Hua Yuanzhao walked in breathlessly and apologized meticulously.

After all, the original body had been trained since childhood. Although she was as fat as a mountain of flesh now, she could perform the salute movement smoothly and naturally.

When Prime Minister Hua saw that she had finally arrived, his expression looked a little better.

Rong Xiu raised his eyebrows in surprise - she walked a little faster than he thought.

Seeing her empty-handed, Hua Yuanshan curled her lips slightly, sneering in her heart: So what if she's here? Aren't you still unprepared?

The Queen displeasedly exempted Hua Yuanzhao from the gift, and when she saw that she had nothing in her hands, she wanted to change the subject.

Hua Yuanshan suddenly said, "Sister, you came so late, what surprise did you prepare?"

As she spoke, she glanced at Princess Lin'an.

Princess Lin'an pouted and shook the Queen's hand coquettishly: "Just now my aunt said that Lin'an would be the finale! Look, the person who is really going to be the finale is here."

She looked at Hua Yuanzhao with a smile, the hoarseness in her voice still lingering, as if the tip of a knife was stabbing at Hua Yuanzhao.

"Sister Hua, what have you prepared? Are you going to use your black silk to embroider a picture of Guanyin like the second young lady?"

Hua Yuanzhao glanced at the Guanyin picture held by the palace maid, and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "In terms of embroidery, I am not as good as my second sister. I definitely cannot embroider this Guanyin picture with black silk in just one afternoon."

As soon as these words were spoken, many people's expressions changed slightly, and the queen, who had been nonchalant at first, now had an unfathomable smile on her face.

Yes, when did so many exquisite gifts come into being?

Since when did her Kunning Palace start to leak like a sieve!

Princess Lin'an didn't understand the undercurrent. She just snorted and said condescendingly, "You can't come up with anything, right? You should have said it earlier! Can you waste my aunt's time?"

Hua Yuanzhao took a deep breath, took out the herbs that he had prepared long ago, and said respectfully: "I have nothing, but I am willing to use my life as a gift to perform the "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" for Your Majesty."

"Pfft, if you want to learn from the Fourteenth Prince, you have to have this ability!" Someone sneered.

"She imitates others without knowing what she is doing."

"This... Is it possible that my elder sister wants to perform a dance?" Hua Yuanshan said with embarrassment: "Elder sister, the times are different now, so why don't you just forget it?"

The eldest daughter of the Hua family once rocked the capital with her dancing skills, but now, she is just an object of dislike!

Hua Yuanzhao glanced around and his eyes fell on the incense burner beside the queen. He bowed and asked, "Your Majesty, may I borrow your incense burner?"

"What do you want to do again!" Princess Lin'an suddenly got angry and jumped up and shouted at Hua Yuanzhao.

Patting the back of Princess Lin'an's hand soothingly, the Queen frowned impatiently. When she was about to refuse, Rong Xiu spoke with a smile.

"I also want to see where Miss Hua's hundreds of birds and phoenixes come from. Aunt, can you lend me this incense burner?" Rong Xiu said. After seeing the queen nod, he personally stepped forward and brought back the incense burner.

Hua Yuanzhao frowned in confusion. If she knew that the incense burner was his, she would rather burn grass on the ground!

Seeing through her thoughts, Rong Xiu moved his lips and said in a low voice, "Lin'an wronged you last night. This time, consider it as my apology on her behalf."

Hua Yuanzhao sneered when he heard this, glared at him fiercely, and quickly stuffed the herbs into the incense burner and lit them.

At the same time, he said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Apologize? Then you owe me more than once!"

The fragrance wafts from the hollow petals, and curls of green smoke spread under the warm sun. The taste is light and not smoky, and it condenses but does not dissipate.

"This incense burner is really good." The queen commented with a smile.

She was used to the smell of ambergris, and she actually thought the scent of this herb was quite nice.

Hua Yuanshan was alert in her heart. She rolled her eyes and said timidly, "Eldest sister said that she wanted to offer a gift of a hundred birds to the phoenix. Could it be that she was referring to this incense? Otherwise, where is the bird, and where is the phoenix?"

Hua Yuanzhao tilted his head to look over, raised his hand to make a gesture for silence, and pointed to his ear.

"Sister, please stop being mysterious here and just speak quickly!" Hua Yuanshan repeated impatiently, her voice even louder.

The queen, who had just felt at peace, was suddenly disturbed and glared at me unexpectedly.

"Hush." ​​Hua Yuanzhao scolded softly, "Second sister, why are you so anxious? Just listen carefully."

As soon as she finished speaking, a bird's cry was heard, as clear as a sparrow in the morning.

After the first bird song, the silence between heaven and earth was suddenly broken. Bird songs rang out one after another, and the sound of wings flapping became amplified.

Various birds vie to fly over, some circling in the sky, some landing on the ground or on the eaves.

When had anyone seen such a spectacle before? For a moment, they all stood there in astonishment, watching the birds flying around.

"Is this... a manifestation of Buddha?" someone said in astonishment.

Hua Yuanshan was also stunned at first, but she came back to her senses after hearing these words. She looked at the people who were attracted and couldn't help but coughing heavily.

"Eldest sister, now that we have all the birds, where is the phoenix?" Hua Yuanshan's voice was so sharp that the birds around her were startled and flew away.

Hua Yuanzhao glanced at her, then knelt down and kowtowed with the incense burner in his hands.

"The phoenix of the nine heavens is the one that all the birds pay homage to. May the queen live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years."

As he finished speaking, a crane happened to fly in front of the Empress and the Emperor. It spread its wings but before it could close its legs it bent, and by some strange coincidence it followed Hua Yuanzhao's movements and bowed to the two of them.

The queen was surprised and happy. The emperor next to her raised his hand and pointed at the crane, then pointed at Hua Yuanzhao, and shook his head with a smile.

"Lord Hua, you have raised a good daughter!" The emperor said with a smile, "The queen is a phoenix in the sky, so your daughter is not a crane?"

Hua Yuanzhao breathed a sigh of relief and thought: This "like a crane" should be a good word, right?

When the smoke cleared and the birds flew away, she stood up along with the flying crane. Seeing her little action, the Queen couldn't help laughing and shaking her head.

"It's amazing that you have such a clever idea. Come, please take a seat."

Seeing that she was in the spotlight, Hua Yuanshan was so angry that she almost bit her teeth off. Just as she was about to say something else, she suddenly felt a chill on her forehead.

She subconsciously reached out to touch it, and her hand came out gray and white. It turned out that bird poop had fallen on her head.

Hua Yuanshan tried desperately to hold back the scream that was about to come out of her mouth and was so angry that she almost fainted.

You are such a jerk, Hua Yuanzhao! How dare you send a bird to shit on my head! When the poison takes effect, I'll see how you can still be so proud!