Meili walked slowly, the surrounding area was still lush with grass and trees as before, passing by a few small trees, crossing over a small hill... The little river was still there, not dried up.

  She stopped in her tracks, gazing at the clear river water flowing gently by, and for a moment couldnt discern the taste, just like seeing an old friend after a long separation. She had forgotten how many years ago she had run to this desolate place with a broken heart, crying, and accidentally discovered the beautiful scenery behind the hill. From then on, every time she came to the arena, she would come here to take a look, and had even thought of bringing him along.

  She silently walked to the slope by the river, where wildflowers were in full bloom, untouched by horse hooves, covering the entire mountain with a riot of colors, so beautiful that it made her sigh. In fact, every spring the flowers bloomed just as beautifully, she just didnt know how to appreciate them.

  Lost in her own thoughts, she only heard the sound when it was very close. It sounded like several peoples footsteps, they were chatting and laughing, and had already walked too close, she didnt even have time to hide.

  "...is a bit more flavorful than before, but its not interesting. That little servant from Jiangnan is much better than her."

  She couldnt make out whose voice it was, and this time there were many people she couldnt call by name.

  "I still think she was more interesting when she was chubby, although her temper is annoying. Thinking about it, its also a bit of a challenge to get her into bed." Another mans words brought laughter from the others, who scolded him for being obscene.

  "Still waiting for you to get into bed? I reckon hes already crawled onto Jingxuans bed by himself." These men spoke and laughed without restraint, as there was no one else around.

  "I think shes given up this time. Not to mention back then, even now, with her family background and status, how can she compare to the daughter of a salt supervisor? The emperor and the ancestors are currently using Zhamulang, and Sue has been promoted to Dorji. Look at the pendant on Sues waist, thats a treasure I thought about for half a year before deciding to buy."

  "Ha! Where are you looking at the girl?" The mischievous laughter rose again.

  "Alright, alright! Why must it be Jingxuan? The Qing dynasty is full of handsome men, Im not worse than him!" She said with a smile.

  "Haha." Several men said with delight, teasing each other.

  "You guys better not show your true colors in front of the ancestors, I heard from Eldest Sister that the ancestors have spread the word to find a husband for Mei Li. If the ancestors see your wolf-like behavior, theyll definitely force her to marry one of you without hesitation."

  "Whats there to be afraid of!" A man sneered with disdain, "Its just her, at most shes a lowly gege, even the slightly better families would only consider her as a concubine. That little appearance, being played around by Ce Fujin is already making the most of it."

  Several men finished their business and walked to the riverbank to wash their hands, only then did they notice Mei Li sitting behind them, and they all looked stunned. Someone said something about horses, and they all started talking about that topic without looking at her again, washing their hands in an awkward manner before leaving, with no one giving her another glance.

  Meili gazed at the sky in front of her, it was really vast. When she was in Anning Hall, she could only see a small piece of sky cut off by the square walls of the palace. She looked and looked, and it took a long time for a cloud to drift over.

  She took two deep breaths of fresh air, just like this... she was already satisfied.

  There were footsteps again. This time she heard them in time, with enough time to hide or reveal her presence. After all, everyone was embarrassed to hear that kind of conversation.

  She stood up, and from behind the slope came a gentle and soft conversation.

  "Can you climb up there, idiot?!"

  The voice sounds familiar, she turned over the slope and saw a boy and a girl, two little kids, stacking up a pagoda to climb onto a wild hawthorn tree to pick the still green hawthorn fruit.

  "Danger!" She hastily ran over to hug down the Autumn Swallow riding on Autumn Springs shoulders, they were the ninth kings little grandson and granddaughter, who used to like to entangle her to play together.

  "Meili jiejie!" The two little guys stared at her in shock, "Is it really you?"

  "Uh-huh." Meri nodded vigorously, not even knowing what she was getting excited about. Before, she had been most annoyed by these two pesky little brats.

  "Meili jiejie!" The two of them rushed over, one on the left and one on the right, each wrapping an arm around her. "Didnt you go to a very faraway place? Youre finally back!"

  Went to a very far away place...... its really far.

  "Do you want hawthorn?" She suddenly didnt want to hear the two children make any more unpleasant remarks about parting, "Thats inedible, very sour."

  "I like sour food?" Qiu Yuan said with a worried tone.

  After all, children are children, and once they start talking about something that interests them in front of their eyes, they will forget what they were sad about just now. She was like this before too.

  "Mei-Ling sister will go pick for you." She smiled.

  "Can you climb up?" Qiū Quán obviously didnt trust her much.

  With the kids, her mischievous personality seemed to return a bit. She raised an eyebrow, intentionally showing off a few points of pride, "Watch this!" She took a few steps back, ran forward and jumped up, grabbing onto a relatively low-hanging tree branch root with one hand. Today, she had worn flat-soled boots for the hunting trip. With a burst of strength from her arm, her body swung lightly, her feet pushing off the trunk, and she was already straddling the fork in the tree trunk.

  "Wow! Thats awesome!" The two kids looked up in admiration.

  Meili smiled and stood up on the trunk to pick some bigger green fruits. The sea buckthorn tree was not very sturdy, and even though she had a slender figure, it was still quite strenuous, causing the whole tree to tremble slightly.

  "Whats going on?!" A low growl mixed with a few parts of annoyance, scared Akira instinctively to crouch down and retreat into the fork of the tree trunk.

  Under the tree stood four or five people, Jingxuan was cold-faced and stared at her with his eyes raised. Sue covered her mouth behind him, laughing hehe, obviously finding this scene very interesting. Yonghe also looked at her on the tree with a smile that was not quite a smile, and Yinli beside him glanced sideways, seemingly saying to his cousin Sangzhu in a loud voice, "Still like climbing high and low as before, causing trouble."

  "Meili sister is picking fruit for us, dont be unreasonable!" Qiuyuan puffed up her small chubby face and said protectively, also staring at Yinhua with her eyes.

  "Come down!" Jingxuan frowned and shouted.

  He had a bad habit of meddling with her! He loathed her, scolded her, and it seemed to have become his helpless habit. After two years of peace, this habit still hadnt changed.

  Meili nodded, indeed too unseemly.

  Yonghe took a step forward to help her down, but she smiled and shook her head, grasping the tree trunk with one hand and sliding down effortlessly. Yonghe laughed a few times.

  "How did you become so good at climbing trees?"

  Meili lowered her eyes, and a hint of a smile floated on the edge of her lips. "I learned it in the Cold Palace. Theres a persimmon tree in my courtyard."

  Yin Di and Sang Zhu both burst out laughing, Yin Di still taking the opportunity to say sarcastically: "Well, you really havent wasted your time, learning such a skill."

  Is this thing? I guess so.

  When people are lonely to the extreme, they often have very strange behaviors. She will climb a tall and straight persimmon tree just to see a bigger sky from a higher place. Sometimes she sees palace maids or eunuchs passing by, or old women sitting in the courtyard of the neighboring palace, staring blankly. She feels a wave of joy, seeing that there is still human happiness so close to her, but these people wont understand.

  The sound of horns and drums, Su Ying pulled Jing Xuans sleeve, "Hurry back, the hunt has begun."

  The sound made everyone excited, and even Qiuquan Qiuyuan was overjoyed and ran to the front of the crowd. Jingxuan and Yonghe quickened their pace and rushed back.

  Meili walked at the very back, slowing down her pace, and finally stopped... silently watching them leave. No one turned around to beckon her to catch up, no one noticed she was falling behind.

  She smiled, just as they were uninterested in her affairs, she was no longer interested in theirs, cheering for those men was something she liked to do when she was a kid.

  Now she... would rather be alone, gazing up at the vast and distant azure sky. This kind of enjoyment, she had been longing for in the Anning Temple for a very long time, a very long time.

  This book is first published on 17K, read the genuine content at the first time!