Fu Yueli first folded the red paper in half, cut a circle, and then cut a semicircle.

Shi Mingyue seemed to know what he was cutting.

"Guess?" Fu Yueli's eyes were full of gentle smile.

Shi Mingyue deliberately showed a look of disdain: "You are really unoriginal."

Fu Yueli smiled without saying anything and continued cutting a hook. Shi Mingyue then placed the shapes he had cut out on the table in order, reading them out in a gentle voice: "Full moon, first quarter moon, new moon, waning gibbous moon, last quarter moon, waning moon, waxing gibbous moon, crescent moon." Fu Yueli had now cut out every possible shape of the moon.

"What are you going to do with so many moons?" Shi Mingyue was a little puzzled. These could not be pasted on windows or walls, otherwise it would look weird.

Fu Yueli put down the scissors, looked up and smiled at her, "Whatever you feel like doing."

"Oh." There was a thin charcoal pencil on the table. Shi Mingyue picked up the charcoal pencil and drew a person in each month. "This way you are in the moon."

Fu Yueli was amused by her childish behavior, but he also felt warm in his heart. Under the candlelight, Shi Mingyue's face was even more gentle and beautiful than usual. He stood up and changed seats, sitting next to her, taking the charcoal pencil from her hand, "Don't draw, I'm in the moon now."

Shi Mingyue's face turned red immediately, and she buried her face in his chest, grabbing the clothes on his back with both hands.

Fu Yueli blew out the oil lamp and picked up the person.

Outside the window, snowflakes slowly floated down from the sky. Soon the outside was covered with ice and snow, but the room was still as warm as spring.

The next morning, when Shi Mingyue woke up, Fu Yueli had disappeared. Although the New Year's Eve dinner had been canceled, the custom of officials visiting the palace to celebrate the New Year had not been canceled.

Before dawn, officials from all over the country entered the palace. At the Zhengwu Hall, where the morning court was being held, Fu Yueli spotted Shi Mingyue's cousins, Gao Siyuan and Gao Siqi, who had also arrived. After a few pleasantries, the court session officially began.

When the emperor entered the Zhengwu Hall, the courtiers' eyes nearly popped out of their heads. The emperor appeared to have both legs intact, having walked into the hall and even climbed the steps on his own. But the rumor that the emperor had broken a leg after falling off a cliff while hunting was false.

All the officials knelt in greeting according to etiquette, and the emperor said in a loud voice: "My dear ministers, please stand."

"Because I was accidentally injured, the morning court session has been suspended for several months, and I haven't seen you all for a long time." The emperor sighed.

All the ministers were silent, and the emperor suddenly laughed. "I just saw your eyes almost popping out of your heads when you looked at me. Well, you must have heard the rumors about me. Yes, I did break a leg."

The ministers all had different expressions. Since the leg was broken, how could it be reconnected?

"I got a prosthetic limb." The emperor's tone returned to calm.

The ministers finally understood, and the emperor continued, "I have suddenly encountered this misfortune, and I truly feel the impermanence of life. Therefore, I intend to appoint a crown prince."

This was a case of a stone stirring up a thousand ripples. Needless to say, the reaction of the ministers was serious. The four princes all looked solemn. Has the emperor already decided on the candidate for the crown prince?

"According to ancestral rules, I appoint the eldest prince, Fu Yueli, as the crown prince."

Fu Yueli was stunned. He didn’t understand why his father chose him.

Fu Baiheng felt like he was in an ice cellar. Why, after working so hard for so long, was he still unable to withstand the words of following the ancestral rules?

It’s not that Fu Fenglin can’t accept it. If it’s not Fu Baiheng, then Fu Yueli will do.

Fu Qinglang thought it should be so, because he hated fighting for power and affecting the relationship between brothers.

Some of the ministers wanted to speak out against it, but when they saw the emperor's smiling expression, they were unable to open their mouths.

"Your son obeys your command." Fu Yueli knelt down and saluted.

All the ministers then knelt down together and offered congratulations.

Several months had passed since Shi Mingyue brought Lele back from the lake that day, and he had grown into a large white duck. Whenever Shi Mingyue called Lele, he would flutter his wings and run towards her, quacking. Even compared to the snow on the ground, he was still incredibly white.

Pippi stood on her shoulders, looking down at Lele, who was several times bigger than him, and often fell into doubt, turning into a stupid parrot.

Shi Mingyue teased it with a smile: "Didn't you expect Lele to grow so big?"

Pipi shook his head and said dejectedly, "I'm so angry, so angry."

Shi Mingyue almost laughed herself to death. Lele was still jumping up and down like a child, asking her to hold him. Shi Mingyue could only pick him up and repeatedly warned him, "Don't pull me!"

Birds are very straightforward. They poop as soon as they eat. Many times, as soon as she picked up Lele, tragedy happened...

"Bright moon."

Fu Yueli came back. Shi Mingyue put Lele down and turned to greet him: "You're back."

"Yes, I met my cousins." Seeing that she went out without wearing a cloak, Fu Yueli took off his cloak and put it on her.

The snow that fell last night had not melted yet, and Fu Yueli couldn't help nagging: "It's so cold, you have to be careful not to catch a cold."

Shi Mingyue smiled and said, "My health is not that bad, and I have this as my hand warmer!" She pointed at Lele.

Indeed, Lele's feathers felt quite warm to the touch. Fu Yueli laughed, then suddenly became serious and said, "At the court meeting today, my father appointed me as the crown prince."

Shi Mingyue was stunned. Why was it so sudden? The emperor was clearly in his prime, yet he had already appointed a crown prince, and Fu Yueli?! Didn't he say he had many sons? Didn't he think Fu Yueli was nothing? Why did he make this decision so suddenly? What was he trying to do?

Seeing her reaction, Fu Yueli thought she was worried that Fu Baiheng and the others would not give up, so she comforted her, "It's okay, just take it one step at a time, you have to trust me."

Shi Mingyue suddenly hugged him and said, "I believe you." No matter what, she would continue to walk with him.

The second day was originally scheduled to be a hunting trip in Zichuan Valley, but due to the emperor's broken leg, the hunt was cancelled and replaced by watching a show in the Zoo.

Inside the zoo, a large circular grandstand was surrounded by iron fences to prevent the animals from suddenly going crazy and rushing out to hurt people during the performance. Therefore, the audience sat on the high platforms around the circular stand to watch the performances.

The first one to appear was a rare white tiger. The trainer waved a long whip, and the white tiger was no longer majestic, but crawled humbly on the ground, looking very funny and ridiculous. It made everyone in the audience laugh, except for a few people who remained expressionless.

Shi Mingyue really didn't understand why the king of beasts had to be trained to do such meaningless actions, and was it really that funny to see it make a fool of itself?