good season

Xiao Zhen nodded, her gaze resolute: "Yes, I will go."

In the previous life, the people did not receive relief and went to the Fifth Prince to demand an explanation. The Fifth Prince's men called in the army to quell the rebellion. In that catastrophe, the most dead were the ordinary people who survived the flood.

They were not swallowed by the flood, but they died at the hands of these people.

These people were sent by the imperial court to provide disaster relief—how ridiculous, how ironic!

He went there in his previous life, but he was too late. When he arrived, all he saw were corpses scattered all over the ground.

Meanwhile, the Fifth Prince was celebrating his victory in suppressing the rebellion.

Zhao Shiqing was unaware of her past life, but Xiao Zhen at this moment filled her with sadness.

Yes, she didn't feel that way even when she first met him at Wisteria Manor.

At that time, Xiao Zhen looked three parts human and seven parts ghost. Although he was in a terrible state, his broken body exuded a cold and murderous aura.

The current Xiao Zhen has long since concealed his sharpness, like a precious sword hidden in its sheath. In Zhao Shiqing's eyes, Xiao Zhen is becoming more and more down-to-earth. Just like at this moment, she can even feel his sadness.

She suddenly imagined patting Zhao Tingluo's head, just like she had done to him.

She thought it, and that's what she did.

She tiptoed and reached out to touch Xiao Zhen's head. Xiao Zhen was startled. The next moment, a warm little hand landed on his head, and then he was met with a bright smiling face.

The smile was a little smug, a little mischievous, but mostly warm.

"Don't be sad, honey. You said that many things are different from what you dreamed about. We can just be proactive and prevent things from happening in the future."

Xiao Zhen's heart stirred; she had said "we".

Before he could even savor the moment, he heard the most beautiful words in the world: "I'll go with you."

As if afraid he hadn't heard her clearly, Zhao Shiqing said loudly, "I'll go with you! Me! With! You!"

Xiao Zhen
Zhao Shiqing: "Are you very happy?"

Xiao Zhen: "No, it's too dangerous there."

Zhao Shiqing: "I'm just asking you, are you happy or not?"

Xiao Zhen: "I'm not happy, you can't go."

Zhao Shiqing reached out and pressed down hard, causing Xiao Zhen to involuntarily bend down slightly, so that he was at eye level with Zhao Shiqing.

Zhao Shiqing scoffed, "You still say you're unhappy? Your eyes are smiling, Xiao Zhen, you're smiling!"

Xiao Zhen forced herself not to laugh and insisted, "You can't go."

Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes and released her hand from Xiao Zhen's head: "If you don't want to go, then don't go. Who cares?"

Xiao Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. She belonged to a life of prosperity and beauty, and he hoped that she would never see such a scene of widespread devastation.

Zhao Shiqing was secretly thinking, "Not going means I don't want you to know I'm going, hehe!"

Seeing the fleeting cunning in the little girl's eyes, Xiao Zhen knew he had put his mind at ease too soon.

However, the little girl said she wanted to go with him. She knew it was dangerous there, but she still wanted to go with him. She had feelings for him!

“I, I will explain to your maternal grandfather that we were only acquainted as godparents back then, and we did not formally establish a godparent relationship. I will return the token he gave me later.”

Zhao Shiqing blinked, then blinked again: "What kind of keepsake did my grandfather give you?"

Xiao Zhen didn't expect that what would interest her was that token: "It's a token from Wan Jin Bank. You can withdraw silver from Wan Jin Bank with that token."

Zhao Shiqing.
"Grandpa was really something. You were just a child back then. How could he let such a vulgar thing corrupt your young mind? Give me that vulgar item, and I'll return it to him for you."

Zhao Shiqing spoke with righteous indignation and impassioned passion.

Xiao Zhen: Your abacus beads are about to fall into my face.

He pulled the token out of his pocket: "Here, take this."

Zhao Shiqing was excited and took the sign. So this was the legendary Wan Jin Bank withdrawal sign! It was the first time she had ever seen one.

The little girl smiled, her eyes crinkling, and Xiao Zhen smiled too. Heaven had been kind to him, not only giving him a chance to be reborn, but also allowing him to meet such a lovely girl. She was a treasure bestowed upon the world by heaven, and even more so, his treasure, a treasure he wanted to protect with his life.

When Zhen Wuduo returned, Zhao Shiqing showed off the plaque, saying, "Grandpa, do you still recognize this plaque?"

Zhen Wu wanted to take it to look at, but Zhao Shiqing wouldn't give it to him. She could only hold it in her own hand and let him see it. What if he took it for himself?
However, Zhen Wuduo recognized it at a glance; it was the sign of Wan Jin Hao.

Although he has many godsons, there are not many who can afford to give him such a brand. Otherwise, he could let them withdraw money at will, as much as they wanted, and empty mountains of gold and silver. He took in godsons for fun, not to let them squander his fortune.

This is the capital city. Who else could possibly get a token for a little girl like this?

That good-for-nothing kid, he just handed over the sign?
"Hmph, you stole this from him, didn't you? My precious granddaughter, I'll give you anything you want. If you want the moon, I'll never pluck the stars from the sky for you. If you want the Wan Jin Hao brand, I'll give it to you too. We don't need to steal. Stealing is a bad habit. Even Niqiu has changed his ways. You should change yours too. Be good, let's return this lousy brand."

Zhao Shiqing raised her delicate chin: "I won't pay it back, I won't pay it back."

"Give it back to him. He's your elder, after all. We won't steal his things, okay?" Zhen Wuduo said earnestly.

Zhao Shiqing: "This is the token of your sworn brotherhood. He gave it to me, so your sworn brotherhood is no longer valid."

Zhen Wuduo.
"If it doesn't count, it doesn't count. If he won't be my son, then he's just a stranger. As for making him my grandson-in-law, no way!"

Zhao Shiqing tucked the sign into her clothes and put her hands on her hips: "Why not?"

Zhen Wuduo: "Why do you think that is? What is his status now? Young Master Zhen, Noble Zhen? He's not my son anymore, so how can he still bear the surname Zhen? The surname Xiao? Xiao Zhen died a long time ago, so he's an unregistered resident now. An unregistered resident is not good enough for my granddaughter! Don't worry, not only will I not agree, but your brother, your sister, and your master will all disagree!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Murong Linlang's voice rang out from behind Zhao Shiqing: "What is it that I won't agree to?"

Zhao Shiqing shrank back. She dared to argue with her grandfather because he would never hit or scold her, but her master would not. Her master would punish her!
"Master, look how round the sun is today, isn't it?"

Murong Linlang ignored her and looked sharply at Zhen Wuduo. Zhen Wuduo didn't want to keep it from the little girl: "She's taken a liking to that guy who wears a fake face all day and doesn't dare to show his true face."

Murong Linlang was taken aback, then immediately realized who the old man was referring to.

Little Yueyue's brother! No, absolutely not.

Although she didn't know what had happened to the two brothers, she knew that it was definitely suspicious for a perfectly normal person to wear a fake face all the time.

Her little apprentice has everything she could want; what kind of man couldn't she find? Besides, why bother looking for a man? It's much better to stay single like her!
"I disagree too! I think you're just bored. Come on, let's get to work!"

Fifteen minutes later, Zhao Shiqing stared blankly at a whole basket of mung bean sprouts; her master had punished her by making her pick the sprouts.
Too cruel!

As Zhao Shiqing picked bean sprouts, she sang all the songs she had ever heard since she was a child. Little Demon and Big Fatty lay beside her, watching her with boredom. Zhao Shiqing thought and thought, but she couldn't think of any animal that would pick bean sprouts. Cats wouldn't, dogs wouldn't, birds wouldn't, monkeys might, but there weren't any here. So was this why her master was punishing her to pick bean sprouts?
Waaaaah, I want to change my master.

A few more days passed in the blink of an eye, and Xiao Zhen became restless. Zhao Shiqing had left that day and had not been heard from since. She hadn't gone to Su's Tea House either. In the past, every few days, even if Zhao Shiqing didn't come to Ruyi Pavilion, she would still go to Su's Tea House to sit and have some snacks. But these past few days, not only had she not come herself, but no one else had come with her either.

Xiao Zhen felt a little confused. This feeling surprised him. He was already in his fifties or sixties in both his previous lives, and he shouldn't have this kind of panic that belonged to a young person.

Perhaps it's just a natural reaction of a young body.

Perhaps, spending so much time with the little sun has given him energy.

Yes, that lovely little girl was his sun, illuminating his life.

Xiao Zhen got up and walked out of Ruyi Pavilion. He was going to Tianjing Hutong, even if he had to face the old man.

He changed his clothes and even his face. He was neither as magnificent as Young Master Zhen nor as elegant and noble as Xiao Zhen. At this moment, he was just an ordinary scholar.

He neither rode a horse nor took a carriage; instead, he flagged down a sedan chair and got in.

It was an ordinary blue cloth sedan chair, the kind you see everywhere on the street, just like him.

Passing by a candy shop, he asked the sedan bearers to wait, got out of the sedan chair and went into the shop. The shop was newly opened and there weren't many customers, but the candies inside were very unique and not commonly seen.

However, Xiao Zhen quickly noticed something unusual about the shop, because he had only ever seen those unusual candies in the palace.

Even the kitchen in the princess's residence couldn't make it.

Princess Jiayi liked to eat snacks. Xiao Zhen had seen her eat these candies when he was little, but he hadn't seen her eat them since. However, he hadn't paid attention and couldn't remember when he stopped seeing his princess eat them.

This shop is most likely run by someone from the palace.

Xiao Zhen decided to have someone thoroughly investigate this shop.

He bought some of every kind of candy in the shop, but there wasn't enough room in the sedan chair, so he had to stop another sedan chair and put all the candy inside.

Girls all love to eat snacks, and of course she does too. In fact, she's the one who loves them the most, because she's seen Zhao Shiqing take out snacks from her purse and eat them countless times.

She'll like all this candy, won't she?

Besides candy, what else might a little girl like?

Xiao Zhen recalled puppet shows, and how the little girl's eyes would light up when she saw the puppets.

For the time being, I don't know where to go to buy a puppet troupe.

By the way, there are puppet shows performed by troupes, right? Do they? I'll have someone inquire about it later. If there are troupes, we'll buy one and send it to Tianjing Hutong. The little girl can watch it whenever she wants.

Xiao Zhen felt a little regretful. Why hadn't he thought of that before? Otherwise, he could have brought the opera troupe with him today, and the little girl would definitely have jumped for joy.

Thinking of those bright, sparkling eyes, a warm feeling welled up in Xiao Zhen's eyes.

Some people are like that; just thinking of her makes them feel like they're standing in the sunlight, and everything around them brightens up.

Xiao Zhen smiled as he got into the sedan chair, while Princess Huixin, standing in the second-floor window of the candy shop, stared blankly at the two sedan chairs that were gradually disappearing into the distance.

That figure looked exactly like someone, someone who had long since died.

Xiao Zhen!

How could that be? Xiao Zhen is already dead, and she went to pay her respects.

She heard from people in the palace that Xiao Zhen died a terrible death, and that his body had been gnawed by wild animals in the mountains before it was discovered.

During those days, she would hide under the covers and cry almost every night. She dared not let anyone know that she was heartbroken for Xiao Zhen, and even her crying was suppressed.

She thought that she would only be able to see Xiao Zhen again in the underworld, but the person just now, that figure from behind, was clearly Xiao Zhen.

Unfortunately, she didn't see the person's face or their clothes, and she had never seen Xiao Zhen wear such clothes before.

Xiao Zhen liked to wear short, brightly colored shoes, which made his face appear even whiter and more handsome. He also liked to wear calfskin boots, and every step he took was haughty. He also liked to carry a horsewhip inlaid with gold thread.
As she pondered, two streams of tears welled up in her eyes. Princess Huixin stared blankly out the window, where the two sedan chairs had long since vanished, just like the departed Xiao Zhen.

The people of the capital have long forgotten him, that bright and shining young man. Even his doting mother, Princess Jiayi, has a little daughter now. As for his dead son, she has probably forgotten him as well.

Only she, only she still remembered him. When they were children, they studied together in the palace. Children are ignorant and express all their joys and sorrows. She and Huiming were often ostracized by others. Once, they were even bullied by Princess Qingchuan, who was a companion to Princess Jiale.

At that time, others would only stand by and watch the show, but Xiao Zhen would step forward. He was bold and fearless, and he would not back down even when facing a prince.

Whenever that happened, she would hide behind him, gazing at his back with adoration.

That one glance lasted for a full ten years.

The figure she secretly watched had grown from a tiny child into a tall, handsome young man.

She thought it was her own little secret, but unexpectedly, it was discovered by the Princess of Qingchuan. The Princess of Qingchuan revealed it in public, and from then on, Xiao Zhen never appeared in her sight again.

She no longer even had the right to peek.

Later, she heard the news of Xiao Zhen's death.

That person will never be seen again.

Princess Huixin cried silently for a while, when a somewhat dangerous thought suddenly welled up in her mind: she wanted to find that person and see his face.

She'll only truly give up when she sees that person's face.

Because there will never be another Xiao Zhen in this world. Even if their backs are the same, their faces will never be the same.

She needed to find that person; she needed to make herself give up! (End of Chapter)