Farewell Flower Festival

When the palace maid came to the study to report, Mu Tianyuan was practicing calligraphy and Liu Sui was sitting on the couch beside him reading a book.

Hearing the palace maid say Chao Yan came to visit, Mu Tianyuan said, "The weasel is paying New Year's greetings to the chicken." Before he could finish his words, Liu Sui looked at him and kept silent.

Liu Sui asked Luzhu to go and entertain them first, and she would come later.

When Luzhu came over, Chaoyan felt that she looked familiar. Then he recalled that he had seen her before at Prime Minister Shang’s birthday party. She spoke and acted concisely and clearly, and at first glance, she looked like a loyal and capable girl.

"Princess, please wait a moment. The master will be here soon." Luzhu poured a cup of tea for Chaoyan, then stepped aside and waited.

After a while, Liu Sui came over and paused on Aunt Hong. Aunt Hong came over to greet him and said, "The Queen was afraid that the Princess would not know the way and get lost, so she asked me to lead the way for her." She added, "The Princess also brought a gift, I hope the Crown Princess will not despise it."

Chao Yan: “…” Could you please leave me something to say…

Aunt Hong handed the gift over and Luzhu took it.

Liu Sui asked Chao Yan if she was used to living in the palace and how her father and brother were doing. Her tone was approachable and generous. Chao Yan was also happy to chat with the Crown Princess and mentioned that she opened a rouge shop on the street, called Hua Xiangrong.

Liu Sui was also interested in her business and asked her if it was difficult to do business. Chao Yan felt that it was not too difficult, except that the preparation work at the beginning was a bit tedious, she had to choose a store location, inquire about the supply channels, and recruit people. Fortunately, she had acquaintances to help her, otherwise she would definitely not be able to handle it alone.

Here, Mu Tianyuan raised his head and glanced at the door from time to time. Seeing that Liu Sui had not come back yet, it seemed as if there were nails on the chair he was sitting on, and he could not calm down to practice calligraphy.

He called for someone to come, and a little palace maid walked in with her head lowered.

"Go and see if the person has left."

The little palace maid went over to take a look, then came back to report to Mu Tianyuan that she had not left. He began to feel uneasy, wondering what there was to talk about, and felt that Chao Yan had ulterior motives.

He felt a chill in his heart, thinking about how he had asked Chao Yan to dance before. If she complained first, he would be doomed, and she would definitely make up some lies to discredit him.

Thinking of this, he felt a chill on his back and hurriedly got up and left.

Chao Yan was introducing the types of rouge sold in her store to Liu Sui when Mu Tianyuan rushed in and stared at Chao Yan for two seconds with a strange look on his face. Liu Sui coughed lightly, and he immediately retracted his gaze, walked over casually and asked, "Why haven't you left yet?"

"The princess and I get along very well." Liu Sui said.

Mu Tianyuan didn't dare to object and asked tentatively, "What are you talking about?" His tone was a little guilty, afraid that all the good things he had done before would be dug up.

Chao Yan stood up and said goodbye, saying it was getting late.

Liu Sui asked Lu Zhu to send her and Aunt Hong out. Mu Tianling stole another glance at Chao Yan's back. Liu Sui picked up the teacup and scraped it while casually asking, "What bad things did you do to the princess before?"

Mu Tianyuan felt a chill on his back when he heard this, and quickly denied it, "I didn't do anything. Don't listen to her nonsense. She is in cahoots with the Fourth Brother, and she even made trouble for me the day before yesterday and embarrassed me in front of my father. She must have had bad intentions when she came here today."

Liu Sui said, "The princess is now living with the Imperial Concubine. The Imperial Concubine asked Aunt Hong to bring her here today and also sent a gift." Mu Tianyuan said, "What gift? Let me see."

Luzhu brought the box over, and Mu Tianyuan opened it and saw a pair of bracelets. He picked up the bracelets and stared at them with a suspicious look on his face, thinking that there must be something strange inside the bracelets. Then he said with certainty, "It's fake, definitely fake." He asked Luzhu to take it and throw it away.

Liu Sui asked Lu Zhu to leave first, and continued what he had just said, "I don't think the princess is like you said," Mu Tianyuan said, "You can know a person's face but not his heart." Liu Sui said, "Has she ever harmed you before?" Mu Tianyuan said, "She made me look bad the day before yesterday." Liu Sui said, "If my second brother marries the princess in the future, will you say that about her in front of him?"

Mu Tianyuan was stunned, and then expressed his objection, "She is in cahoots with the fourth brother, how can the second brother marry her? I have to talk to the second brother and don't let her deceive him."

Liu Sui said, "My second brother's marriage is decided by our father and the imperial concubine. Don't say anything or interfere."

Mu Tianyuan muttered, "Can't I give my second brother a reminder?" Liu Sui said, "My second brother is better at judging people than you, so you don't need to remind him." Mu Tianyuan muttered again, and Liu Sui glanced at him and had no objection.

Liu Sui talked about the marriage between the Duke's Mansion and the Prime Minister's Mansion, and discussed with Mu Tianyuan what gift to give.

On this side, Chaoyan heard two palace maids talking about Shu Fei behind her back as she followed Aunt Hong. They said that Shu Fei was weak and had fallen ill again two days ago. They didn't know how many years she could last.

Aunt Hong scolded the two for talking about their master behind his back and being unruly. The two admitted their mistakes tremblingly, but Aunt Hong still deducted one month's salary from them.

Chaoyan was a little surprised that Aunt Hong would be so angry. She turned around and saw a figure passing by. It looked like Mu Tianchen. She immediately understood and thought that Aunt Hong had really sharp eyes.

After returning, Chaoyan wondered whether she should go visit Concubine Shu.

Judging from the current situation, Mu Tianling is just a lone man. The Crown Prince and the Second Prince are in the same group. If the Third Prince is also won over, Mu Tianling will be really isolated. When the Crown Prince ascends the throne in the future, he will most likely target him as a lone man.

She had to save some way out for him. The Crown Princess was one way out, and the Shu Fei was also a way out. Let others say she was trying to curry favor with him, as long as he could live a stable life in the future.

When Mu Tianchen came to Jingning Palace, he happened to see a palace maid carrying out a bowl of medicine, and a hint of solemnity appeared between her cold brows.

When the maid came to pay her respects, he asked about his mother's health. The maid replied, "The imperial physician said that your mother is fine and will be fine after a few days of rest."

When he reached the door, Mu Tianchen heard a cough from inside. He walked in quickly and greeted his mother as usual after seeing her.

Shu Fei reminded him to put on more clothes when the weather got cold, and to eat on time no matter how busy he was with military affairs, and Mu Tianchen agreed to all of her requests.

In the evening, Chaoyan said she had eaten too much and wanted to go out for a walk, so she took Liu'er away. On the way, she sent Liu'er back to get something, and she went towards Jingning Palace alone.

The hall was still filled with the faint scent of sandalwood. When the palace maid brought Chao Yan in, Shu Fei was sewing a cloak.

Shu Fei asked Chao Yan to sit on the couch and had someone make her a cup of hot tea. Chao Yan held the hot cup and felt a lot warmer.

"Is this for the Third Prince?" Chao Yan saw that the color of the cloak was dark, and it was most likely for Mu Tianchen.

Shu Fei smiled and said, "Chen'er has grown taller in the past two years, so I thought of making him a new one. Ahem," Shu Fei coughed, and handed the hot tea in her hand to Chao Yan, urging Shu Fei to take a rest.