Cold-faced Empress

Prince Mu, however, remained huddled in his cloak, as if he were freezing.

In an instant, Fu Siying understood why her mother's face was both sweaty and red—it was simply because of the heat.

Upon seeing Fu Siying reappear, Prime Minister Fu slammed his fist on the table in anger: "You wretched girl, why did you turn and leave just now? Quickly apologize to Prince Mu!"

Fu Siying glanced at Mo Canglan and saw that he seemed to be wearing a stone mask, revealing no emotion whatsoever. She immediately said, "This subject knows her mistake and apologizes to Prince Mu." She believed that her expression was sincere and not perfunctory.

Mo Canglan did not respond, his expression indifferent.

Li forced a smile and tried to smooth things over, saying, "Siying suddenly remembered that she had prepared a gift for Prince Mu, so she went to get it."

After saying that, he quickly waved to Fu Siying, signaling her to take out the gift.

Fu Siying felt embarrassed. Her mother really knew how to rub salt in the wound. An apology would have been enough to smooth things over, but she insisted on bringing up a gift—wasn't that going to make things worse?

"This is just a humble gift, nothing special. I hope it won't make Prince Mu laugh. I'll prepare something more exquisite and rare for Prince Mu another day," Fu Siying said to Mo Canglan with a forced smile.

Her forced, apologetic smile was a stark contrast to her previous unyielding demeanor in front of Mo Canglan.

Mo Canglan peeked two fingers out from under his cloak, beckoned to Fu Siying, and said emotionlessly, "Exquisite gifts are nothing to me; clumsy gifts are much more interesting."

Seeing that Mo Canglan insisted on receiving a gift, Fu Siying couldn't help but twitch her lips slightly. Preferring the crude to the exquisite? Wasn't he just being a masochist?

Prime Minister Fu urged from the side, "Siying, stop hiding it. What hasn't Prince Mu seen? Quickly take out the gift you prepared."

These words made Fu Siying's eyelashes flutter like bee wings. She had seen people harm their daughters before, but she had never seen anyone harm their daughter like this.

After hesitating for a long time, Fu Siying finally pulled out a clanging gun from her sleeve with a troubled expression and showed it to everyone.

Sitting in the back, Wei Lanling craned her neck to take a look and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Wow!"

Upon hearing the sound, Fu Siying immediately shot Wei Lanling a glare, signaling her to shut up.

Wei Lanling quickly ducked. With Fu Siying about to become Princess Mu, Wei Lanling was naturally even more wary.

The reason why Wei Lanling couldn't help but exclaim was none other than the fact that the gift Fu Siying took out was clearly the pile of jewelry that she had forcibly demanded from Hu Lingjing before!

Hairpins, earrings, bracelets, gold rings… you name it, they had it. It has to be said, Hu Lingjing was truly wealthy; what Fu Siying robbed her of in one go was enough for an ordinary family to live on for a lifetime.

These items, though precious to ordinary people, were utterly worthless to Prince Mu. Moreover, most of them were clearly women's jewelry; which one could possibly be a suitable gift for him?

Prime Minister Fu and Lady Li were taken aback by Fu Siying's unexpected appearance and were so startled that they had no time to glare at her. Instead, they hurriedly observed Prince Mu's expression.

Mo Canglan's expression... was alright, as if Fu Siying's perfunctory attitude and deception were still a trivial matter to him. Fu Siying couldn't help but wonder what kind of serious event would cause Mo Canglan to change his expression.

Mo Canglan said, "What Miss Fu said is true, these are indeed my humble gifts."

Upon hearing this, Fu Siying felt somewhat uneasy.

But then Mo Canglan said, "But these humble gifts are especially precious and meaningful when presented to me today."