Episode 5: Shen Xihe cleverly teaches Princess Pingling a lesson

After the palace banquet that day, most of the gifts given by the princes were gold, jade, pearls and emeralds. Only Xiao Huayong handed over a square of Hui ink. The ink color was moist and glowing with age, which was particularly elegant among the common objects on the table.Shen tide stroked the fine lines on the ink body with his fingertips, then transferred the ink to the desk in the study of the second prince Xiao Changmin, without leaving it by his side at all.After nightfall, the long street lantern festival was noisy, with tourists crowding around each other, and various lanterns reflecting the night sky. When she was leaning on the bridge railing to admire the lanterns, she accidentally caught a glimpse of Cui Jinbai and Hua Fuhai in the shadow of the alleyway, talking in secret. The two looked alert, as if they were discussing important matters in secret.

Not long after, another person came quickly. He was tall and steady, and he could tell at a glance that he was a top expert. However, these three people, who each relied on in the court, actually bowed to a person in the dark and obeyed his orders. The backbone hidden behind the shadow of the lamp was Xiao Huayong, who had given the ink before.Shen Xihe only caught a glimpse of a thin back, but could not immediately recognize his identity. Suspicion arose in his heart, so he followed quietly along the alley and followed him all the way to a secluded small building by the river.As soon as she stepped onto the steps of the attic, dozens of lanterns suddenly lit up in the corridor. The pictures painted on each lamp were all fragments of her and Xiao Huayong's previous encounters, book discussions, and gifts. The warm light spread across the lamp surface. It turned out that all of this was Xiao Huayong's careful arrangement, specially to attract her to this lantern banquet that was unique to her.

At the same time, Shen Yingting had just rejected the overtures of the third prince Xiao Changyu at the tea shop outside the mansion. All her heart was filled with old resentments. When she knelt in front of the mansion and begged him to save her mother, he stood by and stood coldly, refusing to give any help. But now he stood in front of her and kept saying that he was full of love. She was unwilling to accept such false affection.When she returned to the Duke's Mansion, she was stopped by Shen Xihe as soon as she stepped into the courtyard. Shen Xihe's noses moved slightly and they immediately smelled the incense on her clothes. It was the incense that she had personally given to Xiao Changyu before. She suddenly became suspicious and expected that the two of them must have a close relationship in private.Shen tide and Shi Chang were not close to their half-sister, but they absolutely did not want to see the daughter of the Duke of Guo's mansion mishandled and end up in misery for half her life, so they took her to talk to each other in the corridor.

Shen Yingting saw that her usually cold sister actually considered herself so sincerely. She finally let go of her guard and confessed, saying that although she had been attracted to Xiao Changyu, she still had the last trace of her sobriety and would never marry a prince and be wronged. After saying this, her eyes turned red, and her heart was filled with the warmth of being cared about.The next day in the spring and Jingming, Shen Xi and Bu Shulin went to the spring flower party of the noble ladies in the capital. Concubine Rong was sitting in the flower pavilion and saw it from a distance, so she beckoned the straightforward Princess Anling to her. Princess Anling saw that she was good-looking and extraordinary, so she opened her mouth and called her sister sweetly.Afterwards, Princess Pingling, who had always been arrogant, immediately taunted her when she saw this scene, saying that the women from the northwest were uncultured and uncivilized.

Without moving her eyebrows, Shen Xihe silenced her fallacy in a few words. She turned around and left without waiting for the flower party to end, unwilling to accept this idleness at all.In order to completely cut off the thoughts of the female relatives who admired Bu Shulin, Shen Xihe went to Bu Shulin privately and told her to get close to Cui Jinbai deliberately. After all, Cui Jinbai was the core figure of Dali Temple. When others saw the two of them getting close, they would naturally retreat.Cui Jinbai had always heard that Bu Shulin often went in and out of Fireworks Willow Alley, and he was quite prejudiced against him in his heart, so he immediately refused to work with him with a cold face.

In desperation, Bu Shulin had no choice but to deliberately act affectionate with him in front of everyone, holding hands and chatting and laughing. When Princess Anling, who was standing far behind the flower tree, saw this scene, she mistakenly thought that Bu Shulin, whom she admired, belonged to him and was still a man. She suddenly left sadly with red eyes.Princess Pingling had been angry at the flower party and had always held a grudge. She took advantage of the opportunity when everyone was admiring the lotuses by the lake and secretly circled behind Shen Xi and He, wanting to push her into the lake and make a fool of herself. Unexpectedly, Shen tide and Shen Xi were on guard, and their sideways avoidance made Princess Pingling unstable, and she fell into the lake with a “plop”.Shen Xi and Jiuyi stretched out their hands to save people, but they held the end of the long bamboo pole and deliberately pushed the floating Princess Pingling underwater a few times, giving her a small punishment.

The commotion by the lake soon attracted several nearby princes, and even the emperor who came to enjoy the spring heard the sound and rushed there. Princess Pingling was rescued ashore dripping wet. The villain immediately complained, crying and identifying Shen tide and those who deliberately harmed her.Shen Xihe looked calm and slowly said in front of everyone what Princess Pingling had said in private to drive a wedge between the Northwest Frontier Army and the court. As soon as he finished speaking, Marquis Xuanping, who was standing among the ministers, turned pale with fright. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed to the emperor to beg for mercy. He only hated his goddaughter for being incompetent.Upon seeing this, the emperor issued an order to fine Xuanpinghou and several senior ministers who indulged his family members for one year's salary as a punishment.

When the third prince Xiao Changqing was getting along with Shen Xihe before, he accidentally caught a glimpse of her raising her hand to brush her hair. It was exactly the same as Gu Qingzhi, an old friend he had missed many years ago. The suspicion in his heart was thus buried. He couldn't help but speculate repeatedly whether the Shen Xihe in front of him was Gu Qingzhi who disappeared that year.That night, Shen Xihe specially prepared a warm incense to ward off coldness in the study, and delivered it to Xiao Huayong's house in a delicate silver box. This incense could warm and nourish the meridians, which was just right to restore his weak physique.She also used the reason for the consultation to ask the doctor about Xiao Huayong's past pulse. She looked through the yellowed diagnosis records with genuine concern in her eyes.

If anyone else, Xiao Huayong would have suspected that the other party had ulterior motives and wanted to harm him, but looking at Shen Xi and the warmth in his eyes, he was extremely sure that her meticulous care must be because she had true feelings for him in her heart, otherwise she would never spend so much thought on him.Shen Xihe finished all the information about Xiao Huayong and became more and more curious about his past that had been dormant for many years. After all, he was one of the first candidates for his son-in-law.The next day, she went to Xiao Huayong's mansion with a few rare volumes of rare books on the pretext of visiting a doctor. The two of them sat in the warm pavilion, cooking tea and discussing books. They discovered that the books they preferred to read were exactly the same, and their views on the words in the books were consistent. From the afternoon until dusk filled the window, they chatted, and the more they talked, the more they became more and more speculative.