When Mu Hongjin finished speaking, her expression remained unchanged, as if she were talking about someone else’s story.

He Yan listened uncomfortably. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Perhaps… Master Yunlin had some urgent matter that day and couldn’t come. I too have had appointments where urgent business prevented me from keeping them.”

“There was no urgent matter, no misunderstanding,” Mu Hongjin smiled. “He told me this himself.”

He Yan couldn’t say more, but felt that Mu Hongjin’s words weren’t the complete truth. If Liu Buwang truly had someone else in his heart, in all the years He Yan had known him, she had never seen any other woman, nor heard him mention anyone’s name. If anything, Mu Xiaolou was the only one he treated differently, and she was Mu Hongjin’s granddaughter.

“Young people always think they’re the special ones,” Mu Hongjin smiled. “This princess was the same in her youth, not realizing that being special or not special depends on whose eyes you’re in. In his eyes, I was just one of countless others, not worthy of his attention.”

“Is Your Highness referring to my master?” Xiao Jue asked.

“As Xiaolou said, I can’t think of anyone else,” Mu Hongjin replied. “I just never expected he would come to Jiyang again…”

He Yan thought to herself that the Princess of Mengji must have been wrong. According to the teahouse proprietress, Liu Buwang not only came to Jiyang this year but had come every year without fail… However, could Liu Buwang’s visits to Jiyang be for Mu Hongjin?

What kind of situation was this – better not to meet than to meet?

Mu Xiaolou pouted, “That person has no taste. Grandmother is the most beautiful, capable, and best person in the world. How could he bear to betray her? Is he blind? We shouldn’t call him Master Yunlin anymore, but Master No-Eye-For-Quality!”

“You silly child,” Mu Hongjin tapped Mu Xiaolou’s head, saying with a smile, “You’re too young to know what betrayal means.”

“He received Grandmother’s favor but not only wasn’t grateful, he didn’t even care about it. If that’s not betrayal, what is? He deserves to have missed the chance to marry Grandmother. I wouldn’t want someone like that as my grandfather anyway,” Mu Xiaolou said indignantly. She spoke without restraint, likely because Mu Hongjin’s royal consort had passed away before she was born, so having never met him, she had no emotional attachment and spoke freely about such matters.

“Very well,” Mu Hongjin smiled, embracing Mu Xiaolou. “Then when our Xiaolou finds a husband in the future, he must cherish Xiaolou and never betray her.”

“Of course!”

Watching the happy interaction between grandmother and granddaughter, He Yan felt uncomfortable. Among thousands of people in the world, those with fate but no destiny were as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, but perhaps the most regrettable were those who were misunderstood yet unable to explain themselves.

Even the precious delicacies couldn’t lift her spirits. After finishing the meal with a heavy heart, Xiao Jue and He Yan rose to bid farewell to Mu Hongjin.

Mu Hongjin nodded.

As they were about to leave, He Yan finally couldn’t help but turn to Mu Hongjin and ask, “Since Your Highness knows that your old acquaintance now resides in the Cui mansion, even if you don’t meet, why not at least ask about his recent circumstances and experiences over these years?”

From the beginning, after learning that Liu Buwang was the one who had saved Mu Xiaolou, Mu Hongjin briefly touched upon the past and never mentioned him again, as if Liu Buwang had nothing to do with her.

Mu Hongjin paused slightly, then looked at He Yan and said calmly, “That’s all in the past.”

“As for the present, he and I are simply unrelated people.”

After the meal, He Yan and Xiao Jue bid farewell to Mu Hongjin.

After leaving the royal mansion, He Yan couldn’t help but look back at its vermillion gates and hesitantly asked, “Does the Princess truly regard my master as a stranger now?”

Xiao Jue replied, “The deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. Those who have truly let go don’t deliberately try to forget something.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means,” he smiled slightly, “Miss He truly doesn’t understand matters of the heart.”

This felt like an insult. He Yan thought to herself that it wasn’t her fault. In her previous life, she never had many occasions to carefully analyze others’ thoughts, except for enemy commanders. Besides, women’s thoughts were naturally delicate, and when a woman truly wanted to conceal her feelings, she would never let others see through them.

“The Commander speaks as if he understands so well,” she retorted.

“Better than you, at least.”

He walked ahead leisurely, and He Yan hurried to catch up.

In the empty great hall, the woman in red robes and golden crown slowly ascended the steps and sat on the high seat.

Mu Xiaolou, having finished her meal, was led back to her chambers by a maid to rest. She had been quite frightened the day before, and as children tend to do when tired, she was very sleepy. Mu Hongjin had someone bring her some calming tea. Fortunately, Mu Xiaolou had only been frightened and not injured.

Jiyang faced both internal and external troubles, with the Wutuo people mixed among them, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens in the city were in her hands. The current situation was far from reassuring. This should have been like a tangled mess, yet in Mu Hongjin’s heart, another name emerged.

Liu Buwang.

She truly hadn’t expected that after so many years, she would hear Liu Buwang’s name from others’ mouths again. Even more unexpected was that Liu Buwang dared to enter Jiyang City again.

If it had been the younger Mu Hongjin, she would have surely stood before him, looking down at him condescendingly, ordering him to get out of her territory. But now, she had no such impulse, not even the thought of meeting him once.

Beside the high seat was a small table with an engraved copper mirror. Cui Yuezhi had found it from a merchant for her. The mirror’s surface was extremely thin, the engravings exquisite, and the bottom of the wooden handle was inlaid with a green cat’s eye stone. She had always liked elaborate and gorgeous things, so she kept it by her side daily. Mu Xiaolou often said this copper mirror looked old-fashioned, but Mu Hongjin didn’t mind. She held the copper mirror in her hand and looked at the person within.

The woman in the mirror was extremely beautiful, and somehow, even her makeup had to maintain the same dignity and sophistication. A faint red streak at the corner of her eyes gave this beauty a kind of cruel allure. Her lips were also red, slightly pressed together, appearing restrained and cold.

She reached up to touch her temples. The maids all admired her black hair, which showed no signs of aging even at her current age. What they didn’t know was that every morning, she had her maid carefully comb through her hair in the sunlight, looking for white strands and removing them one by one.

As long as she held the position of Princess of Mengji, she had to remain forever young and beautiful, noble and powerful, crushing all stirrings of unrest beneath her feet, accepting everyone’s respectful and submissive gazes.

But…

She had aged after all.

Mu Hongjin looked at herself in the mirror. Once upon a time, her face had been clean and bare, never adorned with makeup. Her eyes didn’t have the domineering and fierce look they had now. That girl always had smiling eyes, and when she smiled, she showed her white teeth – bold, hearty, carefree.

Her thoughts drifted to many years ago, so long ago that she could barely remember which year it was. Back then, Mu Hongjin wasn’t yet the “Princess” in red robes and golden crown. She was the only daughter of the King of Mengji, his precious pearl, a seventeen-year-old girl.

At seventeen, a girl full of imagination about love and the future, suddenly learned that her marriage had been arranged and she was to marry the son of an important court official, her first reaction was fierce rejection.

The old King of Mengji, her father, looked at her with some guilt, but his tone was unquestionably firm: “You must marry him to secure your position as princess.”

“I don’t want to be a princess at all,” Mu Hongjin sneered. “I don’t want to trade my marriage for this position. I’d rather be an ordinary person!”

Her resistance wasn’t taken seriously, perhaps dismissed as a child’s willful tantrum, or perhaps the King of Mengji knew very well that resistance would be futile. The position of a feudal king was already unstable; one small mistake and no one would be safe.

One deep night, Mu Hongjin slipped out of the royal mansion.

With her mischievous nature and long-held yearning for ordinary life, she took a horsewhip, disguised herself, and left Jiyang City that very night.

The Mu Hongjin of those days was a few years older than today’s Mu Xiaolou, and even more clever and spirited. She managed to avoid any mishaps along the way, traveling straight to the foot of Qiyun Mountain.

The paths of Qiyun Mountain were steep, and people said there was nothing but wilderness at the top. Yet at the foot of the mountain was a dense peach forest. It was spring, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom, flowing endlessly. It was near this peach forest that Mu Hongjin encountered bandits.

Generally, any lone girl, if not properly disguised, would easily encounter ill-intentioned thieves, especially if she was beautiful. How many stories of heroes saving beauty in plays and novels started this way?

Mu Hongjin ran and fled until she reached a peach tree where she accidentally twisted her ankle and had nowhere else to hide.

The villains approached with sinister smiles, like catching a turtle in a jar. If this were a story, this would be when the hero should appear to save the beauty.

And indeed, the hero did appear.

“Stop.”

At this critical moment, a voice rang out – a clear male voice. Mu Hongjin looked back to see a young man in white robes approaching slowly. His long hair was tied up with white silk, a zither strapped to his back. With clear features and refined bearing, he seemed like an otherworldly Daoist unconcerned with mortal affairs as he stood before her.

The villains were stunned at first, then burst into laughter, assuming this young man looked too weak and was just trying to play hero, telling him to get lost. Mu Hongjin also felt somewhat desperate – he looked more like a musician than a hero.

But the young man just stood there calmly, not moving.

The villains grew angry and were about to teach him a lesson until the young man drew the sword at his waist. Only then did Mu Hongjin notice he carried a sword.

The young man in white truly was a hero and a somewhat kind one at that. His swordsmanship was exceptional, yet he didn’t take their lives, only doing enough to send them fleeing in panic.

Under the peach tree, only the two of them remained. Amidst the pink petals, Mu Hongjin looked at him. The young man’s gaze was calm and detached, his robes unstained by a speck of dust. But she knew he wasn’t a musician – he was a swordsman. Like a character stepping out of those thrilling story books, appearing before her like divine intervention, a young hero who had saved her.

Her earlier fear completely vanished, she smiled with curved eyes, “Thank you for saving me. I’m Mu Hongjin. What’s your name?”

Seemingly taken aback by her sudden cheerfulness, the young hero paused before saying, “Liu Buwang.”

The girls of Jiyang were known for being outgoing and spirited. Mu Hongjin looked at him, showing a troubled expression while her eyes flashed with mischief.

“Young Hero Liu, I’ve twisted my ankle and can’t walk. Since you’ve started helping, you should see it through to the end. Why don’t you carry me on your back!”

The person in the copper mirror’s lips curled slightly upward, her gaze growing distant. Remembering the peach blossoms of that year always made her smile unconsciously.

The copper mirror slipped from her loose grip and fell to the ground.

The sound startled the woman on the high seat. She bent to pick up the mirror and paused slightly. The smooth surface of the copper mirror had developed a crack from the fall. It was very faint, barely noticeable unless examined closely.

The smile faded from her lips. After a moment, she set the mirror aside.

After all… a broken mirror could never be whole again.

When they returned to the Cui mansion, it was already evening, and Cui Yuezhi hadn’t returned yet. He Yan worried that Liu Buwang might leave without saying goodbye, went to find him first. When she found him, Liu Buwang was playing chess with Lin Shuanghe. Both men favored white clothes – on Lin Shuanghe, it made him look like a refined young gentleman, while on Liu Buwang, it gave him the air of a lofty swordsman.

Seeing He Yan return, Lin Shuanghe said, “Young Master, Madam, you’re back! Master Liu’s chess skills are too good. Even with my high level of skill, I can’t last ten moves against him. This is already several games – Young Master, why don’t you play a game with Master Liu and help me win one back?”

He Yan silently rolled her eyes. Not to boast about her master, but there wasn’t anything Liu Buwang wasn’t good at. He excelled in both literary and martial arts. Lin Shuanghe’s amateur skills might impress girls in pleasure houses, but comparing him to Liu Buwang was simply insulting.

She walked to Liu Buwang’s side and said to Lin Shuanghe, “Since you’ve lost so many times, Brother Lin should go practice more before the next round. I have matters to discuss with my master, we’ll talk later!” With that, she pulled Liu Buwang up and went inside.

Lin Shuanghe watched He Yan’s retreating figure and moved closer to Xiao Jue, asking curiously, “Why such a hurry? What’s wrong with my little sister He?”

Xiao Jue replied, “She’s gone to hear a story.”

“What story?” Lin Shuanghe was puzzled. “You met the Princess at the royal mansion? How was it? She didn’t give you trouble, did she?”

Xiao Jue smiled slightly without answering. While there hadn’t been any trouble, his gaze fell on the door He Yan had closed. For Mu Hongjin, Liu Buwang, and even He Yan, this visit had probably been unexpected in every way.

Cuijiao was about to enter with tea when Xiao Jue stopped her. His eyes fell on the teapot, and he said, “Bring some hot brown sugar water instead.”

Cuijiao nodded in agreement. When Xiao Jue turned around, he saw Lin Shuanghe staring at him with an odd expression. He frowned, “What are you looking at?”

“Xiao Huaijin,” Lin Shuanghe looked at him seriously, fanning himself as he spoke three words: “You’re done for.”

“You’re sick,” he replied coldly.

Inside the room, He Yan made Liu Buwang sit at the table and sat down herself.

She had many questions she wanted to ask, such as Liu Buwang’s earlier mention of investigating the Wutuo people and the current situation in Jiyang, but what came out was: “Master, I just returned from the royal mansion and met the Princess.”

Liu Buwang looked at her.

“The Princess of Mengji seems to be an old acquaintance of yours,” He Yan said hesitantly.

Liu Buwang replied, “Indeed.”

Did he admit it so quickly? She was surprised for a moment. Was such frankness a sign that there was nothing to it? He Yan realized for the first time that she had become quite gossipy, wanting to know about others’ private matters. But when it came to Liu Buwang, she couldn’t help wanting to know what kind of past her otherworldly, seemingly emotionless master had experienced.

Perhaps it was this bit of history that could give him more human warmth, making him seem more like an ordinary person.

“The Princess said she once admired you, but you had someone else in your heart,” He Yan said all at once. “Back then, the Princess wanted to escape an arranged marriage and made plans with you, but you didn’t show up, so she returned to Jiyang and got married.”

Liu Buwang showed no particular expression upon hearing this, making it impossible to guess his thoughts.

He Yan asked, “Master, is this true?”

She always felt that given Liu Buwang’s chivalrous nature – the kind that would bury corpses even when just passing by – if Mu Hongjin had sincerely asked, he would have taken her away. If he hadn’t intended to take her away from the start, he wouldn’t have made any promises to Mu Hongjin.

Why go through unnecessary trouble?

“It’s true,” Liu Buwang replied calmly.

He Yan was surprised: “Why?”

“It was the best choice for her,” Liu Buwang said. “As the Princess of Mengji, she should bear her responsibilities. Jiyang was her responsibility.”

“But…” He Yan remained unconvinced. “Master, did you not take her away because of this, or was there another reason? Did you truly have someone else in your heart?”

In all these years, she had never heard Liu Buwang mention any woman or speak of loving anyone. To put it bluntly, if that “loved one” had passed away, he would at least pay respects during Qingming or Ghost Festival, but there was nothing, absolutely nothing.

Liu Buwang didn’t answer her question, only smiled and asked, “Is she… doing well?”

Is she doing well? He Yan couldn’t answer this question. Given Jiyang’s current situation, things could hardly be considered good. But in some ways, Mu Hongjin had married, had children, and now had a granddaughter to bring her joy – at least she wasn’t as lonely as Liu Buwang.

She could only say, “Xiaolou is her granddaughter.”

Liu Buwang smiled slightly without saying anything.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became silent and stagnant.

Outside, Cuijiao knocked on the door, saying, “Madam, the sweet soup with brown sugar dumplings is here.”

“You still like sweet things?” Liu Buwang came back to himself and laughed. “Go out and have your sweet soup. I’d like to be alone for a while.”

He Yan hesitated for a moment before standing up, “Then Master, I’ll go out first.”

She left the room, and the door closed behind her.

The night in Jiyang was warm, unlike the cold of the north. The wind blew in through the window, making the tree shadows sway slightly. Like the mist on Qiyun Mountain.

Liu Buwang had no parents and was the youngest disciple of Master Yunji on Qiyun Mountain. Master Yunji was otherworldly and reclusive, having taken in a group of orphans as disciples. Liu Buwang was seventh in line, known as Little Seven.

The young men learned martial arts on the mountain, and when they turned eighteen, they had to descend the mountain for training. When Liu Buwang left, his senior brothers came to see him off. His nature was proud yet simple, inherently pure, and everyone worried he might be deceived by the outside world. Before leaving, they gave him many instructions until his ears grew calluses, making him quite impatient.

Every young man believed their future was boundlessly bright, that they could right wrongs in the world and manage all unfair matters. Nothing could corrupt their nature or defeat their persistence.

Liu Buwang was no different.

Who would have thought that as soon as he came down the mountain, he would witness villains harassing a helpless woman in the peach forest at the foot of the mountain? Liu Buwang stepped forward, drove away the villains, and was about to leave when that woman stuck to him like glue, impossible to shake off.

He still remembered first seeing Mu Hongjin – the young woman was beautiful and vivacious, making one blush just to look at her twice. Two braids hung over her chest as she blinked at him, her voice completely innocent: “Young Hero Liu, I’ve twisted my ankle and can’t walk. Since you’ve started helping, you should see it through to the end. Why don’t you carry me on your back!”

He was shocked by this matter-of-fact statement and stepped back, saying, “No.”

“Why not?” Mu Hongjin said, “Aren’t you a hero? This is what heroes do.”

Is this what heroes do? The young Liu Buwang didn’t understand. He had always lived on the mountain and had never dealt with worldly affairs, so he didn’t know if what she said was true or false. But seeing her speak so confidently, Liu Buwang thought, perhaps… this was how people in the outside world behaved, and he was making too much of it.

As he was thinking, he saw Mu Hongjin grimacing and crying out, “Ouch, ouch! It hurts so much, it hurts when I move at all.”

So delicate, he thought disapprovingly. Even Master Yunji’s daughter, his junior sister, wasn’t this delicate. He could only reluctantly bend down: “Get on.”

Mu Hongjin happily climbed onto his back.

The young woman’s hands clasped around his neck, holding very tight, her warm body pressed against him, and he could smell the fresh fragrance in her hair. Liu Buwang felt extremely uncomfortable and wanted to refuse, but it was already too late. He could only resign himself and ask, “Miss, where do you live? I’ll take you home.”

“I don’t have a home,” the young woman’s voice was pitiful. “I was kidnapped here. My home is very, very far away. I’ll just follow you from now on. Wherever you go, I’ll go.”

Liu Buwang was so shocked he almost dropped her: “What do you mean wherever I go, you’ll go? Why must you follow me?”

“Since you saved me, of course, you have to take responsibility all the way through,” Mu Hongjin said matter-of-factly. “Otherwise, you can take me back to my home. My home is in Shuojing, very far from here. Can you take me there?”

Liu Buwang: “…”

He hadn’t expected that saving someone would bring such big trouble. Were all people in the outside world like this, or just the women? No wonder his eldest senior brother had told him before leaving: “Women in the outside world are tigers.” Even real tigers could be scared away with firecrackers, but this woman, how could she be so impossible to shake off?

Seeming to sense his thoughts, the young woman leaned close to his ear and said, “Don’t worry, I don’t eat much, and I won’t cost you much money. Having me around won’t be troublesome.”

“Please, Young Hero.”