There was no one else in the pavilion. Zhao Hao was lying on the brocade couch with his legs crossed, his eyes wide open, showing no sign of sleepiness at all.

Before today, he had never connected the words on the jade pendant that Zhao Shouzheng valued as his life with Her Royal Highness Princess Ning'an.

Because this is totally, totally unrelated...

One is the third daughter of the previous emperor, the only sister of the current emperor, and the most distinguished pretty widow in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty;

The other one was a dull scholar who had failed in the imperial examinations and an old widower in Nanjing two months ago. How could these two be connected?

No matter how ridiculous the plot is, the script wouldn't dare to write like this, right?

But the way the eldest princess asked about Zhao Shouzheng in a roundabout way just now was very much like something called love.

Zhao Hao couldn't help but think about that.

"If these two really are having an affair, when did they start hooking up?"

Zhao Hao started thinking and realized that he actually had time to commit the crime.

The old man angered his old minister and sat on the bench in Beijing for ten years.

Since he had nothing to do anyway, the old man took his second son Zhao Shouzheng, who he had high hopes for, to his side and personally supervised his studies.

Therefore, Zhao Shouzheng spent the five years from the age of sixteen to twenty in Beijing, which is why he sometimes speaks with a northern dialect.

My father is 36 years old this year, so that period is from the 26th year of Jiajing to the 30th year of Jiajing. He has never been to Beijing since then, so if something happened, it could only happen during that period.

Princess Ning'an is 32 years old this year. She was 16 years old in the 30th year of Jiajing's reign...

The age is also completely acceptable. But thinking that the two may have known each other earlier, Zhao Hao couldn't help but secretly spit, "Dad is a beast! How dare you teach me not to fall in love too early? !

Think about it again, after the Renyin Palace Incident, the eldest princess was implicated by her mother, Concubine Cao Duan, and was probably sent out of the palace, and then her father ran into her somewhere...

Thinking of this, Zhao Hao couldn't help but sigh secretly, his father looked honest and simple, but he was really blessed.

"In the future, should we call her mother or mother? Well, the latter seems more respectful..."

Without any psychological preparation, he happily accepted his fate of having a princess as his stepmother.

I heard that my mother is in charge of all the royal estates and stores in the capital, and seems to be richer than my grandmother...

From now on, I won’t have to struggle anymore… Zhao Hao thought happily and couldn’t stop smiling.

However, the next moment, his smile gradually disappeared because Zhao Hao realized that he was daydreaming.

Ning An was a princess of the Ming Dynasty, not the free-spirited princesses of the Han and Tang dynasties. How could there be a precedent for a princess of the Ming Dynasty to remarry?

And Zhao Hao also knew that the same thing happened later.

The current Princess Yongning got married during the Wanli period, but her husband was a tuberculotic being who died before the marriage was consummated, so she had to remain a widow for the rest of her life.

Princess Yongning is Wanli’s biological sister and Empress Dowager Li’s biological daughter!

So this is the princess's fate, and no one can break it.

"This, this, this is just a false alarm, isn't it?"

Zhao Hao lay down depressed.

~~

At this moment, he suddenly heard heavy footsteps outside and he quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Then the door creaked open, and Zhao Shouzheng and Eryang came in.

"Son, are you okay?" Zhao Shouzheng ran to the couch with red eyes and began to feel Zhao Hao up and down.

"Master, are you okay..." Wang Wuyang and Hua Shuyang rushed to Zhao Hao's bed and looked at him with red and swollen eyes.

"What can I do?" Zhao Haobai glanced at the two men, then twisted his body to avoid Zhao Shouzheng's hand and said:

"Dad, I'm fine, don't be ticklish."

When he opened his eyes, he saw that the princess did not come with him. He felt a little strange, but it was not convenient for him to ask since she was his apprentice.

"Thank God, everything is fine." Zhao Shouzheng finally felt relieved, and then he couldn't wait to say, "Let's go home."

"Well, His Highness, isn't he not allowed to leave?" Zhao Hao thought to himself, never mind, if we can't be husband and wife, we can still be close friends. I can still cling to someone.

What's the point of leaving now? Are you going to die in the light?

But seeing how anxiously Zhao Shouzheng was urging him, Zhao Hao knew that things were not as simple as he thought.

He had no choice but to get up quickly with the help of his disciples. Wang Wuyang helped him put on his cotton jacket, and Hua Shuyang helped him put on his boots. Then Zhao Shizhen wrapped him in a cloak, and Zhao Hao followed Zhao Shouzheng out of the waterside pavilion with a heavy head and light feet.

Outside, Gao Wu and the others were ready to set off. Seeing Zhao Hao coming out, Gao Wu hurried forward to support him and carried him onto the carriage.

Zhao Shouzheng turned his head and took a deep look in the direction of Qinglu Hall, then resolutely got into the car and ordered in a deep voice: "Let's go!"

~~

Gao Wu and the men from Caijia Lane surrounded the carriage and slowly left Diaoyutai.

From beginning to end, the Princess and Lady Liu never showed up again, not to mention the generous gift they had promised...

This made Zhao Hao feel as painful as if he had lost tens of thousands of taels of silver. It was obvious that his father looked more miserable than himself. He didn't dare to ask directly what was going on between him and the Princess.

When the carriage left Diaoyutai, Zhao Hao heard his father reciting a poem again after a long absence:

"Yesterday was sunny, today is cloudy. Flowers are flying downstairs, clouds are rising, and there are two tear marks on the railings.

People from the south and north of the Yangtze River. The same spring breeze but different feelings, the cold tide has not yet subsided..."

Listening to the heartbroken old man's voice, Zhao Hao estimated that it was probably over...

~~

In the Diaoyutai Palace.

The eldest princess lay on the quilt and cried.

Liu Shanggong patted her back and whispered:

"Your Highness, calm down. This person's memory is distorted. He always thinks too highly of his childhood. You were young back then and couldn't see that he was a heartless and ungrateful person. It's normal for you to be deceived by him."

After a pause, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Now that I know clearly how cold and indifferent he is, I don't have to worry about him anymore..."

To be honest, it was just the right time for her to end it here.

If the princess and Zhao Shouzheng got too passionate and kept arguing with each other, she, as the palace lady, might be implicated and killed.

"You're talking nonsense..." But the princess still couldn't bear to hear Lady Liu slandering Zhao Shouzheng. She raised her head, glared at Lady Liu with tearful eyes and said, "Zhao Lang is not the kind of person you say he is!"

"But your highness was so condescending and treated him wholeheartedly, but he treated him like a worn-out shoe. Can he still be a good person?" Upon hearing this, Lady Liu's eyes widened.

"Of course he is a good man. He is still the same as before." The princess said with admiration, "He is kind and down-to-earth, and never willing to let anyone suffer any loss."

"Uh..." Liu Shang Gong was stunned, thinking, what does this have to do with that? Did His Highness cast a spell on him?

The princess took the handkerchief and wiped her tears while sobbing, "I know he was concerned about my reputation, so he said those words with a hard heart, hoping that I would give up. I don't blame him, it's because widows are often surrounded by gossips..."

"Uh... okay..." Lady Liu was stunned when she heard this. She thought to herself that when this woman acts like a slut, she really doesn't distinguish between a princess and a commoner.

She still insisted, "Even if Zhao Xiaolian is a good person, if he thinks this way, it means that he has already let go of Your Highness. Why doesn't Your Highness also..."

"No, he didn't. He's not." The princess shook her head vigorously and said, "I can feel that Zhao Lang has always had me in his heart. Otherwise, why has he never remarried after being widowed for so many years?"

"Hasn't there been an arranged marriage?" asked Lady Liu.

"That old bastard Zhao Liben did it," the princess gnashed her teeth when she mentioned the old man of the Zhao family. "Zhao Lang is good in every way, but he's too filial. He never knew how to oppose his father!"

After saying this, she was infinitely relieved and said, "But you see, once that old bastard let go, didn't he cancel the marriage?"

ps. The sixth update, 4600 votes plus more, asking for monthly votes and recommendation votes~~