"Alright, now is not the time to fool around."
Seeing the group laughing and joking, Li Chang'an frowned. He then went over and grabbed the horse's reins, before instructing Li Changsheng, "Stand still and let me see where the problem lies."
Although he was terrified, Li Changsheng had no choice but to obey. He stood there with his heart pounding, not daring to move, as the horse walked right up to him.
"Deputy General Sun, stand next to Chang Sheng. If this horse gets out of control, quickly protect him."
After assigning tasks, Li Chang'an began to calmly observe the horse's behavior.
"Hey, this isn't fair! You all have work to do, but what about me?"
Feng Beichuan was a little unhappy. He felt that since they were all together, they should at least find something to do.
However, Li Chang'an was busy looking at the horse and had no time to pay attention to him, so Feng Beichuan had no choice but to stand aside and prepare to be their backup.
"What...what is it trying to do?"
Li Changsheng's face was contorted in pain, his whole body was tense, and he had goosebumps all over.
The horse was now close to him, sniffing him incessantly. Li Changsheng could clearly feel the hot breath exhaled from the horse's nose hitting his body and face.
Even more frightening, he could also faintly smell a strange odor emanating from the horse.
After sniffing for a while, the horse finally stopped its nose on Li Changsheng's waist.
"What's that hanging around your waist?"
At this moment, Li Chang'an seemed to have also figured out the crux of the problem—the horse seemed to really like the sachet hanging from Li Changsheng's waist.
Upon hearing Li Chang'an's words, Li Changsheng quickly reached for the sachet at his waist and said, "You mean this? This is a sachet!"
Although that's what they said, Li Chang'an didn't think so. She walked directly to Li Changsheng's side, took off the sachet, and held it in her hand. Then she smelled it and found the fragrance both familiar and strange.
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the fabric used to make the sachets was auspicious cloud brocade, a material reserved for the imperial palace, and the agate beads used as decorations were of exceptional quality.
What's even stranger is that after Li Chang'an took the sachet in his hand, the horse seemed to lose interest in Li Changsheng and instead started sniffing around, turning its attention to Li Chang'an instead.
Clearly, the problem lies with this sachet.
So Li Chang'an tentatively placed the sachet in front of the horse's nose.
Upon smelling the aroma, the horse immediately became excited. It even kicked its hind legs joyfully, tilted its head back, and let out a high-pitched neigh, which startled Li Chang'an, causing him to take several steps back.
"Where did this sachet come from? I don't think I've ever seen you wear it before."
Li Chang'an weighed the sachet in his hand for a few moments, then turned to look at Li Changsheng.
“I already had this sachet, but I just never took it out.”
For some reason, Li Changsheng became flustered in the face of Li Chang'an's question. He answered Li Chang'an's question stammeringly, and the expression on his face became extremely unnatural.
Li Chang'an could tell at a glance that the kid was lying.
Lying is one thing, but the key is that he acted so convincingly. If he hadn't been so nervous, he might have actually gotten away with it.
"If I remember correctly, the material used to make these sachets was newly supplied."
Li Chang'an held the sachet in his hand and examined it carefully. Then he said quietly, "Since some people are unwilling to tell the truth, I can only seek the truth myself."
As she spoke, she opened the sachet and poured its contents into her palm.
Seeing that the once bulging sachet had now shrunk by more than half, Li Changsheng felt a pang of heartache and became anxious: "I'll talk, I'll talk. My mother sent someone to deliver this sachet to me a couple of days ago."
"Since it was given to you by your mother, what's so shameful about it? I just asked you why you wouldn't tell the truth?"
Li Chang'an looked at Li Changsheng's awkward expression with some displeasure.
The truth forced out by interrogation is ultimately not as satisfying as a straightforward confession.
"My mother had someone tell me that she specially went to the temple to get this sachet for me to pray for good fortune. She also said that it was a little secret between us, and that if we told anyone, it wouldn't work."
Li Changsheng pouted, feeling wronged. He thought to himself, "If only I had kept this sachet hidden around my neck. Now that my little secret has been revealed, the sachet's blessing effect is gone, and my mother has had to go through all this trouble for nothing."
After listening to his explanation, a hint of doubt flashed in Li Chang'an's eyes.
At this moment, Feng Beichuan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "Let me see what good things are inside this sachet."
As he spoke, he walked up to Li Chang'an, reached out and picked up a bit of something from the other's palm, then rubbed it between his fingertips before bringing it to his nose and sniffing it carefully.
A strange fragrance filled his nostrils, making Feng Beichuan frown and sneeze, unable to hold back.
"There seems to be cinnamon powder in here... and a little ambergris mixed in? Those aren't a problem, but the person who made the sachet actually put musk in it, it's suffocating me!"
While rubbing his nose, Feng Beichuan disgustedly rubbed all the spice residue in his hand onto the ground, then took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped his fingers that had just been stained with spices.
"What would happen if musk were added? Is that why the horse is behaving so strangely?"
Li Dian'an knew nothing about fragrances and had never liked using them. After listening to Feng Beichuan's explanation, her doubts only deepened.
"That's natural. This musk comes from stallions, and when combined with cinnamon powder, although the effect isn't as strong, it's still enough to make a mare go into heat. And because of the mixture of several spices, it's not easy for anyone to detect."
Feng Beichuan then gave a smug explanation, as if he were a learned and talented scholar.
Seeing that the other three people besides himself were listening in a daze, Feng Beichuan felt even more smug. He then said, "I misunderstood just now. Ma didn't mistake His Highness the Crown Prince for a mare at all. He clearly mistook him for a stallion!"
The reason he could recognize that the spices contained musk was mainly because he was allergic to musk; even a slight whiff of it would make him sneeze.
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