The princess was ordained by Heaven.

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Jiao suddenly grabbed Zheng Xun's arm and asked seriously, "Yuanjia, if I and your second sister fell into the river together, who would you save?"

A question mark slowly appeared above Zheng Xun's head.

Why does she seem to have some difficulty understanding?

"talk!"

Zheng Xun said decisively, "I'll save you!"

They talk about whoever is in front of them, and their main selling point is flexibility and adaptability.

"Really? So Yuan Jia likes your older sister more..."

Zheng Jin's resentful voice sounded behind her, making Zheng Xun's scalp tingle. After a moment of silence, she activated the gossip-eating system.

In such an urgent situation, the system's emergency alert was not highlighted in red!

She quickly found the tiny, almost invisible report button in a remote corner and started pressing it frantically.

But it was no use; the system remained as silent as ever.

Zheng Xun cursed "liar" and began to rack his brains.

A moment later, she turned to face Zheng Jin and said with a smile, "I'll save you. I already saved my older sister once, so I'll save you this time."

Zheng Jin said leisurely, "Really? Then if I break up with your older sister, who will you side with?"

Zheng Xun sighed and looked at Zheng Jiao: "Big sister, ask the question again."

Although Zheng Jiao didn't understand, she did as she was told: "If I and your second sister fell into the water at the same time, who would you save?"

"No one will save you. God is going to take your lives, and there's nothing your sister can do!"

Ask, ask, ask? What's the point of asking?

No matter how I ask, the answer is always the same: "Die, all of you!"

Zheng Jin and Zheng Jiao exchanged a glance and both saw the smile in each other's eyes.

They chatted and laughed, completely unaware that the annoying Han Lingfeng had already disappeared.

The ensuing banquet was not entirely peaceful, but with the Emperor and Empress present, no more scandalous incidents could reach their eyes.

After the banquet, she walked out of Taiping Palace. The autumn wind was slightly chilly. Zhichun draped a cloak over her shoulders, and Zhicheng held a lantern beside her. The sedan chair prepared for her by the emperor was right by the roadside. Zheng Jiao and Zheng Jin bid her farewell. Consort Xian and the Sixth Prince waited under the lamplight, waving to her with smiles.

Unbeknownst to her, so many people had already gathered around her.

When she returned to Mingzhu Pavilion, the moonlight streaming through the window cast a soft glow on the ground. In the middle of the night, she had a nightmare.

In my dream, a little girl, about ten years old but whose face I couldn't see, was chasing after me with a knife, trying to slash me.

Zheng Xun wanted to fight back, but his strength was restricted, so he could only flee in a sorry state.

However, she was very fast, and in the end, the little girl cried and begged her to stop.

"I'll stop if you put the knife down."

The little girl threw the knife away dejectedly, slumped to the ground, and gasped for breath.

Zheng Xun slowly approached, only to find that she had the exact same face as him.

"You are……"

The little girl glared at her angrily: "You took my body and you still ask who I am?!"

Zheng Xun understood and asked her with a smile, "Sweetie, how are you doing now?"

Sweetie was surprised by Zheng Xun's gentleness, and her anger dissipated instantly.

"Great, I'm in a beautiful world now, with very tall houses and fast-moving box-like structures..."

She smiled slightly, and although she had the same face as Zheng Xun, she looked even softer and cuter.

Zheng Xun's brows relaxed, and he asked, puzzled, "Then why did you chase me away with that?"

"I'm just a little angry because you stole my brother and Aunt Ping... You still have so many people who love you, even though they didn't like me before..."

Her brows were furrowed with disappointment, and her once clear eyes seemed to be clouded with dust, making her look pitiful.

But the next moment, her eyes lit up again: "However, I've figured it out now. It doesn't matter whether they like me or not. In this new world, I have so many people who love me."

So she doesn't blame her at all; she was just trying to scare her by holding the knife!

Zheng Xun's upturned lips slowly flattened: "That's because they haven't met you. A large part of the reason they're nice to me is because they're all very nice people. You're so cute and likable, if they met you, they would definitely like you too."

She gazed into the distance at the vast, boundless, gloomy mist, her voice carrying the chill of a crisp autumn morning: "But if they knew the real me, they definitely wouldn't like me."

Sweetie tilted her head and looked at her, then suddenly reached out and gently hugged her.

The little girl was small in stature and spoke in a soft voice: "No, someone will like you."

Zheng Xun touched her hair, just smiled, and didn't say anything.

“I have a wonderful older brother now. He is very gentle and looks exactly like you. He thought I couldn’t understand him. He said he has a wonderful younger sister who loved listening to him sing when she was little, waited for him to come home from school every day, and loved eating ice cream, but she has a bad stomach and always gets diarrhea, but she still insists on eating it.”

"He was very worried about his sister. He was so afraid that if he died, his sister wouldn't be doing well in that dangerous place..."

Sweetie took her hand and looked at the mole on her little finger: "He said that her sister had a mole on her little finger, and it is said that this way, they will meet again in their next life."

Zheng Xun stared blankly at her hands, her heart aching and tender, her vision gradually blurring, and before she knew it, tears were welling up in her eyes.

"Tell him I'm fine, and tell him... please take care of himself, and that he must wait for me. I will come back to find him..."

As the dream faded, Zheng Xun sat up abruptly, touched the corner of his eye, and found it wet.

"It's a dream..."

She raised her hand and discovered a tiny black mole on her little finger.

……

With the passing of the Autumn Festival, the tense atmosphere in the imperial court finally eased considerably.

After this purge, many positions in the court became vacant. Apart from those that were repetitive or useless and needed to be eliminated, a large number of positions remained vacant.

Those who wield power can never shake off their scheming instincts. Some people's eyes turn red when they see these positions, and they think about how they can push their students or nephews to the top. But when they think about the precarious future of the Great Yong Dynasty, their minds instantly clear.

With the future of the Great Yong Dynasty uncertain, it was not wise to drag its relatives and friends down with it. Besides, they knew how useless some of their relatives and friends were; sending them to the court would only hasten the downfall of the Great Yong Dynasty.

Therefore, everyone should honestly discuss the matter of opening a special imperial examination.

As it turns out, they are quite efficient when it comes to getting things done.

Looking at the harmonious court and the preliminary regulations that had been finalized in half an hour, the emperor felt as gratified as an adult seeing a naughty child finally become sensible.

Just when he was in a good mood, the Fifth Prince stepped forward, carrying a plate of cold water.

“Father, I learned from a merchant that a strange disease has appeared in Qingshui Village, Dianzhou. No one in the entire village has survived… Some unpleasant rumors are circulating among the people.”

emperor:?

"Oh? What nasty rumors?"

The fifth prince, oblivious to the emperor's displeasure, continued speaking to himself.

"There are rumors among the people that the Emperor acted against the will of Heaven by bestowing the title of Third Princess upon her, which angered the ancestors of the Great Yong Dynasty, and thus the ancestors sent down divine punishment..."

The emperor knows this trick all too well!

Who says this trick is outdated? This trick is fantastic!