good season

The Fifth Prince's expression changed rapidly, from teasing to shock to surprise!
"Third Brother, this kid is right, this is a good omen. Congratulations, Third Brother!"

With that, the Fifth Prince actually bowed down.

The Third Prince couldn't hide the smile on his lips. Yes, this flower was called Phoenix Spreading Wings. It bloomed neither early nor late, but it was in full bloom at the critical moment when his father changed the crown prince. What did this mean? It meant that even the heavens were looking out for him!
Thinking of this, the Third Prince straightened his back even more and took the lead towards the door: "Let's go, let's go take a look!"

Although the prince's residence was built according to the regulations for a royal residence, it was still much smaller than the imperial palace. The two princes walked quickly and arrived at the garden in a short while.

The Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed, and the weather is still warm. All the chrysanthemums are grown outdoors. The chrysanthemum garden is built by the lake, where a gentle breeze blows across the lake, and you can smell the fragrance of chrysanthemums from across the lake.

Feng Jiahe and her party arrived a step later than the two princes. By the time they arrived, the two princes were already standing in the Chrysanthemum Garden, and the Fifth Prince's exclamation could be heard from afar.

"The outer petals are golden yellow and the inner core is purplish-red, truly resembling a phoenix spreading its wings. The flower is beautiful, and its name is even more beautiful—no, it's auspicious!"

Princess Qingchuan, Lang Yuyu, and Fan Qiuyun had long heard of the phoenix spreading its wings, but the more beautiful the flower, the more difficult it is to serve. They had never seen it before, and now, hearing the Fifth Prince's praise, they were even more eager to see it with their own eyes, and their steps quickened.

Feng Yalan had seen this Phoenix Wings Plant more than once when it was still in the Feng residence, but it never bloomed.

Now that the marriage has finally blossomed, Feng Yalan is very curious, but after exchanging marriage certificates with Yang Shengqiu, she has become more and more cautious, afraid that she might accidentally cause trouble and ruin this good marriage.

Therefore, upon hearing that the two princes were already in the Chrysanthemum Garden, she no longer wanted to go.

She is engaged and it is inconvenient for her to meet men outside the marriage, even if one of them is her brother-in-law.

Feng Yalan couldn't help but slow down, while Lang Yuyu, who was walking behind her, quickened her pace. The two bumped into each other. Before Feng Yalan could react, she fell to the side. Then, she felt a strong force hitting her, and she fell directly into the lake!

Originally, the place where they collided was some distance from the lake surface, and no one expected that Feng Yalan would fall into the lake.

The sound of a heavy object falling into the water, along with Lang Yuyu's scream, reached Feng Jiahe's ears. When Feng Jiahe turned around, Feng Yalan had already fallen into the lake!

Feng Jiahe's expression changed drastically. Before she could even see who had fallen into the water, she was already cursing in her mind.

Falling into the water again! Don't these vile women have any other tricks up their sleeves? They're causing trouble right under my nose.

Her gaze swept quickly over the crowd. Lang Yuyu, whom she disliked the most, was still screaming. The Princess of Qingchuan was craning her neck to look into the lake. Fan Qiuyun was also there. So, who was that in the lake?
Feng Jiahe could hardly believe her eyes; the person in the lake was actually Feng Yalan!
She quickly instructed the maid beside her, "Go find some old women who can swim to rescue them!"

As soon as the words were spoken, two figures leaped into the lake like arrows released from a bow, drawing two semi-circles in the air.

Lang Yuyu screamed again: "That's the Fifth Prince's servant!"

Feng Yalan's head buzzed. Although she couldn't figure it out for a moment, her intuition told her that something had happened, something terrible had happened!

When the Third Prince learned that the person who had fallen into the water was his sister-in-law, his face darkened.

When he saw Changming and Changguier, who were beside the Fifth Prince, going into the water to save people, he almost couldn't hide his fists in his sleeves.

He wished he could punch the Fifth Prince's nose flat!
Son of a bitch!
"They've been rescued! They've been rescued!"

Feng Yalan's maid rushed forward and snatched her mistress from Changming's hands. Lang Yuyu also ran over, wiping away her tears and saying "I'm sorry" repeatedly.

"Miss Feng, it's all my fault. If I hadn't been so careless, you wouldn't have fallen into the lake. Waaah!"

Feng Jiahe's face twitched uncontrollably, her once beautiful face now contorted into a hideous expression. "You're such a good actor!"
In the past, she would have been happy to see Feng Yalan make a fool of herself, and might even have kicked her while she was down, hoping that Feng Yalan would be disgraced and, like her wretched mother, be a concubine for life.

But now, instead of being happy, she wanted to tear Lang Yuyu apart.

Who is Feng Yalan?
She was the piece of meat her father used to feed the dog!

She was the vine that bound Yang Shengqiu to the Third Prince's boat!
She had just been effective, and now she's useless? No way, absolutely not!

At this moment, Feng Yalan was soaked to the bone, and every detail was clearly visible. Although the old woman wrapped her in a quilt, everything that needed to be seen had been seen. Moreover, she had just been dragged up by Changming and Changgui'er.

The Fifth Prince strode over, slapped Changming across the face, and kicked Changgui'er: "I've never seen you two react so quickly before. With so many old women around, do you think it's your turn to save someone? I'll beat you to death!"

Changming and Changgui scrambled to their feet and knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly: "We only saw someone fall into the water, and we jumped in without thinking. We deserve to die, we deserve to die!"

Feng Jiahe gritted her teeth. Wasn't this fifth brother causing enough trouble already?
The more he beat and scolded the servants, the more it confirmed that Feng Yalan's innocence had been tarnished by these two servants.

"Enough, Fifth Prince. They didn't mean it. Please don't hit or scold them."

The Fifth Prince quickly stepped forward and bowed: "Third Sister-in-law, it's all my fault, Third Sister-in-law. If you're not satisfied, then hit me."

As he spoke, he looked around and saw an old woman who had heard someone fall into the water. She ran over with a bamboo pole, but the person was rescued as soon as she arrived, and the bamboo pole was not needed.

The Fifth Prince snatched the bamboo pole and handed it to Feng Jiahe: "Third Sister-in-law, hit me with this!"

Feng Jiahe wanted nothing more than to beat him to death with a bamboo pole, but she suppressed her anger, threw the bamboo pole on the ground, and said to the Third Prince, "I'm going to check on Fifth Sister."

After saying this, she had the old woman lift Feng Yalan up and left in a hurry, with the young ladies following behind Feng Jiahe.

Only the Third Prince, the Fifth Prince, and two servants who were still kowtowing remained by the lake.

"Fifth Prince, do you think this is funny?" the Third Prince said coldly.

The Fifth Prince looked aggrieved: "Third Brother, I didn't want to either! Who would have thought those two brats would act so quickly? Third Brother, don't worry, I will definitely take full responsibility for this!"

"Take responsibility? What responsibility are you going to take?" the Third Prince said irritably.

The Fifth Prince patted his chest and declared, "I'll marry her! Yes, I'll go ask Father Emperor for a marriage decree right now. My concubine position is still vacant. It wouldn't be a disservice to the Prime Minister's illegitimate daughter as my concubine. Besides, since I'm personally asking for her hand in marriage, who would dare say her innocence has been compromised? Yes, it's settled then. Third Brother, I'll take my leave first!"

After saying that, he cupped his hands in greeting to the Third Prince, turned around and left, not forgetting to kick each of the two servants on the ground: "What are you still kneeling for? I'll clean up your mess, so why are you pretending to be pitiful!"

The two servants shouted "Fifth Master is so kind!" as they got up and jogged to catch up with the Fifth Prince.

The Third Prince watched the three men, master and servant, gradually disappear into the distance, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

True to his word, the Fifth Prince didn't even bother to go back to his residence to change his clothes before heading to the palace to request an audience with Emperor Yongjia. Emperor Yongjia was in the Empress's palace when he heard that the Fifth Prince had arrived and that he looked disheveled. Suspicious, he ordered someone to bring him over.

The fifth prince greeted Emperor Yongjia and the empress, but knelt on the ground and refused to get up.

Emperor Yongjia asked, "Have you gotten yourself into trouble?"

"Father, your son has indeed caused trouble." The Fifth Prince's voice was trembling with tears.

Emperor Yongjia asked, "What trouble have you caused?"

The Fifth Prince did not embellish the story; he told the truth, recounting how Feng Yalan fell into the water at the Third Prince's residence that day, how his two servants jumped in to save her, how the Third Prince and his wife were furious, and how he, in a fit of anger, said he wanted to take Feng Yalan as a concubine.

"Although the matter of taking a concubine was said in a moment of passion, now that I've calmed down, I feel that it seems to be the only way. Miss Feng is no ordinary woman. Although she is a concubine's daughter, she is still the daughter of Chief Minister Feng. If I really ignore her, I will not only be ashamed of Miss Feng, but also of Chief Minister Feng. I will not even have the face to see my third brother and sister-in-law."

The news of Feng Yalan's marriage proposal to Yang Shengqiu had reached the ears of the Fifth Prince, and Emperor Yongjia was naturally aware of it as well.

Honestly, he was very unhappy.

Although he liked the Third Prince and hoped that Feng Ke would assist his son, in truth, no emperor would want to see his son wielding great power when he was in his prime.

Moreover, since he himself had obtained his position illegitimately, his suspicions were even stronger.

He believes he is in his prime and has a long way to go before relinquishing power.

Before the third prince even became the crown prince, Feng Ke began recruiting advisors for him. It would have been fine if it were other officials, but it was Yang Shengqiu, whom I had my eye on.

Is Feng Ke wishing I would go to the Longevity Palace tomorrow to keep the Emperor Emeritus company?

His gaze fell on the Fifth Prince's face, and their eyes met.

But it was precisely at this time that the fifth brother encountered this very problem.

Is it a coincidence?
Or is it a scheme?

The fifth prince was a man who couldn't hide his feelings, and just like now, the fleeting guilt in his eyes did not escape Emperor Yongjia's notice.

Emperor Yongjia's lips curled into a barely perceptible sneer. The fifth prince was still a bit too green compared to his other brothers.

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

At least, he could tell what the fifth brother was thinking.

He hoped his sons would be farsighted and exceptionally intelligent, but he also didn't want them to escape his control. For example, the fact that his third son asked Feng Ke to recruit young officials for him made Emperor Yongjia feel a sense of impending crisis.

Emperor Yongjia's sharp, eagle-like gaze sent a chill down the spine of the Fifth Prince. He crawled to Emperor Yongjia's feet and hugged his legs like a child: "Father, I admit that I wanted to take Miss Feng as a concubine because I wanted to spite my Third Brother. Who told him to blame me in front of so many people? Although I am thick-skinned, I still have a temper. Father, I admit that I have no real feelings for Miss Feng, but my servant's rescue was truly an accident. Don't you know my abilities? I don't have the ability to push Miss Feng into the water from a distance."

Emperor Yongjia kicked him away: "How old are you? Still putting on this act? Aren't you afraid of making your mother laugh at you?"

The Empress covered her mouth with her handkerchief and chuckled softly: "I only see filial piety between father and son, nothing else."

The Fifth Prince was kicked by Emperor Yongjia, and sat down on the ground with a shameless look: "Father, listen to this. Mother said she didn't laugh at her son. Please don't blame him. I beg you, I've already been scolded by Third Brother today. I promise that when we get back, I'll break those two brats' legs so they'll never dare to save people again."

The Empress frowned: "Saving people is a good thing."

The Fifth Prince hurriedly said, "Your son thanks Your Majesty for pleading on my behalf. Long live Your Majesty!"

Emperor Yongjia glanced at the Empress and said to the Fifth Prince, "Alright, I won't punish you today. Kneel down and take your leave!"

The fifth prince looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated, but he still knelt down and left.

After the Fifth Prince left, Emperor Yongjia said to the Empress, "What do you think of today's events, Zitong?"

The Empress spoke softly: "Your Majesty, though I am dull-witted, I can see that the Fifth Prince was merely going with the flow today. Either Miss Feng deliberately fell into the water to attract the attention of the two princes, or one of the ladies-in-waiting of the Third Prince's wife had ill intentions. After all, falling into the water came first, and saving someone came later."

Emperor Yongjia nodded, as if speaking to the Empress, but also as if speaking to himself: "Actually, how Lady Feng fell into the water is not important."

Whether it was the young lady's scheming or the fifth son's plot, none of that matters. What matters is that Yang Shengqiu cannot become Feng Ke's son-in-law!
Disciples are fine, but sons-in-law involve too much, so let's skip that.

"Guards, summon Chief Minister Feng to see me!"

"Prepare the carriage for the Imperial Study!"

An hour later, Feng Ke walked out of the imperial study with an expressionless face, then left the palace with an expressionless face, and finally returned home with an expressionless face.

Has the Fifth Miss returned?

"Reporting to your question, sir, the Fifth Miss has just returned. She caught a cold and was brought back by the Third Prince's Consort."

Feng Ke closed his eyes. He had been discussing matters in the Wenhua Hall all day and was unaware that Feng Yalan had gone to the Third Prince's residence, let alone that such a big thing had happened.

In fact, Feng Jiahe had already sent someone back to the mansion to report the news, but Feng Ke was not there at the time. He even learned about this from Emperor Yongjia.

Feng Ke said to the people around him, "Tell the madam to prepare; the imperial decree will be delivered from the palace shortly."

Feng Ke's first wife's surname was Zhong. Madam Zhong learned about Feng Yalan's drowning from someone sent by Feng Jiahe, and she became restless. When she heard that Feng Ke had returned, she was about to come over when she heard that Feng Ke told her to prepare to receive the imperial decree.

Feeling very uneasy, she asked her maid to help her change her clothes.

Less than an hour later, the imperial edict arrived.

Soon, everyone in the Feng household heard some astonishing news—

Feng Yalan, the third daughter of Grand Secretary Feng Ke, has entered the Fifth Prince's residence as a concubine! (End of Chapter)