Farewell Flower Festival

The day after entering the palace to drink tea and appreciate the flowers, Chaoyan received a pot of green chrysanthemums, which was sent to her by Aunt Hong.

"Today, the Second Prince came down to pay his respects to the Empress, and mentioned that the Princess liked this pot of green chrysanthemum very much, so the Empress asked the servant to bring someone to deliver it to the Princess."

Zhao Yan felt a little pressured after listening to Aunt Hong’s words. Why did the Second Prince specifically mention her? Could it be that he has taken a liking to her? . . . . .

It's impossible. The Second Prince has a crush on someone else's wife. Maybe he has been thinking about her since he was a child. How could he fall in love with someone else so quickly? He must have been attracted by her status.

After Aunt Hong and her people said goodbye, Chaoyan went to the study to see if her father had returned, but he hadn't yet.

After breakfast, Shen He said he wanted to go to the military camp and took Shen Ming and Shen Cheng with him.

Chaoyan came back and looked at the pot of green chrysanthemums. She felt a little worried. Then she had an idea and decided to give her brother a surprise when he came back.

……

On the other side, Mu Tianling happened to see a carriage coming from the palace on the road. Judging from the direction, it should be coming from Xiaoyao Palace, so he asked Qianfeng to inquire about it.

After returning home, Mu Tianling called Eunuch Wu and asked him to pay more attention to the movements in the palace recently.

At this time Qianfeng came back and heard that Aunt Hong had taken people to Xiaoyao Palace, so he specially sent a pot of green chrysanthemums to Chaoyan.

Mu Tianling's expression tensed for a moment, and the sense of crisis hidden in his heart made him a little restless. He wanted to go to Chao Yan to get a definite answer. He wanted to hear her say in person that her choice was him, and no one else but him.

After calming down his agitated emotions, he let Qianfeng go down first.

"Your Highness, please don't blame me for being too talkative. I would like to ask, has Your Highness expressed your feelings to the princess so far?" Eunuch Wu asked amiably.

Mu Tianling blushed and nodded, then picked up the teacup and scraped it, as if to hide his inner shyness.

Eunuch Wu said amiably, "Since Your Highness and the Princess have already broken that window paper, Your Highness should trust the Princess a little more."

Mu Tianling scraped the teacup and changed the subject to talk about Liu Lei's case and how the investigation was going. Eunuch Wu shook his head, no progress yet.

The other party has not shown up for many years and must have changed his name long ago. It is not easy to find a needle in a haystack.

In the previous Wei Chang case, when Mu Tianling led people to search the Wei Mansion, they found a portrait in the secret compartment of the study. The person in the portrait was Liu Lei, the deputy general under Xu Hai.

Xu Hai was Mei Fei's brother, Mu Tianling's uncle, and the then-General of the Nation. During the Ning Wang Rebellion, he was framed and forced to death by his sworn brother Zhao Zhong, and the general's mansion was later burned down by a fire.

Eunuch Wu had long suspected that the fire was set by Zhao Zhong. After what happened to Xu Xuan, Eunuch Wu felt that the person who set fire to the general's mansion was most likely Wei Chang. As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." Wei Chang is the one who is closest to vermilion and black is the one who is close to ink. The two generals under his command also liked to burn people's houses.

That portrait was most likely a task assigned to Wei Chang by Zhao Zhong. Liu Lei might know the inside story of Prince Ning's disappearance, so he wanted to wipe out the root of the problem.

Eunuch Wu sent people to Liu Lei's hometown to investigate and found that someone had come to check Liu Lei's whereabouts in the previous years, proving that Liu Lei was still alive at that time, but no trace of him could be found afterwards.

Eunuch Wu guessed that if the other party wanted to redress Xu Hai, he would contact Mu Tianling sooner or later.

In the afternoon, Mu Tianling went out and went to Prince Rui's Mansion.

After waiting in the reception room for a while, Mu Tianqi came over and glanced at the pot of white chrysanthemums in Qianfeng's hand.

"My fourth brother is here. What a rare visitor."

Mu Tianling said, "I heard that Second Brother has recently taken a liking to appreciating chrysanthemums." He raised his hand to signal, and Qianfeng came forward with the pot of white chrysanthemums. He said seriously, "I planted this Haoyue Zhaoxue myself. What do you think, Second Brother?"

Mu Tianqi commented, "Not bad." He then joked, "I didn't expect that Fourth Brother is so good at growing flowers. If he were to grow crops, he would definitely be good too."

Mu Tianling said: "Since Second Brother likes it, then I will give it up."

Qianfeng walked over and put Baiju on the table.

"It's getting late, so I won't bother you anymore." After saying that, Mu Tianling said goodbye and left with Qianfeng.

Mu Tianqi walked over and took a look at the pot of white chrysanthemums, and had it moved to the garden.

……

It was almost dark when Shen He came back with Shen Ming and Shen Cheng.

Lin Rou asked someone to prepare dinner, but Shen He said it was not necessary as he had already eaten in the military camp.

After Shen Cheng returned to his residence, he found a pot of chrysanthemums of a strange color in the room. It was green, and it was the first time he had seen it. Knowing that it was sent by Chao Yan, Shen Cheng looked at it for a while and felt that this sister was really considerate and thought of him with all the good things.

Then he felt a little worried again. If his elder brother found out that he was the only one who got the good things, he would definitely feel left out, so he asked someone to send the pot of green chrysanthemums back to Shen Ming.

After Shen He explained some things to Shen Ming in the study, he asked him to go back and rest early. When Shen Ming returned to his residence, he found a pot of green chrysanthemums on the table in the room. The wonderful green color made him feel a little subtle.

During breakfast the next day, Shen Cheng asked with great interest: "Brother, do you like Lu Ju?"

Chaoyan was stunned for a moment, then she realized what was going on, and then she heard Shen Cheng say, "That was given by Xueer." Chaoyan coughed suddenly, and she really admired her brother's touching emotional intelligence. Sometimes saying less is worth a thousand words.

She now admits that she was the one who gave it as a gift, which is a bit embarrassing, and explains that she gave it to her brother first, which is a bit embarrassing.

At the critical moment, she still has to rely on her father to help her out.

"My study is still missing a pot of flowers, so put it with me first." Shen He said.

Shen Ming nodded.

The awkward atmosphere was thus resolved.

After breakfast, Shen He went out to attend court, and Shen Ming also went out.

Shen Cheng went to play with Chao Yan, who said she was going to make rouge, and quietly told him that she was going to develop a secret product and asked him to keep it secret. Shen Cheng promised to keep his mouth shut, but he knew nothing about rouge, so even if someone wanted to find out about his business secrets, he couldn't say anything.

……

After the court session, Zhao Zhong came over and asked, "Is the prince busy recently?" Shen He asked, "Is the marquis busy?" Zhao Zhong smiled and said, "Nothing, I just want to invite the prince to dinner. Since the prince returned to the capital, we haven't had a chance to catch up."

Shen He said, "My Lord, do you want to talk about your sworn brother?"

Zhao Zhong looked a little unnatural, and he gave a dry laugh and said, "More than ten years have passed. If the prince wants to overturn the verdict now, it may not be that easy. Like the prince, I don't want to believe that my brother will surrender to Prince Ning."

Shen He asked back, "Then why didn't the Marquis find evidence to overturn your brother's case?"

Zhao Zhong said, "To be honest with you, Your Highness, I have been looking for someone's whereabouts for these years." He looked around and said, "It is not convenient to discuss this in detail. If Your Highness is free, I will invite you to have a meal at the restaurant."

Shen He said: "I am not hungry either."

Zhao Zhong smiled and said, "Then I will treat you, Your Majesty, to a cup of tea."