Chapter 16

  Murong Feng this girl is not just generally hateful, but rather hateful. Hateful to the point that he wants to immediately grab her in front of him and beat her up thoroughly to vent his anger.

  He brought Wang Bao back to his own mansion from the Crown Prince's residence, and the entire courtyard was quiet with only servants busily moving about. Chun Liu was seen tidying up items but Mu Rong Feng was nowhere to be found. Chun Liu said he had just gone to see Empress Dowager with Yan Yu accompanying him.

  Simarui hurried to Xiangfu Palace, but there was no one there either. The palace maid said that the Empress Dowager had gone to a garden with the Fourth Prince's consort. Which garden? There were countless gardens in the palace, and it wasn't possible to ask about each one individually or search for her in every single one of them.

  Simarui is really furious, but has nowhere to vent.

  While Murong Feng was accompanying the Empress Dowager in a garden admiring chrysanthemums, as soon as she saw Murong Feng, the Empress Dowager was overjoyed, holding onto Murong Feng's hand with a face full of smiles. Murong Feng had brought some small trinkets bought from the road to give to the Empress Dowager, although they were somewhat crudely made, the Empress Dowager had never seen anything like them before and loved them dearly.

  The ministers in the imperial court often presented beautiful, exquisite and precious items, but who was sincere? The empress dowager understood that these gifts were given by the ministers to gain her favor, which would indirectly please the emperor and possibly lead to rewards. But Mu Rong Feng was different; she simply thought they looked good and were fun, so she bought them specifically to delight the empress dowager, who truly appreciated them. While one could buy such items with money, if the emperor himself wanted something, he could have a whole cartload of it, but his sincerity would not match Mu Rong Feng's by even half.

  The chrysanthemums in the garden were in full bloom, and their fragrance filled the air. Xiaode followed behind, attending to her needs. The two personal maids of the empress dowager, Huanxi and Huanyue, also walked slowly in the garden, accompanying them.

  "Maple, let's go to the pavilion ahead and take a rest. Have a cup of tea. You've just returned from outside, you must be very tired." The empress said with concern.

  "Thank you, Grandmother." Murong Feng smiled cleverly. To her, the Empress Dowager was just an old lady. In Bai Min's era, she also had grandfathers and grandmothers, as well as great-aunts and great-uncles. She wasn't afraid of the Empress Dowager. What was there to be afraid of? It was inexplicable that she appeared in this dynasty. For her, life might just be a dream-like time. Who knows when she would wake up and find herself in another dynasty, another world.

  Looking outside, a eunuch came over and whispered a few words to Xiao Dezi. Xiao Dezi took a few steps forward and said to the Empress Dowager and Murong Feng: "Empress Dowager, Fourth Prince's Consort. Just now, someone from the First Prince's residence came and said that all of Fourth Prince's Consort's family members are at the First Prince's residence. They asked if Empress Dowager and Fourth Prince's Consort want to go over and take a look?"

  "Really?" The empress dowager smiled and looked at Murong Feng, "Feng'er, want to go take a look?"

  Murong Feng smiled and looked at Xiao Dezi, saying: "De Gonggong, please tell the Gonggong who just came to deliver the message that the Murong family cannot be so rude. At such a young age, how can we let our grandmother go first? It's really impolite. Please ask him to inform my family members that when I have time, I will go visit them myself."

  Xiao Dezi secretly said to himself, "This Murong Feng is indeed knowledgeable and reasonable. These words are pleasant to hear, no wonder the Empress Dowager favors her so much." To be honest, even the Crown Prince's consort may not be as understanding as she is. He turned around and spoke a few words to the eunuch, who hastily turned around and left.

  "Maple," the Empress Dowager thought to herself, delighted. This Murong Feng was indeed not bad, handling everything with a calm demeanor, yet never losing sight of reason and propriety. It wasn't because she was an Empress Dowager, ruling over the harem, but rather due to her natural seniority that she acted this way, which made the Empress Dowager even more pleased as she watched.

  Half a time later, the empress dowager was drinking tea with Murong Feng in the small pavilion of the flower garden. A large group of people walked over from not far away, and it was Murong Xuan and his party.

  The eunuch's words reached Murong Xuan's ears, startling him so much that he lost his composure. He had originally wanted the eunuch to invite Empress Dowager to come and drink with them, but it just so happened that the Emperor and Empress were also there. However, he had forgotten that the Empress Dowager was the most honored person in the palace, how could she possibly move to the Crown Prince's residence to visit them? After a brief rest, Murong Xuan politely invited everyone to go to the flower garden to admire the flowers, which also served as an opportunity for him to apologize to the Empress Dowager.

  The empress dowager watched them approach and said to Murong Feng, "Your sister is indeed clever. See, your words have just been passed on, and she's come to apologize. But she's disturbed our peace and quiet, which is really boring. It's not as good as the two of us sitting here chatting quietly."

  Murong Feng smiled slightly and caught sight of Murong Xue with a glance, but he was slightly stunned - why was the Emperor walking beside Murong Xue?

  Although Murong Feng had never seen the Emperor in person, there was a portrait of him in the Fourth Prince's residence, so he definitely wouldn't mistake him. However, the Emperor's expression seemed somewhat ambiguous, and Murong Feng felt a thread of ominous foreboding in his heart. Presumably, Murong Xuan had her own reasons for inviting guests this time, but perhaps being too clever would lead to trouble, and instead cause trouble for Murong Xue.

  Someone was shouting from afar: "Mu Rong Feng, you stinky girl, come out quickly!"

  Everyone was stunned, and the empress immediately saw that it was her precious grandson Sima Rui standing not far away, shouting at this group of people. He turned his head to look at Murong Feng, but saw a smile on Murong Feng's face with a hint of mischief. In her heart, she felt that dealing with her mischievous grandson might be more difficult than she thought, otherwise he wouldn't come to the Shangfu Palace every day to bother her, constantly asking her to bring Murong Feng back immediately.

  "Grandma, do you believe it or not, he still doesn't know which one is Feng'er?" Murong Feng said mischievously, looking at the empress dowager with a smile, clearly disapproving. It's also good this way, otherwise life in the palace would be dull, having such a treasure of a "husband", surely every day wouldn't be boring.

  The empress smiled slightly, feeling warm in her heart. That naughty and mischievous grandson of hers, who made everyone afraid to get close to him, actually had such a clever and lovely wife. Suddenly, she thought this was a very interesting thing, and even the way she looked at people around her became gentle. It's amazing that life can be so interesting, and it's really great to be alive.

  To be honest, Sima Rui really didn't know which one of this group of people was Murong Feng.

  He had seen Murong Feng, but only a vague image. As for what Murong Feng looked like, he really couldn't say. On the way, he heard the eunuchs of the Crown Prince's mansion say that after the Crown Prince and his entourage left the mansion, they went to the flower garden to admire the flowers and also to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager. Originally, they wanted to invite the Empress Dowager to come to the Crown Prince's mansion to have fun, but the Fourth Princess said something that didn't make sense, so they had to switch to the Crown Princess to go and pay their respects instead.

  Simarui heard the eunuch say so, and in his heart he couldn't help but praise Murong Feng for being sensible. He rushed over hastily, seeing a group of people dressed up, and for a moment didn't know where Murong Feng was hiding, so he angrily shouted out loud.

  This shout startled the emperor and empress, the empress was slightly embarrassed, in front of Murong Qingliang, Sima Rui didn't know his place at all, fearing that people wouldn't know he didn't get along with Murong Feng, after all, Murong Feng's father was here.

  The emperor turned his head and took a look at his son, then smiled at Murong Xue and said: "No wonder your father didn't want to marry you off to Rui'er, if I were him, I wouldn't want to either." After thinking for a moment, it seemed he felt it wasn't quite right - if he couldn't bear to part with Murong Xue, why could he bear to part with Murong Feng? That's right, what was it about Murong Feng that made her not as good as Murong Xue, causing Murong Qinglang to make such a decision, sacrificing one to save the other?