"Tending to flowers and grasses should be done early, before the sun heats up the earth." Yu Fu Jin held a small pair of pruning shears, carefully trimming away the withered leaves from the plants.

  The leaves in the morning still had dew drops on them, and Mei Li smelled a pleasant fragrance. "Yes," she replied softly. Early this morning, Fu Jun came to the palace to take care of the flowers and trees in the garden for her ancestors, and specially called her along. Her ancestors were very happy and solemnly instructed her to "study hard", with obvious intentions that couldn't be considered subtle hints.

  "It's often said that beautiful flowers need green leaves to match, so when looking at a flower's beauty or ugliness, one can't just look at the blossoming flowers on the branch, but also its leaves and shape. There shouldn't be any wilted, worm-eaten, or damaged leaves." As she spoke, she continued to trim, and more and more problematic leaves fell onto the surrounding soil. "Moreover, for this flower, the fallen leaves are also good fertilizer."

  Meryl listened carefully to what she said, understood the meaning of her words, and quickly squatted down to collect the scattered leaves around her. She rummaged through the toolbox for a small shovel and prepared to dig and bury the leaves.

  "Using a shovel to dig the soil around the flower stem will inadvertently hurt the roots of the flower, and in severe cases, the entire flower will wither and die."

  Meili stunned, put down the shovel.

  "If you want to see beautiful flowers, you have to cultivate them with great effort. If you want a return, you must put in the effort." Yu Fu said this as he carefully searched for wilted leaves on the flower branches, implying something else.

  Meili smiled slightly, "Yes."

  She used her hands to dig the soil under the flowers. If it were before, she would have thought that Mrs. Yu was intentionally making things difficult for her, but now she felt that what she said made sense. To put in effort... doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a return, but if you don't put in any effort, you definitely won't get anything.

  Dig a little deeper and loosen the soil.

  "Yes." Meri smiled and nodded, carefully digging the wet soil with her hands, lightly and gently, afraid of hurting the roots of the flowers. She was also used to doing rough work, without fingernails, but did it with care, making it look quite similar.

  Mrs. Ying looked at her twice, faintly cold smile, "This is a wild rose, very similar to a rose, but not so noble and elegant."

  Meili's hand trembled slightly in the damp, cold soil. Although it looked like a rose, it was not as noble as a wild rose... Was she talking about her? She continued to loosen the soil, occasionally burying leaves, as if she hadn't understood Princess Ying's veiled sarcasm.

  "Roses are actually easy to care for, but they're afraid of being too pampered. If you fertilize and water them too much, they'll die instead." After pruning the leaves, Yu Fu Jin picked up the watering can again, holding it high and spraying water in all directions. The lush branches didn't catch many water droplets, but Mei Li, who was squatting under the flowers, got splashed from head to toe.

  She didn't move, continuing to bury the leaves and loosen the soil. Her small body was slightly trembling from the sudden cold water droplets, but she continued to smile as she worked. Yu Fu Jin secretly sighed and poured a few more times before finally unable to bear it, putting down the watering can.

  Yonghe walked into the garden, his smile still radiant. "Mother, you've been busy all morning, what beautiful flowers have you arranged?"

  Meili lowered her eyes, not daring to look up, feeling a bit nervous. It had been several days since that night's conversation, and for such a long time, she didn't know if he was intentionally avoiding her or really busy. They hadn't met at all. He... should have already learned of the old ancestor's intentions from Ying Ruhui, then what did he think...

  "What a good flower? There's no good flower, just this rose." The wife responded with some annoyance.

  "It's really beautiful." Yonghe glanced at him disapprovingly. His tone was arrogant, "What are you doing?"

  Mei Li's heart suddenly ached, he...

  "How can you dig with your hands!" He squatted down and, without avoiding suspicion, pulled her hand out of the soil. "What if stones or dry branches scratch you?" In front of Ying Ruo Fu Jin, Mei Li instead felt embarrassed and struggled free from his hand.

  Ying Ruo coldly looked at her and said with a bad tone: "Of course, the soil needs to be loosened by hand! Your mother did it like this in the past too!"

  "Really?" Yong He furrowed his brow in doubt, "Then I'll do it. Just dig up the soil, right?" His slender white hands didn't hesitate to grab the dirt and scoop it open.

  "And you have to bury all the leaves too!" Ying Ruo Fu Jin gave him a look of utter disgust, glared at him and said, "Are you loosening the soil or digging a hole?!"

  Meili found that Yonghe came after Ying Fuzheng, although the tone was much colder, but seeing her son later, the sparkle in her eyes and the expression on her face were extremely loving. The mother and son's bickering appearance was very interesting, even the cold and stern Fuzheng earlier became very lively and warm, their mother-son relationship was very deep, her eyes slightly sour, with parents... it's really good.

  She was afraid of crying, so she took a deep breath. How could her ancestors be so cruel as to arrange for her to marry such an uneducated and rough man like Yong He... Of course, she wasn't willing, and she really felt sorry for the mother and son.

  "Alright?" Yonghe patted his hands and stood up, "The soil has been loosened and the leaves have been buried. Mother, you go talk to our ancestors, the sun is scorching hot, it's getting unbearable."

  She looked at her son and then at Mei Li, frowned, reluctantly nodded, and turned to leave.

  "Let's go wash our hands." Yonghe called out to her, snapping her out of her daze.

  "Oh...... alright." She nodded, hadn't Yu Fu Jun already told him?

  As soon as he walked out of the garden, a quick-witted eunuch had already brought over two basins of water to attend to him.

  Meili silently washed her hands, suddenly losing the courage to talk to him.

  After the eunuch withdrew, the small empty space was left with just him and her.

  "Hmm...that...". Yong He raised an eyebrow, somewhat embarrassed, and swallowed hard. "My mother has already told me."

  Meili clenched her fists tightly and tried to steady her breathing. If he said something that hurt her next, she would still smile at him. She knew... it wasn't his fault.

  "He... " He looked down at her pale face, "was delighted!" After finishing speaking, he himself became embarrassed, lightly coughed, and pretended to be nonchalant as he turned around and walked away.

  She stared in the direction he had left, and it wasn't until after a long while that she seemed to have understood what he meant.

  He said... He's very happy?

  Tears fell from her eyes as she heard him say that, and she felt grateful rather than happy.

  He may not know that at this moment, she heard his excited voice... how much sorrow is in her heart. She certainly knows the price he is willing to marry her, he cannot share her glory, can only bear her shame, but he, still can use such a sincere gaze to look at her and say: He's happy.

  Tears flowed across her lips. This wasn't her first time tasting the flavor of tears, but this time it didn't have a bitter taste that she couldn't endure.

  Yonghe, she... is so grateful!

  In this life, for his happiness, for his tolerance of her, she is willing to pay any price!