C34

After the official had left, Qiong Ying stood up while rolling her eyes. She raised her thumb at Yun Yang and said in admiration, "Mistress, you are so powerful!"

His words had actually caused the face of the departing official to change.

"…"

Yun Duan lightly patted Qiong Ying's head and said, "Let's clean it up!"

"Yes sir!"

Qin Ni glanced at the clouds, thought for a while, then walked forward. "Mistress, in fact, there aren't many things that the Flowing Cloud Pavilion wants to move. Do you want all the guards and maids in the courtyard to bring with them?"

Yun Duan sat by the side of the table, propping up her chin while looking at Qin Ni. "How do the guards and maids perform?"

Qin Ni smiled, "It's alright, but there are a few who seem to prefer to stay in other palaces!"

Yun Duan tapped her fingertips on the table. There was a profound meaning in Qin Ni's words. She thought that she should never let this person who had second thoughts get into trouble. Instead of raising a tiger and causing trouble, she might as well send him to another place as a cat.

"It's up to you!" She believed that Qin Ni should be able to do it well. Qiongying was a person with meticulous thoughts, but she was too timid. Qin Xue might not be as smart as Qiongying, but the most important thing was stability.

Currently, what she needed the most was a stable person. The more secretive she was, the better it would be.

The maidservants in the yard were busy, and Qiong Ying, at Qin Ni's command, commanded them to stay by Yun Duan's side.

Seeing that Yun Duan was staring at La Mei who was in the vase, Qin Ni smiled and said, "The snow has stopped today. If Master is interested, you can go take a look around the Plum Garden. Now is the time for the plum blossom to bloom.

Plum Garden?

However, when she thought about it, she had left for more than three hundred years instead of three hundred days. The current appearance of this Myriad Temple was very different from before; even if there was something extra or something less, it would not be strange.

"The layout of the new hall should still require some time. Let's wait until after the official leaves and the hall becomes famous before we speak of anything else!"

"What does master mean?"

"Appreciate the plum!"

The Plum Garden was not far from the busy Spiritual Palace. Yun Duan wanted to go see him first, but after some thought, she decided to go to the Plum Garden first. When she came back, she would fold a few plum blossoms and bring them to him.

In such cold weather, he was afraid of coming out, but he couldn't come out.

What's the use of being a favored child of heaven? None of them had a healthy body to be happy with.

The Plum Garden stretched as far as the eye could see. All of them were large plum trees with a few heads. Plum blossoms competed against each other in beauty. One could smell the cold fragrance from far away.

Plum Garden did not seem to have been cleaned today, the clouds slowly walked in. Because of yesterday's sweeping, the snow under their feet did not drown their feet.

When the manager of Plum Garden saw that the clouds had arrived, he hurried over and greeted, "Good morning, Third King Ji!"

Yun Duan swept his gaze over him and looked at the Plum Blossom that was blooming like a raging fire. It was pink and had a natural prideful and arrogant air to it.

"I don't think the Plum Garden has been cleaned today. Why is that?"

The steward was still kneeling. Yun Duan didn't tell him to get up, and he didn't have the guts either. Who didn't know that the third prince's personality was cold and brutal? He didn't want to cause trouble for himself.

After hearing Yun Duan's question, the overseer lowered his head even more. "Reporting to the third prince, His Majesty has already sent word that he is coming to the Plum Garden today to admire the plum blossoms. He did not want the servants to ruin this natural beauty, so he did not allow us to clean it!"

Chen Emperor was coming?

Natural beauty?

Hmph, he did know how to enjoy himself.

"Rise, I'll go take a look!"

"Yes sir!"

Qin Ni followed behind the cloud, smiling as she said, "This year's snow fell especially early, so it won't be too late for the plum blossoms to bloom!"

Yun Duan reached out and brushed against a branch before slowly walking forward. The snow beneath her feet creaked.

When they reached the depths of the Plum Garden, Yun Duan turned around to take a look. There were red spots all over the place and the snow was pressing down on the branches. It was a very pretty sight to behold.

She looked at Qin Ni, who was quietly following behind her, and asked, "Do you know the origins of this Plum Garden?"

A strange light flashed through Qin Ni's black eyes, and she quickly disappeared.

She respectfully replied, "I don't know!"

Yun Duan chuckled, "Qin Ni, you can be considered one of the people who stayed in the palace for a long time. How could I not know!"

Emperor Chen would not make a Plum Garden without any complaints. There must be some sort of story behind it.

However, wasn't Imperial Concubine Chaoyu his most beloved? Could it be that after Imperial Consort Chao Yu was personally killed by him, he had another new partner?

He was indeed a cold-hearted person. No matter how deep one's emotions were, they would still lack the will to do so.

Forget it, Imperial Concubine Chaoyu was the same as well. The two of them were in the same bed, yet her bloodline was not righteous enough to prove anything?

Yun Duan stretched out her hand and gently broke off a bunch of plum branches. She held them up in her hands and looked at them. She smiled and asked Qin Ni, "Do you think this set looks good?"

Qin Ni smiled and nodded: "As beautiful as blood, proud and aloof and pure, beautiful!"

"Then we will just have to split a few more bundles and bring them back to the city. Tianleng won't be able to leave the palace so as the older sister, I can only show him some pretty colors!"

He was hoping that this majestic and proud Plum Blossom would give him some of his spiritual power, hoping that he would be able to push himself up even further.

On the way out, he ran into Emperor Chen who had arrived to admire the plum blossom. In his arms hung a beautiful woman, but he didn't know which concubine she was referring to. She didn't even know who she was.

Following behind many people, Yun Duan's black eyes flickered. After thinking for a moment, he walked up, knelt down, and greeted, "Yun Duan pays his respects to Your Majesty!"

This was the best she could do at the moment.

Emperor Chen glanced at the clouds and asked, "Why are you here?"

Wasn't it for her to move the palace? Why are you still hanging around here when you have time?

"I heard that Your Majesty's Plum Garden was gorgeous and beautiful, and it also snowed. It was really beautiful to see one white and one red. Yun Duan was unable to hold it in and stayed for a while, but I didn't expect that Your Majesty would come as well!"

The tender beauty in Emperor Chen's arms was tenderly smiling as she spoke with a soft and pleasant voice, "This must be the third prince's wife. Indeed, a perverted fish has fallen on a beautiful woman!"

"…"

Yun Duan's pretty face twitched as she asked, "Who are you?"

In any case, she didn't know. Since others had praised her, she at least knew who this person was.

The beauty's smiling face stiffened. She probably didn't expect that Yun Duan wouldn't be able to recognize her.

Qin Ni took a step forward and respectfully said to Yun Duan, "Mistress, this is the Imperial Concubine of the Jade Embroidery. She has been in the palace for more than two hundred years!"

Yun Duan blinked her eyes and spoke without thinking, "Isn't the Jade Glow Pavilion used to make clothes?"

"…"

The Imperial Concubine smiled. "I manage the Jade Embroidery Pavilion. It is true that it is used to make clothes, but I only manage the general direction!"

Yun Duan nodded and no longer spoke.

She glanced at Jinfei and then looked at Emperor Chen.

She was not the least bit interested in what Jin Fei was up to.

After a moment of thought, he turned to Emperor Chen. "Since Your Majesty is here to admire the plum, then I won't disturb you any longer!"

Emperor Chen didn't even look at her as he walked forward. The Imperial Concubine smiled at Yun Duan and followed him.

The group of maids and guards walked past Yun Duan with their heads hung low.

Yun Duan turned around and glanced at Emperor Chen who had entered the Plum Garden. He truly had aged, and his hair had turned completely white.

Holding the Plum Blossom in her hands, Yun Duan didn't say a word as she slowly walked towards the busy palace. Qin Ni quietly followed behind, the wind blowing, blowing the snow everywhere. Some of the snow flew into the eyes of the cloud, causing it to be ice-cold.

"Master!" Qin Ni suddenly spoke.

Yun Duan's footsteps paused as she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Do you still want to know the reason why the Plum Garden is here?"

Yun Duan's eyelids twitched. "Didn't you say you didn't know?"

Qin Ni's expression was solemn as she looked at Yun Duan, "I'm afraid that if I mention it, I'll make master sad!"

Sad?

Was there anything that could hurt her now?

She felt as though her heart had long since died in the mountains.

"Nothing, just tell me!"

Qin Ni slightly raised her gaze, took a deep breath, and slowly said: "Imperial Consort Chaoyu loves plum blossoms!"

Yun Duan was startled. She looked at Qin Ni in disbelief: "How did you know?"

Imperial Consort Chao Yu adored the Plum Blossom but she didn't even know about it. How did Qin Ni know?

I remember that it was also a winter, and the snow was falling heavily. She was half-reclining on the bed when she suddenly laughed, laughing like she had gone mad, she said that no matter what, she could not fight over a dead person. She said that Plum Garden was like her nightmare, that His Majesty had built it for the sake of the imperial Jade Consort.

"…"

To be honest, Yun Duan was a bit surprised. She remembered that back when Emperor Chen killed Imperial Concubine Yu, he didn't even bat an eye and directly chopped off his head. He didn't even leave a complete corpse behind.

What did he mean by having a plum garden now?

A memorial?

Or think?

If that was really the case, did that mean that Emperor Chen could be considered a long-time lover, a long-time lover and a vicious person?

"Even so, it can't change anything!"

Imperial Concubine Chaoyu had been killed by him, Ali had been killed by him, and she had been thrown into the wilderness by him for over three hundred years.

Whether it was love or ruthlessness, at this point in time, the only thing left in her life was an unquenchable hatred. If he didn't have her, she would personally send him out of this world one day, and the pain that he added onto her body, she would slowly, little by little, return it back to him. She would let him know what true despair was.