My Lord, the princess doesn't want you anymore.

Mei Xueer was still distracted until she returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion.

"What happened?" Mei Jiayun knew something was wrong when he saw that she looked like that.

Mei Xueer hesitated to speak, and after struggling for a while, she decided to tell the truth, at least so that her family could be mentally prepared.

Mei Jiayun was also dumbfounded when he heard this, "That's the late emperor..."

"Brother, how could I not know? Wasn't I also very angry last night?" Mei Xue'er said with a sad face, "I'm just afraid that I will implicate you."

"Don't worry!" Prime Minister Mei came over without anyone noticing, "Father has a way to solve it."

"Father, this is a serious crime!" Mei Jiayun really couldn't think of how his father would deal with this crisis.

"It's all my fault." Mei Xue'er regretted her decision. "I thought I would not cause any more trouble for the family, but I didn't expect that I would end up causing a big trouble."

"How about we find a tree that looks exactly like this one and plant it?"

"Don't you think the crime is not serious enough? Do you want to add another crime of deceiving the emperor?" Prime Minister Mei felt that he had given birth to a stupid son. "In short, don't act on your own. The more you do, the more mistakes you will make!"

It’s late at night at Prince Jing’s Mansion.

Cui Hongjing sat in front of the osmanthus tree, motionless, and didn't seem to feel cold at all.

Zhuang Xiang took a cloak and put it on him: "Your Highness, you have been sitting here all day, and it is snowing again, go back to the house."

Cui Hongjing didn't even raise his eyelids. "This was planted by my grandfather and I personally on my fifth birthday."

Zhuang Xiang did not dare to respond. The tree was first chopped down by the prince with a palm, leaving only a stump, and then it was chopped down by the princess until even the stump was almost gone. It was most likely that it would die.

Cui Hongjing seemed to know what he was thinking, and spoke to himself in an unusually calm voice: "She said that the osmanthus tree has a strong vitality. It will never give up as long as it lives."

"Your Highness, today is your birthday, how can you not eat? The Queen Mother sent some osmanthus cakes over, please try some." Zhuang Xiang sighed.

Over the past decade, Cui Hongjing has spent every 28th day of the twelfth lunar month like this, alone under this tree. He never entertains guests, and the food is no different from usual. Everyone in the palace has gotten used to it.

But this year, the prince seems even more lonely.

"Let that traitor disappear." Cui Hongjing suddenly spoke.

Zhuang Xiang was startled: "Your Majesty, if this happens, the Emperor might become suspicious."

Cui Hongjing still stared at the tree, "So we have to find a reasonable excuse. Although you and I are extremely careful, he is always lurking around me. If I don't pay attention, something bad will happen. I believe he has already reported yesterday's incident to my father, so there is no need to keep him here. I don't want to hurt her again just for the sake of acting."

Zhuang Xiang: "My Lord, didn't you say that this person is still useful?"

"...Then, let's deal with it before I leave the capital." Cui Hongjing suddenly changed the subject, "Has Mr. Zhu's injury healed?"

Zhuang Xiang shook his head: "After all, the punishment he received in prison was too severe, and he also took the fake death medicine given by the princess, which more or less harmed his body."

"There are many spies in the capital. It would be bad if he was discovered by mistake. When he gets better, send him out of the city. After he recovers, he can come back with a different identity."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. It has been arranged. His family has also been arranged. We will send them away together so that they can be taken care of."

Cui Hongjing said "hmm", and tapped the table with his slender and bony fingers. "After the rebellion of the deposed crown prince, the vacant positions will be filled after the new year. The people I deployed can finally be put to use."

Zhuang Xiang quickly followed his train of thought, "The people directly implicated in the matter of deposing the crown prince are Wei Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, the prefect of Jingzhao, Lord Yan, the Minister of the Supreme Court, and Yuan Shangshu of the Ministry of Works, the mother's family of the crown princess. After the vacancies are filled this time, these positions will all be ours."

"Very good! In this way, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice belong to my father, Minister An of the Ministry of Rites is an upright and fair official, and the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works are in my hands... No rush, come one by one." Cui Hongjing's voice became colder and colder, "One day, I will pull out all his teeth and make him pay back what he owes to his grandfather, to me, to my mother, and to my mother's family, with interest!"

Zhuang Xiang shuddered and glanced at the scar on his forehead. "My Lord, I have found two of the herbs that the princess mentioned last time. But I can't find the fire-dried seed..."

Cui Hongjing waved his hand, "No hurry, now is not the time."

He touched his forehead and said, "That's it. This may be a blessing at the moment."

Zhuang Xiang always felt that, except for being an idiot in how he treated the princess, the prince was smart in everything else.

Take the matter of overthrowing the crown prince for example. The prince, who seemed to be completely out of the matter, turned out to be the biggest beneficiary. Not only did he eliminate the crown prince, he also secretly placed his own people in the court. In the eyes of outsiders, he also took the opportunity to use and get rid of the princess who had brought him shame.

The only unexpected thing was the rise of Prince Xiao.

Will Prince Xiao be the next crown prince or the next enemy?

***

There is a palace banquet in the palace, and each household also has to prepare its own New Year’s Eve dinner.

In recent days, everyone in the Prime Minister's Mansion has been busy. Shen, the mistress of the house, not only has to prepare to go to the palace for a banquet, but also has to take care of all the trivial matters of the Prime Minister's Mansion during the New Year.

She had to review all the menus for New Year's Eve.

The sacrificial items must be prepared by hand.

The red envelopes for the younger generations and servants also have to be wrapped properly.

Mei Qianyue will marry into the Prince Xiao's mansion after the new year, so she needs to think about the dowry. If the dowry is not enough, the new bride will be looked down upon when she marries there.

After the New Year, Aunt Li and Mei Zhihua were leaving. No matter how disgusting they were, Shen, as the mistress, still had to prepare some things for them to take with them.

Mrs. Shen was so busy that Mei Xueer didn't even have the chance to have a good chat with her.

She knew her own limitations and it was not in her power to do anything to help.

She had just divorced and was an unlucky person. According to Dazhen customs, she could not participate in the annual sacrifices, especially the year-end sacrifices. She was also not allowed to touch the items used for the sacrifices.

Although she didn't care, she had to adapt to the local customs.

Her father and elder brother were busy with court affairs all day long, and Mei Qianyue was also busy embroidering her wedding dress.

Aunt Li and Mei Zhihua have not been making any noise these days. They stay in their rooms all day, and no one knows what they are doing.

Mei Xueer seemed to be the only one in the entire prime minister's residence with nothing to do, so she thought about sending some New Year's goods to Shi Lao San and checking Xiao Bao's health.

Snowflakes were flying in the sky, and the snow was deep on the road. The trees nearby and the mountains in the distance were all covered with snow, a vast expanse of white.

As the Spring Festival approaches, people are busy making preparations at home. There are not many pedestrians on the road. Occasionally, someone walks by, but they are in a hurry, with their heads down and their backs bent.

There is a different scene on the street.

Although the streets and roofs were covered with snow, anxious people had already started hanging up big red lanterns and putting up festive blessing characters.

Especially the shops, almost all of them have lanterns hung in front of their doors, door gods and spring couplets pasted on the doors, making the icicles under the eaves look bright red.

Even the places that were burned down by the fire had been cleared out long ago and simple sheds had been built.

People were coming and going on the street, wearing winter clothes, breathing out, greeting each other, with happy faces.

Yes, whether you have money or not, you still have to celebrate the New Year. After working hard for a year, you should at least relax and be happy at the end of the year.

I live frugally on weekdays. If I can’t bear to buy fish, I’ll just buy one big or small one. If I can’t bear to buy meat, I’ll just buy a little.

If nothing else, it's good for good luck.

I didn't make much money this year and my life is very tight, but maybe things will be better next year. It's a matter of time, and everyone has a good time.

Therefore, even those who wore ragged clothes and had nothing in their homes all day long would show joy and smile at this time, and would greet and bless everyone they met warmly.

Especially after experiencing a catastrophe, I feel that life is not easy and I have to pray that everything will be fine in the coming year.

The carriage was moving in a festive red color, and Mei Xueer seemed to be infected and her mood became cheerful.

The width of a street is the difference between a rich area and a slum.

Xuanyuan Street is bustling and prosperous, but it extends to this side of the street and then stops.

On the other side of the street is the slum where Shi Laosan lives.

However, the festive mood of the New Year on the other side of the street did not spread to this side of the street.

Most of the originally dilapidated earthen structure bungalows have been replaced by a row of simple shacks built with rags and rotten wood.

Only a few houses were not damaged.

Therefore, Shi Laosan's new house is particularly eye-catching.

"My dear, you are here." Shi Lao San was surprised.

"Brother Shi, happy New Year to you." Mei Xueer asked Wen Bing to move the New Year's goods from the carriage into the yard.

Shi Laosan's eyes turned red, and he kept wiping them with his sleeves, "Your Excellency... I, Shi Laosan, am a rough man, I don't know what to say..."

Xiaobao's eyes were fixed on the fireworks that Nanxing handed to him.

"Dad, is this for me? Can we have bang bang bangs like they do across the street this New Year?"

Shi Laosan touched his head lovingly, crying, laughing and nodding.

Mei Xueer pulled Xiao Bao over and examined him carefully. "The injuries on his body are fine. I will give him acupuncture now. I will come back after the New Year."

"I will teach him martial arts after his injury heals!" Wen Bing said.

"I want to learn now!" Xiaobao was a little impatient.

Mei Xueer originally thought that the child was silly and was worried that he would get into trouble if he learned martial arts, so she wanted to cure his stupidity first.

Seeing that he was so interested, he asked Wen Bing to teach him some basic skills first.

Xiaobao immediately pulled Wen Bing to the yard, and learned some ligament stretching, horse stance, weighted frog jumps and the like from Wen Bing. In short, it was to lay the foundation for learning martial arts in the future.

Unexpectedly, Xiaobao is very talented and studies very hard.

Although he was stupid, Wen Bing learned the movements after doing them twice at most, and he did them quite well.

When he left, as expected, Wen Bing had an extra piece of pork intestines and a pig's head in his hands.

Mei Xueer was about to get on the carriage when suddenly, a child of six or seven years old appeared from nowhere.

The child suddenly knelt down in front of the carriage, and kowtowed continuously without saying a word.