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

If Gu Nianzhi had previously been looking at everything around her from the perspective of a bystander, with the same mentality as when she read a book, then starting from today, when she knew that she had completely changed Shu Huaiyuan's fate, she finally had some real sense of participation here.

The world is not yet settled, so everything can be fought for.

If he could help the prince ascend the throne smoothly, with his generosity and kindness, perhaps there would be no wars between countries.

From this moment on, Gu Nianzhi decided that, until she found the Phoenix Kingfisher Hairpin, she would unconditionally help the Crown Prince and the Third Prince as long as she was in the book.

She began to believe that as long as she tried her best, she should be able to give those lovely paper people in the book a good ending.

"Mr. Gu, Mr. Gu?" Gu Nianzhi was lost in thought until Lin Heng spoke, and she came back to her senses.

"W-what?"

"Before leaving, the Third Prince told me that if you are still feeling unwell this morning, he would ask me to find a doctor for you. If you recover today, he would ask me to take you to the East Palace after lunch, saying that he has something to discuss with you."

"Eastern Palace? Is it the Crown Prince who wants to see me?"

"I don't know the details. Mr. Gu, can you go today? If you can, I will send someone to the palace to report earlier."

“Go.” Gu Nianzhi agreed straightforwardly. Although the inner courtyard of the imperial palace was dangerous, he had a God’s perspective after all, and he didn’t believe that he couldn’t defeat those monsters.

After lunch, Gu Nianzhi followed Lin Heng to Duanmen.

This is the main entrance and exit to the palace.

Gu Nianzhi had no official position and could only enter and exit through the side door with the palace servants.

Today is the day for visiting relatives, and many palace servants who had gone out to visit relatives early in the morning lined up in front of the door.

Gu Nianzhi had no choice but to queue in the long line.

Lin Heng had a guard token and did not need a body check. He could have entered and exited through the main gate, but in order to wait for Gu Nianzhi, he had to stand guard nearby.

Shu Huaiyuan, wearing the armor of a long-guard, was patrolling here and saw Lin Heng standing at the door from afar.

"Lin Heng, what are you doing here?"

When Gu Nianzhi heard Shu Huaiyuan's voice, he turned around, smiled brightly among the crowd, and waved vigorously to Shu Huaiyuan.

"Why is Mr. Gu standing in the line of palace servants?" Shu Huaiyuan smiled back at Gu Nianzhi and turned to ask Lin Heng.

Lin Heng explained the whole story clearly. Shu Huaiyuan stepped forward and pulled Gu Nianzhi out without saying anything, allowing her to enter the palace through the main gate.

"Rules are dead, but people are alive. Although Mr. Gu has no official position, he is a distinguished guest personally invited by the Crown Prince. How can we let him queue up through the side door?"

Shu Huaiyuan escorted the two into the palace gate. Gu Nianzhi smiled and teased, "You just changed from General Shu to Chief of the Shu Guards. I see you adapted very quickly!"

"Mr. Gu, you are making fun of me. I am just doing my duty." Shu Huaiyuan cupped his hands and said, "I still have to inspect other palace gates, so I can't accompany you to the East Palace."

Gu Nianzhi was about to say goodbye to Shu Huaiyuan when she heard a girl's voice next to her: "Brother Huaiyuan!"

The three turned around and saw a young woman in a light pink dress with a white gauze top trotting towards them with a smile on her face, followed closely by two maids.

"I finally found you!" The woman smiled and looked up at Shu Huaiyuan with affectionate eyes.

"Hello, Princess Yun'an." Shu Huaiyuan's expression was as indifferent as ever.

"I heard from my brother that Brother Huaiyuan starts serving as the chief of the imperial sword-bearing guards today, and Yun'an came here specially to congratulate him." The woman's enthusiasm was not dampened by Shu Huaiyuan's coldness at all. Instead, she became even more enthusiastic and proactive.

"Thank you, Princess Yun'an, for your concern."

"Brother Huaiyuan, I have run to several city gates today and finally met you here. This is the sachet I embroidered myself, please accept it, Brother Huaiyuan..." Princess Yun'an took out a green triangular sachet from her sleeve, held it in both hands, and looked at Shu Huaiyuan expectantly.

"No reward without merit. Huaiyuan feels unworthy of it. Please take it back, Princess." Shu Huaiyuan bowed and rejected Princess Yun'an's kindness.

Gu Nianzhi was standing nearby, looking anxious.

The love of this little girl was rejected by Shu Huaiyuan with the words "No merit, no reward".

"Brother Huaiyuan, just accept it." After being rejected, Yun An looked a little lonely, but still looked at Shu Huaiyuan eagerly.

Shu Huaiyuan looked embarrassed and was about to refuse again, but Gu Nianzhi took the sachet from Princess Yun'an and forced it into his hand.

"Princess Yun'an is so kind, I would be disrespectful to refuse her. You should accept her immediately. Not only should you accept her, you should also keep her with you at all times." After saying that, Gu Nianzhi leaned close to Shu Huaiyuan's ear and whispered, "Master, this beautiful lady's kindness should not be wasted."

Shu Huaiyuan had no choice but to stuff the sachet into his waist.

"Thank you, Princess Yun'an. I have something important to do, so I'll take my leave now." Shu Huaiyuan said the name of the princess, but his eyes were looking at Gu Nianzhi. There was a hint of resentment in his eyes, and then he turned and left.

Princess Yun'an was very happy after finally giving the gift.

"What do you call this gentleman?"

"My surname is Gu, and I am the counselor of His Royal Highness the Third Prince."

"Ah, I know! You are the Mr. Gu who came back from Qiangyi with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. No wonder you have such a good relationship with Brother Huaiyuan. Thank you, Yun'an, for what you did today!" Princess Yun'an bowed slightly regardless of the difference in status.

"I can't bear it..." Although Gu Nianzhi was not very clear about the etiquette of the imperial palace, he also knew that the princess had a noble status.

"I can afford it, I can afford it!" Yun An said with a bright face: "As long as Mr. Gu can say a few good words for me in front of Brother Huaiyuan and help me pass the gift to Brother Huaiyuan in the future, I will be willing to kowtow to you!"

"This..." Gu Nianzhi was a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, Lin Heng came to the rescue: "Princess Yun'an, Mr. Gu is in a hurry to meet the Crown Prince, so we can't chat for long. We will take our leave first."

"Okay, then I'll go pay my respects to the Queen Mother. See you next time, Mr. Gu!"

Gu Nianzhi forced a smile and said goodbye to Yun An.

"Mr. Gu, Lin Heng dared to say something that should not be said. You really shouldn't have taken the initiative to help Chief Guard Shu accept the sachet today."

"Princess Yun'an is a girl. It's so embarrassing to be rejected in public."

"Mr. Gu, here, women embroider sachets as gifts to their lovers..."

"So what? Princess Yun'an is pretty and lovely, and of noble status. Could it be that she is not worthy of him, Shu Huaiyuan?"

"Alas, Mr. Gu, you don't know that Princess Yun'an is the daughter of the Queen's brother Bai Mo. Guard Shu's father and brother have always been at odds with the Queen's family. Even though Guard Shu's father and brother are dead, it's impossible for him to marry the daughter of his enemy, right?"

"But why is Bai Mo's daughter a princess? Aren't only those of royal bloodline eligible to be given the title of princess?" Gu Nianzhi was puzzled.

“Ever since the previous dynasty began conferring the title of princess on unmarried girls from the families of meritorious officials, there have been girls being given the title from time to time. To put it bluntly, giving a woman the title of princess is just an empty name, but it can make her father and brother work harder on the battlefield.” Seeing that there was no one around, Lin Heng introduced softly in Gu Nianzhi’s ear.

"I understand. To put it bluntly, this is the emperor's way of winning people's hearts, right?" Gu Nianzhi blurted out, and Lin Heng was so scared that he quickly covered her mouth: "Mr. Gu, you have to be careful when speaking in the palace!"

"I know, I know." Gu Nianzhi changed his mind and said, "Lin Heng, so, I meant well but ended up doing something bad today?"

"That's right. Princess Yun'an has liked Guard Chief Shu since she was a child, but Guard Chief Shu tried to avoid her as much as possible. And you took the initiative to match the two of them..."

"Then... then according to your customs, if a man accepts a sachet from a woman, can he return it?"

Lin Heng was helpless and shook his head.

"Mr. Gu, you should think about how to apologize to Chief Guard Shu."