The princess was ordained by Heaven.

Chapter 218 New Year

Qi Wuyu nodded quickly: "Yes."

"So how do you plan to help me?"

"I..." Qi Wuyu blushed slightly, "Will you marry me?"

Wu Yuan suddenly smiled.

Tao Heng was itching with curiosity: "What is she laughing at?"

"Because it's ridiculous, isn't it?"

Wu Yuan shook her head helplessly: "No need."

"But……"

“I’m not afraid of rumors. I want to stay here to sweep the graves of my sister and Yu Xiaosheng.”

Seeing that Qi Wuyu didn't seem to intend to let the matter rest, Wu Yuan had to be more blunt: "Lord Qi, I think you may have misunderstood something."

Qi Wuyu was slightly taken aback: "What?"

“True compassion can be giving him power, money, food, or an umbrella, but it absolutely does not include ‘marrying her.’”

"So, do you want money or power?"

Seeing his sincere expression, Wu Yuan realized that she had been narrow-minded and petty.

She gently shook her head: "I don't want anything, because I don't need pity."

Qi Wuyu pursed his lips: "Really not? Is it not even allowed to simply want to marry you?"

Wu Yuan shook her head again: "No."

Tao Heng sighed regretfully, "With Xiao Qi gone, we won't see each other for many years. Why don't you leave him with me?"

Zheng Xun glanced at him: "Is your future more important, or a woman?"

"future."

Zheng Xun smiled and said, "No, it's not that. What's more important is that she needs people she can use."

"Is there no possibility between them?"

"Who can say for sure..."

“In Wu Yuan’s heart, there is still Yu Xiaosheng.”

"what?"

“What’s so surprising? Yu Xiaosheng is a kind and loyal man, so it’s not surprising that Wu Yuan is interested in him. Besides, she’s stubborn, and it’s almost impossible for her to change her affections within three to five years.”

Tao Heng sighed with regret.

He suddenly remembered a line from a play and involuntarily hummed it: "Alas, alas, fate has brought us together but we are not destined to be together; alas, love has come to nothing but regret..."

Zheng Xun gave him a complicated look: "Qianzhi..."

"Please speak, Your Highness!"

"Don't sing nonsense in the future."

"You even want to control this? Isn't that a bit too domineering?"

"Then let me be more tactful—you don't sing well."

Tao Heng: ...

……

Not long after returning to Jiangzhou, it was New Year's Eve.

Tao Heng was a lonely man and had never been wealthy, so he originally intended to keep things simple.

But this year there are many people, and there is also a princess, so he started preparing early.

The roof tiles in the courtyard were overturned, and the faded old lanterns were taken down and replaced with newly pasted ones, which hung bright red in the courtyard, looking very beautiful.

The flowers, plants, and trees were also trimmed, making the cramped courtyard seem much more spacious.

The paper-cut window decorations are stacked on the newly pasted window paper, as if they were framed in a picture frame.

When he was twenty-four or twenty-five, Tao Heng went to the street to write Spring Festival couplets, not charging money, but distributing them for free.

The people were very enthusiastic, and many of them knew Tao Heng.

I also know... Zheng Xun.

Zheng Xun himself was also surprised: "I knew I was famous, but I didn't expect that people in Jiangzhou, thousands of miles away, would know me."

Tao Heng smiled, offering no explanation as to why this was the result of his continuous promotion.

"Qianzhi, you did a good job in Jiangzhou."

Tao Heng finished writing the last character of the horizontal scroll with his head down, and replied without looking up: "If it weren't for the princess's support, I wouldn't be where I am today."

Zheng Xun ignored his polite words, while Wei Yanxing leaned closer to Zheng Xun and asked, "Princess, what should we put up in our courtyard?"

Tao Heng: !!!

That was clearly the courtyard he bought, yet Wei Yanxing claimed credit for it.

He gritted his teeth, about to say something, when Zheng Jin and Shang Wen, who were too busy, urged him to hurry up.

He could only continue to bury himself in his work.

On the other side, Zheng Xun thought for a moment: "Those of you outside, think about it. I'll put up a sign on my door that says 'I've defeated all the martial gods in the world and debated all the literary ladies in the five lakes,' and the horizontal scroll will read 'Invincible Under Heaven.'"

Wei Yanxing: ...

"Isn't that a bit too arrogant?"

"Outrageous?"

"It's alright..."

It might be a bit arrogant for others to say that, but it doesn't seem to matter much when it comes to Zheng Xun.

He eagerly asked, "Shall I help the princess write this?"

"Write it."

Beside them, Lü Mengying was carefully tying up lanterns, Wu Xiu was expressionlessly chopping bamboo, and Yu Rong was painting on the finished lanterns.

In the distance, someone was setting off firecrackers, and the booming sound could be heard from time to time. The stall owner selling red ropes at the next stall was squeezed so much that his face was a little distorted, and he secretly ran over here to queue up to buy couplets.

A child saw the little clay figure next to him break free from his mother's hand. His mother was very anxious, but there were too many people and she couldn't get close to her child for a while.

A child ran past an old man, who grabbed him by the collar and threatened him menacingly, "Oh, caught a little kid running around? Heh heh, I'll sell him, break his legs, and send him to beg on the street!"

The child burst into tears.

The child's mother finally caught up and breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately pretended to be anxious again and snatched the child back from the old man's hands.

"Don't you dare touch my baby, you human traffickers!"

The child buried his head in his mother's neck and cried even louder.

The woman gave the old man a grateful look and patted the child's back to comfort him: "Good boy! The bad guy has been chased away, don't be afraid. You can't run around like that again."

The child nodded haphazardly, as if he had just overcome the first major crisis in his life.

Lu Mengying gave Zheng Xun a small copper pot. Zheng Xun had internal energy and didn't feel cold, but he didn't refuse her kindness. He carried the hand warmer from one end of the street to the other and returned with a bunch of things.

A light snow fell in Jiangzhou, leaving a thin layer on the ground.

The snow on the street had been trampled and melted, but the children had carefully gathered a tiny snowman, about the size of two fingers, on a nearby tree.

It had thin twigs stuck in its body, but they searched for a long time but couldn't find anything suitable to make the snowman's eyes.

Zheng Xun took out the wrapped sesame cake, pinched off two black sesame seeds, and gently placed them on the snowman's eyes.

The children turned and glanced at her, then burst into cheers.

They warmly invited Zheng Xun to play with them, but Zheng Xun politely declined, though he shared his cakes with them.

The sesame cakes are crispy and thin, and their aroma wafts into your nose even after you've walked quite a distance.

Zheng Xun divided the purchased items in two, sending one half to the capital and asking someone to take the other half to Liaozhou.

They sent her a letter.

The emperor complained that she was heartless for not returning home for the New Year, but then told her that he would look after the academy for her, and that with him in the capital, everything would be fine and she didn't need to worry.

Zheng Jiao said that she had frostbite on her feet, with several large cracks, and that He Wuyu, like a big heater, kept her warm by tucking her in his arms every day.

Shen Canglan said that she and Zhao Xiulan got along very well, and she would do her best to complete the tasks that Zheng Xun had entrusted to her, and strive to ensure that Yuanxiu Academy would reach every corner of Dayong.

Zheng Xun put the letter away and gazed at the bustling crowd in the distance.

She loves this kind of everyday life, this peaceful and prosperous world.

The new year will definitely get better and better...