Farewell Flower Festival

When Shen He asked someone to call Shen Xue over, she didn't know what had happened. Seeing Chao Yan kneeling on the ground, Shen Xue looked gloating, not knowing that her good days were about to end.

"Dad," Shen Xue just called out, but when she saw Shen He's expression was not right, she swallowed the words back and looked at Lin Rou. A hint of sharpness flashed in her quiet eyes, and she shrank back and lowered her head.

"Xue'er, don't be afraid." Lin Rou walked over and said, her voice kind and gentle. She took Shen Xue's hand and patted it twice. "Back then, your mother said that you were picked up. Is that true?"

Hearing this, Shen Xue's expression became obviously panicked. She subconsciously glanced at Lin Rou, then nodded and said, "It's true, I just picked it up."

"Do you dare to swear?" Chao Yan said.

Shen Xue seemed a little guilty and felt strange. She didn't know what this had to do with Chao Yan. The next name Chao Yan said made her face change drastically.

"Ugly, don't you remember?"

When Shen Xue heard the word "ugly girl", she was so frightened that she spoke without thinking, "Is she still alive?" When she realized that she might have let the cat out of the bag, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, but it was too late.

"Who is Chou Gu?" When Shen He looked at her, Shen Xue felt so guilty that she wanted to find a hole to crawl into. When she heard Chao Yan's answer, she widened her eyes in surprise.

"I am the ugly girl."

Shen Xue stared at her face in shock and spoke without thinking, "Impossible, your face...?"

"How did my face get better?" Chao Yan raised her hand and touched the right forehead. "Three years ago, my face got better."

Shen He asked what happened. Chaoyan said that her face was burned by fire when she was very young. Her adoptive mother named her Chou Gu. Originally, her adoptive mother didn't want to adopt her, but if there was one more person in the family, they could get an extra acre of land, so her adoptive mother kept her.

The more Shen Xue listened, the more guilty she felt, and she didn't even dare to look up at Chao Yan.

"If Dad doesn't believe me, just send someone to the village to investigate and we'll know for sure."

Hearing Chao Yan calling her father and going to the village to investigate, Shen Xue was so scared that her legs went weak and she couldn't even stand. Lin Rou supported her and asked anxiously, "Xue'er, is this true?"

Shen Xue couldn't answer and fainted with her eyes closed.

Lin Rou was about to have Shen Xue taken away and wait until the person woke up, but Chao Yan shouted "fire", and Shen Xue woke up, her face red with embarrassment.

"Who taught you to impersonate me?" Chao Yan asked.

"Yes..." Shen Xue stammered, unable to speak.

Shen He shouted for someone to come, and Shen Xue was so scared that she knelt down and begged for mercy, saying that it was her mother who taught her, and that as long as she said she was adopted she could become a princess.

Shen He was so angry that his face turned blue. Lin Rou tried to persuade him to calm down. Chao Yan said aggrievedly, "Dad, my legs are almost numb from kneeling." Shen He asked her to get up quickly. He walked over and helped her up. He looked at her with a distressed and guilty look on his face and said, "It's Dad's fault that you have suffered." Chao Yan shook her head and said, "Don't blame Dad."

Shen He was so busy talking to Chao Yan that he seemed to have forgotten that there was a fake princess who needed to be dealt with, until Lin Rou reminded him, "Your Highness, what about Xue'er?" She paused and changed her words, "It should be Miss Liu, how should we deal with her?" She added, "The child was still young at the time. If she hadn't been instigated by Liu, she wouldn't have pretended to be Xue'er. But Liu is Xue'er's adoptive mother after all. If they hadn't taken Xue'er in, Xue'er might..."

Seeing Lin Rou pleading for the fake Shen Xue, Chao Yan also had to behave more magnanimously. She had just returned to her ancestral home and wanted to leave a good impression of her father as a "kind-hearted and harmless person". Only in this way could she have a good fight with the pretending white lotus.

"Dad, she is still my sister, let her stay for a few more days until her parents come to pick her up."

Shen Xue cried and said she didn't want to go back, begging Chao Yan not to drive her away. Shen He asked someone to take Shen Xue away first. He had a lot to say to Chao Yan, but he didn't know where to start. He planned to take her to see her mother first. There was a portrait of Su Yan hanging in his study. He usually didn't allow anyone to enter his study. He often locked himself in the study and stood in front of the portrait, looking at the person in the portrait for a long time.

When Shen He was about to take Chao Yan away, Lin Rou reminded him again, saying that Shen Cheng didn't know about this yet, and asked him to come and meet Chao Yan first.

When Shen Cheng came over, he saw Chao Yan was there too. He felt a little strange, and then Shen He told him that Chao Yan was his sister. Shen Cheng was so surprised that he couldn't close his jaw. His eyes were as big as bells, and he couldn't speak for a long time, as if he was petrified.

It wasn't until Chao Yan raised her hand and waved it in front of his eyes that he came back to his senses. Then he heard Chao Yan calling him "brother". Shen Cheng was so surprised that he couldn't speak. For a moment, he was confused and surprised. He didn't know how to react. After a long pause, he said, "Is it really you?"

"Cheng'er, have you known this for a long time?" Lin Rou asked.

Shen Cheng wanted to explain but didn't know where to start. Ever since he talked with Han Lie, he had a suspicion in his heart. In the past two days, he recalled the events of that year carefully again. He didn't know if it was a psychological effect, but he always felt that something was wrong but couldn't figure out what it was. He also planned to secretly ask someone to find Shen Xue's adoptive mother Liu to confirm it again, but now it seems there is no need to look for her.

Seeing that Lin Rou was setting a trap for Shen Cheng, Chao Yan explained for him: "I had arranged to meet with Big Brother twice before. I wanted to tell Big Brother the truth but was afraid that Big Brother would not be able to accept it for a while, so I reminded him indirectly."

Shen Cheng suddenly realized that's why he asked him if he looked like someone. After figuring it out, he had a lot of questions to ask Chao Yan. Shen He told him to talk tomorrow and took Chao Yan to the study to meet her mother. Shen Cheng followed them.

Looking at the backs of the three people leaving, Lin Rou's face gradually turned cold, and her nails dug deeply into the flesh. She would never allow anyone to destroy everything she had worked so hard to build.

On the way, Chao Yan said that she opened a rouge shop called Hua Xiangrong, and wanted someone to go to the shop to tell them that she was kept as a guest by Princess Lin Rou, and would not be going back for a few days, so people in the shop should not worry.

Shen He asked Shen Cheng to find Shen Ming and ask Shen Ming to send someone to the store to tell him.

Chao Yan took the opportunity to ask about Mu Tianling, and Shen He then remembered that there was a Fourth Prince in his house. He then asked Shen Cheng to go and see if he had left, and if not, to see him off for him.

After Shen Cheng left, Chao Yan asked tentatively, "Dad, what do you think of the Fourth Prince?" Shen He first asked her if she had been wronged in Mu Tianling's mansion before. Chao Yan shook her head and said that Eunuch Wu was very good to her. She also recounted how Eunuch Wu had taken care of her in the past three years. She had never been wronged in terms of food and clothing. If it weren't for Eunuch Wu, she would probably still be burning firewood in the imperial kitchen, and she didn't know when she would be able to get out of this situation.

Knowing that Chaoyan had previously worked as a cook in the imperial kitchen, Shen He felt guilty and distressed again. He blamed himself for not taking good care of her and promised her that he would never let her suffer any grievances again.