Men easily retain images of people in their hearts – whether it’s their first love or someone they desired but couldn’t have, these people tend to occupy a place in their hearts, transforming into pure moonlight. While those they meet later are like freshly blooming flowers, attracting them with fragrance and beauty, making their hearts flutter, making them want to possess and spend the rest of their life with them.

Even someone as clever as Crown Prince Yin couldn’t escape this male destiny. The letter in his hand was almost crushed as he stepped into Zhao Wu Palace.

“Royal Brother, why are you standing outside?” Nan Ping, who was talking with Feng Yue, casually glanced at the doorway and said amusedly, “What’s wrong? You look lost.”

Yin Ge Zhi’s face remained expressionless. After glancing at Feng Yue, he finally crumpled the letter and stuffily stuffed it into Guan Zhi’s hand.

“It’s nothing.”

Looking at him strangely, Nan Ping continued excitedly holding Feng Yue’s hand and asked, “There are real people who can breathe fire in the streets?”

“Yes,” Finally finding someone her age to chat with, Feng Yue opened up and smiled, “They can even climb knife mountains and dive into boiling oil! Those who wander the jianghu rely on these skills to make a living.”

Looking on with envious eyes, Princess Nan Ping sighed, “I want to go outside the palace to see!”

“If the Princess wants to go out, why not just ask His Majesty for permission?” Upon hearing about leaving the palace, Feng Ming immediately spoke up, “The Emperor always dotes on the Princess, he would surely agree!”

“But…” Twisting her handkerchief worriedly, Nan Ping said, “Father always says there are many bad people outside, it’s dangerous. When the Second Royal Brother went out before, he was almost assassinated. He nearly got hurt.”

“If you want to go out, request permission to visit the Prince of Xiao Qin’s manor, and then Royal Brother can take you to see the streets,” Yin Ge Zhi said quietly.

Her eyes brightening, Nan Ping immediately became excited and bounced into Yin Ge Zhi’s arms: “Royal Brother truly dotes on Nan Ping the most!”

Gently stroking her hair, Yin Ge Zhi said flatly, “If I don’t dote on you, who else would I dote on? You’re almost at the age of marriage. After that, someone else will dote on you.”

At the mention of this, Nan Ping became somewhat shy, blinking her eyes as she looked at Feng Ming.

Feng Yue followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow.

Feng Ming’s face turned ashen as he said in a deep voice, “This official also hopes the Princess finds a suitable husband who will willingly take care of the Princess for the rest of her life.”

At these words, Yin Ge Zhi frowned and shot him a displeased look. Nan Ping was stunned and felt somewhat hurt.

What was wrong with her? Why could Feng Ming play chess with her and accompany her on walks, but not marry her?

The atmosphere became awkward for a moment. Feng Yue remained silent, then suddenly clapped her hands together with a crisp sound!

Everyone looked at her to see her smiling brilliantly as she said, “Since the Princess wants to go outside, while it’s still early and convenient to request permission, why not go quickly? Today there’s a market fair, it’s much livelier than usual!”

This straightforward way of lightening the mood made everyone pause for a moment, and then Feng Ming immediately agreed, “Yes, the Princess and His Highness should go request permission first.”

Yin Ge Zhi pressed his lips together and stood up, pulling Nan Ping along. He glanced at Feng Yue and said, “Wait at the North Xuan Gate.”

Feng Yue nodded, standing with Feng Ming in place until they left, then followed the palace servants toward North Xuan Gate.

“How did you get into the palace?” Along the way, Feng Ming muttered in a low voice, “The palace is so dangerous, what if someone recognizes you…”

“You think I wanted to?” Rolling her eyes, Feng Yue said irritably, “Wasn’t it because you two were fighting so dramatically? Guan Zhi didn’t say a word before pulling me onto the carriage, not even giving me time to put on a fake beard.”

Scratching his head, Feng Ming shrugged, “It’s not my fault, his temper has been terrible lately. In the past, no matter how much you provoked him, he wouldn’t get angry, but now he’s like an inflated leather bag – one poke and he explodes.”

“General,” Feng Yue shook her head, “From what I know of you, your words aren’t just a poke – they’re more like slashing with a knife. Even stone would crack under your cutting, let alone a leather bag.”

Feng Ming paused, his eyes filling with emotion: “You understand me so well?”

Feng Yue: “…”

Flipping her lower lip to blow air up at her forehead, she wiped her face and couldn’t help saying, “Before, I thought Yin Ge Zhi was truly difficult to handle, being deep-thinking and calculating. But after returning and meeting the General, I realized some people who don’t use their brains are just as difficult to handle.”

Feng Ming’s face darkened: “Are you calling me stupid?”

“Oh my, you understood that?”

“If I couldn’t even understand that, then I really would be stupid!” Raising his hand angrily, Feng Ming made to hit her, but Feng Yue reacted incredibly quickly, running ahead in a flash, grabbing the leading eunuch and making faces as she said, “Quick, run! The General has gone mad!”

The palace servant was inexplicably startled and immediately ran with her! Behind them, Feng Ming laughed despite himself, then put on a serious face and angrily chased after them, shouting as he ran: “Don’t run!”

If she still had her martial arts skills she wouldn’t run, but now she didn’t. Who wouldn’t run unless they had bubbles in their brain? Feng Yue grinned, pulling the palace servant’s collar as they ran quite far until they encountered patrolling palace guards at an intersection.

“Stop! Who dares to act wildly in the palace!”

Frightened by the long halberd, Feng Yue immediately became timid, stopping and pushing the panting palace servant forward from behind.

“This servant… from Zhao Wu Palace, following Princess Nan Ping and Prince Xiao Qin’s orders to escort someone to North Xuan Gate,” the palace servant said breathlessly, looking back with a fallen face.

The guard frowned, seeing Feng Yue still wearing her face cloth, looking suspicious, and stepped forward to inspect more closely.

“What are you doing!” Feng Ming caught up, grabbing the guard’s hand, his face truly dark: “You dare offend Princess Nan Ping’s guest?”

Startled by him, the guard immediately knelt: “General Feng, we’re just doing our duty, this person…”

“I don’t care about your duty!” Feng Ming said displeased, “The Princess ordered me to protect her. Touching her means touching me. If you want to, let’s fight first – if you can beat me, then you can remove her face cloth!”

Cold sweat breaking out on their foreheads, the guards looked at each other, falling into silence, and finally obediently cleared the way.

Feng Yue watched wanting to laugh. Someone like Feng Ming who didn’t follow rules could be headache-inducing at times, but could also be quite refreshing – using fists to shatter all conventions, ready to fight again if there was any objection. Unrestrained and free-spirited.

How much like her former self.

Finding him somewhat agreeable to look at, as Feng Yue continued walking forward she said, “Didn’t you say last time you wanted a piece of clothing? I can’t make clothes, but I can embroider a handkerchief for you. Since you often sweat, I’ll embroider a mountain spirit pattern that helps with sweating, how about that?”

Feng Ming nodded without hesitation: “Fine, if not clothes then a handkerchief is good too, I’ll keep it well.”

Feng Yue nodded, thinking she’d take the opportunity to buy an unembroidered handkerchief and needlework supplies while they were out.

After waiting at North Xuan Gate for a while, Yin Ge Zhi and Nan Ping came out. Nan Ping had changed into casual clothes and was bouncing around, clearly in a very good mood, all formality forgotten. She ran over to hold Feng Yue’s hand, her eyes bright as she said, “Father Emperor agreed! I can go out!”

“That’s good.” Feng Yue smiled and nodded, glancing at the elegant Prince Yin walking behind, but didn’t wait for him, pulling Princess Nan Ping out through the palace gates.

However, the carriage would wait for him. Yin Ge Zhi unhurriedly got into the carriage, looked at Feng Yue sitting with Nan Ping, narrowed his eyes, and sat with Feng Ming with a somewhat disdainful expression.

“Where should we go first?” Nan Ping said excitedly, “I want to see fire breathing, want to go to the market fair, want to see how common people usually live!”

Yin Ge Zhi nodded, saying calmly, “Let’s see the fire breathing you mentioned first, it’s right at the market, surrounded by common people, you can look your fill.”

Having grown up in the palace since childhood, the Princess was completely unfamiliar with the outside world, only hearing from her father and palace servants about how prosperous and peaceful the Wei Kingdom was. Now finally having the chance to see for herself, she naturally held great expectations.

However, the streets outside were completely different from what she had imagined.

“Why are all these people dressed in rags?” Lifting the carriage curtain to look outside, Nan Ping asked puzzledly, “When clothes are torn, why don’t they change into better ones?”

Feng Yue looked out as well and said, “They are refugees fleeing from war. Now there’s much fighting at the borders, so people naturally flood to other places. It’s not that they don’t want to change clothes, they just don’t have money to buy better ones.”

Opening her mouth in surprise, Nan Ping looked at her royal brother: “Didn’t Father say the common people live in peace and prosperity? Don’t refugees count as common people?”

Yin Ge Zhi’s eyes were complex as he stared at Nan Ping for a while. Finally closing his eyes, he said, “Refugees are naturally also common people. Whether Father’s words can be trusted, why don’t you see for yourself.”

Biting her lip, Nan Ping continued looking outside. There were many people crouching and lying by the streets, dirty, with faint unpleasant odors. At the bustling area ahead, there were yamen runners standing guard, specifically blocking these people from going through.

“That’s the market,” Yin Ge Zhi said, “If you want to see the bustle, let’s go to the teahouse beside it.”

“…Alright.”

Having lost half her initial excitement from leaving the palace, Nan Ping pressed her lips together, following them down from the carriage and up to the teahouse when they arrived. Then she leaned on the windowsill to look outside.

There were fire breathers in the market, and she was mesmerized. Many common people gathered around cheering, but there were few copper coins in the gong laid flat beside them.

“Those people are all cheering, why don’t they give more money?” Turning back curiously to look at her royal brother, Nan Ping asked, “With just this much, the fire breathers won’t have enough to eat.”

Reaching to take out some silver, Yin Ge Zhi handed it to her: “Then you go down and give some.”

Her eyes brightening, Nan Ping immediately took the silver and ran down. The guards beside her hurriedly followed, and Feng Yue, seeing the crowd below and Nan Ping’s naive innocence, felt somewhat worried and simply followed as well, leaving the two men upstairs to drink tea.

Pushing through the crowd, Nan Ping carefully put the silver pieces in the gong, seeing the shocked expression of the person collecting money. She sincerely praised: “You’re amazing!”

Crouching beside the gong was a white-haired old woman who, hearing these words, suddenly had tears well up in her eyes as she knelt and kowtowed to her: “Thank you, honored guest!”

“You mustn’t!” Nan Ping was scared and hid behind Feng Yue, wide-eyed as she pointed at the old woman and looked at Feng Yue saying, “She’s so old, how can she kneel to me?”

Feng Yue laughed helplessly. Finding this princess quite lovable in her heart, she hurriedly went over to help the old woman up.