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"Hmm? What does His Majesty wish to say?" Lian Hua continued, tilting her head and asking in a cute and charming manner.

The Emperor could no longer restrain himself, reached out to cradle her chin, and gently kissed her, restraining his emotions as much as he could until he could no longer hold back...

As she left Canglan Court, Concubine Fang Pin’s lips curled into a satisfied smile, deeming the trip truly worthwhile, seeing Sister Lian as a confidant.

Jin Xi followed in bewilderment. She couldn’t understand how, after Master Lian had spoken such outrageous words, nothing happened to her. In the end, His Majesty seemed not to take it into account, showing considerable indifference and even dissatisfaction toward his faultless master.

Following behind Concubine Fang Pin, suddenly she remembered something, slapped her forehead, and asked, "Master, did we forget something during our trip?"

On their way here, hadn’t they discussed carefully what to say to persuade Master Lian to share some of her favor with their master?

At the time, the two had walked from the Imperial Garden, whispering a draft of what to say, not to offend Master Lian while convincing her to share some Bird’s Nest Soup with their master.

Initially, the plan was for their master to express her frail health to lower Master Lian’s guard, then mention their master’s desire to befriend Master Lian, subtly bringing up Master Lian’s pregnancy and her possible inability to serve His Majesty, offering to share some responsibilities so Master Lian could rest assured during her pregnancy.

Yet her master merely hinted at her own frail health, and the conversation took a complete turn, ending up scolding the Imperial Physician, then veering off even more to discussing poetry with Master Lian—the key points they had planned went utterly unmentioned.

Concubine Fang Pin paused in her smile, also remembering, then dismissively chuckled and waved a hand, "That doesn’t matter anymore."

For mountains high and rivers deep find their echo, she and Sister Lian were just like that, how magnificent, nothing else was as important.

In life, one meets many, but true understanding is rare, and isn’t life about finding someone who understands you?

Now that she had found that, serving His Majesty was no longer as important, nor was it a tenth as significant as reciting poetry and discussing the world with Sister Lian.

Previously, the palace was lonely and miserable, she couldn’t find anyone to keep her company, Jin Xi and the others didn’t count, they didn’t understand her, often not knowing what she was talking about.

And the other Palace Concubines would just placate her, causing her to lose interest.

With idle days passing in anxiety, her longing for romantic companionship surged, wishing for someone to keep her company—emotion from a man and sentiment from a woman, reciting poetry and versing together, wouldn’t that be just like a match made in heaven?

Caught in such fantasies, she thought of His Majesty—for a Palace Concubine, he was the only possible subject of her fantasies.

His Majesty, not to mention anything else, was certainly the most handsome man she had ever seen, and if only he were a bit gentler with her.

She then thought of serving His Majesty, hoping he would notice her merits, finding in it elements of romantic affection, all benefit and no harm.

But now she knew, His Majesty would never treat her as she imagined, she had been daydreaming a bit too much.

Moreover, she had truly understood in her heart, His Majesty would never harbor affection for her; seeing the way he looked at Sister Lian had shown her what true affection looked like.

To be honest, she wasn’t jealous at all. In fact, she was actually intimidated by the depths of His Majesty, which wasn’t so apparent from a distance but became thoroughly clear up close today.

His Majesty was not suited for her, unfortunately, as a Palace Concubine, this was her life, a thought that must be kept silent in her heart until death.

Fortunately, it seemed she had found a new path to follow...

With a smile playing at the corners of her mouth, Concubine Fang Pin walked away, leading Jin Xi with her.

Xia Liu, holding items, appeared from behind a tree, and after making sure that Concubine Fang Pin and her companion hadn’t seen her, she immediately hurried toward Canglan Court.

She needed to move faster and return before Nanny Qi came back.

Today’s delay was a bit long; there was no helping it, there were some complications.

Upon reaching the gate of Canglan Court and seeing it deserted, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, quickly tidied her hair and clothes, and walked inside at a swifter pace than usual, maintaining her usual expression.

Just a few steps near the gate, two figures suddenly jumped out, blocking her way from both sides, startling her so much that her heart skipped a beat, causing her to drop the items she was carrying; the bag burst open, and some contents fell out.

"Oh, Sister Xia Liu just got back?"

Upon closer inspection, the speaker was none other than Feng Ji, and who else would be by his side but that bonehead Xiao Linzi?

She patted her chest to calm her heartbeat and glared with furrowed brows, unapologetically demanding, "What are you trying to do? Scare someone to death?"

Xiao Jizi bowed with a sheepish smile, "It was just a joke with sister, sorry for scaring you."

Xiao Linzi nodded, "Brother Ji is right."

Brother Ji had pulled him behind the door from afar as soon as they saw the palace maid returning, secretly watching her.

When the palace maid was nearing, Brother Ji whispered to him that once she entered the gate, they would jump out and startle her to see if she seemed guilty. The words ’seem guilty’ were muttered softly by Brother Ji, and he couldn’t hear them clearly.

Xia Liu’s face still looked upset. Although they had apologized to her, she saw no sincerity and felt no less annoyed with them.

In fact, she now felt an urge to slap away the irritating smile on Feng Ji’s face.

With a forced smile, she said, "Don’t play such jokes with me in the future; I can’t take them."

Saying that, she bent down to pick up the items that had fallen to the ground.

Xiao Jizi quickly intervened, "We were rude first; how can we let sister pick them up herself? Let me do it."

"You!" Xia Liu was blocked outright and felt quite annoyed.

"Dullard, quickly block this sister," Xiao Jizi instructed Xiao Linzi and earnestly said to Xia Liu, "Sister, give us a chance to make it up to you."

They moved quickly. As soon as Xiao Linzi heard the words, he immediately stepped forward to block Xia Liu from picking up anything.

Xia Liu became so frustrated that she stomped her foot and told them it wasn’t necessary for them to help, scolding them for being like robbers, totally rude, and insisting on helping when not needed.

While Xiao Jizi was coaxing her, he squatted down and picked up the bag of items, quickly checking the contents in a blind spot of Xia Liu’s view: a large bag of fine Bird’s Nest Soup, several hair ties used by palace maids, a small bag of needles and thread, and a few scraps of cloth, that was all.

Apart from the Bird’s Nest Soup, the other items were as ordinary as could be and didn’t seem suspicious at all.

He paused for a moment, swiftly squeezed the bag from end to end to check for any hidden compartments, and finding none, he gave up.

The entire sequence was very fast. After repacking the items, he stood up, pushed Xiao Linzi aside, and with a friendly and apologetic smile, said, "Sister Xia mustn’t be angry, it’s all because this blockhead was impulsive and annoyed you.

We apologize, and here are your belongings. " He handed them over with both hands.