Farewell Flower Festival

The weather was bad that day. The sky looked gloomy since morning, with thick clouds and no sunlight at all.

Chao Yan stood under the eaves and looked at the gloomy sky, having a premonition that a storm was about to come.

By noon, raindrops began to fall from the sky, and then turned into raindrops. After a light rain, the wind started to blow again, and the sky became even darker. The leaves were blown all over the sky by the strong wind, as if a rainstorm was coming.

Dark clouds continued to gather momentum, and rumbling thunder came from the clouds, accompanied by a dazzling flash of purple lightning, which made people's hearts tremble.

Chaoyan was most afraid of thunder. The rumbling thunder made the doors and windows tremble. Lightning suddenly flashed, just like the night before she traveled through time. There were thunder and lightning, and then a passage emitting white light opened in front of her, and her consciousness was teleported here.

She was afraid that the passage would open again and teleport her back to the modern era. She couldn't leave Mu Tianling alone. She had agreed with him to wait for him to come back, so she couldn't leave.

There was a dazzling flash of lightning followed by a loud thunder, and the entire roof seemed to shake.

Chaoyan covered her ears tightly with her hands and closed her eyes. As long as she couldn't see or hear, she wouldn't be afraid. Jadeite and Amber stayed by her side.

After a while, Chaoyan vaguely heard the sound of rain. She loosened her hand and heard the sound of rain. The thunder and lightning stopped.

The rain was getting heavier, from a downpour to a downpour, and the sound of the rain covered everything.

Seeing the bad weather, the street vendors packed up their stalls early and went home. The once bustling streets were completely engulfed by the heavy rain. There was not a single pedestrian on the road and the shops were closed.

The sky looked heavy and dark, as if it were already night.

The guards at the city gate saw that the rain was getting heavier and were about to close the gate. At this time, a carriage came hurriedly and entered the city just before the gate was closed.

After entering the city, the carriage hurried towards the palace.

……

Mu Tianyuan was in the study room and the crackling sound of rain made it impossible for him to concentrate on reading the memorials.

When Emperor Mu was away, all memorials submitted by court officials were sent to Mu Tianyuan for review. Under Liu Sui's supervision, he did not dare to slack off every day. All memorials submitted that day had to be reviewed on the same day, and he could not be perfunctory and just write a "review" on the memorial and call it a day. Liu Sui would also conduct random checks, and Mu Tianyuan did not dare to be careless.

Sometimes there were too many memorials submitted, and Mu Tianyuan had to stay up late to review them. Liu Sui would also stay up late with him. If it were in the past, he would have quit long ago, but now he also understood the hard work and difficulty his father went through in reviewing these memorials.

But today the sound of rain was so loud that it gave him a headache. Not to mention reviewing the memorials, even reading the words on them was difficult.

Just as he was about to go see what Liu Sui was doing, a palace maid and Eunuch An hurried over.

When he saw Mu Tianyuan, Eunuch An didn't even have time to greet him. He anxiously reported, "Your Highness, the Emperor wants to see you. Please follow me."

Mu Tianyuan was surprised when he heard this and didn't react at all to what was going on.

Eunuch An anxiously urged him to hurry up, saying that it was still in time to rush over. Mu Tianyuan followed Eunuch An and asked anxiously what had happened. Eunuch An said that Emperor Mu was attacked by a wild beast while hunting and was seriously injured. The situation is not optimistic now. Mu Tianyuan became even more anxious when he heard this, and quickened his pace to follow Eunuch An.

There was a carriage parked on the palace road, but the Tianwu Guard driving the carriage had disappeared.

When Eunuch An hurriedly led Mu Tianyuan over, he did not see the Tianwu Guards driving the carriage. He was feeling strange when suddenly a figure flashed out from behind the carriage and captured him.

Mu Tianyuan was shocked by the scene in front of him again, not knowing what was happening.

At this time, Xiao Ting came over with an umbrella and asked Chang An to take Eunuch An away. Mu Tianyuan asked what was going on. Xiao Ting said, "The emperor went out this time to lure out the spy planted by his side and frightened His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Mu Tianyuan was shocked again. He couldn't believe that Eunuch An was actually a spy. After he came to his senses, he asked who had placed Eunuch An next to his father. Xiao Ting said, "I was just following orders to arrest him. I don't know the details. Your Highness the Crown Prince's questions should be answered when the Emperor returns." After that, Xiao Ting bowed again and took his leave.

After thinking for a while, Mu Tianyuan went to find Liu Sui and told her the whole story. Liu Sui was also surprised. She didn't expect that Eunuch An was a spy. But she quickly calmed down and thought about it. Then she told Mu Tianyuan, "Don't tell anyone about this. I believe that the emperor has made all the necessary preparations for this trip. Nothing will happen."

After the heavy rain, the starry sky is brilliant and looks brand new.

Two more days passed.

There was news from the paddock.

Zhao Zhong, the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery, rebelled and was executed.

When Mu Tianyuan heard the news, he was surprised again. When he told Liu Sui the news, Liu Sui was also quite surprised. The couple figured out who planted Eunuch An as the spy.

That Tianwu Guard was also disguised as one of Zhao Zhong's men.

Chaoyan was also shocked when he learned the news that Zhao Zhong had been executed. He did not expect that the rebellion would be quelled so thoroughly.

After Emperor Mu returned, he immediately dealt with a group of people. The Marquis's mansion was sealed off, and all the officers and soldiers who colluded with Zhao Zhong to steal iron ore and privately forge weapons were arrested and brought to justice. All officials who had business dealings with Zhao Zhong were thoroughly investigated. For a time, people were in a panic, fearing that they would be implicated.

After returning from the enclosure, Mu Tianling seemed to have forgotten the agreement he had made with Chao Yan. He locked himself in the study room all day and did not go to the Jiuxing Division, as if he had something heavy on his mind.

Eunuch Wu revealed to Chaoyan that Mu Tianling and Emperor Mu had a dispute because the former wanted to overturn Xu Hai's case, but the latter disagreed.

Now that Zhao Zhong is dead and the most crucial witness is gone, it will be even more difficult to overturn an old case from more than ten years ago.

……

At night, the moonlight was like water, making the yard seem covered with a layer of silver-white water. A dark cloud floated over from somewhere and blocked the moonlight. After a while, the dark cloud floated away and the silver-white moonlight appeared again.

There was no light in the study. Mu Tianling stood by the window, the expression on his face flickering as the dark clouds came and went.

"Shut up! Why do you want to overturn the verdict? Do you want me to admit my mistake and let the whole world laugh at me? I am not wrong. If you dare to bring up the matter of overturning the verdict again, I will destroy you!"

Every word kept echoing in his mind. He had expected too much. When his mother passed away, that man did not come to see her for the last time. He even ordered people to cut down all his mother's favorite red plum trees. He had been treated coldly and humiliated. That man had never done him any justice. It was ridiculous that he still expected that man to change now.

His fists were clenched so tightly that they made a cold sound. A sense of hostility emanated from his eyes. Hatred and anger grew wildly in his heart, gradually eroding his calmness and rationality.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door, and a word of "Your Highness" brought him back to his senses.

Chao Yan shouted outside the door. After a while, Mu Tianling's voice came from inside, "I'm fine. You go to sleep first."