The emperor received gifts from Ye Jingchen from time to time, but this was the first time he had received a gift from Ye Jinghe.

Ye Jinghe used to rarely even look at him directly.

The emperor was somewhat flattered and even looked up at the sky outside, wondering if the sun had risen in the west.

However, by this time the sun had long since set.

No, there's no sun at all today.

The emperor took the flower bud and examined it. Although the bud looked ordinary, he still found it somewhat rare since it was a gift from Ye Jinghe, and even wanted to get closer to smell its fragrance.

“Your Majesty—it’s time for dinner. Why don’t you give the flower bud to this old servant first, and I will take good care of it?” Zhang Shunde said hurriedly.

He was terrified that an insect might suddenly crawl out of a flower bud while the emperor was smelling it.

Ye Jingshu and the others stared nervously at the flower bud in the emperor's hand, their expressions varied, all hesitating whether to tell their father that there might be insects inside the flower bud.

If I tell him, it would be tantamount to betraying Ye Jinghe; if I don't tell him, my father might be frightened.

Are adults scared by insects?

Probably not.

"Father, I'm hungry, let's have a meal!" Ye Jingchen urged.

Actually, he was a little worried that something might go wrong. If a bug really flew out, it would be very embarrassing and might spoil their enjoyment of the imperial meal.

At Ye Jingchen's urging, the emperor handed the flower bud to Zhang Shunde and signaled to the palace servants that they could prepare the meal.

Watching Zhang Shunde hurriedly take away the flower buds, Ye Jinghe pursed his lips with a hint of regret.