Chapter Twelve: The Mysterious Man

  The military training had been going on for half a day, and Meng Er finally stopped sitting obediently under the tree shade to watch them train. This time, she wandered along a small path in the campus, then into the comprehensive building, and started climbing up the winding stairs. When she reached the fifth floor, she was a bit out of breath. She stopped for a moment, looked at the sign on the door of the classroom - a music room? Meng Er looked around, saw no one, walked over, pushed open the door, and went in. Inside, there was a piano with a sheet of music that hadn't been put away yet.

  Meng'er walked up to take a look, Chopin's No. 3 Etude in E major, she remembered the fingering of this piece, thinking that there was no one around, so she sat down, and the piano sound slowly came out from her hands. In the end, it was unclear whether this piece moved her or she infused emotions into the piece, but she gradually forgot where she was. Some scenes appeared in her memory: She had brought disaster to her family and left Shengyue to come here; She missed people from the past, but was powerless.

  The music ended, and tears fell! Her hand still lingered on the keyboard; her body still maintained its final pose. A few seconds later, she slowly regained her thoughts and actions. At the same time, applause erupted from behind her. She turned around, her heart tightly clenched together, that intense suffocating feeling made her forget about the bracelet on her hand, which was constantly emitting heat, burning her hand into a red circle.

  "Let the order be passed down. The entire family of Chancellor Canghai is guilty of plotting to usurp the throne, showing no respect for the monarch, and committing treason. They have been arrested. Canghai Meng'er, who was granted imperial favor and became queen, however, has lost her virtue as a woman due to listening to sycophantic words and failing to distinguish between loyal and treacherous subjects. Moreover, she has failed to give birth to an heir for many years, which is a serious fault. Strip her of the title of Empress and punish her family members. The sentence will be carried out immediately." The voice that issued the order still echoed in her ears, but she couldn't help but whisper: "Wang..."

  "Do you know me?" The man was slightly surprised to hear his name coming from Meng Er's mouth. However, the girl in front of him didn't respond. Instead, she looked at him with a pair of sorrowful eyes, and he couldn't understand why she had such an expression when seeing him. Hadn't she already escaped from her emotions during the music just now? He continued to say: "Your piano skills are not bad, but your finger movements were a bit stiff at first. Fortunately, you quickly adapted. How long hasn't practiced piano?" Meng Er was surprised by his deep voice. "But you expressed that homesickness so vividly!" After finishing speaking, he felt like he had said too much. However, for some reason, when facing her, he had an urge to tell her everything. So, he didn't care about the various expressions on Meng Er's face and just spoke his mind.

  But he said so much, Meng Er didn't hear a single sentence, she only heard the words "Do you know me?" So, she asked foolishly: "Wang, are you here to find Meng Er?" Meng Er looked at this man: A man wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and tight-fitting black trousers standing against the light; under his thick eyebrows, a pair of deep eyes were also looking at Meng Er at this moment; a straight nose, thin lips, Meng Er thought, thin lips are often ruthless; a hard face, compared to her brother, less sunny, compared to Jing Tianyou, less noble, compared to Han Ye, less charming, but more domineering than them.

  "What's your name? Full name?" Hearing his puzzled inquiry, Meng Er lowered her head. How could he possibly be Wang? He held the reins of his kingdom, how could he have given up everything to come here? Only she, with no place for her soul to rely on, would drift to this place. And then, the words that came out of her mouth also became cold and distant: "I don't need to tell my name to a stranger, do I?" As she spoke, Meng Er walked past him, heading towards the door outside.

  As she walked past him, the wind blowing in from the doorway rustled her hair, and a faint fragrance lingered in the air. Her elegant face quickly disappeared from his sight, and he unconsciously turned around, his gaze following the slender figure until it vanished. Then, walking out of the classroom door again, he saw that the girl who had just been standing there with a demure and quiet demeanor was now running like a rabbit, her mouth slightly upturned, and her thin lips uttering a few words: "Interesting!"

  It wasn't until he could no longer see her back that the man walked towards the office of the Dean of Music and Dance Academy at the end of the corridor.

  When Meng walked onto the playground, everyone had already dispersed, leaving only a few people from her dormitory squatting under the big tree waiting for her. She couldn't help but feel moved, thinking that apart from her family, there were also others who were waiting for her and cared about her.

  "Meng'er, where are you running to?" Mei'er's sharp eyes immediately spotted Meng'er running towards them. "What are you running for? Aren't we waiting for you?" When Meng'er stopped in front of them, she poked Meng'er's head with force.

  "What's with all this running around on a hot day?" Yan'er threw a white eye at Meng'er, and Meng'er noticed that this was indeed one of Yan'er's signature moves.

  The silent Zi Qi beside Meng Er handed over her water cup, meaning to let her drink some water first. "You all disrespect me, you should be dragged down and beaten. Zi Qi, drag them down for me, and slap their mouths!" As she walked towards the dining hall, Zi Qi cooperated by saying "Yes, ma'am" and also elegantly took a step forward.

  "Endless sea of troubles!" Mei'er gazed at the receding figure, exclaiming in incredulity: "How can you be so unreasonable! You even dare to slap my face!"

  At first, Meng also lived in the dormitory and occasionally spoke some ancient language. However, they all thought it was because of her love for classical drama and didn't ask further. Sometimes they even followed along with what she said, taking the ancient sayings to their extreme.

  "Go crazy, Le Huan!" Yan Er's voice faintly sounded from the side, and it was enough to make the person in front stop dead in their tracks. "Not paying attention to your image at all, shouting loudly what?" The two people in front turned around in unison, looking back. Only then did they see that Yan Er had his hands inserted into his pockets, with a water bottle dangling from the edge of his pocket, calmly walking forward. After a few seconds, the person who was spoken to finally reacted, and with a "poof", jumped onto Yan Er's back from behind, causing Yan Er to be knocked to the ground by the inertia.

  "Le Yu'er, have you gone mad?! You're killing me!" said Yan Er, who was pinned to the ground.

  "Who's gone crazy, you dead face that only comes back to life when you see a handsome guy!" Mei'er clutched Yin'er's neck with both hands, putting her entire body weight on him, and Yin'er's face turned bright red from being choked.

  "Hey, hey, that's enough! Mei'er, get up quickly! You're going to strangle Yan'er to death!" Meng'er rushed over and separated the two people. However, they still stood there, glaring at each other, disregarding Meng'er who was almost electrocuted by the electricity flying back and forth between them in mid-air.

  "Ziqi, I'm telling you, I just saw a handsome guy when I ran out!" Meng'er said with a sudden inspiration, exiting from among them and walking towards Ziqi.

  "Meng'er, what handsome guy? Where is he?" Mei'er heard and immediately retreated from her original position, pulling Meng'er's right hand and asked.

  "Is it? Is it? Where is it?" In an instant, Meng Er's left hand was grasped by Yan Er again.

  She helplessly looked at Zi Qi, who gave her a sympathetic glance. They walked side by side, going forward together.

  "Are you guys done arguing?" Meng'er looked around.

  "Hmm!"

  "Hmph!" The two people on either side exchanged a glance and then looked away again.

  "It's really a handsome guy!" Meng'er thought of his appearance, the man who had attracted many foreign princesses to come and marry him one after another, how could he not be handsome?

  "How about compared to your brother?" Mei'er hastily asked.

  "Of course my brother is more handsome." Meng'er replied without hesitation, no matter what, in this life she will only prioritize her family and friends! And protecting her younger brother is one of them.

  "That's just as handsome!" said Yan Er, her eyes gleaming with a green light.

  Then, a handsome guy and an interesting topic can ease the tension between them. Meng'er couldn't help but shake her head, smiling to herself: Being able to live such a simple life isn't necessarily a bad thing!