Repeatedly broken branches

The relationships in the Chen Kingdom are chaotic. Xia Yunzhi's father, Xia Yuyi, ascended the throne at the age of seventeen and is now only thirty-seven years old. At first, he relied entirely on Yin Fu'an's father, Yin Hao, for assistance. Later, Yin Hao died, and Yin Fu'an naturally succeeded his father as regent. If it weren't for the fact that Xia Yunzhi's grandfather's only surviving prince was Xia Yuyi, he would not have been able to become the emperor of the Chen Kingdom.

Xia Yunzhi's grandfather trusted the Yin family a lot. Their family had served emperors for generations. However, when it came to Xia Yuyi, he didn't like to deal with court affairs and left them almost entirely to Yin Fu'an. Therefore, he had plenty of time to spend with his children and treated them all equally.

He was a good father, but not a good emperor.

To confirm whether Ruan Cifeng is the second male lead, we need to get closer to him. However, he lives in the embassy outside the palace, and Xia Yunzhi is, after all, a princess. It's not realistic for her to leave the palace. We need to find a way to get him into the palace.

Upon learning that Xia Yuyi was practicing calligraphy in the Imperial Study, Xiao Mu immediately went there to find him.

When Xia Yuyi saw her arrive, he put down his pen, looked at her with loving eyes, and waved to her, "Xiaozhi is here, come quickly to your father."

Seeing his doting look, Xiao Mu felt a warm current surge in her heart for a moment. She had been an orphan since childhood, and this was the first time that someone had looked at her with loving eyes. She knew for the first time what it felt like to have a father, and she stood there stunned.

Tears seemed to well up in her eyes, and her nose felt sore.

"What's wrong, Xiaozhi? Why are you crying?" Xia Yuyi immediately walked quickly to Xiao Mu, hugged her, and patted her head, saying, "Who bullied you? Your father will never forgive them."

Xiao Mu recovered her senses, wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said coquettishly, "The other day, I saw that Ruan Cifeng carved a longevity flower for Grandmother, and it was so beautiful. I want to learn how to do it too. Father, could you go and ask him to teach me?"

Xia Yuyi thought it was something serious. For him, this was something that could be resolved with a few words. He thought something had happened that made her cry.

“I’ll send someone to invite Ruan Cifeng right away. I thought something had happened that made you cry, but it turns out it’s just a trivial matter.”

In the blink of an eye, Xia Yuyi instructed his personal eunuch to go outside the palace to invite Ruan Cifeng.

Xiao Mu clicked her tongue in amazement. So this is what it feels like to have a father backing you up. Is she using Xia Yunzhi's identity to enjoy her father's love?

"Thank you, Father!" Xiao Mu looked at him with a smile.

"Send someone to clean up the west wing of Yuyin Palace for the Fifth Prince to live in, and also assign him a few palace maids. Go..." Xia Yuyi instructed another eunuch.

After lunch, Ruan Cifeng went to the palace. Xiao Mu planned to go see him, just to help him digest his food.

Before even reaching Ruan Cifeng's residence, one could smell the fragrance of tuberose. This fragrance was unique and elegant, fresh and delicate, as if one were in a dream.

Sure enough, Xiao Mu noticed a pot of tuberose on the table inside the room.

There is no tuberose in Chen Kingdom. It must have been brought by Ruan Cifeng from Lin Yue Kingdom. He is a romantic at heart.

I've heard that the people of Lin Yue Kingdom love to cultivate all sorts of flowers, and that all the world's most unique and beautiful flowers are there. I really want to go and see them sometime.

Xiao Mu arrived at the wrong time. Ruan Cifeng was focused on carving a small piece of jade and didn't notice her arrival at all.

Suddenly, Ruan Cifeng nodded and noticed Xiao Mu's arrival. He immediately went to Xiao Mu and bowed, "When did the princess arrive? I'm so sorry, I was so engrossed that I didn't even know the princess had arrived. I'm truly sorry!"

He was very careful, afraid that she would get angry. Perhaps his upbringing made him very good at reading people's expressions and very concerned about other people's feelings.

Xiao Mu smiled and said, "It's nothing. I just came to see if you're settling in well here."

Ruan Cifeng's eyes sparkled with gratitude as she said, "I'm quite used to living here. Actually, it doesn't need to be so luxurious. It doesn't matter where I live. I will personally go to His Majesty's residence to express my gratitude tomorrow."

Luxury? This is just an ordinary guest room. Little did she know that Ruan Cifeng's usual living quarters were even worse than those of palace servants, extremely simple, which showed that he was truly unpopular.

"What are you carving?" Xiao Mu walked to the table and asked curiously, looking at the small piece of jade.

"Wow, it's tuberose!" Xiao Mu picked up the small piece of jade and said approvingly, "You're really amazing, you carved it so well!"

It must be said that Ruan Cifeng's skills are truly superb. He was able to carve a dozen or twenty flowers out of a piece of jade the size of half a palm, and even incorporated openwork techniques. It was truly beautiful.

"Your Highness flatters me. This is nothing but a trivial skill, not worthy of being presented in a formal manner."

Xiao Mu smiled gently, her smile radiating warmth and kindness, and said softly, "Don't be modest, it's good, it's good. I'm not lying to you. Good things deserve to be praised, right?"

This was the first time Ruan Cifeng had been praised like this, and the first person besides her aunt to speak to her so calmly, without scolding or mocking her.

When he was a child, everyone said that he had brought bad luck to his mother, so he believed it himself. He thought his existence was a mistake, and when he was bullied, he would think that he wished he had a mother too.

But he brought death to his mother, so she must hate him very much.

No one gave him a kind look or a nice tone, not even a normal one. Everyone hated him. He didn't know what he had done wrong, but only when he was sculpting did he feel like himself.