Feng Jiu’er said nothing more. The reasoning the Ninth Imperial Uncle had laid out — she understood it all in truth. It was simply that her heart still ached.

Why did human hearts have to be so complicated? If everyone could just be simple and uncomplicated, wouldn’t life be so much more beautiful?

If one day she were to betray the Ninth Imperial Uncle, or one day he were to betray her — would there only ever be one ending? That either she would die, or he would perish?

Her heart gave a sudden fierce tremor. She clenched his lapels tightly, bit her lip, and forced her tears to stop.

That day would never come. As long as they were both people of Bei Mu, as long as they both worked wholeheartedly to protect this nation and all its people — there would never be a day of falling apart.

When she finally stepped back from his embrace, she was once again that resilient Feng Jiu’er.

Looking at the sky full of fireflies and the fields of little golden chrysanthemums stretching in every direction, her mood at last grew bright.

No matter what she had been through today, tomorrow the sun would still rise in the east. It would never alter its course for any single person.

Happy or not, life still had to be lived. So why make things harder for yourself?

“Ninth Imperial Uncle, I’m a little hungry.” She sat amid the sea of chrysanthemums, resting her cheek in her palm as she gazed at the horizon.

She knew perfectly well that in a place like this, there would be nothing to eat. But beside the Ninth Imperial Uncle, when she was not afraid of him, she suddenly felt that perhaps she could afford to be a little willful every now and then.

The man sat down beside her. Jiu’er took a deep breath. Since she was going to be willful, she might as well go all the way.

She leaned her head against Zhan Qingcheng’s shoulder. She genuinely loved the feeling of being nestled beside him like this. Instinctively, she felt certain that she must have lost many memories that belonged to the two of them together.

This feeling was entirely different from being with anyone else.

Being with Mu Mu felt warm and comfortable and relaxed — like being with family.

Being with Qiao Mu and Xiao Yingtao felt easy and carefree and uninhibited — like being with friends.

But being with the Ninth Imperial Uncle felt unlike anything else. It was like family, and also like friendship — yet there was one thing she could never find with anyone else.

It was a feeling of sweetness, of a racing heart.

Truly — sweet, and breathtaking…

Suddenly, something was held out before her eyes.

Before she could even make out what it was, she had already caught the sweet, drifting fragrance.

“Osmanthus cakes!” Feng Jiu’er’s eyes lit up immediately. She reached out and took them in both hands, turning them over in her palms.

“They really are osmanthus cakes — and red date paste, and little crispy pastries… Heavens! How do you have these things on you?”

No wonder she had been feeling that sweetness — it was the fragrance of osmanthus! All this time, she had thought she was actually falling for the Ninth Imperial Uncle, imagining that even leaning against him felt sweet.

Thank goodness — it was just the scent of the pastries. Otherwise, having feelings for someone as noble as the Ninth Imperial Uncle would be utterly heartbreaking!

How could the Ninth Imperial Uncle ever look twice at a little nobody like her? Falling for him would be no different from courting disaster, wouldn’t it?

Thank goodness, thank goodness — it was just the osmanthus being too sweet. What a relief!

In that moment, Feng Jiu’er’s mood was exactly like the osmanthus cake before her. One bite, and the sweetness traveled from the tip of her tongue all the way into her heart.

“Ninth Imperial Uncle, why?” She took a bite and asked with her mouth full.

“I heard there was a plan tonight. Figured you likely hadn’t had a proper meal.”

Besides, these pastries were all ready-made. If his mother had not been staying at the manor recently, he would not have had any of these things in his residence.

At this moment, Feng Jiu’er could only smile at him. With a mouthful of pastries and snacks, even saying a single word was a struggle.

But as she smiled on, her vision began to blur again.

She truly had forgotten so much. There must have been things she had forgotten.

The Ninth Imperial Uncle treated her so well — and yet she had actually gone and forgotten everything about him? If not for having forgotten, why would she feel both unfamiliar with him and yet so familiar at the same time?

If they had not once been so close, why had she felt no desire to struggle or resist when the Gu Poison parasite had entered her body, and had been so willingly ready to give her life for him?

They must have been very, very close before — perhaps friends, perhaps master and disciple, perhaps… something even closer than family.

And yet she had wretched gone and forgotten it all!

“I will definitely try my best to remember.” Cradling the pastries the Ninth Imperial Uncle had brought out for her in her hands, taking one bite after another, she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

When she thought back, it would all come back — it would definitely come back.

The man’s fingertips tensed slightly. He wanted to touch her face. In the end, he held himself back.

Mo Bai had said not to frighten her. To give her a little time.

He was still waiting. Only — what she had just said made something in his heart give a fierce, sharp tremor.

This girl — she had already sensed something, hadn’t she?

Feng Jiu’er had no idea when she had drifted off to sleep. She only remembered that at the time she had been leaning beside the Ninth Imperial Uncle, feeling his warmth and breathing in his presence, and had very quickly begun to grow drowsy.

After that, she did not wake once through the entire night. She was dimly aware that her body was being lifted into someone’s arms, and dimly aware that they seemed to pass through many places — but she simply had no desire to wake.

After all, the Ninth Imperial Uncle was here.

She could not quite understand why having the Ninth Imperial Uncle near made her feel so safe.

But the feeling this man gave her was truly an overwhelming sense of security.

When she woke the next day, she found herself lying in a bed that felt both slightly unfamiliar and slightly familiar.

Unfamiliar yet familiar — that feeling again! Could it be that she had slept here before?

It seemed… she really had. With the Ninth Imperial Uncle?

Nonsense, nonsense. All she could remember was that the Ninth Imperial Uncle had wanted to drink her blood. He had probably just let her have the bed after he was done.

Hmph. The fragments of memory were growing hazier and hazier…

There was a bit of noise from outside. Feng Jiu’er rubbed her eyes, threw off the covers, and had not yet had a chance to climb out of bed when the bedroom door was suddenly pushed open.

A young woman dressed as a palace maid rushed in. Upon seeing Jiu’er sitting upright on the bed, she froze in utter astonishment. “R-really… Your Ladyship… r-really, truly… there is… a young lady…”

Your Ladyship again? By reflex, Feng Jiu’er thought of that insufferable Empress.

But this time, it was entirely unexpected. The one who came in behind the small palace maid was a woman who appeared to be well past fifty.

This person was…

Yu Jingfeng followed behind the woman, his expression somewhat uneasy. He hurried to say to Feng Jiu’er, “Miss Jiu’er, this is Her Ladyship the Empress Dowager — the Prince’s Imperial Mother.”

Feng Jiu’er was startled and immediately climbed out of bed, performing a bow. “Jiu’er pays respects to Her Ladyship the Empress Dowager.”

To think — the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s own mother. The reigning Empress Dowager Ning!

Feng Jiu’er did not know whether she had ever met her before. Perhaps she had, but that too had long since been forgotten.

Empress Dowager Ning had fine, regular features and was quite handsome in appearance, yet her coloring was not well at all, which made her look pallid and aged.

She had not expected the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s mother to look like this. There was a faint resemblance to the Ninth Imperial Uncle, though it was not especially strong.

But why had the Empress Dowager suddenly come here? And where was the Ninth Imperial Uncle?