In the evening, Shen Mei was sorting out and checking the guest list for the dinner party in the study alone, and she was so serious that she didn't even notice that someone pushed the door in.

Mu Qingfeng came back from the queen's Fengluan Palace, his face was tired and exhausted, but he cheered up when he saw Shen Mei, he went to the Fengluan Palace for nothing more than for her, he was worried that his mother would use the dinner party to embarrass her, but his mother said that if she didn't even have this ability, how could she convince everyone, and if he ascended the throne one day, how would she rule the harem. His mother also told him that maybe one day he would regret it, because Shen Mei might not be his good match, or that he would inevitably face various choices in this life-and-death competition.

At the end, the queen mother also said to him, "If you want to wear his crown, you must bear its weight." ”

The man walked in quietly, and the two shadows gradually met in the candlelight. "It's so late, and I haven't slept yet."

"Huh?" Shen Mei heard the man's voice and turned to look at him.

He smiled and said, "You're back." “

"You look tired, do you want to go back and rest first." I could see the tiredness in his eyes.

"It's okay, I just wanted to come and see you."

"I'm going to check the list now, Lord Zou told me before, I think it's better to be careful. I'm going to send this list to the Ministry of Rites early tomorrow morning. “

Mu Qingfeng reached out and stroked her head, and asked her softly, "Do you need help?" ”

"No, I can. Go back and rest. ”

"Well, you get some rest early, too."

Shen Mei watched him drag his tired body out of the door, knowing that he had something on his mind, but for her, if he didn't say it, she would naturally not ask.

Late at night, Prince's Mansion.

"Returning to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it has been ascertained that the Empress Mother gave Shen Mei the preparations for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. So in recent days, I have seen her go back and forth to the Ministry of Rites. The man in black reported to Mu Lingxuan about Shen Mei's whereabouts in the past few days.

There was a playful smile in Mu Lingxuan's eyes. "The queen mother's trick is really amazing."

"The big and small festivals and family banquets in this palace have always been handled by the queen, but now they are handed over to Shen Mei, on the surface, the queen's appreciation of her, if she Shen Mei does this well, she has won the appreciation of her father, and in the end it is Mu Qingfeng who benefits, so that his father thinks a little more highly of him. However, if something goes wrong with this dinner, the queen can push it on Shen Mei's body, so that she can use her father's hand to deal with the untidy and chaotic relationship between Shen Mei and Mu Qingfeng. ”

"Only Shen Mei, a stupid woman, will be played with by the queen." Mu Lingxuan's tone of voice was unconsciously cold.

"My subordinates have another thing to report."

"Say."

"When my subordinates followed Shen Mei a few days ago, they found that there was a person who was also following her."

"Oh, let's hear it." Mu Lingxuan felt in his heart that it seemed that this Shen Mei was really impressing him now, so many people were staring at her.

"It's a palace maid of the Shen Xing Division, named Liu Rou. I inquired that Liu Rou and Shen Mei entered the palace at the same time, but I heard that the queen had summoned her in private. “

"There are such things, but now that he has entered the Shen Xing Division, he must have already been an outcast of others. However, it seems that her attention to Shen Mei has not decreased. Mu Lingxuan said lightly.

"This year's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner will definitely be lively." The man looked at the person in front of him with a determined gaze, and a meaningful smile rose at the corner of his mouth.

Imperial.

"Father-in-law Li, God knows this matter, if it is done well, it will naturally be indispensable for your benefits." The woman's soft voice said secretly.

"Whatever Miss Liu said, it's her own people, don't see it like this, this Chinese New Year's Eve is coming, I have already started to prepare for what you said, you said that if someone investigates this matter..." It was obviously a eunuch's strange voice, which made people feel completely uncomfortable.

"What is Gonggong Li afraid of, this is what the adult meant, is it possible that you still can't trust the adult." Liu Rou's weak voice was like a gossamer, which was incomprehensible.

"Then, please ask the girl to say a few kind words for the little ones in front of the adults at that time."

"Of course. As long as the father-in-law does what the adults tell him to do, he will have everything he wants. “

A few jackdaws screamed, and there was a turmoil in the forest, and the two of them subconsciously turned their heads and were shocked. In the dark night, they instinctively looked at each other for a few seconds, and after the surroundings were quiet, they walked away vigilantly along the corners.

"I'm back."

"My lord, Rou'er has already told the eunuch, so don't worry."

The man did not look at the visitor, but played the chess in front of him by himself, and did not seem to have the slightest interest in the news reported by the visitor, but this game of chess attracted his attention even more.

The woman didn't look at the man when she saw him, but she couldn't help but look at him, and the man was a different existence to her.

She had been by his side since she was ten years old, and she had never seen his true face under the iron mask, but she was willing to follow his side all the time.

Liu Rou couldn't help but recall the winter night she met him, and it was almost Chinese New Year's Eve. At that time, her family was poor, her father was sick all the year round, and her stepmother and two brothers were almost harsh to her, but even so, her stepmother still couldn't continue to tolerate her staying at home, thinking of a way to sell her to the Qinglou, she overheard her stepmother and the people in the Qinglou talking about how to take her away, and she must have fled overnight.

She still remembers that night when it snowed a lot, wearing torn cloth shoes and stepping on the snow for a while, her feet lost consciousness, hunger and cold, but she always held back her strength, only to feel that the tip of her nose had been frozen and she didn't feel it, the pain in her heart gradually became numb with the flow of tears, and the tears on her face had already condensed into ice, she didn't know how long she had walked and how far she had walked.

In a trance, she only felt that there was a familiar voice calling to her, at that time she seemed to see the phantom of her mother, the ruthless woman who abandoned herself and her father when she was six years old, and later someone laughed at her, saying that she was a motherless child, and then heard her father fight with others, just because the person said that her mother had already become a prostitute in the Qinglou.

At a young age, she felt disgusted and told herself that she would never let herself be like her mother, and that she would escape to a place where no one knew, where there was no verbal abuse, and where she was free from abuse.

"What, what's the matter?" The man noticed that she hadn't gone out, and then turned to look at her sideways.

If she was awarded, she smiled and bowed her head.