“Because…” As soon as the words left his mouth, Mingyi realized he had misspoke, but Rongyu pressed for an explanation, so he had to give a reason.
After hesitating for a long time, Mingyi said righteously, "Because I'm worried that the Imperial Noble Consort will be sad if she doesn't see you in the future."
This answer truly disappointed her, and Rong Yu pouted in dissatisfaction, "What does it matter to you whether my mother is sad or not? Can you stop bringing up other people's opinions? Just think about yourself, if you couldn't see me, wouldn't you be sad and upset?"
"Of course I'll be sad, but..." Mingyi hesitated, unsure whether to speak. Rong Yu grew increasingly anxious.
"What exactly do you want to say? Can you just say it all at once? A real man should speak his mind directly, instead of beating around the bush."
With a soft sigh, Mingyi lowered his head sadly, "But I have no right to be sad, Princess. I am just your cousin."
Mingyi's gaze was different today; he seemed to be hiding something. Rongyu couldn't help but ask, "Besides being cousins, is there no other connection between us?"
Other than that? How could he dare to think about it? Even if he did, he wouldn't dare to say it aloud! "I..."
Just as he hesitated, a call came from afar. Yonghuang and the others had found the place. Mingyi stopped in time and did not continue.
Rong Yu sighed inwardly that her brother and the others had come at the worst possible time. She had wanted to hear Mingyi's true feelings, but now she had no chance.
Yongzhang looked up at his sister perched in the tree and exclaimed in admiration, "Sister, you're amazing! How did you climb up there? Teach me!"
Yonghuang coughed lightly, suggesting that his younger brother not interrupt, and then called out, "Rongyu, come down quickly! I'll take you back; Mother has been looking for you!"
Mingyi urged again, "Princess, come back with me! Don't let the Imperial Noble Consort worry about you anymore."
They've found this place; she has nowhere to hide and can only go down.
However, climbing up the tree was easy, but getting down was difficult. When she was about to climb down, she found that there was nowhere to put her feet. The guards were about to climb the tree to rescue the princess, but the tree was not thick enough. There were already two people in the tree, and if another one were to climb up, the branches might not be able to support them.
Mingyi told them not to move and to wait under the tree, while he instructed the princess to grab the branches and slowly descend.
Nervous, Rong Yu carefully stepped on the tree branches, but her foot slipped, and she lost her footing, falling straight down!
Fortunately, Mingyi reacted quickly and grabbed her wrist. However, the tree branch Mingyi was holding could not support the weight of the two of them, and they both fell down!
Reindeer Slope is a slope, and when the two fell to the ground, they rolled down without realizing it. Mingyi was afraid that Rongyu would get hurt, so he held her tightly in his arms, wrapping his arms around her head and the back of her neck.
Everyone was startled when they saw this and rushed over to stop them, but the two of them kept rolling down the slope until Mingyi crashed into a tree and finally stopped.
At that moment, Rong Yu felt dizzy and lightheaded. When she opened her eyes, she saw Mingyi frowning, as if he was in great pain.
Upon seeing this, Rong Yu panicked and asked, "Brother Mingyi, are you injured?"
Mingyi gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay calm. "I'm fine. How are you? Is anything hurting?"
At this moment, Yonghuang and his guards rushed over and helped the two up.
Rong Yu had a scrape on his arm, and Ming Yi's robe had been torn in five or six places. He had been hit by the tree, and his back was so painful that he couldn't straighten up. Seeing this, Rong Yu felt guilty and ashamed.
"It's all my fault for being so clumsy, causing you to fall from the tree and get hurt."
Mingyi forced a smile, "It's just a minor injury, nothing serious, Princess, you don't need to worry."
Mingyi had been protecting Rongyu the whole time, and Rongyu was held in his arms, so she didn't see what happened. Yonghuang, however, saw everything clearly. Mingyi's fall into the tree was too violent, and he probably had a serious back injury. If he walked back like this, he definitely wouldn't be able to bear it. Yonghuang immediately ordered people to prepare a sedan chair to send Mingyi and his sister back, and then have the imperial physician treat them.
Upon learning that her daughter had been sent back to Huanbi Island, Su Yushan immediately rushed back. Hongli also wanted to go, but Yushan stopped him.
"She's emotionally unstable right now, so you shouldn't upset her. I'm afraid you two will start arguing again. Let me try to talk her out of it!"
Hongli has a short temper, and apart from Yushan, he has limited patience for everyone else. This time when he returns, he may not be able to resist scolding Rongyu again.
Thinking of this, Hongli did not insist and agreed to let Yushan go back first.
When Su Yushan returned to Huanbi Island, the imperial physician was diagnosing the princess, while Zheng Yanzhi quietly stayed by Rong Yu's side.
After a careful examination, the imperial physician confirmed that the princess had a scratch on her arm, but her other hands and feet were fine; all that was needed was to clean and bandage her arm.
During this time, Su Yushan remained silent. She was both worried and angry, and wanted to yell at her daughter, but she held back until the imperial physician finished treating her wounds and left Huanbi Island. Only then did Su Yushan speak.
"You sneaked out like this and deliberately hid yourself. Did you even think about how worried your parents would be?"
Rong Yu retorted softly, "Are you worried about not having a princess to marry into the Mongol family?"
The daughter's presumptuous guess was truly infuriating. "No mother wants her daughter to marry far away, but the situation is what it is, and we have no other choice!"
"You have no choice but to sacrifice your own daughter?" Rong Yu felt more and more aggrieved as she thought about it, and her nose tingled with tears as she choked out, "If I had known that being a princess would mean being sent to a marriage alliance, why was I born into the Aisin Gioro family? I would have preferred to be an ordinary citizen, so I wouldn't have been sent to Mongolia!"
Hearing her daughter utter such heartless words, Su Yushan finally understood Hongli's anger. However, she couldn't take action; violence would not solve anything and would only exacerbate the conflict between mother and daughter.
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