Past
Jiang Nian had not been here for long, so he had not heard much about the eldest princess.
However, on the night when he first met Meng Zheng, Xiao Yingzhu mentioned Meng Zheng and also mentioned a few things about the eldest princess.
Judging from the few words they spoke, because Meng Zheng had been close to the eldest princess since childhood, the eldest princess treated him very well. She even arranged for Meng Zheng to be sent to the hospital.
But apart from this, Jiang Nian didn't know any other connection between the eldest princess and Meng Zheng.
I don’t know why Meng Zheng specifically showed her the book?
Closing the last scroll in his hand, Jiang Nian turned his head to glance at the shadow cast in front of the mahogany chair.
The beams of warm sunlight only changed slightly when she was reading these volumes. She didn't spend very long reading The Princess' Diary, as if Meng Zheng had specially set aside time for her.
The beams of light coming through the window lattice were mixed with tiny flying dust particles. The afternoon light was a little warm, caressing my face like a kiss.
Jiang Nian raised his head and glanced around again. Seeing no special changes, he straightened out the books that were temporarily placed on the low table and stacked them in the interval according to their original placement in the bookcase.
All the stories about the eldest princess' friendship and life in those days are condensed in these volumes. More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye while flipping through them, so fast that it can read through an entire person's life.
Although she knew that time was extremely powerful, even after traveling back to ancient times, Jiang Nian had no sense of reality about what was happening. Even if the changes that would happen in the future would come with a blizzard, her heart would remain calm.
It was as if everything happening around her and the people she knew were separated from her by a veil, and she was just a passer-by and walker in this "dream".
It wasn't until Xiao Yingzhu casually revealed her position in the chess game—or in his—that Jiang Nian's heart was suddenly shocked.
The tsunami-like shock wave still leaves an uncomfortable aftertaste when he thinks about it now, but it is also because of this that Jiang Nian feels it firsthand.
Only then can she calm down again and face all the problems she has to face with a more calm and frank mental attitude.
The clue that was right in front of her, the closest one, and the first one that could be connected together to solve the problem in her mind, had already been placed in front of her by Meng Zheng.
Even if she wanted to investigate this issue, she had no idea where to start.
I never thought I would see it in the home of an unknown owner of a mansion in Cang County.
Is this God's will, or is it a destined fate that should be witnessed here?
Meng Zheng had something she wanted to confirm, and because of this confirmation, she also solved the problem that had been confusing her.
Jiang Nian felt a little complicated.
I don’t know whether I should thank him or erect a higher mental wall of vigilance against him.
However, after blocking out the distracting thoughts in these interpersonal interactions, she finally understood what was going on with the sect's separation from the imperial court.
At the court of that year, Emperor Qiming was busy dealing with other matters, but the sect won the hearts of the people while providing relief, and was protected by the eldest princess from Emperor Qiming, so it was able to survive and develop.
Jiang Nian recalled the sect's easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack location and its self-sufficient livelihood, as well as the group of sword-wearing pedestrians he saw before boarding the "ferry".
They should have their own armed forces.
Therefore, the current sects can survive independently even without the help of the court and without too much communication and interaction with the outside world.
From this perspective, it is simply a "paradise on earth".
However, compared to the "Paradise", the sect will regularly recruit qualified candidates as new bloodlines.
His thoughts were too far away. When Jiang Nian came back to his senses by looking at the pot of green plants on the edge of the window frame, he heard footsteps outside the house.
She took a step back slightly, frowned and looked at the figure outlined on the wooden door and window paper.
It’s Qin Lan.
—
Xiao Yingzhu entered the mansion, but did not go to the reception room as originally requested. Instead, she turned around calmly and chose another path in the woods.
The path was covered with fallen leaves, and it was obvious that no one had been there for a long time.
There were no signboards or buildings around indicating the direction, but Xiao Yingzhu remembered the relevant paths in the garden which had not changed much, so he arrived at the place he wanted after walking a few steps.
An ornamental pavilion next to the garden flower beds.
From a distance, I saw a figure leaning leisurely against the eaves of the pavilion, with his arms folded and his head tilted to look at the flower garden outside the pavilion.
Although the flower garden is in a remote area, it looks good at first glance and does not look like it has been untended.
But looking at the fallen leaves piled on the forest path leading to this flower garden, we can tell that the flower garden here may be regularly tended by servants.
And those who truly love flowers may never have the chance to come here to appreciate them again.
The snow lotus, whose pale white gradually turns to pink, is as fresh as the white moon and stands out among the cluster of flowers behind it.
It was specially selected and made into a single piece.
The original owner must have liked it very much.
Hearing the footsteps behind him, the person leaning against the eaves of the viewing pavilion turned around and saw Xiao Yingzhu's calm expression. Not surprisingly, he smiled and stood up straight.
"Duke Xiao, we met here... Do you miss it?"
Meng Zheng didn't wait here for long, so he didn't look tired at all. He walked out of the viewing pavilion, but did not stop in front of Xiao Yingzhu. He turned and walked towards the flower garden at the back.
"This king, mindful of your absence, has specially invited the Duke to stroll here."
The fragrance of the snow lotus stamens was rich and sweet, but not overpowering. The closer I got to the flowerbed, the more alluring the aroma grew, lingering in the air around me, now near and now far.
"I wonder if these flowers can evoke Duke Xiao's old memories?"
The snow lotus does not bloom in the early autumn. According to the natural law of growth and withering, it should have died in the early autumn.
However, now, it blooms extremely coolly and beautifully, growing very well, as if it is not disturbed by nature, wandering between the withering and flourishing of other things, firmly and indifferently holding on to the last lingering aftertaste.
Xiao Yingzhu lowered his eyes calmly and looked at her quietly before taking a step closer to Xuehe.
"Your Highness knows it, so why did I bring it up?"
Meng Zheng was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
"So you knew it a long time ago?"
Without waiting for Xiao Yingzhu to answer, Meng Zheng looked at Xiao Yingzhu steadily, with a meaningful look in his eyes.
"Everything has its way, and things are as they are. Aren't you afraid of getting off track?"
Xiao Yingzhu glanced at him lightly, her tone light.
"Why should I be afraid?"
When Xiao Yingzhu saw the mansion in the afternoon and was half-stopped outside the door by the housekeeper, and Jiang Nian was specially invited into the house by the maid, she felt something.
And this feeling was confirmed when he saw the snow lotus growing behind the viewing pavilion.
Xuehe remained quietly before her eyes, imprinting on the eldest princess's fleeting memories of her past with Shouzan.
Xiao Yingzhu was silent for a while, then looked away from the flowers in front of her that seemed to never wither, with a slight smile in her tone.
"As His Majesty, I never thought I would feel anxious."
"What does Your Highness want to gain from this?"
Meng Zheng's expression faded, but he just frowned and didn't reply.
Xiao Yingzhu looked away casually, stopped asking questions, and continued to admire the flowers that she hadn't seen for a long time.
After all, even if Meng Zheng didn't say anything, he already knew the purpose of Meng Zheng's visit to him this time.
He simply wanted Jiang Nian to read the eldest princess's diary, to let her see the sect's leader Shou Zan, whose past had been covered up - and to let her face her true identity again.
And verify your own guess by the way.
—
Before coming to Cang County, Meng Zheng initially thought of Jiang Nian as an ordinary woman. Although he had some doubts, he did not care about her.
It was not until Meng Zheng saw the book that Jiang Nian was reading on the boat and asked about his identity that the result was completely contrary to Jiang Nian's hope of dispelling his doubts, and his doubts deepened.
If Jiang Nian had not answered with his original identity, Meng Zheng might have just regarded it as an unspoken secret, a slightly handy handle to use at some point in time.
But Jiang Nian answered that he was related to the sect.
But Jiang Nian's words and actions are different from those of ordinary women.
Through her completely different face, completely unrelated past, and completely unconnected boundaries, Meng Zheng was pulled back into his past memories, recalling the look on the eldest princess's face when she mentioned Shou Zan.
Although we are happy, we will eventually become strangers.
The results were also quite bleak.
He lost his father's favor and his position in the court.
Until the end, all Meng Zheng saw in the eldest princess's eyes was the vague memory of the past, and she was relieved and indifferent.
From then on, he meditated on Buddha's name until his death, and never cared about worldly affairs again.
There are two pieces in total that were written to celebrate the birthday.
But apart from the incident related to the eldest princess that Meng Zheng just recalled, what he was more concerned about at the moment was one thing -
Sect.
Although Shouzan founded the sect in order to solve the epidemic that was worrying the imperial court, it was also because of this that the sect caused a huge wave among the people.
Because of relief and because he treats everyone equally.
Therefore, many people believed Shouzan too much and formed a long team to spread Shouzan's fallacies. For a time, the trend was prevalent and the reputation of the court was damaged.
Even if Shouzan has good intentions, he is an extremely unstable pawn.
If he wanted to help the people out of their suffering and therefore founded a sect to provide relief to them, how could he justify his actions of deliberately promoting the fallacy of "equality of all beings" within the sect?
The emperor was suspicious, and his arrival had already aroused his suspicion.
Throwing stones into the turbulent sea surface and splashing waves aroused the emperor's vigilance.
The public outcry against Shou Zan was too great, and it was difficult to get rid of him openly. Therefore, the emperor planned to have Shou Zan eliminated secretly, and use a reasonable explanation to calm the people, and officially bring the sect under the control of the court.
Unfortunately, the emperor had made all sorts of calculations, but he had not anticipated that the eldest princess, who was usually unemotional, cold and arrogant, would come forward to protect him and send people to disrupt the emperor's plan.
There was chaos and turmoil until the end.
The turmoil in the court calmed down, and the eldest princess successfully saved the clan, but she also lost her status in the court and became a hermit living in the mountains, eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist scriptures.
Because of the court's relationship, Shou Zan was forced to cut off contact with the eldest princess. After going to the sect, he never returned and no longer appeared in front of everyone.
It ended along with that fallacy.
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