Chapter 31: Making a Fuss Over the Green Plum by the Bed

  More than a decade had passed, and when Hua Xiang Rong grew into a stunning beauty at the age of thirteen, Gong Sun Long Qing was already eighteen years old. He wore white clothes forever because he remembered that when Hua Xiang Rong was very young, she said that Big Brother Long Qing looked best in white... Moreover, when Little Rong wiped her nose, she liked to look for white things...

  That year, the Left Chancellor took Hua Xiang Rong away from Mount Shu, and the thirteen-year-old little girl cried tears of pear blossoms in the rain, refusing to part with Gong Sun Long. In the end, the eighteen-year-old young man in white clothes, Gong Sun Long, who had never knelt before anyone, suddenly knelt down in front of Hua Zhen Ting and asked him to marry Hua Xiang Rong to him.

  At the age of thirteen, Huaxiang Rong already knew what love and affection were. She also liked Gong Sunlongqing, but as a daughter, she never spoke out. Gong Sunlongqing's kneeling moved her, but before she could respond, Hua Jinting tactfully declined.

  The daughter of the prime minister is either married off to an emperor or a prince.

  He openly says he loves his daughter and dotes on her excessively, but who would have known that the Prime Minister's daughter is also a useful pawn?

  The reason why Hua Xiang Rong is so sad is that she is also a pawn of her father, and will be a pawn in the hands of her future husband. She has been used and will continue to be used, with only her beauty to her name, but forever unable to obtain the love she desires.

  Finally, at the moment when Hua Xiang Rong was forcibly taken away, she heard her brother Chang Qing's voice: "Rong'er, Chang Qing swears that two years later, he will definitely stand shoulder to shoulder with your father, and on your coming-of-age ceremony, he will marry you and bring you happiness!"

  No one can understand the feelings of growing up together since childhood, no one can understand that Hua Xiang Rong was protected and pampered by Gong Sun Long for over a decade, it's already an unforgettable habit.

  The poem recited by the two small figures sitting under the tree and hugging each other echoed in my ears again: "Lang rides a bamboo horse, circling the bed to tease the green plum..."

  A year later, Gong Sunlong was appointed by the emperor himself after he coincidentally became a Jinshi.

  That one-off chance that no one knew, only Gong Sunlong knew the inevitability in it. If not for that chance, he wouldn't have become the Right Chancellor a year later either.

  No one understands the hardships and bitterness behind it, only knowing that he is a lucky person, who has been promoted continuously within a year, all the way to the position of second-in-command, which can be called a miracle.

  Who else knows that the white-clad young master, who did not want to take the imperial examination and only wanted to live in seclusion with his beloved Rong'er sister until they grew old together, was forced to do so for a 15-year-old girl.

  But everything was a step too late, just like he missed holding Hua Xiangrong's hand by a step back then.

  Hua Xiangyue had already been betrothed to King Jin as his official queen three days before he was appointed Right Chancellor, and they were married three days after Hua Xiangyue's hairpinning ceremony.

  Missed.

  Missed again.

  Bei'ai's Flower thoughtfully sat in the carriage heading to Jin Wang Fu, unable to see anything outside, only able to hear a warm heart very close to her own, little by little... fragmenting.

  She still remembered what she had said to Gong Sun Long on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony.

  After all, Father is old, and she has always known that she can only live in the midst of others' exploitation. For Father's sake, to let Long Qing-ge avoid falling into danger, she ruthlessly pushed away Gong Sun-longqing's warm hand, ruthlessly broke off the green plum blossoms in the courtyard, resolutely turned around and left, never to meet again.

  That man full of book fragrance, a flash of desolation and heartache in his eyes.

  Rong'er...do you know...

  If you say a word and follow me now, even if it means giving up fame and the position of prime minister, even if it means fighting to the death, I will take you with me and leave together... The world is vast, there must be a place where we can settle down.

  But why do you have to refuse in this forgotten way?

  Forget?

  It's easier said than done...