Outside the tavern.
Long Fantian ordered, "Chunyu, you stay here to monitor Shi Changbo and Lu Ke. You must report truthfully what they said and did. Dongxue, go and arrange for the people in the palace to communicate."
"Yes, Your subordinate obeys."
After Long Fantian left, the two immediately went their separate ways.
Just as the prince predicted.
Not long after, Lu Ke arrived at the tavern, shouting excitedly, "Master, Master, I saw Sister Sanshui!"
Shi Changbo, who was wiping his bracelet with his sleeve, heard the shout and his hand trembled, causing the bracelet he had finally managed to clean to fall onto the wine stains on the table.
Lu Ke went upstairs and excitedly grabbed Shi Changbo's arm and shook it, "I'm sure that Miss Mu just now must be Sister Sanshui."
Shi Changbo tapped him on the head. Why couldn't this child listen to reason? "I've already told you she's dead, she's already dead!"
“But Master, didn’t you tell me five years ago that Sister Sanshui was… um…” Lu Ke was cut off by Shi Changbo before he could finish speaking.
"Will you listen to your master?"
Lu Ke nodded, "Mmm."
“Then you must remember that your Sister Sanshui is dead, do you hear me?” Shi Changbo warned.
Lu Ke continued nodding, "Mmm."
Shi Changbo let go of her hand. "Tell me what happened in the restaurant just now, and keep your voice down."
Lu Ke told everything in detail.
After listening, Shi Changbo slapped him hard on the head and said, "What can I say to you! You've ruined your sister Sanshui."
Lu Ke said weakly, "Master, you just told me that Sister Sanshui died, how come you are now..."
"You... sigh..." Shi Changbo sighed and sat down weakly. He picked up the bracelet that was stained with white wine and wiped it carefully with his sleeve, muttering, "You brat, you don't even bother to look at your master when you come back."
...
"Achoo!" Mu Tiantian wiped her nose and muttered, "Who's thinking about me?"
Upon seeing this, Long Xinghuang issued the order, "Summon the imperial physician."
Mu Tiantian was flattered and quickly said, "This humble woman just has an itchy nose, it's nothing serious, there's no need to summon the imperial physician."
Long Xinghuang observed her every move and said calmly, "Since Miss Mu is engaged to the Regent, she will be the Regent's wife in the future. Your health has not yet fully recovered. If anything happens after you enter the palace, I will not be able to explain it to my uncle."
Seeing that he insisted, Mu Tiantian didn't say anything more.
Long Xinghuang asked, "Miss Mu has rendered meritorious service in saving the Regent. May I ask what reward Miss Mu desires?"
"It is my honor to save the prince. I am already satisfied with the emperor's willingness to reward me. I would accept any reward." Mu Tiantian said modestly.
She figured that since Long Xinghuang was willing to give rewards, there must be a lot of gold and silver jewelry, and seeing that she was obedient, he might reward her even more.
Mu Tiantian silently calculated in her mind.
result...
Long Xinghuang led her to the imperial study, where a row of wooden figurines were displayed on a shelf. "Miss Mu, please choose one."
Mu Tiantian: "......"
This is all the emperor, a dignified ruler, has to give as a reward?
Mu Tiantian forced a smile, "Your Majesty, this..."
"These are all my treasures, Miss Mu, don't you want them?" Long Xinghuang asked with a questioning look.
"How could that be? It was a gift from the Emperor, and I will certainly cherish it." Mu Tiantian smiled, inwardly criticizing him thoroughly.
That's incredibly stingy.
Mu Tiantian looked at the row of small wooden figures and thought they were quite exquisite.
The facial features of these wooden figures all look like those of the same person, a little boy who is only a few years old, but the figures are all in different poses.
Two of the wooden figures are identical, depicting a little boy standing attentively reading a book.
Both of these portraits show signs of repair.
Mu Tiantian glanced at Long Xinghuang; his features did bear some resemblance to his.
These figures were probably sculpted by someone when he was a child.
Long Xinghuang kept a close eye on her, as if trying to find something on her face.
Seven-Point Reminder: [You sculpted all these statues.]
Mu Tiantian exclaimed in surprise: "I carved that?"
Qi Tong explained it to her in detail.
Back when Mu Tiantian was at the restaurant, she accidentally offended Long Xinghuang and was summoned to the palace by him.
He originally intended to teach her a lesson, but ended up being taught a lesson by her instead.
During their battle of wits, Mu Tiantian accidentally broke the most precious wooden sculpture in his hands.
Long Xinghuang was furious and wanted to punish her.
Mu Tiantian reacted quickly and immediately promised, "I can carve an exact replica for you and even fix it. If I die, no one can fix your wooden statue."
At only thirteen years old, Long Xinghuang believed her because, to him, the portrait given to him by his father was more important.
They even forgot that with such a large population, finding a craftsman is not difficult.
However, at the time, all he wanted was to fix the portrait as quickly as possible.
After that, Mu Tiantian repaired the statue she had broken and carved an identical one for him.
Long Xinghuang came to supervise her every day. When he finally held the two wooden figures in his hands, he was happy and calmed down. He put on the airs of an emperor and said, "You may be spared the death penalty, but you can't escape punishment. You must carve ten more different ones for me."
Mu Tiantian was too lazy to argue with a little kid, so she agreed and carved nine different wooden figures based on his young features. Each one was exquisite and lifelike.
Long Xinghuang was captivated by it when he saw it, even thinking it was more beautiful than the one his father had given him.
However, the one his father gave him had a different meaning.
Long Xinghuang noticed that the number of wooden figures was incorrect and questioned her, "I ordered you to carve ten, why is one missing?"
Mu Tiantian chuckled awkwardly, "Adding the previous one, that makes ten, and none of them are the same."
Actually, it was because her time to leave this world was approaching, and she wanted to say a few more words of advice to her master, so she didn't have time to carve the last one for him.
"What I said doesn't count!" Long Xinghuang was furious at her displeasure and even forgot to change his self-reference. He shouted angrily, "This is disobeying an imperial decree! I...I'm going to lock you up!"
Mu Tiantian was tired of hearing this. Ever since she entered the palace, he had used his status as the emperor to suppress her.
However, she cured the Empress Dowager's anorexia with her culinary skills, so Long Xinghuang couldn't do anything to her and could only talk about it.
But Mu Tiantian found him annoying because he always lost his temper and punished people, so she took advantage of the last little time left to scold him.
He called him by his full name, "Long Xinghuang, look at your childish appearance, how can you be an emperor? If you want others to listen to you, obey you, and agree with you, you have to have the qualifications. You are less sensible than a child of a few years old every day."
"With your attitude of only wanting others to obey you in everything, but never thinking about how to win people's respect, your throne will change hands sooner or later, or you will be a puppet emperor forever, controlled by others your whole life," Mu Tiantian said bluntly, unafraid of death.
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