“Your Excellency, if you are telling a joke, I would like to listen to. Just at the flowers-blooming moment, it is not bad to listen to a joke.” Mo Xuetong smiled and said disapprovingly. She shook the fan in her hand with a look of listening to a joke. Her bright eyes curled up charming. Obviously, she was in a good mood.

“What if it is true? And your father has agreed!” You Yuecheng sneered with some anger. How could the little woman treat the marriage indifferently and describe the most important thing in life as a joke? It did make him angry, as no woman dared to neglect his presence.

“Even if my father agrees, I won’t agree.” Mo Xuetong smiled and picked up a peony, then continued to say, “Your Excellency, this peony is named ‘Qu Rong’. It only blossoms in the spring that it likes. As for other days, it will not blossom even if the environment is made as the spring days.”

She seemed to talk to You Yuecheng inadvertently, but turned over the whole thing in her mind quickly. No wonder father looked so weird today, even asked me to dress up myself today. I thought he just gave consideration to the Peony Master’s rules. Unexpectedly, father did it for You Yuecheng, as father had arranged a date for me and You Yuecheng.

It was a pity that father’s hope would come to nothing. The fight between You Yuecheng and Mo Xuetong was not only a matter of a couple of days, and they had been disagreeing with each other for a long time. Moreover, Mo Xuetong had never considered You Yuecheng, as this guy’s mind was quite unpredictable and he had unpresentable relations with Mo Xuemin. So Mo Xuetong did not ever give him a thought.

“Since ancient times, marriage is arranged by parents’ order and on the matchmaker’s word. As a lady of a noble family, do you want to disobey it?” You Yuecheng said in a resentful voice, as he looked at Mo Xuetong severely and could not hold back his anger.

“Your Excellency, you’re wrong. My father hasn’t yet agreed, and the parents’ word is groundless. Besides, you may not know that I have been engaged since I was a child. So the marriage is not at your will.” Mo Xuetong gave a sweet smile with cunning in her eyes. She leaned against the flower tree behind her and broadened into a bigger smile.

Mo Xuetong guessed her father might have such an idea of bringing her and You Yuecheng together, but obviously her father was still hesitating. Otherwise, there would not have been such a date today if the thing had been settled. She did not know what You Yuecheng have to coerce her father, but she assumed that it should be something about her mother. Now, what Mo Xuetong decided to do was to dispel You Yuecheng’s idea, as he had never shown that he wanted to marry her.

Of course, Mo Xuetong would not narcissistically think that the reason why You Yuecheng wanted to marry her was that he fell in love with her after being hostile to her for a long time.

Therefore, the purpose of You Yuecheng’s intention to marry her was quite intriguing.

Mo Xuetong had been engaged? It had never occurred to You Yuecheng. He raised his head with astonishment, and rage burst out of his eyes. No wonder Mo Huawen dragged on the marriage proposal again and again and at last, he had to offer a settlement of arranging a date where the thing would be done if Mo Xuetong felt satisfied.

For this reason, You Yuecheng even paid more attention to his look today before leaving home.

“Why haven’t I ever heard of your engagement?” He looked surly with grim eyes.

“It is natural that a girl’s engagement cannot be spread to outsiders. Your Excellency, so it is quite normal that you haven’t heard of it before.” Mo Xuetong said calmly with a smile.

In the last life, Mo Xuetong did not have any connection with him, and this life, she still did not want to have any link with him. For her, You Yuecheng was just an unimportant person. She did not want to talk with him any longer.

“Your Excellency, you could enjoy the scenery here. I want to go to other places to see more. Well, see you later.” Before You Yuecheng replied, Mo Xuetong turned around, about to leave.

Sure enough, Mo Xuetong was still immune to both soft and hard tactics and kept typically cunning. Seethed with anger, You Yuecheng reached out his hands, trying to repeat his trick. He stopped Mo Xuetong and planned to say more forcibly. At that moment, a figure appeared suddenly on the road ahead. A hoarse but decent voice rang, “Is it the son of Ming General? Some ladies have a fight ahead. It’s said that they are for you. You’d better come to have a look.”

The wind blew up the peony embroidered in his blue fabric clothes. Great peonies on him, plus the fragrance of the real flowers, gave a sense of extravagance for no reason. A pair of bright and deep eyes were exposed under the mask. The comer was the owner of the Peony Garden, Peony Master.

You Yuecheng frowned and suddenly remembered that when he entered the door, Ling Mingyan’s carriage was behind him. Did he mean Ling Mingyan? Which lady did she quarrel with? Without a doubt, it is about me! Annoyance took on You Yuecheng’s eyes, and he turned to look at Mo Xuetong and left in the direction where Peony Master had come.

“Princess Anping?” The Peony Master looked her up and down and asked with a smile.

Mo Xuetong felt strange, because the Peony Master did appear in time as if he came right at the moment when You Yuecheng was making trouble for her.

“Peony Master?” Mo Xuetong lightly smiled and fixed her eyes on his face. He was wearing a half mask, and a smile broadened from his red and thin lips. No wonder she thought the Peony Master was quite strange. It turned out to be him!

They did have a destiny. He was the only outsider amicable to her in the last life, and this life…

Yes. It was in Cloud City when seeing him at that moment. It was quite a coincidence.

“Has Princess Anping been engaged? It is really a pity. I’ve planned to prepare four-color gifts to propose a marriage with you.” The Peony Master said with a smile. Although his face was covered by the mask, he unutterably shimmered with gentle and refined charm. But the air mixed with extravagance and mystery did not affect his excellence.

Mo Xuetong arched her eyebrows and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears. Then, she raised her eyes and gave a sweet smile. Her beautiful eyes, though with shyness, looked right into his bright and deep eyes. In the last life, she did not know who he was because he was unfamiliar to her; but now, only at one glance, Mo Xuetong could not conceal the delight in her eyes.

“Well, Master should take action quickly. Otherwise, I have to marry another person.”

Her eyes glittered, sweet and charming.

“Smart girl, you guessed it!” A familiar relaxing voice rang, along with helpless laughter flowing out of the Peony Master’s mouth. The voice was mingled with indulgence and love. He walked to her and held Mo Xuetong’s slender waist. In a flash, they disappeared.

…

“Are you okay now?” Mo Xuetong looked at Feng Yuran who took off his mask casually and asked. Sure enough, it turned out to be Feng Yuran’s extremely handsome face under the mask. Since he used to wear purple clothes, this suit of robe embroidered with peonies could manifest his aggression and dignity more obviously and reveal his magnificent but relaxing temperament.

“Be at ease. My wound has almost healed.” Feng Yuran moved to Mo Xuetong carelessly. Their brocade stools were so close that Mo Xuetong got a little nervous for no reason. So she turned to one side subconsciously to avoid his fiery gaze.

“Are You Yuecheng’s words true?” Mo Xuetong bit her lip with a little frown and shifted the topic deliberately. Her face became slightly flushed because of their close distance.

“Relax, wait for some time. And Emperor Father’s imperial decree of granting the marriage will come to your manor, and anyone else will not dare to think of getting you in the future.” Feng Yuran held Mo Xuetong’s hands and said softly, “You just need to prepare to be married.”

“Will You Yuecheng…” Mo Xuetong turned red with a little shyness and asked uneasily.

“You Yuecheng is busy enough with his own affairs now. He cannot decide which girl he wants to marry. Just now, the Ding General Manor’s Ling Ling Mingyan quarreled with some young ladies who had favorable impression on him secretly. So he cannot get away in such a short time.”

In fact, not only in such a short time, but also in the future, You Yuecheng could not get away.

“Ling Mingyan is the woman whom You Yuecheng is bound to get married with, because he dares to put his mind on Mo Xuemin, my woman. And he even intended to force the woman to marry him when I was injured. But for the finger man placed in the Mo Manor, You Yuecheng would have imposed the marriage on Mo Xuemin successfully,” thought by Feng Yuran.

Thinking that when he and Bai Yihao were fighting with wisdom and courage, You Yuecheng was intending to reap the spoils of their fight effortlessly, Feng Yuran could not hold back his anger and decide to vent it out by any means.

Didn’t You Yuecheng want to get married? Fine! Feng Yuran thought he would achieve You Yuecheng’s dream. After today, You Yuecheng had to get married despite his unwillingness.

Mo Xuetong nodded at Feng Yuran’s affirmative tone. But You Yuecheng was settled, how about Bai Yihao?

“That engagement…” She raised her head and stammered with a frown.

After all, Bai Yihao was not You Yuecheng!

“Is it the paper?” Feng Yuran loosed Mo Xuetong’s hand and flipped his slender fingers. Then, a piece of old paper appeared in his hand. The faded pages could tell its long-time existence.

“Where did you get it?” Mo Xuetong asked, as she was so overjoyed that she reached for it hurriedly.

“Bai Yihao exploited the Fifth Princess to set fire to the mansion, so I stole the engagement paper in that chaotic situation. After all, he did not take it seriously and just put it aside. But for me, it would have been burned into ashes.” Feng Yuran said with a triumphant smile. He would not tell Mo Xuetong that how nervous Bai Yihao got about the box and the engagement paper in it.

No matter what happened, Tong’er was mine. No one was allowed to take her away.

Mo Xuetong’s attention was all fixed on the paper in his hand.

Counting in the last life and this one, she lived a life as a human being twice. But it was the first time she saw the engagement paper that her mother had made. Mo Xuetong wondered what her mother had done and whether her mother knew how important the unblemished name for a girl. How could mother jest about such an important matter and sign the engagement paper that both sides did not agree with?

When she was fifteen years old, if her betrothed husband did not come to her family to talk about the marriage, they could choose to marry another person freely they liked without any intervention.

But the restrictions only worked on Mo Xuetong. Unless she knew that Bai Yihao was also at an early age when the engagement was made, she would assume that it was Bai Yihao’s plot.

The restrictions on one side while the respect on the other side! And the time to fulfill the paper was set at her fifteen years old. In her last life, she remembered clearly that this engagement paper had never appeared.

“Mother, why did you sign this marriage paper?” Mo Xuetong’s hands were cold, and she bit her lip hard to suppress the pains welling up from the bottom of her heart.

In the Qin Kingdom, the best age for a girl to be engaged was thirteen or fourteen years old. If any girl could not get engaged at fifteen years old, it was rather hard to choose a suitable one. Mo Xuemin wondered what evidence her mother based on to believe that Mo Xuemin should wait until Bai Yihao thought she was valuable and then married her.

In the last life, Bai Yihao’s name appeared occasionally in the people’s talks. The proud Crown Prince and she were just two people living in different worlds. Even if they were on the same plane, they would never intersect. She was just a daughter of a common official in the Qin Kingdom. How could her mother assume that the Crown Prince of the Yan Kingdom would marry a humble girl?

“Is this why Mother herself did not take it seriously?”

But if it was true, why did Mother did not speak it out straight but made the engagement paper to constrain me and give Bai Yihao absolute freedom?

Regardless of whether Bai Yihao married her or not, she had to wait until she was fifteen years old. If he wanted and took the engagement paper, she had to marry; only if he was unwilling, they could marry the one they liked without limit.

What a ridiculous engagement!

Nothing could be more ridiculous than it in this life. The paper was torn into pieces and thrown into the air. Mo Xuetong squatted down on the ground to pick up pieces one by one, took the flint from the side and lit a fire. She threw all the pieces into the fire and watched the fire swallow them.

No more entanglement ever since.

It was such in the last life, and so should it be in this life!

“Tong’er, it’s over. No such thing anymore…” Feng Yuran held her slim waist, patted her shoulder gently, and comforted.

Being embraced in his arms to feel his solid chest, Mo Xuetong could not hold back her tears any longer. How could she not have any complaints? She could not figure out the matter about her mother until now and thought her mother left her in the dark, which was really the biggest mistake.

Her mother ordered Nanny Ming to take an oath in her own name, but exercised her responsibility unilaterally. Was it the thing that a natural mother should do?