her father doted on her when her brother was still alive. Mu Hongjin knew very well that once she took the position of princess, one day, the brilliant little girl who would sneak out of the mansion to play would disappear, so before she disappeared, she wanted to take better care of her and keep her alive for a while longer.

She hoped that Mu Xiaolou could have his own story, instead of being wasted for many years in someone else's story like her.

The apricot blossoms were blooming on the branches, lively and dense. The girl who was visiting the garden mistakenly walked into the depths of the forest and had a long dream. This dream was full of joy and sorrow, but in a blink of an eye, it seemed like a lifetime.

Her spring day had died a long time ago.

Or maybe, it has never been here.