Farewell Flower Festival

Here, Chaoyan was waiting for the court to end in the tea room, and Han Lie came over.

The moment he saw Chao Yan, Han Lie stopped where he was for a few seconds, with a look of amazement in his eyes. After coming back to his senses, he smiled slightly, walked over to Chao Yan, saluted, and said, "Greetings, Princess."

Chaoyan was a little embarrassed. She was not used to the changes brought about by her new identity. She asked Han Lie not to greet her in the future and drank a sip of tea to ease the embarrassment.

"Should I call you Little Lotus Seed or Princess from now on?" Han Lie asked.

Chaoyan said it was okay, she wanted to talk to Han Lie about the bracelet and take this opportunity to make things clear, but she hadn't thought of how to start the conversation. Han Lie saw her hesitation and half-jokingly said, "Xiao Lianzi is now a princess, do you want to draw a line between you and me?"

Chao Yan couldn't find a suitable opening remark, but since the topic had come to this point, it would be better to make it clear as soon as possible. She stretched out her hand with the bracelet and said, "Take the bracelet back."

She paused, considering how to express the following words in a tactful way. Han Lie smiled and said, "It seems that the princess really wants to draw a line between us." He asked, "Is it because of the Fourth Prince?"

Chaoyan nodded. She didn't want to lie to him, but she couldn't lie to herself either. She knew what it felt like to be attracted to someone, and she also knew clearly who she was attracted to.

After a minute of silence in the room, Han Lie asked, "Have you really decided to choose the Fourth Prince?" Chao Yan repeated, "Take this bracelet back."

Han Lie's expression turned cold for a moment, and then a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth again, "If you don't want it, just smash it. Why should I take something that no one wants?" Before turning to leave, he left another sentence, "Don't have too high expectations of the Fourth Prince. The Emperor will not agree to your marriage." After that, he walked away.

On the way back in the carriage, Chaoyan was in a depressed mood. She had originally planned to part ways amicably, but it ended up being like a rift between them. And what did that sentence mean? Why would the emperor disagree?

She thought of countless reasons, which gave her a headache. She was too lazy to think about it anymore. She believed that everything would work out when the time came.

After returning to the palace, Shen He asked Chao Yan to go back and rest for a while. Shen Cheng wanted to go over and talk to her, but was called away by Shen He.

After returning to her residence, Chaoyan first removed her makeup, and after changing her jewelry and clothes, she felt as if a dozen pounds of burden had been lifted off her body. She lay tiredly on the bed, closed her eyes, and let her mind wander.

When she was about to fall asleep, she remembered that she had something important to do. She forced herself to get up, washed up, and then went out.

Seeing Chao Yan coming, the two guards guarding the gate of the courtyard saluted and greeted her. She wanted to go in, but the two guards seemed a little embarrassed.

"Princess, the prince has told you before,"

Without waiting for the guard to finish, Chao Yan patted her chest and assured, "Don't worry, I won't let you take the blame. I'll tell dad later that I wanted to go in on my own and it's none of your business. I have something to ask her now." She emphasized again, "It's very important."

After entering, Chaoyan looked around and didn't see anyone.

The door of the front room was quietly opened a crack, and a pair of eyes peeked out through the crack. When Chaoyan looked over, the person behind the door immediately closed it.

After a while, Chao Yan's voice came from outside the door.

"Liu Niuniu, I know you are in there, open the door and let's talk."

The fake Shen Xue opened the door with a look of resentment on her face, but she didn't dare to glare at Zhao Yan, so she denied it stubbornly, "My name is not Liu Niuniu."

"This name is indeed a bit difficult to pronounce. What is your full name?" Chao Yan said with an "oh~" and said, "I remember it, it's Cuihua."

The fake Shen Xue's face turned even darker. When she heard Chao Yan calling her Cuihua again, the fake Shen Xue got so angry that her voice rose, "Don't call me that, I'm not called that name." Chao Yan stopped provoking her and started talking about business.

"You seem to be very afraid of Aunt Lin?"

The fake Shen Xue was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect Chao Yan to ask so directly that she was not mentally prepared at all. She evasively denied that she was afraid of Lin Rou.

"Auntie Lin knew you were a fake a long time ago, am I right?"

The fake Shen Xue stared in surprise, then quickly denied it.

Chao Yan said: "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it. If you want to live, tell me everything you know, and I will tell my father that I want to recognize you as my sister, so you don't have to go back."

After hearing the last two sentences, the fake Shen Xue was obviously shaken, but she was afraid that Zhao Yan would lie to her, so she didn't agree immediately, "How do I know whether what you said is true or false?"

"Then you just wait for Aunt Lin to settle the score with you." Chaoyan stood up to leave, but was quickly stopped by the fake Shen Xue, who wanted to acknowledge her as her adopted sister first. Chaoyan agreed, but she also had a condition.

"Come with me to see Dad right now and tell him everything you know."

The fake Shen Xue hesitated again. Chao Yan said that there was only one chance and if she left now she would never come back. When she turned around to leave, she was stopped by the fake Shen Xue again.

……

Here, Lin Rou came to find Shen He, first asked about what happened during the audience with the emperor today, and then discussed with him about holding a coming-of-age ceremony for Chao Yan. She selected several days and asked Shen He to decide. Shen He thought the eighth day was a good day, so the coming-of-age ceremony was set on that day, which was three days later.

After the date of the coming-of-age ceremony was set, Lin Rou brought up the matter of the fake Shen Xue and suggested sending her to the farm first to avoid any trouble on the day of the ceremony.

When Chaoyan brought the fake Shen Xue over, Lin Rou had not left yet.

Seeing Lin Rou, the fake Shen Xue shrank back with her head down, and began to retreat again.

Shen He was a little surprised to see the two of them coming together.

"Dad is here, go ahead and talk." Chao Yan said.

The fake Shen Xue hesitated and backed down.

Lin Rou suddenly knelt down to apologize to Shen He, which shocked the three of them. Shen He asked her to stand up and speak, but Lin Rou refused. "I have been hiding something from the prince. I have long known that Xue'er was impersonated by someone."

Chaoyan: “……?” What’s going on? Did I take the wrong medicine? . . . . .

Shen He's expression darkened. "You knew this a long time ago?"

Lin Rou nodded and explained the whole story.

After Liu got a large sum of money and left Dingcheng, she found Lin Rou again less than a year later and asked for a huge sum of money. Lin Rou disagreed, so Liu threatened her to tell Shen Xue's secret and then say that she was the one who instigated the whole thing.

Only then did Lin Rou realize that she had been deceived by Liu. Shen Xue was not picked up at all, but was Liu's biological daughter. Lin Rou agreed to give Liu money, but she wanted to know where the real Shen Xue was.

But Mrs. Liu told her that the person had died of illness a long time ago.

Lin Rou didn't want Shen He to suffer the pain of losing his daughter again, so she kept it a secret.