Farewell Flower Festival

After that, Lin Rou again apologized to Shen He, taking all the blame on herself, and begged Shen He to show leniency to the fake Shen Xue. The fake Shen Xue was deeply moved after hearing this, and pushed all the blame onto her mother Liu.

Lin Rou won this round, and Chao Yan also knew what kind of opponent she would face in the future, so she had to be extra careful.

"Dad, although it was wrong for Aunt Lin to hide it from you, she was also afraid that you would be too sad. Dad, please don't blame Aunt Lin."

Chaoyan helped Lin Rou up, and Shen He didn't plan to pursue the matter anymore. The fake Shen Xue cried and begged to stay, and also told her that Chaoyan wanted to recognize her as her sister.

Chao Yan complained in her heart that this girl was really shameless. Before Lin Rou opened her mouth, she pointed out a clear way out for the fake Shen Xue, "Dad, I've already thought about it. Let her go to my shop to help out first. I'll pay her the wages. It just so happens that the house I rented before is now available, so I'll let her live there. What do you think?"

Shen He nodded, "You make the decision."

Chaoyan was just about to go to the store to take a look, and took the fake Shen Xue with her.

In the carriage, Chao Yan gave the fake Shen Xue a new name, Liu Cuicui. The fake Shen Xue was still reluctant, so Chao Yan called her back to her real name Cuihua, and the fake Shen Xue agreed to the name Cuicui.

After arriving at Hua Xiangrong, Chaoyan told Feicui, Amber and Yu Bo her true identity. The three were very surprised. They did not expect Chaoyan to be the princess. They were happy for Chaoyan and wanted to pay their respects to her, but were stopped by Chaoyan.

Chaoyan explained everything to Feicui and Amber, and Feicui asked Amber to take Cuicui to see her residence first.

Chaoyan stayed in the store to look at the account books for the past two days. Feicui brought a cup of tea and placed it in front of her. After a pause, she asked, "Princess—" Chaoyan said, "There are no outsiders here, so you don't need to call me princess." Feicui changed her words and said, "Miss, are you living well in the mansion? Is no one bothering you?"

Chaoyan said, "Dad and brother are both very good to me." Thinking of Lin Rou, she paused and mentioned that she would hold a coming-of-age ceremony in three days. Feicui was a little surprised. Chaoyan said that Lin Rou wanted to hold it for her, which was a good opportunity for her to show up in front of everyone.

……

In the blink of an eye, it was the day of the coming-of-age ceremony.

There was an endless stream of carriages at the gate of the prince's mansion. The wives of the duke's and marquis' men had all come, but the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery's mansion was the only one that did not receive any invitation.

When Lin Rou and Shen He were discussing the guest list before, Shen He excluded the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery. He had heard about Zhao Huan's case before coming to Beijing. If he had been like him in his early years, he would have taken people directly to the Mansion of the Marquis to arrest the person. No matter whether the person was crazy or stupid, he would have to be punished.

However, Zhao Zhong's wife, Zhao, still came uninvited with her eldest daughter-in-law and Furong. Furong was dressed up, which made her seem a bit like the guest of honor.

When Shen He learned about this, his face darkened. Lin Rou asked him to calm down and she would handle the matter.

At the gate of the palace, Zhao was stopped outside by the servant because she did not have an invitation. She was so angry that she started yelling and scolding the servant for being short-sighted. Lin Rou happened to hear this when she came out, but she did not get angry and apologized to Zhao first.

At first, Zhao didn't know her identity and acted arrogantly, mocking her for being a concubine brought into the palace. She was scolded by the maid behind Lin Rou. After the maid told her that Lin Rou was a princess, Zhao still didn't care much and implied that Lin Rou was just a second wife and could not compare to the original wife.

"I heard that your son went crazy not long ago. Is he better now?"

Lin Rou's words successfully hit the sore spot of Zhao. Zhao was so angry that she gritted her teeth and her eyes were almost blazing with fire.

"I heard that the princess was a little maidservant beside the Fourth Prince before?" Furong said.

Zhao sneered, "A little palace maid became a princess. It can be regarded as a phoenix that has flown to a branch and turned into a princess."

"Madam, you have come specially to congratulate me. I am very grateful, but the seats are full. Please forgive me." Lin Rou said.

Zhao was so angry that the flesh on her face was shaking. She said something cruel and left angrily with her eldest daughter-in-law and Furong.

On the way back in the carriage, Zhao came up with a vicious plan. She wanted to discredit Chao Yan's reputation and make this princess of the Xiaoyao Palace a laughing stock in the entire capital.

……

Chaoyan was sitting in the room waiting for Shichen to show up, and the maid brought Han Min over. When Han Min saw Chaoyan, she was still a little unsure that she was the princess. Although she had a lot of questions to ask her, she had to ask the most important question first.

"What's going on between you and my second brother?"

Chao Yan asked in a tone as normal as possible: "What happened to him?"

Han Min sighed and said, "Second brother has been in a bad mood these days and has been drinking. Do you look down on second brother now that you have become a princess? What's wrong with second brother?"

Chaoyan shook her head and said, "Nothing is wrong." Before she finished, Han Min asked, "Did you have a fight?" Chaoyan shook her head again and said, "Two people have to like each other to be together." Before she finished, Han Min asked, "Have you fallen in love with someone else?" Chaoyan agreed. Han Min wanted to ask who it was, but Chaoyan told her that it was almost time and asked her to take a seat first.

After most of the guests outside had arrived, Mu Tianling came.

All eyes looked over, and everyone was whispering and gossiping. Almost everyone knew that Chao Yan had served him before, and the relationship between them made people imagine a lot.

Han Min heard some gossip and thought that the person Chao Yan liked was Mu Tianling, so she planned to find Chao Yan and ask her about it later.

When Chao Yan walked in slowly with her maid, everyone's eyes flashed with surprise.

When Mu Tianling saw her, he forgot to put down the teacup in his hand. Chaoyan also saw him, and two suspicious blushes appeared on her face unconsciously.

The next moment, a voice attracted everyone's attention, and everyone looked towards the door.

Mu Tianling looked at the person coming in from outside the door with a somewhat gloomy expression.

Han Min was very surprised. She lied to her yesterday that she couldn't come, but she couldn't let go.

"I'm late."

Han Lie walked in with a smile on his face. He first apologized to Shen He and Lin Rou, then walked up to Chao Yan to congratulate her, as if nothing had happened. When he was looking for a seat, Shang Ye called him to come and sit together.

Chaoyan didn't know whether he had let it go. If he had, she still wanted to fight for their friendship.

After this little episode, the coming-of-age ceremony went on as normal.

Throughout the process, Han Lie's fox eyes kept staring at Chao Yan, making her feel a little uncomfortable and thinking that it would be better for them to keep their distance for the time being. After the ceremony, Han Lie was still staring at Chao Yan's back as she left, and Mu Tianling came over to block his view.

Shang Ye noticed that the atmosphere was not right, so he said he had something to do and left first.

"Your Highness must be very happy now. With the princess now in your life, you don't have to bother trying to please the Minister's daughter." Han Lie curled his lips and smiled, "But Your Highness, don't be too happy too soon. You haven't passed the Emperor's test yet." After saying that, he turned and left.

Mu Tianling looked at his back, and there seemed to be a layer of ice in his eyes.