Something big happened at the beginning of October.

  The young master of the Pingnan Duke's family, Su Mingfeng, suddenly fell seriously ill and had to recuperate at home. The Pingnan Duke was heartbroken for his son and stayed at home with his wife to take care of Young Master Su. The affairs of the military camp were temporarily put on hold. His Majesty bestowed some gifts to express his condolences and sent a new person to take over the affairs.

  The people of the capital city were all lamenting and sighing over this, that Su Da Shao Ye, a young and talented youth, had just entered officialdom and achieved great merit, was on the verge of rising to prominence, with an unlimited future ahead of him, yet suddenly contracted such a serious illness. It's really true that heaven is jealous of exceptional talent, if he drags on for three to five years, it's feared that even if he recovers, there will be no place for him in the imperial court.

  The common people saw it this way, but the colleagues in the imperial court were not certain. A clever person said: "This is not an illness, this is clearly avoiding disaster. Originally, we thought that the Su family was like a raging fire burning oil, and it seemed that they would soon bring about their own downfall, but unexpectedly they can still see the situation clearly and have come up with a plan to withdraw from the cauldron."

  When these things reached Shen Miao's ears, she was standing in the courtyard trimming the branches of the begonia. These past few days at Guangwen Hall, because of Su Da Shao Ye's matter, everyone had a new topic to discuss and didn't pay much attention to her arrival. She also rarely had a few peaceful days.

  "The girl now likes these flowers and grasses." Gu Yu smiled and said: "This hawthorn flower is really well grown."

  The deep red petals of the Begonia flower show a few lively colors on the bleak autumn day. When she was the queen, she learned to manage the harem and helped Fu Xiuyi win over the powerful ministers. She went to the state of Qin as a hostage, and competed with Mrs. Jian in wisdom and bravery. Most of the time, she lived in the midst of power struggles and palace intrigues. How could she have had the mood to leisurely clip flowers and scatter her heart like now?

  "Do you know why the begonia flowers are so beautiful?" she asked.

  Although Gu Yu didn't understand why his wife was asking this, he still smiled and replied: "This is a seed brought back by the housekeeper from outside, it's said to be very precious. The madam has also praised it before, saying that this variety of crabapple looks especially good in autumn."

  Shen Miao gently shook her head.

  What's the reason for this?

  Just like the cold and gloomy place in the palace, even outside the Cold Palace is full of flowers, but it's because under those flower branches are piles of white bones. The most beautiful things in this world all have a cold origin.

  The Su family has already understood this truth, what will they do?

  She smiled slightly.

  ……

  Pingnan Bo Fu Shang.

  The courtyard of Young Master Su was heavily guarded, and no one could enter except for his personal attendants and close relatives. All that could be seen was the heavy smell of medicine coming from inside, Old Master Su had closed his doors to visitors and refused to see outsiders.

  As a good friend of Su Shi's son, Xie Xiaoxiangzi naturally had to visit him when he was ill.

  The Xie family's carriage stopped outside the Su residence, and a servant was busily unloading medicine from top to bottom. The medicines were all packed in boxes, showing how much care Young Master Xie had put into preparing for his good friend.

  In the study, Su Mingfang wore a green robe, except for being slightly thinner in build, his expression was still as spirited as ever, where was the sign of suffering from a serious illness?

  His opposite, the brocade-clad youth furrowed his brow and asked loudly: "Avoiding calamity?"

  "Not bad." Su Ming Feng looked at his friend and sighed, "Now you also see that the Su family's momentum is getting better and better. The Su family has been around for several generations, and in terms of military merit, it shouldn't be promoted further. But His Majesty not only didn't suppress them, but instead supported the Su family even more."

  "You have made contributions." Xie Jingxing reminded.

  "Just because we've achieved success, both my father and I are quite pleased with ourselves, but we've forgotten about the hidden crisis lurking behind. If this merit is pushed further, it will become a disaster. You understand what I'm saying, it's just that previously, the Su family was in a situation where they couldn't see clearly, like being blocked by a single leaf. Now that everything has been clarified, we can't help but pull the reins tight and stop ourselves from falling off the cliff, it's really very dangerous."

  "It's fine this way." Xie Jinghang nodded: "But you'll have to stay at home idle for a few years from now on."

  "I only wish the Su family peace and safety." Su Mingfeng said: "Don't mention me, talk about you? The Su and Xie families rise and fall together, the Su family has already decided to pull back from the precipice, what about your Xie family..." She didn't continue.

  Xie Jinghang raised an eyebrow: "I won't enter officialdom, what can he tolerate me for? The Xie family has only one Lin'an Marquis, and he must consider the opinions of all under heaven."

  Xie Jinghang was different from Su Mingfen, Su Wei for the sake of the Su family, sent his son into officialdom early. But Xie Jinghang did not enter officialdom, and only held a idle post on him. Several times followed Xie Ding to go on an expedition, still hanging with the title of relative's son. Even if the royal family wanted to suppress the Xie family again, they would not suppress a family that didn't even take over their son.

  "You're so farsighted." Su Mingfen couldn't help but laugh.

  "I'm not here to guard against him either." Xie Jinghang said lazily.

  He wasn't really afraid of the royal family, but just wanted to oppose his father.

  "However," he frowned and suddenly changed the subject, saying: "How did you suddenly understand this matter. I reminded you several times before, but you didn't take it seriously."

  Su Mingfen lowered his head in shame: "Originally, it was just a momentary impulse and pride, who would have thought of so much. This time, I also owe it to my second brother."

  "Your second brother?" Xie Jinghang, who was originally leaning lazily against the chair, sat up straight and a hint of unusual color flashed in his eyes: "That sticky rice ball?"

  It's no wonder that Su Minglang is a fool, but how can he still remind the Su family of these things? Isn't it because Su Minglang took the wrong medicine?

  Su Mingfang then recounted the whole story, and finally said: "If it wasn't for my second brother's accidental mistake this time, who knows what kind of disaster might have occurred?"

  "Accidental?" Xie Jinghang muttered to himself.

  Just then, a tender voice was heard: "Big brother, mother asked me to bring you some snacks."

  Su Minglang walked in with a plate of flower-shaped cookies, his short legs moving quickly. He was round and chubby like a Tangyuan, with cookie crumbs still stuck to the corners of his mouth, clearly having sneaked a few bites along the way.

  These days, due to his unintentional reminder, the Su family changed their strategy. Even Su Lao Ye, who was most dissatisfied with him, suddenly felt that his son "must have great use", "intelligent and agile" and "great wisdom like foolishness". Mrs. Su made delicious food for him in various ways, and in just a few days, Su Ming Lang gained a big belly.

  He saw Xie Jingxing still there and couldn't help but lower his voice a few degrees, he didn't know why, but he always had some fear of this handsome good friend of his brother's.

  Su Minglang put the dim sum on the table and threw out a sentence "Big brother, I'm leaving" before turning around to run, but didn't think he would be caught by someone grabbing his collar.

  Looking back, the young man was dressed in brocade and finery, gently squatting down to touch his own head, with a pair of peach blossom eyes shining brightly with a smile, but his gaze was cold and indifferent.

  "Who taught you to say that?"

  Su Minglang's eyes widened in surprise.

  "The wily rabbit dies, and the running dog is cooked." Xie Jinghang laughed with an extremely evil air.