Farewell Flower Festival

"Princess, do you already have someone you suspect?" Mu Tianqi asked.

Chao Yan shook her head and said, "I was wondering if I had offended anyone recently." She looked up again, then walked over and reached for the hanging vine.

Out of reach.

She stood on tiptoe and tried again, but still couldn't reach it. Then she jumped with all her might, grabbed a vine, and pulled it down hard. Immediately, the dead leaves fell down, accompanied by sand and dust.

Dead leaves and dust fell all over Chao Yan's head, and Mu Tianqi was not spared either. He calmly brushed off the dead leaves on his head and body, and then his eyes fell on Chao Yan's shoulder.

Accompanied by a scream, Chao Yan was frightened to death. A big black spider just crawled onto her shoulder, less than ten centimeters away from her face. She almost cried and asked Mu Tianqi to help get rid of the spider.

Mu Tianqi picked up a dry branch, reached out and picked it up, and the spider disappeared.

Chaoyan immediately turned her back to let Mu Tianqi check if there were any spiders on her back. She then lowered her head to let Mu Tianqi check if there were any spiders on her head. She no longer dared to pull at the vines.

She originally wanted to learn from those rock climbers and climb up by grabbing the vines, although she had no practical experience. After she climbed up, she would go and call for help to rescue Mu Tianqi, but now she had to give up this plan and call for help in the simplest way.

"Is there anyone! Is there anyone? Help! Is there anyone?"

Asagao put her hands to her mouth to make a trumpet shape, and shouted for help towards the cave entrance with all her lung capacity.

After shouting for about five minutes, Chao Yan felt her mouth was dry and took a break.

"I haven't had a good chat with the princess before. Is there anything you want to ask me?" Mu Tianqi said.

Asagao thought, is this the time to chat? . . . .

"Then let me ask first." Mu Tianqi said, "Does the princess like riding horses?"

Chao Yan: "..., I like it." She asked, "Your Highness, do you like to drink?"

Mu Tianqi said, "It's not that I like him, it's just a social occasion. Do you want to decide your own marriage or wait for your father to grant it?"

Chao Yan asked back: "Your Highness, don't you want to be able to decide your own marriage?"

Mu Tianqi smiled and said, "It's good to be able to make your own decisions, but what's more important is to satisfy my father. People can't be too greedy."

Chao Yan asked curiously, "What if Your Highness is asked to marry someone he doesn't like?"

Mu Tianqi said: "If Father is satisfied, then he is the most suitable candidate."

Chao Yan was a little impressed by the Second Prince's awareness. If he really wanted to compete for the throne, it would be uncertain who would get the position of Crown Prince. Thinking of this, she wondered whether she should take this opportunity to test the other party's thoughts. Before she could think of the wording, she was interrupted by the same question.

"If the princess wants to marry someone she doesn't like, will she run away from the marriage?" Mu Tianqi asked with a joking tone.

Chao Yan thought for a moment and replied, "I definitely would have in the past, but I don't know now." Then he asked, "Your Highness, do you prefer to live in the palace or the palace?"

Mu Tianqi asked: "Princess, do you mean now or in the future?"

Chao Yan felt that her intentions had been seen through, and said, "Your Highness used to live in the palace so it was more convenient for you to visit the Imperial Concubine. Now that you live in the palace, it is more convenient to go out. If you want to buy something, you can go directly to the store to buy it. If it were me, I would prefer to live outside, I would feel more free."

Mu Tianqi smiled and said, "I am very happy that the princess can open her heart to me."

Chaogao: “…” What an understanding. . . . .

Time passed minute by minute, and Chaoyan didn't know how much time had passed, an hour or an hour. She once again cupped her hands into a trumpet shape and shouted for help towards the cave entrance. After shouting more than ten times, she stopped to rest. Suddenly, she saw the fallen dead leaves and thought of a way to save herself.

Mu Tianqi saw her holding a dry branch and pulling out the dead leaves, and asked her what she was looking for. Chaoyan said she was looking for any spiders. Hearing that, Mu Tianqi smiled.

After digging repeatedly several times and confirming again and again that there were no spiders or other small animals, Chaoyan collected all the dead leaves and piled them into a small pile. Then she used dead branches to dig along the stone wall and luckily found two stones of suitable size to use as flints.

Mu Tianqi asked her what she was going to do, and Chaoyan said she wanted to make signal smoke.

She held up two stones and rubbed and hit them quickly on the dead leaves. Mu Tianqi saw that she wanted to make a fire.

A little spark popped out from between the stones and fell on the dead leaves. When smoke came out, Chaoyan's face lit up with joy, knowing that she was saved.

The smoke floated up along the hole. Chao Yan thought, "You have to be more motivated and float out."

Time passed by minute by minute, and the pile of dead leaves was almost burned to ashes. There was still no movement on it. Chaoyan decided to pull some vines to get more dead leaves.

At this time, fine dust fell from the edge of the cave.

Chao Yan looked up at the cave entrance and shouted, "Is there anyone there?"

A response came from the cave entrance: "Is it the princess?"

Chao Yan yelled, "I'm down there!"

A vine hanging on the stone wall was pulled up a bit, and someone came down holding the vine.

Chao Yan stared at the figure and shouted, "Your Highness, I'm here."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Tianling landed on the ground. Chao Yan was so excited that she couldn't control her feet and ran over to hug him. Mu Tianling gently patted the back of her head and said softly, "It's okay."

"Fourth brother is here."

When Mu Tianling's eyes fell on Mu Tianqi, they sank for a moment.

Chao Yan said: "The Second Prince has sprained his ankle."

"Your Highness, let's rescue the people first and then talk." Han Lie's voice came from above, and it seemed to be only a few meters away from the ground.

Chaoyan looked up and saw that the person was indeed about two or three meters high. He was clinging to the rock wall with one hand holding a vine and the other hand holding a rope. He pushed his feet and landed easily.

"Your Highness, can you still stand up?" Han Lie asked.

"I feel much better after resting for such a long time." Mu Tianqi looked fine when he stood up.

Chao Yan had some doubts that his foot had healed long ago.

Han Lie first asked someone to pull Mu Tianqi up, then Mu Tianling hugged Chao Yan, wrapped his hand around the rope and grabbed it, Qianfeng and Feiyu worked together to pull the two up, and then Han Lie also came up.

When Shen Cheng saw Chao Yan, his heart finally settled down.

Before leaving, Captain Yu asked several of his men to move a large stone and place it next to the hole in the ground. Chao Yan wrote on it: There is a pit here, please do not approach.

……

After going down the mountain, Mu Tianling asked Chaoyan to take his carriage to take her back.

As soon as Chao Yan got on the carriage, Shen Cheng followed her in. He didn't dare to let her out of his sight for a moment and completely ignored Mu Tianling's feelings.

Mu Tianling gave a faint order, and Feiyu drove the carriage towards the Xiaoyao Palace.

After the carriage stopped at the gate of the palace, Mu Tianling told Chaoyan to rest early today and come to the Jiuxingsi tomorrow.

"Xue'er didn't do anything wrong, why did she go to the Jiuxing Division?" Shen Cheng said dissatisfiedly.

Mu Tianling said: "In order to catch the criminal as soon as possible."

Chaoyan said that she would go over there tomorrow morning and asked Mu Tianling to go to bed early.

After court today, Shen He was called by Emperor Mu to the imperial study to discuss matters. Also called by Emperor Mu were Prime Minister Shang and Minister Liu of the Ministry of Revenue.

At noon, the three of them had lunch together with Emperor Mu.

It was not until the afternoon that the three of them left the palace.

When Shen He came back, Chao Yan and Shen Cheng were already in the mansion.

The brother and sister agreed that if no one asked, they would not tell anyone until the right time.