The rain stopped in the evening. At night, Pei Yan walked to the bed after taking a bath and saw Tao Ti kneeling on the bed, busy with something.

When he got closer, Pei Yan narrowed his eyes and asked in a subtle tone, "Ati, what are you doing?"

Tao Ti, who was making the bed, shuddered and slowly turned her head to look at the tall and handsome man beside the bed. She smiled awkwardly, "Your Highness, have you finished your bath?"

Pei Yan: "Yeah."

He calmly scanned the two quilts, and finally set his gaze on her little face that was obviously guilty.

Seeing that he was frowning, Tao Ti turned around and crawled to the bedside. She reached out and took his hand, shaking it gently, and said in a friendly tone, "Your Highness, sit down and talk?"

Pei Yan stared at her clear eyes, his eyebrows moving slightly.

He couldn't refuse her with the way she looked up and acted cute.

Seeing him sit down, Tao Ti let go of his hand and said seriously, "I've thought about it carefully today, and I think it's better for your health to sleep separately..."

Pei Yan raised his eyebrows, "For my health?"

Tao Ti's cheeks were a little hot, and she looked away, muttering softly, "That's right, that... I'm not in good health, so it's best to be pure and abstain from desire..."

Pei Yan, "..."

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Tao Ti thought that she had been too blunt and hurt him. After all, men don't like to be told that they are not good at that. She quickly explained, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you are not good at that. I mean that until you recover, you should sleep separately..."

Pei Yan, "..."

Seeing that she was making things worse, Pei Yan closed his eyes, pinched her chin with one hand, and made her turn her head to look at him.

Tao Ti bit her lip lightly as she saw him getting closer and closer to her, his nose almost touching the tip of her nose. His warm breath brushed across her skin, causing her heart to tremble inexplicably.

Here it comes again, the same feeling of aggression as yesterday.

Tao Ti stared at him blankly, not knowing what expression to make.

Pei Yan's eyes were as dark as lacquer. After a while, he said in a deep voice, "I can do it."

Taoti, "......?"

When she realized what he meant, Tao Ti's face flushed red, and it felt like a woodchuck was screaming wildly inside.

Wait, wait, wait, don’t lose your mind, calm down!

Looking at the handsome face so close to her, Tao Ti shrank her neck. He looked as if he would rush up to prove it without hesitation if she had any doubts.

Her bright eyes were filled with innocence, and her voice trembled, "I, I may not be able to do it."

Pei Yan, "..."

After a moment, he laughed softly, loosened his hand that was pinching her cheek, and tapped her forehead, "Little fool."

Tao Ti was stunned for a moment, then saw him sit up straight and straighten his pajamas, "Don't worry, I won't touch you without your consent."

Tao Ti pursed her lips. What should she do? She regretted what she had just said.

If Qi was here, he would definitely poke her on the head and scold her—

Taoti, Taoti, have you eaten too much and blocked your brain cells? You are leaving such a big handsome guy alone, is there something wrong with your brain? !

Pei Yan took out a quilt, came back, and said lightly, "It will be very hot to cover yourself with two quilts."

Tao Ti gave him an awkward smile, slowly crawled into the bed, and then lay down obediently as usual.

Pei Yan took a look at her well-behaved appearance, raised the corners of his lips slightly, turned off the light, and gently lay down beside her.

It was very quiet in the dim tent.

Taoti thought about it and took the initiative to find a topic, asking whether the taste of today's milk tea was suitable, whether it was too sweet, and if there was a market for other flavors...

Pei Yan closed his eyes leisurely and answered patiently.

As she was talking, Tao Ti fell asleep first, and her voice became quieter and quieter, until it turned into the sound of even breathing.

Pei Yan turned his head to glance at her, then just stretched out his hand to hook her waist, and she automatically rolled into his arms and slept more soundly.

Pei Yan stroked her hair gently and felt that her body was much more honest than her mouth.

………

The next day, Tao Ti got up early to research new flavors of milk tea, and the fifth prince and the sixth princess happened to come to play with her.

The two children could smell the sweet milky aroma from a distance, and they found their way to the small kitchen easily without the help of palace servants.

After greeting Tao Ti, their eyes fell on the steaming milk pot, their eyes full of curiosity and greed, "Sister-in-law, what delicious food are you making?"

Tao Ti was happy to see them coming, "You came at the right time, just in time to help me taste it."

When they heard about the food tasting, the two children were of course very happy to join in. They happily sat on the stone bench outside the yard, waiting for the delicious food to be served.

After a while, Tao Ti served the prepared milk tea one by one. In addition to the fifth prince and the sixth princess, she also distributed some to the palace servants in Yaoguang Palace. After all, if she really wanted to promote milk tea, she had to make it more suitable for the tastes of the people of Dayuan Dynasty.

"This is the original milk tea. The other four are jasmine honey milk tea, caramel milk tea, brown sugar ginger milk tea, and rose milk tea. Try them first and then tell me the pros and cons."

The fifth prince and the sixth princess, "Okay!"

The people in Yaoguang Palace said, "Your servant/slave obeys your command."

For a while, the only sound in the entire Yaoguang Palace was the sound of people gulping down milk tea.

After they all finished drinking, Taoti took out a small notebook and wrote down their feedback seriously:

"Sister-in-law, I like this rose milk tea. It's fragrant. After drinking it, it feels like I'm filled with the aroma of roses from inside to outside." said the Sixth Princess.

"I like caramel. It has just the right sweetness and a light burnt aroma. The taste is very different." said the fifth prince.

"Crown Princess, I think this brown sugar ginger milk tea is good. Brown sugar is good for the skin, and ginger juice warms the stomach. If you drink brown sugar ginger juice alone, it has a strong ginger taste and is spicy. Now that it is cooked with milk tea, it has the fragrance of ginger but without the spicy taste of ginger. It is perfect for a woman to drink a cup when she has her period." Linglong said.

"This jasmine one is good too!"

“The original flavor is the best and most fragrant!”

Listening to their feedback, Tao Ti gradually had an idea in her mind. At present, it seems that everyone likes milk tea. As for the taste, everyone has different tastes and there are people who like everything.

She started asking about some details, such as the sweetness and the ratio of milk to tea.

Everyone in Yaoguang Palace was very busy, and Pei Yan was not idle outside the palace either.

After finishing his work at the Ministry of Works, he went straight to Prince Yu's Mansion and went fishing by the lake with Old Prince Yu.

Prince Yu was still wearing a dark coarse cloth robe. The sun was strong, so he wore a straw hat on his head. He sat lazily, holding a fishing rod in his hand, and sighed, "Look, you rarely come to my house, why don't you bring your wife with you? If she came, an old man like me would still have the nerve to let her cook a fish feast for us."

"The weather is hot and it's stuffy sitting in a carriage, so I didn't bring her along." Pei Yan wore a bamboo green robe and the same straw hat as Prince Yu, which added a bit of seclusion to his look.

Prince Yu snorted and laughed, "You can't bear to be silent for a moment?"

Pei Yan smiled gently, "In two days, A-Ti's pastry shop in Guangdefang will be open. The pastries there are all made according to the recipes she wrote, and they are not much different from what she makes herself. Fourth Uncle might want to buy some to try."

Prince Yu rolled his eyes and said, "You, the Crown Princess, are really restless."

Pei Yan said, "It's a good thing that she has something she likes."

Prince Yu shook his head and sighed, "I can see that you are completely bewitched by your wife."

Pei Yan did not refute it. After a moment's silence, he turned the topic back to the main business, talking about the fact that Prince Yu was about to be transferred to the post of governor of Luoyang Prefecture.

Prince Yu stroked his gray beard and said with emotion, "Your father is really considerate of an old man like me. He knew that my son was not ambitious and found a good job for him..."

"Uncle Shi has been in frequent contact with Pei Changzhou recently. I wonder if Fourth Uncle knows about this?"

Prince Yu frowned.

"Fourth uncle, I know that although you are not involved in state affairs, you are very clear about the current trends in the court. I am not dead yet, but Pei Changzhou and the Zhou family can't hold back, as if the throne is the meat in their mouths; if I really die, won't they become even more reckless?"

"Your Highness, please don't say such sad words."

"Fourth Uncle, you don't want to see our Pei family change its surname to Zhou in a few decades, right?"

This statement could be considered as treasonous. Prince Yu turned around and stared at Pei Yan with great seriousness, "Your Highness, you are too worried."

Pei Yan's brows were calm, and he curled his lips, "I have to worry."

Prince Yu narrowed his cloudy eyes and looked at Pei Yan carefully, as if he wanted to see through him.

Pei Yan did not hide, but looked at him calmly.

Ambition and ambition are all visible.

Prince Yu was also an old man who had experienced three dynasties. He had lived in the royal family for such a long time without any worries. He had already become a wise man. He soon understood. His eyes flashed with deep surprise and his lips trembled slightly. "Your Highness, you... Yan'er, you are really patient!"

He sighed heavily, and finally cursed, "Alas, your mother is a cruel person, and your father is even more of a bastard! The evil they have done has brought you misery."

Hearing this, Pei Yan frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, "Fourth Uncle, did my mother really die of illness?"

Prince Yu was startled and abruptly avoided his gaze, "Yeah."

Pei Yan took in his reaction, pondered for a moment, and said, "One day, my father got drunk and said that my mother committed suicide by taking poison."

Prince Yu's hand holding the fishing rod trembled suddenly, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Then your father must be drunk and talking nonsense."

Seeing that his fourth uncle refused to tell him the truth, Pei Yan had no choice but to ask him.

Just like the old lady beside his mother, Nanny Lan, his uncle, Uncle Feng, and even his father, they all knew that his mother committed suicide by taking poison, but no one was willing to tell him the reason behind it.

He had looked into it, but after so many years and the matter involving the late emperor, he found very little.

Perhaps because he was working too hard to find out, a few years ago on the anniversary of his mother's death, Nanny Lan gave him an ambiguous answer:

"Your mother felt that being a queen was too tiring, so she chose to resign."

Pei Yan seemed to understand it a little, but also found it difficult to understand.

At this time, his fishing rod moved.

Coming to his senses, he quickly reeled in his fishing rod and caught a lively grass carp.

Prince Yu said, "Yan'er, how long will it take for you to complete what you are planning?"

Pei Yan said, "Next October at the latest."

October of next year will be the date Qintianjian will sentence Pei Yanpan to death.

Prince Yu looked up at the setting red sun in the distance, slowly put away his fishing rod, and said slowly, "Then I will hold on to my old bones for a while..."

Pei Yan's eyes moved slightly.

Prince Yu turned around and smiled at him, his smile was a bit bashful, "As long as I am still here, the Prince Yu's Mansion will listen to me. It just so happens that I haven't been to Luoyang for a long time, so this time I will go to Luoyang with them to live. It is said that 'born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, buried in Beimang', maybe I can also be buried in Beimang Mountain, occupying a piece of Feng Shui treasure land."

Pei Yan wanted to say something, but Prince Yu stood up first and said loudly, "Come on, stay for dinner tonight, and we'll make fish soup with your fish."

Pei Yan stepped forward to support him, his eyelashes drooping slightly, "Yes."

——

A pot of fish soup was just ready. Pei Yangang took a sip when he saw Fu Xirui anxiously wandering at the door, looking as if he wanted to disturb him but didn't dare to.

It was Prince Yu who raised his eyelids and called the person in.

Fu Xirui walked in quickly, bowed hastily, holding his whisk tightly in both hands, his pale, beardless face wrinkled into a big, thin-skinned bun, and said anxiously, "Your Highness, the news just came from the palace is that something happened to the Crown Princess!"

Pei Yan's hand holding the chopsticks suddenly stiffened.

The eyes that were gentle and smiling the previous moment suddenly became sharp and cold the next moment.