Farewell Flower Festival

Led by Han Lie, the two arrived at the lake, where some people were releasing sky lanterns. One by one, sky lanterns rose from the lake and flew into the dark night sky, carrying the wishes of the people on earth.

Han Lie brought a Kongming lantern to Chaoyan and asked her if she wanted to make a wish before releasing it. Chaoyan clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and made a wish to the Kongming lantern. After a while, she opened her eyes and Han Lie handed her the Kongming lantern.

Chaoyan was about to let go of the lantern, but Han Lie said he also wanted to make a wish. Chaoyan said that you can only make one wish with a Kongming lantern, otherwise it won't work.

The Kongming lantern slowly flew up into the night sky. Chaoyan watched it fly farther and farther away, until it turned into a light the size of a green bean, then a light the size of a sesame seed, and finally disappeared into the sky, never to be seen again. It seemed to have taken away some of her worries as well.

Han Lie brought another Kongming lantern, and this time asked Chaoyan to hold it. He put his hands together and made a wish. After he made his wish, Chaoyan handed him the Kongming lantern. When she saw him raise his hand, she let go of it. The next second, the Kongming lantern flew up. She thought she let go too early, but when she saw his fox eyes smiling, she knew he did it on purpose.

"You promised to treat me to a meal, Xiao Lianzi, when do you plan to fulfill your promise?" Han Lie asked.

Chao Yan had forgotten all about this matter, but it reminded her of another thing. She stretched out a hand as if to ask for money.

"Didn't we agree to split the bill 50-50? Where's my share?"

Han Lie said that he forgot to bring it with him when he went out today, and immediately took off the golden unicorn hanging from his waist and handed it to her, saying that he would use it to pay off the debt first. Chaoyan knew that this thing was a gift from the emperor, and even though it was glittering with gold and worth a lot of money, no one dared to buy it, and silver was more practical.

"When you have the banknotes ready tomorrow, I will treat you to a meal."

"Not tomorrow. I have a day off the day after tomorrow."

"Then prepare the banknotes the day after tomorrow and I'll treat you to a meal."

Han Lie said helplessly: "Why is your head filled with banknotes? Can't you think of something else?" Chao Yan said, "Then do you know it will rain tomorrow?"

……

When Han Lie sent Chao Yan back, Mu Tianling also came back.

When Chaoyan saw the carriage coming, she turned around to leave, but was stopped by Han Lie. He asked her if she was scared. Chaoyan retorted that there was nothing to be afraid of as she had not done anything wrong.

As the two were talking, the carriage stopped outside the gate.

When Mu Tianling came down, he glanced at the two of them. When Chao Yan met his cold gaze, it was as if a ball of cotton was blocking her chest. He said nothing and took Qianfeng and Feiyu into the mansion.

Chaoyan felt depressed. Wasn't it enough for him to find a companion instead of just himself? He was giving her a cold shoulder. She decided to quit, leave, and quit... She took several deep breaths in silence before she calmed down. Han Lie asked her to rest early without saying anything extra.

When a girl is angry, it would be considerate if she spoke less.

The light was still on in the study. Chao Yan glanced over there as she passed by. She was so angry that she wanted to rush in and confront him. But then she thought, what's the point of confronting him? He was going to get married in the future anyway. What's wrong with finding a lady of good family background for her in advance? She would have time to cultivate feelings for him. It was better than marrying blindly...

After returning to her residence, Chao Yan felt very tired. The mental fatigue was far greater than the physical fatigue. After lying on the bed, she didn't want to move and fell asleep without even removing her makeup.

She slept deeply, but not peacefully.

The fire in her memory appeared in her dream again, along with the blurry and distorted face behind the fire and the glittering pearl hairpin. This time, in addition to the child's tender cry, she also heard the voices of a man and a woman. The two seemed to be arguing about something. She vaguely heard the woman's hysterical voice, "Go to hell!"

When I opened my eyes again, it was already daybreak.

When Jadeite and Amber came over to help her with her makeup, Chaoyan realized that she had gone to bed without washing her face last night. Fortunately, the rouge and powder she used were all natural, so it was not a big burden if she didn't remove her makeup all night.

Although she slept till dawn last night, Chao Yan still looked tired, and it was obvious that she had many dreams and did not sleep well.

When Chaoyan was having breakfast in her room, Mu Tianling had already gone out with Qianfeng and Feiyu, and did not return until dark.

The two hadn't seen each other or mentioned each other all day.

Although Mu Tianling didn't show anything on his face, his eyes were cold all day long.

Qianfeng secretly came to find Feicui to ask about Chaoyan's mood. Feicui asked him back, "Yesterday, the lady waited for a whole day, hoping that His Highness would come back to go to the Lantern Festival together. Why didn't His Highness come back?"

Qianfeng was speechless, and Feicui left.

The next day, a servant came to give Amber a letter, and then Amber delivered the letter to Chao Yan.

This time the words "Xiao Lianzi" were not written on the envelope.

Chaoyan was seen by Qianfeng when she went out.

Mu Tianling also has a day off today.

Qianfeng called Chaoyan and asked her tactfully if she was going out. Chaoyan said she had something to do.

Mu Tianling was reading a book in the room. Qianfeng hesitated outside the door for a while, then went in and reported, "Your Highness, Miss Xiaolian has gone out for something." Mu Tianling didn't say anything, so Qianfeng left.

There was a carriage parked outside the gate, and a servant was waiting beside it.

Seeing Chaoyan coming out, the servant came over to greet her, asked her to get on the carriage, and then drove away.

When the carriage stopped at the gate of Jinyu Garden, Chaoyan just opened the curtain and a hand reached out to her. She lowered the curtain and jumped off the carriage from the other side. Han Lie smiled, walked over and said to her, "It's not good for a girl to be too strong." Chaoyan stretched out a hand, "Where are the banknotes?" Han Lie took out five banknotes from his arms and put them in her hand, asking her to count them in front of him.

Chaoyan looked at the denomination on the bill. One bill was worth one thousand taels, so all five thousand taels belonged to her.

"Isn't it a fifty-fifty split?"

"I'm hungry. As agreed, you'll cook for me yourself. Let's go."

Chaoyan followed Han Lie into the garden with a little doubt. Seeing that he was leading the way very familiarly, he must be a regular customer. She asked him who the owner of the place was.

Han Lie said that he had never seen the boss's true face, but he heard that he was a wealthy businessman, rich enough to rival a country.

After passing through a bamboo path, a quiet courtyard appeared in front of the two.

Chaoyan stood at the door, a little hesitant about whether to go in. The surrounding environment was nothing but bamboo, without even a single person in sight. If something happened, there would be no one to turn to for help.

Han Lie seemed to see through her concerns and said, "Don't worry, I'm a gentleman and I won't do anything to you." Then he walked in.

Chao Yan muttered to herself that it might be a peacock, and walked in.

After coming in, Han Lie pointed to the kitchen and told Chao Yan to come and tell him if he needed anything, and then went back inside. Chao Yan saw him go to the kitchen after entering the house, where all kinds of meat and vegetable ingredients were available.

There were two big, lively black fish in the basin, but she didn't dare to kill them, so she just fried two vegetarian dishes.

About an hour later, Chao Yan brought a plate of green stir-fried vegetables and placed it in front of Han Lie. Then she brought a plate of stir-fried shredded carrots and placed them in front of him. Finally, she served the main course, a bowl of spicy noodles with oil, topped with green vegetables and a fried egg, and asked him to mix it well before eating.

After taking just one bite, Han Lie was choked by the spicy oil and started coughing, and he drank two cups of tea.

Chaoyan didn't expect that he couldn't eat spicy food. There was some clear soup noodles left in the pot, so she served it to him, put some green vegetables and fried eggs on the noodles, and then prepared to leave.

"Take your time to eat. I'm going back first."

As soon as he finished speaking, Han Lie reached out and grabbed her wrist, saying to her, "Today is my birthday." Chao Yan was stunned for a moment and asked, "You didn't lie to me?" Han Lie said, "If I lied to you, I would be a puppy."

After staring into his eyes for a few seconds, Chaoyan sat down opposite him and asked him why he didn't celebrate his birthday at home. Han Lie picked up a piece of noodles with chopsticks and put it into his mouth, as if he didn't want to talk about this topic. Chaoyan stopped asking, clapped her hands to keep the rhythm, and sang a birthday song for him.

"It's really beautiful. Has Xiao Lianzi ever sung this song to anyone else?"

Chaoyan didn't want to talk about Mu Tianling.

Han Lie curled his lips and smiled, "It seems to be the Fourth Prince."

......