Although Han Zhongyu was a short distance away from her, his heart was with her, and his eyes couldn't help but glance at her. When the koi lantern on the stage appeared, her eyes lit up, and she looked eager to try it out. But when the riddle was presented, she immediately wilted. He couldn't help but find it amusing. He picked up his brush, wrote a character, and had Lanting send it up.

The person on the stage took the note from Lanting and immediately beamed with joy.

"This young master wrote down the correct answer, so this lantern belongs to him."

Lanting took the lantern and presented it directly to Xie Yushu.

"Princess, this is a gift from my young master."

Xie Yushu happily accepted the gift and gave Han Zhongyu a flirtatious wink. Han Zhongyu was caught off guard and his face turned bright red. He hurriedly took a sip of water to calm himself down.

The Third Princess saw Xie Yushu's actions and Han Zhongyu's flustered appearance, and cursed inwardly, "Vixen!"

Xie Yushu, however, was laughing heartily while holding the lantern.

If tonight were just an ordinary lantern festival, it would surely be the most heartwarming and romantic day.

But with the storm brewing today, warmth and romance are destined to elude them.

After teasing Han Zhongyu a little, the otherwise boring time became much more interesting.

As the Lantern Festival drew to a close and the banquet neared its end, the venue remained quiet, and nothing happened.

As the ruler of the Great Qi Kingdom, Emperor Qingyuan naturally wouldn't wait until the end to leave, so he immediately got up and returned to the palace with the Empress and a group of princesses.

The other princes and ministers of the Honglu Temple waited until the banquet was completely over and the envoys were sent back to their respective residences to rest before they could go home.

As for me, an unemployed person without any tasks, I'll do as I please.

However, out of courtesy, most people stayed until the envoys left before departing.

However, Xie Yushu was not like most people. Seeing that Emperor Qingyuan had left first, but the Third Prince was being talked to by a prince from an unknown country, she thought to herself that this was troublesome.

According to standard procedure, this intern crown prince should stay close to his father and discuss domestic and international politics with him at any time.

Now that they've separated, the danger has also disappeared. Who knows how many people the Fifth Prince and the First Prince actually have?

He is even more important than Emperor Qingyuan. If Emperor Qingyuan dies, he can take over directly. If he dies, the Second Prince is obsessed with calligraphy and painting and does not care about politics. The First Prince and the Fifth Prince are both like that. Even if Emperor Qingyuan raises a younger version of himself, it won't be as good as him!

Let's stick to the established path!

Thinking this, Xie Yushu stood up and walked to the Third Prince's table, interrupting their conversation, and directly addressed the Third Prince.

"Your mother is calling you home for dinner!"

The third prince was taken aback for a moment, then cupped his hands in greeting to the man.

"I have other matters to attend to, please excuse me!"

Upon seeing this, the man returned the greeting and went back to his seat.

Emperor Qingyuan hadn't gone far, and as soon as the Third Prince escaped, he immediately led his guards to catch up.

Outside the venue, a group of people were immediately evacuated and disappeared into the night.

It's pointless to investigate whether the person from earlier intentionally stalled the Third Prince.

Since they were safe at the venue, they were most likely on their way back to the palace. There were several suitable places for an ambush along this route, and Xie Yushu couldn't be sure where they would choose. She could only have the Divine Eagle Guards passively follow Emperor Qingyuan and the Third Prince's group.

It's a good thing that no fight broke out at the meeting; otherwise, with almost half of Beijing's population there, any fight would have inevitably implicated innocent people.