After dealing with her family, He Jingru returned to her boudoir.

Sitting by the window sill, gazing at the flowers blooming outside the window, she still felt somewhat dazed.

“Are you willing to become my Empress?”

This sentence kept echoing back and forth in her ears.

She shook her head, driving the voice away. She sat before her dressing table and removed the hairpins from her head. These were all items from the bottom of her trunk that she had only worn because she was entering the palace. Normally, she couldn’t bear to take them out.

Opening the box for jewelry, she immediately noticed a plain silver hairpin. This was the love token her former fiancé had given her.

The two of them had known each other since childhood. After growing up, everything fell into place naturally, and their engagement was arranged.

But just a few days before the wedding, her mother contracted a terrible illness and passed away… She was the daughter her mother had raised in the palm of her hand. She couldn’t marry during the hot mourning period.

Moreover, after her mother passed, her eldest younger brother had not yet married, and there was no one to manage household affairs. She wanted to stay home for a few years until her younger siblings grew up before marrying.

She went to discuss this with her fiancé but was mercilessly rejected. Just like that, the engagement was broken.

She couldn’t say she had very deep feelings for her fiancé, but when the engagement suddenly ended, she was still sad for a while.

Just for a while, that was all.

After her mother passed, there were too many matters to handle. She had no mind to consider romantic feelings.

That night, He Jingru couldn’t sleep.

The next morning, she once again received an invitation from the palace.

“Elder Sister, it’s an invitation to the imperial autumn hunt!”

“Heavens, generally only first and second-rank ministers are qualified to attend. Elder Sister has actually been invited.”

“Is this the Eldest Princess’s doing? Elder Sister, did you win the Eldest Princess’s favor?”

He Jingru’s mood was actually much calmer now.

Currently, all the court ministers were submitting memorials urging the Emperor to fill the inner palace. What the Emperor said yesterday was probably just to oppose the ministers.

She just happened to be selected by the Emperor, that was all.

In the blink of an eye, the day of the hunt arrived.

He Jingru wore a riding outfit, a set of clothes that had been hastily made, and rode her horse to join the main group.

With her lowly status, she followed at the very end of the procession, all the way to the hunting grounds at Xi Mountain.

The group quickly reached their destination.

Chu Hongyu descended from the carriage and looked toward the crowd.

There were simply too many people. He had no idea where He Jingru was.

At the same time, some young ladies from noble families also gathered around.

The Emperor was currently of marriageable age, and the inner palace was empty. The women present knew they had to seize this opportunity to spend time with the Emperor.

However, as soon as that group of women surrounded him, Lin Dongdong separated them: “His Majesty dislikes the scent of rouge and powder the most. Stay far away, move back.”

Chen San scolded irritably: “Lin Dongdong, you blockhead, the fact that His Majesty’s inner palace has no women definitely has something to do with you.”

Lin Dongdong looked innocent: “I’m just following His Majesty’s orders. What does it have to do with me?”

“Your Majesty!” Chen San quietly pointed at a woman in the crowd. “That one is the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Personnel’s household. She and Your Majesty together would truly be a perfect match…”

Chu Hongyu frowned.

This legitimate daughter of the Minister of Personnel—it seemed people kept mentioning her in his ear. Looking at her, she was nothing special.

He spoke coldly: “Chen San, if you like her, how about I grant you a marriage?”

Chen San was dumbstruck: “Ah, no, no, no, please Your Majesty, take back this command!”

As his words fell, he looked up to see Chu Changsheng walking over.

He quickly bent his waist and walked over, attentively saying: “The Eldest Princess’s outfit today looks wonderful. Why don’t I attend upon Your Highness?”

Chu Changsheng spoke indifferently: “Chen San, your cousin also came today, didn’t she? Please invite Miss He to accompany me.”

Chen San eagerly went to find his cousin at once.

Soon, He Jingru was brought over.

Meeting the Eldest Princess and the Emperor for the second time, her face showed less tumultuous emotion. She lowered her head and respectfully curtsied.

“Miss He, please stay with me the whole time today.” Chu Changsheng smiled. “We’ll watch Imperial Brother hunt together.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Chu Hongyu and couldn’t help but smile secretly.

Her elder brother usually wasn’t very proper. Only in front of others did he maintain his imperial demeanor. Right now his spine was straight, his face tense—clearly he was nervous.

This group, led by Chu Hongyu and Chu Changsheng, included the eight former study companions as attendants, plus the completely out-of-place eldest daughter of the He family. They all rode horses deeper into the forest.

“Your Majesty, there’s a sika deer ahead!” Lin Dongdong shouted excitedly. “Quick, quick, quick, don’t let the sika deer escape!”

Chu Hongyu mustered all his energy, wanting to show off before the woman he admired. He drew his bow and shot three arrows simultaneously. One arrow hit the sika deer’s eye, the other two hit its abdomen. The sika deer fell dead.

“Your Majesty is amazing!” Lin Dongdong was especially supportive. He dismounted and picked up the sika deer. “It’s a young deer with tender meat. It’ll definitely be especially fragrant when roasted.”

Chen San licked his tongue: “Your Majesty, that… how about we roast the sika deer and eat it right here?”

Chu Changsheng paused.

Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for the Emperor and ministers’ daughters to dine together.

She needed to create more opportunities.

She smiled and spoke: “The scenery here is excellent. Let’s set up a fire here and give it a try. Imperial Brother, just have someone bring seasonings and such.”

“Right, right, right, as long as there are seasonings, I can roast an absolutely delicious meal!” Lin Dongdong’s saliva was about to drip. “How can we just eat deer meat? We need to bring some wine too. Right, I’ll go catch some fish—roasted fish is especially good too.”

Chen San rolled up his sleeves: “Then I’ll go hunt two rabbits.”

“I’ll gather firewood.”

“I’ll find two stones.”

The eight study companions each went off to busy themselves with their tasks.

Only the siblings and He Jingru remained.

No matter how much He Jingru pretended to be calm, she was still just a young woman who hadn’t seen much of the world. The two people before her were an Emperor and a Princess. She didn’t know how much effort she needed to exert to steady her expression.

She slowly exhaled and said: “I saw wild vegetables in the mountains earlier. I’ll go pick some to cut the greasiness.”

“How could we let a lady do such work?” Chu Changsheng pulled He Jingru to sit on the grass on the ground and spoke: “Elder Brother, you go dig up wild vegetables.”

Chu Hongyu, who was worried about not having a chance to show off, immediately nodded: “Alright.”

He walked away.

He Jingru was petrified on the spot.

The current Emperor, digging wild vegetables?

While she, the daughter of a sixth-rank official’s family, sat here watching?

If such a thing were told to others, who would believe it? She herself didn’t believe it.

She sat on pins and needles and immediately stood up.

“Sister He, just sit. It’s fine.”

Chu Changsheng had quietly changed her form of address, from Miss He to Sister He.

He Jingru also belatedly realized this.

She suppressed all the various emotions in her heart and spoke seriously: “The court officials are submitting memorials requesting His Majesty fill the inner palace. This subject believes His Majesty should not randomly find someone to be Empress just to silence public opinion. This would be disrespectful to the court ministers, to Great Jin’s realm, and to His Majesty himself.”

Chu Changsheng was incredulous: “Sister He, do you think my elder brother wants to make you Empress just to oppose the court ministers?”