The prince loves me like his life, but I force him to rebel

Gu Nianzhi was silent for a moment, staring intently at the road ahead, where the car continued to move forward under the illumination of the street lamps. Her thoughts seemed to be spinning rapidly with the turning of the wheels.

After a while, she slowly spoke: "Dasheng, for me, is a dreamlike experience. There are magnificent palaces, power struggles, and unknown dangers. But it is not my home after all." Her voice was calm and firm. "During my time in Dasheng, I was always on guard, afraid that I would fall into an irretrievable situation if I was not careful. The prosperity there has nothing to do with me, and the fighting there makes me tired."

Gu Nianzhi sighed softly: "Although there are difficulties and setbacks here, this is the life I am familiar with and the life I can control." Her eyes became firm, "Here are the people and things I love, and the goals I strive for."

The car fell into a brief silence, with only the sound of the car running echoing in his ears. Sima Yao looked at Gu Nianzhi quietly, as if thinking about her words.

"Sima Yao, during my time in Dasheng, although I experienced many new and exciting things, it is not my home." Gu Nianzhi spoke slowly, her voice calm and firm. She stared ahead, as if she could see the distant Dasheng through the windshield. "For Dasheng, I feel more like a bystander. The power struggles and complicated interpersonal relationships there make me feel tired and uneasy. I have to be careful every day, worried that I will say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing and bring disaster upon myself."

Gu Nianzhi's mind flashed back to the time in Dasheng. Behind those magnificent palaces were countless plots and calculations. "Every step is like walking on thin ice, and every word must be carefully considered in my heart. That kind of life of fear and anxiety is really not what I want." She thought silently in her heart, frowning slightly unconsciously.

"As for why I didn't steal your hairpin, it's because I can't do something that goes against my conscience." Gu Nianzhi's eyes became serious, and she turned her gaze to Sima Yao, her eyes full of determination and integrity. "Although I long to return to my own world and solve the problems I face, I can't do so at the cost of hurting or deceiving others. This is my principle and bottom line. I believe that as long as I work hard and persevere, I will always find a way to solve the problem."

Gu Nianzhi was very determined, and she knew the importance of maintaining kindness and integrity in difficult situations. "Things that go against my conscience, even if they can bring temporary benefits, will make me feel uneasy forever," she warned herself.

Sima Yao nodded slightly and said thoughtfully: "So that's how it is. I was judging others by my own standards." A trace of guilt appeared on his face, and his eyes were full of admiration for Gu Nianzhi.

Gu Nianzhi smiled gently: "Don't say that, it's normal for you to have such thoughts. After all, in such an environment, people may do whatever it takes to survive and gain benefits. But I believe that people should be more sincere and kind to each other." Her smile was like the spring sunshine, warm and bright.

The car fell into a brief silence again, with only the sound of the car running and the occasional sound of the wind coming from the window. During this brief silence, Gu Nianzhi's thoughts were turning rapidly, thinking about future plans.

"So what are you going to do next?" Sima Yao broke the silence and asked, his voice full of concern and curiosity.

Gu Nianzhi took a deep breath and said, "We still have to find a way to solve the problem of the opera troupe. I won't give up easily. Maybe I will re-plan some new plays and look for more performance opportunities. I plan to contact some schools and communities to carry out activities to popularize opera culture so that more people can understand and like opera." There was a glimmer of hope in her eyes, as if she had already seen the scene of future success.

"Every time I think of those traditional plays, I feel that there is still a lot of room for innovation." Gu Nianzhi's heart is full of creative passion, "We can add some modern elements to make the story closer to life and more likely to resonate with the audience."

"I also plan to use the Internet to let more people see our troupe through live broadcasts and short videos. Although this may face many technical and operational difficulties, I am willing to learn and try." Gu Nianzhi's eyes are shining with hope. She knows that this is a challenging road, but she is ready to face the difficulties.

"I believe that as long as I persist, there will always be a turning point." Gu Nianzhi gripped the steering wheel tightly, as if to cheer herself up.

Sima Yao looked at Gu Nianzhi's determined profile, and couldn't help but feel a little admiration in his heart: "I hope you can succeed." His voice was sincere and powerful.

Gu Nianzhi smiled: "Thank you, Sima Yao." Her smile was full of gratitude and confidence.

The vehicles continued to move in the night, carrying their hope and determination, towards the unknown future.

Gu Nianzhi seemed to have been exposed. Her eyes became evasive in an instant, and a barely perceptible panic flashed across her originally calm face. The subtle change in her expression was like the ripples on a calm lake surface blown by the wind. Her heart skipped a beat, as if it was tightly grasped by an invisible hand. "Why would he suddenly ask that?" She secretly groaned in her heart, trying hard to hide her inner panic.

She had indeed thought about it, and even put it into action. When she first came up with the idea of ​​using the hairpin to return to her own world, she was full of expectations and eagerness. At that time, she had only one thought in her mind, which was to return to her familiar world as soon as possible and solve the problem of the troupe.

"As long as I can go back, everything will be fine." She said this to herself countless times, her eyes filled with longing to go home.

However, when she knew that if she left like this, Sima Yao would definitely suffer the same tragic fate as in the original book, her inner balance began to sway violently. Every time she thought of the pain and despair Sima Yao might face, her heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible big hand, making her completely unable to bear it.

"He trusted me so much, how could I just abandon him like this?" Gu Nianzhi's heart was full of contradictions and struggles. Her brows were furrowed, as if she was engaged in a fierce inner struggle.

She only hoped that Sima Yao would live and live well. During those days in Dasheng, despite being in the vortex of power struggles and facing unknown dangers at all times, her concern and care for Sima Yao grew deeper and deeper.

The ups and downs they had experienced together, every difficult moment they faced together, left a deep mark in her heart. "His smile, his worries, his determination, all made me unable to let go." Gu Nianzhi thought silently in her heart, with tenderness and attachment in her eyes.

Just like the reason why he agreed to Cen Yu's conditions, it was for no other reason than that he hoped that Sima Yao, whom he had been thinking about, could live well.

"Maybe, maybe I've been in Dasheng for so long that I've developed feelings for everyone. Even though we're from two different worlds, I can't bear to see you in danger." Gu Nianzhi said vaguely, with a barely perceptible tremor in her voice. Her eyes wandered, not daring to look Sima Yao in the face. She was afraid that her eyes would betray her true feelings deep inside.

Sima Yao was extremely smart and understood more or less the meaning of Gu Nianzhi's words.

"Is it because of my safety?" Sima Yao's voice was low and full of doubt. He stared at Gu Nianzhi, trying to find a more accurate answer from her expression. His eyes were full of expectation and anxiety, like a child waiting for judgment.

Gu Nianzhi remained silent and did not answer. Her lips were tightly closed, and her hands unconsciously clenched the steering wheel. The atmosphere in the car suddenly became extremely solemn, as if time had stopped at this moment. She was struggling fiercely in her heart, "How should I answer? Admit or deny?" Every thought made her feel extremely entangled.

The silence in the car made the two people, who were each thinking about something, feel bad. Sima Yao turned his head and looked at the street lights that were receding one by one outside the window. Those bright lights flashed quickly in his eyes, but they could not illuminate his confused heart at the moment. His eyes were a little dull, and he was a little distracted by the rapidly receding light and shadow outside the window.

He deeply felt the advancement of this world. The sound of the wind caused by the speeding cars seemed to be a unique movement of this world. The towering buildings stood like giants, and the dazzling lights seemed to be stars falling on the earth. Every detail showed the huge difference between this world and the world he lived in.

In Dasheng, the lights at night are weak candlelight and lanterns, and the dim light can only illuminate a small area. People walk in the night, relying more on their familiarity and memory of the road. But here, the street lights are as bright as daylight, illuminating every corner clearly, and there is no trace of darkness to hide.

The road was wide and flat, with a constant flow of vehicles. The cars speeding past were like a surging torrent, which made him feel extremely strange and shocked. "What kind of world is this? Everything is so strange and so fast." He marveled in his heart, but also felt a little panic.

However, this advancement did not make him feel relieved, but deepened his fear of the unknown and his longing for his own world. He thought of the ancient city wall of Dasheng, where every brick and stone carried the memory of history; he thought of the carved beams and painted buildings in the palace, where the exquisite patterns were the crystallization of the craftsmen's hard work; he thought of those familiar faces, whose smiles and greetings were so heartwarming.

"Although this place is nice, it is not my home." He sighed silently in his heart, his eyes revealing deep attachment and loss.

Gu Nianzhi was also in a heavy mood. She knew that her silence might make Sima Yao more confused and uneasy, but she really didn't know how to face his questions. Her hands tightly gripped the steering wheel, and her knuckles turned slightly white due to the force.

Her mind kept flashing back to the details of her time in Dasheng, the ups and downs she had experienced with Sima Yao, the difficulties and dangers they had faced together. Every scene played clearly in her mind like a movie clip.

She remembered Sima Yao's determined eyes in the difficult situation, which seemed to be able to penetrate all the darkness; she remembered that he protected her behind him without hesitation when danger came, and his broad back gave her endless sense of security; she remembered that they confided their hearts to each other in the quiet night, and those gentle words were like a spring breeze blowing through her heart.

She knew that her feelings for Sima Yao had gone beyond ordinary friendship, but she didn't dare to admit it easily, fearing that this relationship would bring more trouble to each other. "We come from different worlds, what will happen in the future? Can I bear the consequences of this relationship?" She kept asking herself in her heart, and every question was like a huge rock, pressing her to the point of suffocation.

The car continued to move forward, and the silence inside the car remained. Gu Nianzhi's eyes were focused on the road ahead, but her mind had already drifted away. She was thinking, if she had not come to Dasheng, if she had not met Sima Yao, would everything be different?

Maybe she was still struggling for the survival of the troupe, maybe she would find other solutions, maybe her life would be as dull as water. But she immediately rejected this idea, because she knew that the experiences with Sima Yao, no matter how difficult they were, were the most precious wealth in her life.

Sima Yao looked at the scenery outside the window, his mind full of thoughts. He didn't know where to go in this strange world, and he didn't know what the future would be like for him and Gu Nianzhi. He only knew that at this moment, he was extremely eager to find an answer, an answer that would make him feel at ease.

"Where do I belong? Da Sheng, or this world full of unknowns?" His brows were furrowed, and the confusion in his heart was like a thick fog that took a long time to dissipate.

Time passed slowly in silence, and the car finally stopped at a red light. Gu Nianzhi sighed softly, breaking the long silence: "Sima Yao, I don't know what to say. I only know that I can't watch you get hurt." Her voice was low and hoarse, with deep helplessness and fatigue. Every word seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of her heart, and there was a slight tremor in her voice.

Gu Nianzhi's eyes became a little dim. She thought of the dangers and difficulties Sima Yao faced during the days in Dasheng. "How can I bear to see him fall into despair? Even if there is only a slight possibility, I can't let that happen." She thought silently in her heart, her brows knitted tightly together, forming a deep ravine.

Sima Yao turned his head and looked at Gu Nianzhi, his eyes filled with mixed emotions: "Gu Nianzhi, I don't understand why you have to give so much for me?" His eyes were filled with confusion, emotion, and a hint of indescribable emotion. There was a hint of urgency in his voice, as if he wanted to know the answer immediately.