Farewell Flower Festival

When the mother and daughter were taken to the palace, Lin Rou accompanied them to see Shen He. Under Shen He's questioning, Liu admitted that her daughter was picked up by her father on the way back from the town. Because the couple had been married for several years and had no children, they adopted the child. The child was wearing a jade pendant at the time.

After recognizing his daughter, Shen He gave Liu a generous reward to express his gratitude for her upbringing over the years. Later, Xiao Wang's family took Liu back to their hometown.

Han Lie asked Liu if she came back to see her daughter later, and Shen Cheng shook his head, indicating no.

"Don't you find it strange, little prince?"

"What's weird?"

Han Lie smiled and said, "When the young prince saw the princess for the first time, did he feel that," he paused and said in a long tone, "not like her."

Hearing the last two words, Shen Cheng's expression froze, as if he was suddenly electrocuted. He remembered that when he first saw Shen Xue, she was nothing but a stranger. But after all, six or seven years had passed, so it was normal to feel strange. But for a moment, he felt something was wrong, and he couldn't tell why.

Now he understood that the reason was that they were not similar, but he still refused to acknowledge this fact. He thought that Han Lie was trying to sow discord and talk nonsense, so he left angrily.

……

Seeing that it was getting late and there were few customers coming to the store, Chao Yan decided to close the store early today and go back to think about the next strategy.

Just before the door closed, someone else came in.

Seeing that it was Shen Cheng, Chaoyan was a little surprised. Although she expected that the other party would come to talk to her again after two days of thinking about it, she didn't expect that he would come on the same day.

Chaoyan asked him if he wanted to buy rouge. Shen Cheng stared at her face without saying anything. Amber raised her hand and waved it in front of him, reminding him, "Sir, our store is about to close. If you don't want to buy anything, please go back." Feicui pulled Amber's sleeve to ask her to speak more tactfully, and then apologized to Shen Cheng, "Sir, please forgive me. We are almost sold out of rouge and powder today. You might as well come earlier tomorrow."

Shen Cheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something but seemingly not knowing what to say, and stood for a while before turning around and walking away. Amber called him over, saying that there were still a few boxes of rouge and powder, and asked if he wanted to buy any.

So Shen Cheng left with five or six boxes of rouge and powder.

It was almost dark when Shen Cheng returned to the mansion. He looked very worried. He did not go back to his residence, but went to the gate of the burnt courtyard.

This was his first time here since his return.

After standing outside the door for a long time, he still didn't have the courage to push open the door. He didn't want to face the painful memories.

"Cheng'er."

Someone called him from behind. Shen Cheng came to his senses, turned around and called Aunt Lin.

"Miss your mother?" Lin Rou looked at the courtyard behind him and said gently and lovingly, "Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, you and Xue'er have grown up."

Shen Cheng showed hesitation and asked tentatively, "Aunt Lin, why did Butler Chen take Xue'er away back then?"

Lin Rou's face changed slightly, then returned to normal and said, "People's hearts are hidden, maybe he has been harboring resentment for a long time." At this point, she looked up at the bright moon in the sky and said with emotion, "Cheng'er, the most difficult thing to understand in this world is the human heart. You think you know a person very well, but you can never guess what he is thinking." The last two sentences seemed to be said to herself.

"Aunt Lin?"

Seeing that she seemed to be distracted, Shen Cheng called out to her. Lin Rou collected her thoughts and said with a smile, "Why do you suddenly ask this?" Shen Cheng evaded the question and said that it was just a casual question. Lin Rou did not ask any more questions and told him to go back and rest early to avoid catching a cold.

……

The next day, just as Hua Xiangrong opened the door, a maid came to the shop to find Chaoyan and said that the princess wanted to see her.

Chaoyan glanced at the carriage parked outside the door, and in front of the maid, she told Feicui, Amber and Yu Bo that if she didn't return by noon, they should go to the palace to look for someone.

After getting on the carriage, Chao Yan would occasionally pull aside the curtain to take a look at the road conditions outside, and found that the carriage was not heading towards the palace, but towards the lake.

After the carriage stopped at the shore, the maid led Chaoyan onto a pleasure boat.

Thinking about the last time Furong asked her out, also on the pleasure boat, she would have to be more careful this time.

After the maid brought Chao Yan into the cabin, the pleasure boat slowly sailed away from the shore.

When Chaoyan saw the person inside, she was a little surprised. It was not Shen Xue, but Lin Rou. She had rehearsed the scene of meeting the other party countless times in her mind. Although it was a little unexpected, she had done many psychological preparations in advance and could cope with it.

When Lin Rou saw her, she was shocked. She stared at her face with wide eyes. For a moment, she seemed to have seen a ghost. Her voice was trembling. "Who... who are you?"

"Didn't the princess invite me here?" Chao Yan said as she walked over. Lin Rou shouted at her not to come over. Chao Yan didn't move forward. Judging from her reaction, she was clearly hiding something.

After Lin Rou calmed down, she looked at Zhao Yan's face again and said to herself, "It's not her."

"Who is the princess talking about?" Chao Yan asked curiously.

Lin Rou did not answer, but waved her hand, asking Chao Yan to sit down, and chatted with her casually for a while, asking her how old she was this year and who else was at home. Chao Yan said that she was sold to Beijing by human traffickers, and she didn't know who else was at home.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like someone?" The calm eyes glanced at Chao Yan, without the previous panic and shock.

Asagao played dumb and said she didn't know about this.

Lin Rou picked up the teacup and scraped it, then asked, "What did you want to do when you sneaked into the palace?"

Chaoyan replied that she opened a shop and wanted to expand her network.

Lin Rou smiled, obviously not believing what Chao Yan said, "I know you came from the Fourth Prince's mansion. The prince just returned to the capital after winning a battle. I don't know how many people want to win over the prince. When giving gifts doesn't work, they want to give people away. They are really thoughtful."

"Princess, you have misunderstood. The Fourth Prince and I have no relationship anymore." Chao Yan stood up and prepared to say goodbye. "If Princess has nothing else to say, I will go back first." Just as Chao Yan turned around, Lin Rou's voice came over, as if some warm and cool mollusk was entangled with her. Chao Yan tried her best to suppress the creepy feeling in her heart and took a deep breath to keep herself calm.

"You do have a pretty face, but being pretty is not enough. You also have to be smart and know what you can get and what you shouldn't think about."

Chaoyan pinched her knuckles with her thumb, turned around, looked straight into those quiet eyes, and asked, "What if you steal someone else's things?" Lin Rou smiled and said, "That depends on whether you have the ability to do it." Chaoyan bowed, turned around and left.

After the pleasure boat docked, Chaoyan got off first, having already figured out what to do next.