After watching Shen Rong leave the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Su Mu threw down the memorial in his hand with a gloomy expression.

He looked up at Jinzhong and said, "What do you think these two, mother and son, are up to? They were so eager to form an alliance with that scoundrel Muweihou back then, but now they're in a hurry to sever ties."

"This servant does not know either. Perhaps Consort De is really eager to have a grandson, or perhaps she feels sorry for Consort Shen and wants to elevate her family to the rank of official."

No one dares to guess the emperor's mind, so Jinzhong just laughed it off and gave some bland and uninteresting answers.

"Hmph~ Don't think I didn't understand what they were up to back then. I've given them more than enough. They shouldn't have coveted things that didn't belong to them!"

It's no wonder Su Mu had these guesses, since everyone knows that the emperor of Dongyue Kingdom has few children and no empress.

The original eldest and second princes were both frail and sickly and did not live past the age of 5. Now, the only princes left are Su Yuntian and Su Yi.

However, Su Yi was a playboy who did not care about worldly affairs and only knew how to play and enjoy himself. This led many court officials to favor Su Yuntian as the crown prince. After all, Su Yuntian was older than Su Yi and worked diligently in court. It was really hard to find any faults in him.

According to ancestral rules, Su Mu knew that the position of Crown Prince should go to Su Yuntian first and then Su Yi. However, Su Mu did not favor Su Yuntian. How could Su Yuntian, born to a merchant's daughter, compare to Su Yi, whom he loved?

Unfortunately, Su Yi did not covet the position of Crown Prince, so Su Mu could only take the Longevity Pill of Emperor Nangong Shenzong in hopes of prolonging his life, so that perhaps one day Su Yi would be willing to accept the throne.

Jinzhong didn't dare to reply, and just smiled awkwardly. As it was time for bed, Jinzhong asked Su Mu, "Does Your Majesty intend to choose any concubine tonight?"

Tonight, Su Mu thought of Su Yi's mother again, the woman who wanted to be with him for life. Disturbed, he waved to Jin Zhong, signaling him to leave.

Jinzhong knew that he had inadvertently mentioned Consort Yu, Nan Yu, tonight, which inevitably stirred Su Mu's emotions. He then withdrew and gently closed the door of Yangxin Hall.

At the Yunwang Mansion, Shen Qianqian, accompanied by Cuixiang, brought a bowl of tonic to Cuizhu Garden early in the morning to pay her respects to Mu Jin.

Qing'er was afraid that Shen Qianqian would faint in the Green Bamboo Courtyard again, which would anger Su Yuntian and implicate Mu Jin. So she ran into Mu Jin's bedroom and gently nudged the sleeping Mu Jin.

"Miss, please get up quickly. Shen Qianqian has come to pay her respects."

"You're here now, why are you in such a hurry? Don't bother me, let me sleep a little longer."

Qing'er said anxiously, "Miss, you'd better get up quickly. Who knows, Shen Qianqian might faint again like last time, and then the Prince will be angry again."

"Let them be angry, what are we afraid of?"

Seeing Mu Jin's nonchalant attitude, Qing'er grew anxious.

Suddenly, she remembered that she had made an appointment with Mu Jin yesterday to go out of the city to enjoy the scenery. She couldn't help but slap her forehead and scold herself. She had seen Shen Qianqian and forgotten that she was also going out of the city with Mu Jin today.

"Miss, please get up quickly. We made an appointment yesterday to go to Baishi Mountain outside the city to enjoy the scenery today. We've been waiting at the gate since early morning."

Now that things have come to this point, Mu Jin has no choice but to remember.

Mu Jin reluctantly got up from Qing'er's bed. After washing up and putting on makeup, she slowly walked out of the room. By this time, it had been almost an hour since Chen Qianqian arrived at the Green Bamboo Courtyard.

Seeing Mu Jin leave the room, Shen Qianqian took the beauty soup from Qing'er and walked towards Mu Jin.

"Your Highness, you're awake. This is a top-quality beauty soup that the Prince usually has the imperial physicians in the palace prepare for me. I've been using it quite well, and I've brought it here today to apologize to Your Highness. I hope Your Highness will forgive Qianqian's rudeness yesterday."

Mu Jin couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, and Qing'er rolled her eyes. So she stood in the courtyard for an hour just to show off how much Su Yuntian favored her?

"Consort Shen is very thoughtful to come to my Green Bamboo Courtyard so early in the morning. Those who know you will say that you respect me, the Princess Consort. Those who don't will think that you are disturbing people's sleep to show off the Prince's favor to you."

Shen Qianqian was not annoyed by Mu Jin's sarcastic words. She seemed not to understand what Mu Jin was saying and continued to analyze the banquet of the previous night.

"It's like this, I personally cooked a good meal yesterday and went out to wait for you myself. Unfortunately, when the prince returned to the manor and learned that I had been standing outside for a long time, he asked me to go back to Qiushui Garden first and have Cuixiang invite you on my behalf. In any case, it was my fault for not being polite enough. I hope you can forgive me this time."

Hearing Shen Qianqian's pretentious manner, Mu Jin couldn't help but want to applaud her, after all, most people wouldn't say such shameless words.

Mu Jin was in a hurry to get to Baishi Mountain, so she didn't want to waste any more time talking to Shen Qianqian. She pointed to the sweet soup that Cui Xiang was holding.

"We're all from the same household, so there's no need to talk about forgiveness or not; that would be too formal. Since it's here, I'll try it. Such good stuff shouldn't be wasted."

Upon hearing Mu Jin's words, Shen Qianqian immediately turned around, took the beauty soup from Cui Xiang's hand, and presented it to Mu Jin.

But when their hands met, Shen Qianqian's palms suddenly became unsteady. Mu Jin was all too familiar with this scene. Just as the soup was about to spill onto Mu Jin, Mu Jin immediately and readily helped Shen Qianqian's wrist.

Shen Qianqian was slightly taken aback. Then, Mu Jin flicked her wrist and splashed a bowl of warm soup towards Shen Qianqian.

When the soup splashed onto Shen Qianqian, she gasped, her hand instantly scalded with a bright red mark, and her clothes were also stained.

Cui Xiang exclaimed, "Concubine!" and then glared angrily at Mu Jin.

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