Entering the North Garden where the flowers and trees were withered, the princess fell into a whirlpool of memories.

Because of her mother, she was sent here when she was five years old, and she left when she was crowned a princess at the age of fourteen. She lived in seclusion in this North Garden for a full ten years...

Her mother was named Cao Luoying, the beloved daughter of Cao Cha, the prefect of Sanming, Fujian. She was well-educated and beautiful. After being selected into the palace, she was deeply favored by Emperor Jiajing and was soon promoted to Consort Duan. She gave birth to the eldest daughter, Princess Chang'an. Three years later, she gave birth to Ning'an.

But in the 21st year of Jiajing, the famous "Renyin Palace Change" occurred.

In order to achieve immortality, Emperor Jiajing, under the instigation of alchemists, collected a large amount of menstrual blood from palace maids aged 13 or 14 to make elixirs. In order to keep these palace maids clean, they were not allowed to eat during their menstrual period, but could only eat mulberry leaves and drink dew like silkworms. Anyone who dared to disobey the order would be immediately executed.

The palace maids were miserable and could no longer bear it. Finally, led by a girl named Yang Jinying, more than ten of them sneaked into the Yikun Palace where the emperor was staying that night, and strangled Jiajing's neck while he was sleeping.

Jiajing woke up from his dream and was about to shout, but his mouth was stuffed with a cloth. The palace maids controlled the emperor, covered his face with a yellow silk rag, and then took out the noose they had prepared in advance, put it around Jiajing's neck, and pulled hard together.

Unfortunately, the maids tied the rope into a knot in a panic, and they couldn't strangle him to death. The maids got anxious and pulled out their hairpins and stabbed Jiajing, turning the emperor into a blood gourd...

At this time, Concubine Cao Duan and Concubine Wang Ning, who were sleeping with him, screamed in fear, which finally alerted the eunuchs and guards outside, and they arrested the murderous maids. When Empress Fang heard the news and rushed over, Jiajing had already become a bloody man, and she hurriedly ordered the imperial doctors to rescue him while ordering people to torture the maids.

Although the interrogation results showed that Concubine Cao Duan was completely unaware of the situation, Empress Fang had always been jealous of her favor and insisted that the emperor had spent the night at Concubine Duan's place and she must have known about it. Then, while the emperor was unconscious, she ordered Concubine Cao Duan and Concubine Wang Ning to be executed by slow slicing in the palace, and implicated more than a dozen of their relatives.

Jiajing survived the ordeal and woke up soon after. He knew that Concubine Cao Duan was killed by Empress Fang on a pretext, so he could not get angry and had to let Concubine Shen adopt her two daughters.

But after the death of Concubine Cao Duan, who in the harem was not afraid of Empress Fang? Especially after the palace coup, Emperor Jiajing dared not live in the Forbidden City, abandoned the concubines in the harem, and moved to the Western Garden alone. The harem completely became the world of Empress Fang, and she naturally wanted to cut the grass and kill the two evil offspring left by Concubine Cao Duan.

Although Concubine Shen's status was second only to the Empress at the time, she did not dare to keep the two sisters by her side, so she found an excuse to send them to Baiyun Temple and asked her brother to raise them.

Concubine Shen's brother was Master Shen. He had no choice but to take on these two hot potatoes and settled the two sisters in the North Garden.

~~

In the winding path in the stone forest, Princess Ning An seemed to be talking to Consort Liu, but also seemed to be talking to herself:

"A few years later, my elder sister, who had been dependent on me for life, also passed away, leaving me alone, growing up in this North Garden, year after year, with no one paying attention to me..."

"How did Your Highness get through those days?" Liu Shang Gong was sent to Ning An's side after Queen Fang's death. She knew Ning An's past, but this was the first time she heard her describe it in such detail. She couldn't help but take out her handkerchief to wipe her tears.

"When spring comes, I plant flowers and trees. Don't look at me like this, half of the flowers and trees in this garden were planted by me." Princess Ning'an said softly, but her eyes were fixed on a stone mountain in front.

"That spring, right there, I met him..."

After saying this, she involuntarily walked around the frozen lake and came to the octagonal pavilion at the foot of the stone mountain.

In the three gardens of Little Penglai, there is an artificial stone mountain, symbolizing the three sacred mountains of Taoism. Under the stone mountain in the north garden, there is a pavilion called "Yuxian Pavilion", which has a beautiful mural of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea. There are two couplets hanging on the pillars, one is "riding the wind and waves in a flying boat, each showing their magical powers to swim in the sea", and the other is "asking the Eight Immortals where to go, they all laughed and answered to go to Yingzhou".

Princess Ning'an stared at the murals and couplets, and somehow, tears began to flow.

Concubine Liu was afraid that the princess would be too sad and hurt herself, so she hurried over to comfort her and finally persuaded the crying princess to leave.

When the two figures disappeared in the stone forest, a low call suddenly came from behind the pillars of the Yuxian Pavilion.

"Ning An..."

Zhao Shouzheng showed up with tears on his face.

In his hand, he tightly grasped a semicircular jade pendant. The two small seal characters engraved on the jade pendant were the words "Ning'an".

The person Zhao Shouzheng came to Xiao Penglai to pay tribute to today was his unforgettable first love who was buried in this North Garden...

He had shallow eyesight to begin with, and when he saw the eldest princess crying bitterly, he also started wiping away tears in his hiding place.

Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but show up and wipe away her tears like he did in the past, but his feet were nailed there as if they were rooted, unable to move at all.

Because he has to consider the consequences of doing so.

Zhao Shouzheng knew that although the morals of the society were declining and women's virtues were declining, the requirements for princesses' reputation were still extremely high.

The little girl he comforted back then has now become the high and mighty eldest princess, and a widowed one at that.

If people saw her having a secret meeting with another man, Ning Anke's reputation would be ruined.

On the other hand, after this year's setbacks, Zhao Shouzheng is no longer the carefree nerd.

He knew that he no longer belonged to himself alone, he was still his father's son and his son's father.

Everyone placed their hopes on him. He couldn't let his own willfulness ruin his future and disappoint his father and son...

What's the point of meeting? It will only add to my troubles. It's better to pretend that nothing happened and continue my peaceful life...

This is good for both of them.

But the right choice often brings pain. Zhao Shouzheng felt that he was about to be suffocated by the sadness and loss in his heart.

Ning An is back, let's chat...

~~

He waited in the Yuxian Pavilion for a long time, and thought that the eldest princess should have returned to the palace. Then he carefully walked out of the North Garden and hid in the corridor, looking at the Moon Gate in the distance.

Seeing that the Jinyiwei guarding the gate had indeed withdrawn, Zhao Shouzheng finally felt relieved and quickly fled from Baiyun Temple.

Outside Baiyun Temple, all the classmates were almost going crazy with anxiety. They waited until the princess's procession left and then went in to look for their brother.

But then he saw Zhao Shouzheng coming out of the mountain gate.

Everyone's hearts finally settled down and they quickly gathered around.

Seeing his peers, Zhao Shouzheng's mouth twitched and he didn't know how to explain.

"Master, just pretend to be lame." Fang Wen suddenly appeared and supported him. "Just say you have sprained your hip and need to find a place to rest for a while."

"You are such a thief..." Zhao Shouzheng was overjoyed when he heard that, but then his heart tightened. He looked at Fang Wen and asked, "Did you see everything just now?"

"I didn't see anything. I just found the master." Fang Wen said quickly and obediently.

"Do you say that to the young master as well?" Zhao Shouzheng asked still feeling uneasy.

"I say this to everyone." Fang Wen nodded.

"Good boy." Zhao Shouzheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

ps. The eighth update, 3600 votes and more updates, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~