Commandery Princess Jingle stood under the porch. The water dripped from the eaves, gradually smashing the damp soil into small pits of different shades. She watching this scene, feeling bored.

For the first time, she felt that the night in the deep Palace was so empty and long.

The wind was blowing, and the palace lanterns swayed.

The girl raised her head slowly, staring at the only light in the darkness.

Her heart seemed to be penetrated by a sharp blade. When she was savoring the clear and piercing pain, she suddenly thought of something.

Jingle quickly ran back to the bedroom, rummaged through the boxes, and finally found the dragonfly lotus lantern from the messy pile of items.

Fortunately, the lantern was not damaged. Jingle held it and looked around, feeling relieved.

She stared at it steadily and then remembered that person.

Her fingertips stroked the lamp silk, and the soft and smooth feeling was very much like his warm big palm.

She moved the bench and stood on it, hanging the lit lantern on one side of the hollow carved panel in the corridor.

Commandery Princess Jingle felt uneasy at this moment.

She knew that the person who taught her to hang the lantern under the porch was to entertain her, and it was very stupid for her to choose to believe him at this moment, but she did it anyway.

Jingle thought that maybe she was too bored and urgently needed something as her meat and drink.

After that, hanging up lanterns, standing under the porch every night, and imagining someone's arrival should be good for her, a person who was not loved in her life.

Jingle comforted herself, imitated the game of playing with her playmates when she was a child, regarded the air opposite her as the person, and said with her hands on her hips.

"Big brother, you are here."

Then stepping to the opposite side, she put her voice a little rough and gestured.

"Yeah, I know magic. When I sense that you are hanging a lantern with my mind, I will rush over. Little sister, what are you looking for from me?"

As soon as she lifted the skirt and turned around, she changed her identity to herself again. She forced herself to smile a little and said sweetly to the air.

"I miss you. After we parted that day, how are you doing?"

There was a startling sound in the courtyard, and it was the night bird flying into the sky, which awakened the girl.

She stood alone for a moment and sighed coldly.

It was really boring...

She looked up at the lantern whirling in the wind. The pink and green pattern and gold ornaments were brightly illuminated by the candlelight, which was extremely beautiful.

However, such gorgeousness and brilliance couldn't comfort the injured girl, and her cold heart still couldn't wait for the person she loved.

"I thought I was amazing because I could sense that you lit the lantern and wanted to see me. I didn't expect you to be more capable than me, and you actually knew the secret of my ability to use magic. You are amazing and worthy of praise."

Jingle was caught off guard because of the applause from behind. Jingle quickly turned around, staggered by the familiar rabbit mask.

The man hurriedly stepped forward to support her shaky body, and his voice was apologetic.

"Are you scared? I'm sorry. But I'm so glad you finally lit the lantern, which means you remember me."

"Big brother, you really found me..."

Jingle was in a daze, only knowing that she was dazed at the eyes like the moonlight behind the man's mask.

The man's graceful lips exposed under the mask pursed into a slight arc. He looked at her and said gently.

"You're in the rain. Go and change your clothes first. I'll wait for you."

"Big brother, do you know martial arts?"

The girl held him with deep eyes, and strange colors flashed across her cold pupils.

"Help me kill someone. Help me kill someone!"

When she saw him, the unfortunate event that happened on the night of the Girl's Day flooded into the girl's mind, dissipating all her sweetness, surprise, and joy in an instant. There was only the endless stream of hatred and anger in her heart.

The man was stunned. The corners of his mouth twitched, and his expression behind the rabbit mask could not be seen.

The slender figure in black clothes was reflected on the golden-pink pillars, under the faintly swaying lanterns.

His tone couldn't hide his anxiety.

"Who do you want to kill? Why?"

The girl stared at him sternly with her watery red eyes and said word by word.

"Huanan He, the Ninth Prince. Don't ask me why!"

Seeing him standing frozen and motionless, the girl couldn't wait any longer and took a few steps to get closer to him.

Her eyes wandered towards the rabbit mask.

"If you kill him for me, I'll be yours."

Standing on tiptoe, Jingle kissed the man's clear lips.

The eyes behind the mask widened.

Suddenly, a force was pushed out, and Commandery Princess Jingle staggered back and almost fell.

She held the corridor column in her hand, and her expression was cold and treacherous. Only her immature but flawless face did not show any shyness.

Her eyes were cold, and the girl laughed wildly up to the sky.

"Ha-ha! Why do you have to pretend? Don't you all like women like this?"

"If you help me, I have to repay you. Apart from this body, I really have nothing to thank you for."

"I won't help you kill people, and I don't understand why you became like this. If I knew you would fall like this, why should I save you in the first place?"

The man was angry. His tone was sullen.

Seeing the crystal dew on her trembling long eyelashes, he suppressed the anger around him and sighed.

"Love that doesn't belong to you is like sand in the palm of your hand. The more you hold on to it, the faster it will pass. Why don't you let yourself go?"

Jingle was slightly stunned.

"You... You know...?"

He smiled lightly. His voice was soft.

"I know all about you, believe it or not."

Commandery Princess Jingle was surprised. Her eyes were half down, and she kept thinking.

When she raised her eyes again, the courtyard was empty.

"Big brother, where are you?"

Commandery Princess Jingle's heart suddenly seemed to be weightless, and it felt extremely uncomfortable to lose someone.

She ran down the corridor and kept looking around the high walls. She looked all over the flowerbeds and behind the trees.

As she turned around, the girl who was engrossed was once again frightened by another man.

"Ah! Lord… Lord Yue..."

Yue Xilou's eagle-like sharp eyes retracted from one side of the high wall and locked on the girl. Then he raised his eyebrows to ask.

"Who is that person? Who is that person you call 'big brother'?"

"I… I don't know. I don't know, either..."

Jingle's heart beat like a drum, her hands trembling on her heart and her eyes dodging.

"You don't know? Then why did he meet you late at night? Those who enter the Palace at night are either assassins or thieves! Your Highness, can you undertake it?"

Yue Xilou scolded her coldly with his hands clasped behind his back.

The girl opposite shivered and was extremely frightened. She waved her hand to explain.

"Don't doubt him. He's a good man. He saved me on the night of Girl's Day. But he always wears a mask, and I don't know who he is. Lord Yue, please believe me."

"Oh?"

Yue Xilou twitched his fingers when he heard the words, and his anger subsided.

Walking forward slowly, he surrounded the shivering girl with fierce eyes.

"Don't play tricks on me. You are the one who put the philter in the imperial wine. The one in Jingyang Palace is very shrewd. She suffered a loss tonight, and she will suspect you tomorrow."

"You are simply stupid to the limit. After doing such a thing, you dare to go to Jingyang Palace to make a move again. Besides, you actually disclosed His Majesty's whereabouts to His Highness, the Ninth Prince."

"If you do this, others will understand what you do, and they will doubt you!"

The girl came to her senses after thinking about it over and over again, and she was about to cry for a while.

"Lord Yue, you have to save me. I must never let His Majesty know that the philter was given by me. You must save me!"

She crawled at the eunuch's feet, hugged his thigh, cried, and begged.

Yue Xilou bent down and raised the girl's chin, sneering.

"If you want to be safe in the future, you'd better stand on the same side as me. Tell me everything about you and that man."

When that person appeared, he must wear a mask, so as to make things mysterious. He was able to deceive Commandery Princess Jingle, but he couldn't deceive Yue Xilou.

That guy should be someone Commandery Princess knew, and he might be a person in the Palace...

―

Leshuang returned to the courtyard, took off his casual clothes in the dark, and changed into the official robes of the Bingbi of the Imperial Ceremony Office, and then the candle was lit.

After hiding the mask properly, he took out a small rectangular wooden box from the locker, sat at the table, and gently opened it in front of the light.

On the red velvet lining lay a pearl flower that was a little old, and those tortoiseshell colorful treasures were obviously faded.

Leshuang held a pearl flower in his hand, and his deep eyes met the flickering candlelight.

His thoughts drifted away.

That year, the gate burst, and floods flooded his home. When he was young, he followed the refugees away from home. On the way, an outbreak of plague killed his father.

There was a place to cook porridge, but he was too young and had been pushed away by crazy refugees several times.

Because of the unbearable hunger and illness, he was tired and sleepy, and then he fainted in a corner.

It was the girl’s voice that sounded like a silver bell that made him open his eyes again.

At the time, she was only six or seven years old. Her skin was fine, like the morning sun shining on the snow. She wore a beautiful cloud-shaped bun. With the bird-shaped headwear, she had beautiful eyebrows. When she was smiling and moving, she was innocent and radiant with youth and brilliance.

"Big brother, are you sick?"

She looked at him with watery eyes but was stopped by the wet nurse when she tried to approach him.

When she heard that he was a starving victim, the girl immediately shouted for the servants to go to her house to get some solid food.

She raised her hand and took off a pearl flower and stuffed it into his dirty hand. The girl's sweet smile was like a bluebell in the forest.

"Here you are. Take it. You can exchange it for money."

That year, he remembered this girl, Mu Qianying, the daughter of the Mu Family in Haining County.

―

Leshuang recovered from his memory and stared at the beautiful pearl flower. His index finger repeatedly touched the lips that she had kissed, and he sighed mournfully.

"Ying'er, how can I save you?"