Three Years After Falling Off the Cliff

The princes of the Long Dynasty had no titles and were treated as princes. The emperor loved his only son and after ascending the throne, he specifically ordered that his only son be treated as a crown prince.

But when Fu Yi got into Sui Tingheng's carriage, she found that the carriage was of princely specifications in every way. It did not have the golden dragon patterns that were exclusive to the crown prince and the emperor, and it was not even as gorgeous as Prince Ning's carriage back then.

She listened to the conversation between the prince and her elder brother, and leaned against the carriage wall to rest her eyes. When the carriage passed through the noisy streets, Fu Yi smelled the fragrance of food.

"Can the people of Chongzhou speak Mandarin?"

"Your Highness, Chongzhou is a place with high mountains and long roads. Not only do the people not speak Mandarin, but even villages dozens of miles apart have different accents." Yun Zhaobai bowed and said, "Fortunately, the local people are loyal to the emperor and patriotic. After my father took office in Chongzhou, the people treated us very warmly, and we gradually got along well with the local people."

"My sister was seriously injured and was rescued by the common people. Due to the high mountains and dangerous roads and language barriers, it took us a year and a half to get news of her." Thinking back to those days, Yun Zhaobai couldn't help but look at Fu Yi frequently. He felt at ease only when he saw her right in front of him.

Sui Tingheng also looked at her: "Did Miss Yun... have a hard time during that time?"

Fu Yi opened her eyes and saw that the prince and her brother were looking at her. She adjusted her sitting posture to make herself look more dignified. "In fact, I haven't had too many hard times. I have lived in the village for less than half a year. I can barely understand what they say. But the people in the village have never left the mountains in their lives, and they don't know the way to the state capital. I have a leg injury and can't travel long distances..."

Before she was fifteen, Yun Fuyi was fearless. But after she fell off the cliff, she finally learned how to be an honest person.
The road out of the village was on a cliff, only two palms wide. She mustered up her courage and climbed up several times, but in the end, the villagers scolded her and took her back to the village, her legs weak from fear.
When she recalls that journey now, her legs still feel weak.

"The villagers are really good at scolding, and I didn't dare say a word back." Fu Yi, a spoiled young lady who grew up in the capital, had never seen several families in the village scolding each other. They would scold from morning to night, and continue to scold after sleeping, and even scold while farming across the hill.

Compared with the villagers' ability to curse, what she did to Li Erlang was simply not worth a single blow.

"How did you reunite with your family afterwards?"

Fu Yi raised her head and met the prince's gaze. The prince turned his head slightly and lowered his eyelids to avoid her gaze.

Fu Yi smiled secretly in her heart, it turned out that the self-disciplined prince was also curious.

"Neither people nor letters can leave the mountains. I originally planned to completely heal my old injuries before thinking of a solution. But the next summer, there were continuous heavy rains. The crops in the fields were moldy before they even grew, and the mountain torrents washed away many houses." Fu Yi smiled and sighed, "There's nothing I can do. I can't just watch them starve to death. There are still many children in the village."

Even if the mountain people in such remote areas who do not have registered household registration encounter natural disasters, the local government may not be aware of it, and even if they do, they may not be willing to intervene.

"I'm thinking that although my father was demoted to Chongzhou as a governor by the late emperor, he was still a local official. Maybe it would be of some use if I report his name." Fu Yi could no longer remember how she followed a few villagers and climbed up the steep mountain road bit by bit, rubbing against the mountain wall. She also didn't remember how long she climbed. She only remembered that the mountain wind was very strong and blew away her tears.

"None of us five knew the way, so we had to ask for directions as we walked. Just as we were all complaining about being tired, a few wild dogs caught up with us, and we ran faster than each other."
Fortunately, she was catching chickens and ducks in the village all day, so she was not caught up by the dog.

Thinking of the time when she was chased by dogs and howled in embarrassment, Fu Yi couldn't help but laugh out loud: "If it weren't for those wild dogs, I don't know that I could run so fast in my life."

Looking up, she saw that her brother and the prince were silent. Fu Yi rubbed her face which was hurt from laughing. "Although it was a bit difficult at the time, we were lucky and finally found the way into the city. My father's name was also very useful. The local county government not only allocated new land to the village, but also helped everyone build new houses. In the future, everyone will not have to climb cliffs to enter the city, and will not have to risk their lives in case of natural disasters."

Yun Zhaobai looked at his sister who was laughing heartlessly, and felt depressed and bitter. He opened his mouth to speak, only to find that his throat was blocked.

"Your Highness just asked me if I'm suffering. Actually, what I want to say is that the villagers have lived in the mountains for generations and have never seen the outside world. I have been well fed and well clothed since I was born, so I can't say that I'm suffering." Fu Yi looked at Sui Tingheng: "Your Majesty and Your Highness will make their lives better and better, right?"

Yun Zhaobai didn't expect his sister to say such a bold thing, and he quickly stood up and bowed to Sui Tingheng to apologize: "My sister made a mistake in her words, Your Highness, please forgive me for not disciplining her properly."

"Don't worry, Miss Yun is right." Sui Tingheng stretched out his hand to stop Yun Zhaobai who was about to kneel down. He looked back at Fu Yi and said, "A ruler should save the people first. His concern for the people is heavier than the mountains. I understand your intentions."

He did not make any lofty statements or give any long speeches, but Fu Yi saw seriousness and solemnity in his eyes.
This was the first time she looked at the prince carefully. Since returning to the capital, she had heard too many praises about him, but those were just empty and powerless words that did not catch her eyes or enter her heart.
Until this moment, he finally "came alive" in her eyes, instead of being as perfect as a jade statue on a high platform.

"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you. May your Highness be well." Liu Xiaopang, Wang Yanhe and others saw the prince's carriage from a distance, and they carefully tidied their clothes, waiting to show their faces in front of the prince.
After waiting for a long time for the carriage to approach, they hurried to meet it.

"Fat Liu." Who knew that when the car window curtains were lifted, they saw a face they didn't want to see.

"Yun Fuyi, why is it you?" Fatty Liu looked at the person leaning on the window in horror. How could Yun Fuyi appear in the prince's carriage? !
"My dear brother, why don't you greet me when you see me?" Fu Yi tilted her head and smiled: "It's only been a few days since we last met, and you have forgotten all the rules and etiquette?"

Wang Yanhe and Chen Yuanzhi, who were following Liu Xiaopang, took two steps back. The big black dog they were holding also tucked its tail between the two men. "Don't think I'm afraid of you. I'm with a lot of people today. I..." Liu Xiaopang looked behind him and saw that his good friends were all two feet away from him. When they saw him looking over, they all lowered their heads and didn't dare to look at him.

At this moment, his heart was colder than winter ice and snow. He bit his bullet and turned his head back little by little, bravely meeting Fu Yi's teasing eyes: "Are you so bold that you dare to occupy the prince's carriage?"

Fu Yi: “…”
Let me say it again, she is a playboy, not a fool.

"No, isn't it that you are so hated that someone hired killers to hunt you down overnight and you hid in Jingzhao Prefecture and dared not come out?" Liu Xiaopang looked at Fu Yi in confusion. She didn't look like she was frightened.

"You believe the rumors?" Fu Yi rolled her eyes and said, "If you want to see the excitement, you should go to the gate of Prince Ning's mansion."
How could others miss out on Prince Ning's excitement?
A light cough was heard from the carriage. Mo Wen, who had been standing quietly, walked up to Liu Xiaopang and said, "Prince Liu, Princess Yun was frightened. Your Highness wants to send her back home to rest. If you want to reminisce, please do it another day."

Is His Royal Highness in the carriage?
Liu Xiaopang nodded absentmindedly, and when the carriage had gone far away, he slapped his thigh and shouted, "Oh no! She actually hugged His Highness' thigh first!"

"Didn't you hear about Yun Fuyi's contribution to saving the emperor?" Wang Yanhe nudged Liu Xiaopang with his elbow and said earnestly, "Sir, listen to my advice. Don't get mad at Yun Fuyi in the future."
In all these years, when have you ever gotten any advantage?

"Don't say such things to me that will only make others look good and destroy my own ambitions." Fatty Liu clenched his fists: "Sooner or later, I will get back all the humiliation I have suffered over the years."

Wang Yanhe: “…”
It's really ambitious, but it's a pity that you said the same thing three years ago.
Three years and three years again, how long three years are.

After saying these harsh words, Fatty Liu turned around and ran towards the Ning Palace: "Forget it, let's go to the Ning Palace first to see what's going on."

The carriage stopped at the gate of the Yun Mansion. Fu Yi stepped on a footstool and got off the carriage. The curtain behind her was lowered.

"Miss Yun."
Fu Yi stopped and looked at the carriage. She couldn't see the prince's face because of the curtain.

"Please take care and see you next time"

"Thank you, Your Highness, for sending my servant and my brother home. Take care." Fu Yi knelt down and saluted. When she raised her head, the carriage was already moving forward slowly, and the blurry figure in the carriage was still sitting upright.

"I'm so sleepy." Fu Yi fell on Xia Yu who was waiting at the door to pick her up: "Don't call me for lunch, I want to sleep."

I had just woken up from a nap at noon when the reward from the palace came down.
The emperor rewarded her with a piece of calligraphy, but compared with the gold, silver, jade and tonics given by the empress, the emperor's reward was really shabby.

"The emperor's calligraphy..." Fu Yi stared at the calligraphy for half an incense stick of time: "It is like the falling leaves in the winter moon and the strong wind in June. It can be said to be free and unrestrained, with wide openings and closings."

Yun Wanggui, who had hurried back from the Ministry of Revenue, knew what she wanted to say and said with a dry cough, "Your Majesty lost your mother when you were born. The late emperor believed the slander of treacherous people and thought that Your Majesty was unlucky for your father and mother, so he raised Your Majesty outside the palace. That's why Your Majesty didn't read much when he was young."

"Your Majesty loves to give his ministers his own calligraphy during festivals, and he seems to be very confident in his calligraphy." Yun Zhaobai added: "If anyone does not have a few copies of Your Majesty's calligraphy at home, they would be embarrassed to say that they are valued by Your Majesty."

"Hmm..." Fu Yi touched her chin, "Do you think there is a possibility that His Majesty is more... frugal?"
There is another synonym for thriftiness, which is stinginess.

"Did you give all these to the daughter of the Yun family?" The emperor sat cross-legged on the queen's big bed, his hands holding the gift list shaking like a candle in the wind: "Did you give them all?"

"Yes." The queen took off the hairpins on her head and handed the jade comb to the emperor: "Put down the gift list and come over to help me loosen my hair."

The emperor took the comb and muttered as he combed his hair: "Lord Yun is loyal to me, Yun Fuyi has saved me, and the attack yesterday gave us an excuse to clean up the former emperor and Zeng's men. It is only right to reward her with some jewels, it is only right."
He rambled on and on, seeming to have convinced himself: "But Heng'er really likes that jade screen fan, why did you give it away?"

"Really?" The Queen sat up and asked in confusion, "But when he came back to the palace today and saw the gift list I drew up, not only did he not say anything, he even added two strings of jade beads to it."

emperor:"……"
So he was busy writing to save money, and his son gave him a valuable jade necklace in the blink of an eye?

The son is not loyal to his father!
It's heartbreaking. Really heartbreaking.

(End of this chapter)