Do you know: I am Qi Heng

Zhao Shou, who was fiddling with the Luban lock, looked up at the two of them, but couldn't understand what they were saying at all, so he lowered his head and continued playing.

Qi Heng glanced at Minglan and saw that she only responded with a sound and then said nothing more, so he knew that she did not want to talk about it.

Just as she was about to speak, she heard a "click" and the Luban lock on her hand came undone.

"Wow, that's amazing, sister!"

Hearing the commotion, Zhao Shou clapped his hands and cheered, shouting, "Sister, teach me!"

"Your Highness, like this... and like this again..."

Minglan smiled slightly, moved closer to Zhao Shou, and began to explain to him.

Zhao Shou listened attentively, nodding his head from time to time.

Qi Heng touched his nose dejectedly; he just couldn't untangle this thing.

However, he was not ashamed. Minglan was not only intelligent, but also very talented in these areas.

When he was seven or eight years old, he won against Gu Tingye in the game of pitch-pot.

Although Gu Tingye was partly tolerating Minglan, he had been practicing martial arts since childhood, and he naturally had an advantage in games like pitch-pot, which require precise angles and strong movements. Moreover, he was seven or eight years older than Minglan.

But Minglan's skills still surprised him, which speaks volumes.

Later, I learned polo, but only for half a day each ten-day break when I would learn from Grandma Sheng.

It is inherently more difficult for women to learn to ride horses than for men, let alone when she was so young.

Even so, Minglan's horsemanship was superb, and she was also very skilled at polo.

Qi Heng watched with a smile as Minglan taught Zhao Shou. She taught earnestly, and Zhao Shou learned earnestly as well.

Minglan did not teach Zhao Shou the solution directly, but instead taught him the techniques involved.

Qi Heng listened for a while, then picked up his own and started fiddling with it, and soon he untied it too.

"Wow, Heng-gege solved it too!"

Upon hearing the commotion, Zhao Shou clapped and cheered, displaying great enthusiasm.

"Haha, it's all thanks to Teacher Sheng's excellent teaching!" Qi Heng laughed.

"Young Master, don't talk nonsense," Minglan whispered.

"You called me Brother Yuanruo yesterday, why are you calling me Young Master now?" Qi Heng said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Minglan blushed and lowered her head without saying a word.

"Sister, please teach me quickly!" Zhao Shou urged.

"it is good."

Upon hearing this, Minglan continued to teach him until Zhao Shou found the trick and solved his problem.

After playing in the hall for a long time, Zhao Shou got tired of it and started clamoring to feed the fish.

The three of them, accompanied by palace maids and eunuchs, arrived at the Imperial Garden.

The Imperial Garden has a large lake that connects to the Jinshui River, and it is a flowing waterway.

The lake is home to many valuable fish, including a large number of koi.

Zhao Shou fell in love with fish after being fed by Empress Cao once.

A covered walkway winds its way to a pavilion in the middle of the lake, about seven or eight meters from the shore.

The emperor and his concubines usually come here to admire the koi.

Zhao Shou stood in front of the fence, stretched out his chubby little hand and grabbed a handful of jade food, letting it stick out through the gap in the fence and scatter it into the lake.

Before long, many koi with different colored eyes swam over.

"Fish, eat more!"

Zhao Shou sprinkled handfuls of fish food down.

Qi Heng looked at the koi in the water; they were all plump and chubby, which showed that Zhao Shou had fed them quite often.

"After the Emperor bestowed this marriage upon us, did Madam Wang make things difficult for you?" Qi Heng asked.

"No!"

Minglan shook her head and said, "Madam doesn't actually have any bad intentions."

Upon hearing this, Qi Heng couldn't help but laugh, recalling some of Madam Wang's actions.

A normal person would never do something like buying a concubine to compete for the emperor's favor with another favored concubine.

"What are you laughing at, young master?"

Minglan noticed that Qi Heng's smile seemed a bit strange and asked in confusion.

"Call me Brother Yuanruo and I'll tell you!" Qi Heng whispered.

"you…"

Minglan, somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, said, "Young Master, please have some self-respect!"

"Our marriage is already arranged. We'll get married after the imperial examination next year. What's there to be shy about?" Qi Heng said with a smile.

Minglan is not the kind of person who is stunningly beautiful; on the contrary, she is the kind of person who is charming and delicate.

She is petite with a round face; though not strikingly beautiful, she is very cute.

But her appearance makes people want to tease her.

Upon hearing this, Minglan turned her head away and ignored him.

"Okay, don't be angry."

Qi Heng said, "You know how much effort I put into marrying you!"

"I didn't trouble the young master with this, and it seems the young master didn't even ask for my opinion, did he?" Minglan said calmly.

"You live too stressfully, and you overthink things. If I asked you, you'd definitely say you don't want to!"

Qi Heng looked at the distant lake and smiled, "But I know you're willing in your heart."

Minglan was deeply moved when she heard what Qi Heng had said earlier.

She lived a tiring life and thought about many things. But she had no choice; she didn't want to cause trouble for Old Madam Sheng, so she could only live very cautiously.

The fact that Qi Heng could say these words shows that he truly understands her.

But upon hearing the last sentence, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him and retort playfully, "Who would have wanted that!"

"I am the most handsome man in Bianjing. Is there any woman in the world who wouldn't want to marry me?" Qi Heng asked, feigning surprise.

"..."

Minglan was speechless at Qi Heng's narcissism, but she quickly realized that Qi Heng was joking.

She rolled her eyes at Qi Heng, and after a moment of silence, asked, "Actually, I've never understood why the young master chose me, since I'm neither as pretty as my fourth sister nor as legitimate as my fifth sister?"

Qi Heng glanced at Zhao Shou, who was enthusiastically feeding the fish, and said, "Actually, I'm also living a very tiring life. From childhood to adulthood, I've always done everything according to what my mother said."

Many people praise me, but no one knows that I don't want to live like this.

I am the way I am now because my mother insisted.

Marriage is a major life event arranged by one's parents, but I want to marry someone I love.

Minglan felt a deep empathy for what she heard earlier. Although no one wanted her to live a certain way, the rules and etiquette of reality were still restricting her.

She disliked being a factory worker, but had no choice but to do it.

When Granny Kong was teaching them, she once said something that she felt was a true reflection of herself.

Flower arranging and tea making are things you don't have to do, but you must learn them.

Because after getting married, when she interacted with other women, they would talk about things like flower arranging, tea making, and needlework, but she couldn't exactly talk about things like pitch-pot and polo, could she?

Life is full of helplessness; even if you don't like it, you have no choice but to do it.

Although the processes are different, the results are the same.

But when Qi Heng finished speaking, it was tantamount to a confession, which made her blush and turn her head away.

"Don't worry, I'll treat you well. You don't need to worry about my mother either. Although she's a bit controlling, she'll gradually accept you after spending some time with her!" Qi Heng said.

"Um."

Minglan responded in a barely audible voice.

"Oh dear, Your Highness, you can't feed him!"

Seeing that Zhao Shou had already scattered several plates of fish food and was still going to feed them, Qi Heng quickly said, "They're already full!"

"Still eating!"

Zhao Shou pointed to the koi in the water and said.

"That's because they're greedy. They'll keep eating even when they're full. If Your Highness feeds them any more, they'll die from overeating!" Qi Heng explained.

Although he had never fed koi, he vaguely remembered that koi seemed to eat non-stop as long as someone fed them, until they eventually ate themselves to death.

But Zhao Shou didn't understand any of this, so Qi Heng could only coax him to go play somewhere else.