Although Mo Rongzhan was going incognito for inspection, his identity could not be changed. He was still the emperor. So, even if he told the members of the Lu Family they didn’t need to be too reserved with him, his presence still made people in the room ill at ease. Therefore, he didn’t insist on staying for long. After telling Lu Lingzhi to recuperate well at home and that he appreciated his effort in the battle against Xifan, he rose from his seat and left.

  When Old Madam Lu and the others were seeing Mo Rongzhan off at the door, they happened to spot Ye Zhen and Tang Zhen standing together under the tree in the courtyard, talking. The atmosphere between the two had lost the previous strained air and they seemed to be chatting happily with each other.

  At once, the smile on Mo Rongzhan’s lips faded as a layer of frost formed in his eyes.

  Tang Zhen was sharp, he soon found that Mo Rongzhan had come out of the room, so hurriedly promised Ye Zhen that he would help her find the bow and arrows she wanted. He then went to Mo Rongzhan’s side and said, “Your Majesty.”


  “Marquis Jing Ning, what were you and Princess Fu Rong talking about?” Mo Rongzhan asked, forcefully enduring the displeasure he felt in his heart at seeing the two together.

  “Your Majesty, this official had provoked the princess before and made her unhappy. So I apologized to her just now.” Tang Zhen answered with a smile.

  By now, Ye Zhen had also come over, glancing briefly at Mo Rongzhan without saying a word.

  And though Mo Rongzhan dearly wished to know what they had been speaking about – as well as how Tang Zhen had made Yaoyao forgive him – there were simply too many people around him at the moment. As such, he could not voice any of the questions he so eagerly wanted to.

  “Yaoyao, Imperial Mother misses you very much. When will you go into the palace and accompany her to talk?” Mo Rongzhan asked in a low voice as he looked at Ye Zhen intently.

  Ye Zhen glanced at Old Madam Lu before saying, “I’ll go to the palace and accompany Imperial Mother in a few days.”


  Old Madam Lu knew that her granddaughter was worried about her, so she softly persuaded. “Yaoyao, go to the palace. You have been in Jinwu City for almost a month. Empress Dowager certainly misses you very much and wants you to visit her.”


  Before Ye Zhen could even open her mouth, Mo Rongzhan immediately said, “Then, follow us to the palace.”


  At that point, Ye Zhen knew that she had no chance to refuse. Still, she looked back at Old Madam Lu and tried. “Grandmother, let me accompany you today. I’ll go to the palace tomorrow to see the empress dowager.”


  But Old Madam Lu waved her away and said, “Don’t worry about me, your grandmother here has been through a lot of things. I will be fine.”


  Left with no choice, Ye Zhen followed him to the palace. Anyway, now that Pei Shi and Imperial Physician Qi were taking care of Lu Lingzhi, they didn’t need her at all. Then again, that was fine by her since she didn’t want to take care of him at all.

  But when they went out, there was only one carriage prepared in front of Lu Mansion.

  Ye Zhen frowned and was about to ask her servant to prepare another carriage for her when Mo Rongzhan said faintly, “Yaoyao, you get on the same carriage as us.”


  “Your Imperial Majesty, that is against the rules.” Ye Zhen softly stated as she, by no means, wished to be in contact with him in the carriage.

  Mo Rongzhan, still with a faint voice, said, “There are no rules here. Get in the carriage now.”


  Ye Zhen saw that he seemed to be in a bad mood, so she was even more reluctant to be alone with him. “Your Imperial Majesty, I will have someone prepare another carriage.”


  Tang Zhen did not see the deep displeasure in Mo Rongzhan’s eyes, his focus was wholly on Ye Zhen. So hearing her words, he immediately turned around and spoke to the Lu Family’s servants. “What are you doing? Why are you still not going to prepare Princess Fu Rong’s carriage?!”


  Eunuch Fu sighed in silence. He had sensed the emperor’s mind and deliberately didn’t tell the servants to prepare the carriage. Now, this was not something easy to achieve without arousing suspicion, but Marquis Jing Ning’s words had destroyed his meticulous effort.

  Mo Rongzhan looked at Ye Zhen deeply before turning around and finally getting on to the carriage prepared for him.

  Only

  Upon entering the palace, Ye Zhen courteously curtsied before Mo Rongzhan before heading to Cining Palace.

  Empress Dowager, upon seeing Ye Zhen had lost a lot of weight, embraced her. She wanted to persuade her to have a good meal but then remembered the other was filial. Furthermore, aside from not wanting to let Old Madam Lu worry, she also cared about her eldest brother. In the end, she didn’t say anything and just told Aunt Cheng that she wanted the imperial kitchen to make more delicious food for Princess Fu Rong. She needed to be fed back to her initial state.

  Ye Zhen could neither laugh nor cry. She had just lost a little weight, but it seemed that in Empress Dowager’s eyes, she had suffered a lot.

  “Yaoyao, Yaoyao—”


  Ye Zhen had only said a few words to Empress Dowager when she heard Mo Rongyi’s voice calling for her from the outside.