Everything was arranged like this.
After he agreed to her, she ended the meeting for the night and did not want to keep him any longer. She quickly called in Yang Zaien and ordered him to go out and rest.
"Mr. Pei Erlang, please follow me." Yang Zaien bowed and led the way for him.
Pei Xiaoyuan still felt a bit dazed, as if in a dream, and he didn't know how he walked out of this bedroom and how he walked down this magnificent building. Yang Zai'en sent him off, and finally, he respectfully handed him a medicine bottle with both hands, saying that it was a magical medicine given to him by the princess to dissipate blood stasis and relieve pain, and asked him to remember to use it when he returned. He raised his hand to take it under Yang Zai'en's smiling gaze, and then walked away.
His pace was neither fast nor slow at first, and looked no different from usual, until he reached an empty corridor, slowed down his pace, and finally stopped.
Under the dark shadow of the tree, he turned around and looked at the tall building behind him. The lights in the building were reflected in the towering night sky through the beautiful windows on all sides, looking like the ethereal light from the moon palace. Occasionally, there were figures walking behind the window. There were also figures that must be palace maids coming to the window, lowering the curtains behind the window one by one, and the light gradually disappeared behind the curtains, and it became completely dark.
A night owl glided in from the night sky behind the tall building, circled in the air for a moment, then rushed over and landed on a cluster of branches nearby. Amid the rustling sound of its wings, it stared over with its two round eyes shining strangely in the dark, tilting its head slightly.
Pei Xiaoyuan woke up suddenly, holding the porcelain bottle that had been warmed in his palm, and turned away.
The next day, the palace office reported that the sage was about to return to Chang'an. Not only that, the sage also gave generous rewards to Ashina, Yuwenzhi, Lantai and Hedu. This was of course a consolation for the fact that the four people failed to win the princess.
The four people's reactions were also different.
Ashina was known for his reputation as a playboy. He failed in his bid for the princess. He should be the most carefree one among them. He seemed to be indifferent. It was even unknown how he got the opportunity. It was said that he enjoyed the service of many beauties in the hot spring palace that was exclusively used by the princess that night. He was really lucky. When he appeared in front of the people of Zuo Wuwei the next day, he was found to have a bruise on his cheek, which looked like it was caused by a collision with the wall. The guards immediately laughed and talked about it. They all guessed that Lu Wenjun broke into the hot spring palace last night and beat him up like this. Ashina denied it, saying that he slipped barefoot on the wet ground of the hot spring palace. However, it was already known that Lu Guizhu was fond of him and often ruined his good deeds. He also took people to the home of the singing girl who was in love with him to catch her having an affair. The more he denied this time, the more people believed it was so. Instead, they laughed at him even more. Until the matter was heard by the eldest princess, she was furious and found the general of Zuo Wuwei to suppress the jokes.
The crown prince Yuwen Zhi was probably the one with the worst luck that day. He injured his arm before the grand archery ceremony, and lost the chance to compete with the suitors. The winner was Pei Xiaoyuan, who was at odds with him. He must have been too depressed. After the grand archery ceremony, he did not show up at all, and was not seen in the saint's returning team. He left early on the pretext of recuperating from his injury.
He Du's experience was even more dramatic than Yuwen Zhi's. At the archery ceremony, he was about to win the prize when Pei Xiaoyuan suddenly appeared and killed him. After a fierce fight, he lost one of his arms. Pei Xiaoyuan's attack was measured, and He Du's arm was quickly reset. Apart from the sprained arm muscle, he was fine.