Peach Blossom.

"No..." Wang Jing gave the answer Tao Ye wanted, but his eyes were so conflicted.

For some reason, Tao Ye felt even more sad and couldn't help crying.

She hurried back into the house to avoid Wang Jing because she knew she looked ugly when she was crying.

Wang Jing seemed to understand Tao Ye's tears. He followed Tao Ye in and reached out to hold Tao Ye's sleeve: "I'll help you apply the medicine."

Tao Ye closed the door and undressed in the candlelight. She couldn't tell how nervous she was; her heart was pounding.

Although she had slept on the same bed with Wang Jing many times in these days, she had never undressed and always slept soundly.

She turned her back to Wang Jing, revealing her backside.

Wang Jing applied medicine to her, little by little, with very gentle movements.

It was late at night, a man and a woman were alone in a room, and they were so close to each other... Tao Ye certainly had an impulse in her heart, but she felt that her initiative period should end.

As a woman, she cannot take the initiative endlessly.

Tao Ye never turned around, and Wang Jing was even more well-behaved, always standing behind her.

After applying the medicine, Wang Jing left quickly.

That night, Tao Ye couldn't sleep again.

When she couldn't sleep, she thought about a lot of random things.

She wondered if her colleague Li You had returned to their original time and had sent the news that she was still alive to her mother...

Even if the message is conveyed, will my mother be relieved?

Sometimes, she would question whether it was really worth it to stay here for Wang Jing and not return.

She had never been in love in her time, but after coming here, she fell in love with Wang Jing for some reason.

But Wang Jing doesn't like her... Even if he has a little feeling for her, it's only because she has the shadow of his beloved first wife!

Thinking of this, Si Yu's words suddenly emerged in her mind: "Even if he had something with you, in his eyes, you are just Mantang Jiao's shadow. Are you willing to be a shadow forever?"

Si Yu...actually treats her very well. He won't use her like Chen Ji did, nor will he just treat her as a substitute like Wang Jing did...He treats her purely well...

However, Si Yu is dead. As an emperor, his death was unclear, but no one was really sad about his death. Now Prince Yongchang is preparing to enter the capital under the banner of "avenging his brother", but it is only for the throne!

How sad is Si Yu’s life?

Tao Ye was Si Yu's most beloved person before his death, but she never thought about investigating the murder case or taking revenge for Si Yu. She was only sad for a short while about Si Yu's death. She felt so sorry for Si Yu...

Wang Jing suspected that Chen Ji had killed Si Yu, but Tao Ye didn't know if that was the case.

Previously, Wang Jing had said that Chen Ji had killed Mantang Jiao, and she believed it, but now she felt that she might have been wrong, and she did not dare to easily believe Wang Jing's inference about Si Yu's death...

If Chen Ji had not killed Mantang Jiao and Si Yu, Tao Ye felt that there was nothing wrong with Chen Ji. At most, he just used her to steal the treasury map!

But Wang Jing relied on his magic to come to Yongchang and find his father. Isn't that also taking advantage of himself?

She fell asleep unknowingly as she was lost in thought.

The next morning, Wang Yi told Tao Ye that they were going to leave Chen Ji's house and go to Xitang together.

According to the plan made by Wang Yi, Xitang is the most sparsely populated area, so the gold rush should start from Xitang.

Tao Ye didn't dare to ride the horse alone. Seeing Wang Jing had already mounted his horse outside the door, she habitually got on Wang Jing's horse and sat behind him.

When they were about to leave, Chen Ji came out to see them off. He had a paper bag in his arms and passed it to Tao Ye after he got off his horse: "Girl, take this with you!"

Tao Ye raised her tired eyelids, glanced at the paper bag, and asked nonchalantly, "What's in it?"

"Pumpkin seeds." Chen Ji smiled.

"Pumpkin seeds?" Tao Ye was a little puzzled.

Chen Ji looked up at Tao Ye and explained, "On the night of our fake wedding, you couldn't sleep, so you ate a lot of melon seeds. You couldn't sleep last night, so I found some melon seeds for you to take with you. You can pass the time when you can't sleep."

Tao Ye was a little surprised. Chen Ji actually knew that she had insomnia last night?

She looked at Wang Jing who was sitting in front of her. Wang Jing seemed to have heard and seen nothing, and just sat quietly facing forward.

She took the melon seeds and said, "Thank you."

Chen Ji smiled and nodded, then said to Wang Jing, "Brother Wang, please take good care of her."

Wang Jing smiled coldly, still looking forward: "Wang has never been good at taking care of others. If Brother Chen is worried, you might as well leave the person here and take care of him personally!"

When Tao Ye heard this, she really wanted to dismount immediately!

Wang Yi came over and acted as a peacemaker. He smiled and said to Chen Ji, "Don't worry, my dear nephew. I treat Miss Tao like my own daughter and will take good care of her."

When Tao Ye heard this, she had to give Wang Yi some face, so she sat back quietly.

"Take care, uncle!" Chen Ji bowed to Wang Yi, then personally helped Wang Yi onto the horse, and they said goodbye to each other again.

Wang Yi then took Wang Jing, Tao Ye, Qiong Ju and Chong Qiu with him and set off for Xitang.

Because the mission was not urgent, they did not walk fast. Although Tao Ye and Wang Jing were riding on the same horse, they both remained silent.

On the way, Wang Yi kept paying attention to Tao Ye's condition: her eyes were dull, her mind was dazed, and she looked completely absent-minded, with no idea where her mind was wandering.

Although Wang Yi didn't know why Tao Ye couldn't sleep last night, he knew that Wang Jing went to see Tao Ye before going to bed last night. As for why there was an unpleasantness between the two... he knew his son well, so he could roughly guess the reason.

Wang Yi knew Tao Ye was in a trance, but he just kept shouting, "Miss Tao, what do you think of Madam Bai in Yongchang Palace?"

"Bai... Madam Bai?" Tao Ye was surprised and unconsciously put all the messy thoughts she had just had behind her: "Isn't the one next to the king Madam Han?"

Wang Yi smiled and nodded: "Madam Bai is the king's other wife, and also Madam Han's cousin."

"Ah?" Tao Ye found it very interesting. Her old habit of loving gossip suddenly came back: "Who is more beautiful, Madam Bai or Madam Han?"

Wang Yi smiled and said, “I have never seen Madam Bai, so I dare not say, but Madam Han is younger, and young people tend to feel better.”

"Does the king have other wives?" Tao Ye's attention had been completely diverted by Prince Yongchang's household affairs.

"Nothing."

"Is Madam Bai the mother of Princess Si Rong?"

Wang Yi saw that Tao Ye was getting more and more interested, so he began to explain systematically: "Princess Si Rong's mother was the king's first wife. She gave birth to a son and a daughter for the king, but both mother and son died on the way to exile.

The king was very sad and had to depend on his daughter Princess Si Rong for life. Later, the king was crowned as king and did not want to appoint another queen, but for the sake of his offspring, he took Bai Yu, the daughter of the governor of Yongchang County, into the palace and named her Lady Bai.

Mrs. Bai gave birth to a son, named Si Xiu. Later, Mrs. Bai was too busy taking care of Si Xiu to serve the king, so she recommended her cousin Han Si to the palace. Mrs. Han had a photographic memory, and the king kept her by his side as if she were his entire study, so he never left her side.

However, neither Lady Bai, who gave birth to the king's only son, nor Lady Han, who was regarded as the king's right-hand man, could replace the position of the princess's biological mother in the king's heart. He would personally pay homage to the queen he posthumously conferred every year."

After hearing this, Tao Ye was filled with emotion: "The king is also a man who values ​​friendship and loyalty."

She suddenly understood why Prince Yongchang was so moved by Wang Jing's request to "cancel my marriage with Princess Si Yao and allow me to move the body of my first wife, Man, back to the Wang family's ancestral tomb."

Wang Yi smiled and asked Tao Ye: "Miss Tao, do you think that Madam Bai or Madam Han will be jealous of the king's nostalgia?"

Tao Ye answered without hesitation according to her own imagination: "It shouldn't be, right? Marrying a good man with deep love and loyalty will ensure a secure life for the rest of their lives. That is also their blessing!"

After answering, Tao Ye suddenly felt that Wang Yi's question seemed to be hinting at something...

They stopped at the foot of a low hill in Xitang.

Wang Yi began to instruct Wang Jing, Qiongju and Chongqiu to build several houses here for short-term accommodation, and then assigned each of them to do this and that.

Tao Ye found these work chores very boring, so she casually strolled to a high place to relax.

As she walked, she was thinking about many things.

Although she was not smart, she was not so stupid that she could not understand the underlying meaning of Wang Yi's words, which was that she should not be jealous or angry because Wang Jing missed his first wife.

As she walked, she saw many wild flowers on the mountain, some big, some small, of different shapes and colors, gathered together, looking like a gorgeous natural carpet from a distance.

Facing the wild flowers, she couldn't help humming a song:

I advise you not to cherish the golden robe,

I advise you to cherish your youth.

The flowers can be folded straight and must be folded,

Don't wait for the flowers to be empty.

Several men at the foot of the mountain heard the song and looked up at Tao Ye at the same time: she was wearing a pink dress, standing beside a group of flowers, with the breeze blowing, and the hem of her skirt and the color of the flowers complemented each other, as beautiful as a painting.

Qiongju could not help but admire: "Miss Tao's singing voice is melodious and graceful, like a lark."

"When flowers are in bloom, pick them. Don't wait until there are no flowers left to pluck..." Wang Yi repeated it and also praised: "This poem is great!"

Wang Yi then glanced at Wang Jing and asked with a smile: "Do you know what she is thinking at this moment?"

"I don't know." Wang Jing lowered his head and answered quickly.

Wang Yi shook his head and sighed helplessly.

Qiong Ju smiled and said, "If the Second Young Master doesn't take it seriously, be careful that the man named Chen will come to snatch her away!"

Wang Jing just remained silent.

Wang Yi waved to Qiongju and Chongqiu, and the two left first.

Wang Jing knew his father's intention to send the two away, so he rejected it without waiting for his father to speak: "Father, if you want to bring me and Tao Ye together, forget it!"

Wang Yi was very puzzled: "You obviously like her, why do you have to go against your will?"

Wang Jing looked at Tao Ye standing in the wind with a deep gaze: "Father should be able to see that Tao Ye is very similar to Ah Jiao. I'm just afraid that I don't really like her. Maybe I just found Ah Jiao's shadow in her."

Wang Yi was even more puzzled: "You like Gillian so much, she has a bit of Gillian's shadow, isn't that good?"

"No! I don't want to use her as a substitute for Gillian. It's not fair to Gillian, and it's not fair to Taoye either."

"But if you just spend every day with her in an ambiguous relationship, are you being worthy of Gillian? Are you being worthy of Tao Ye?"

Wang Jing was speechless.

Wang Yi stared at Wang Jing for a while and asked a question he didn't want to ask: "Tell me honestly, you two have slept on the same bed many times. Has anything like that ever happened to you?"