Three Years After Falling Off the Cliff

Petals are flying and skirts are fluttering.

Sui Tingheng held a pen in his hand and raised his head to look at the woman who was drinking tea with his mother under the flower tree.

A petal fell into the inkstone, and even the ink was stained with the scent of peach blossom.

The painting is colorful, but it cannot compare to the scene before your eyes.

He lowered his head and gently described her pair of eyes that were as bright as pearls. She loved to laugh, and even her eyes were brighter than others.

"Your Highness." Fu Yi came to the table with her skirt lifted up and leaned over curiously: "Have you finished your painting?"

Hearing her voice, he stopped writing: "I still need to fill in the color slowly."

"Your Highness is truly an expert in painting. You painted me so beautifully." Fu Yi was distracted for a moment as she stared at herself in the painting. Was she really that beautiful?
"I am not good at painting. I can draw shapes but not spirits." Sui Tingheng put down his brush, "This painting is not even one-tenth as good as yours."

Fu Yi thought the prince was just being modest, but when she looked at his expression carefully, she found that he actually thought the painting was not good enough.

In her entire life, she had never met anyone who demanded such high standards of himself.

"Although I don't understand painting, your highness's painting skills are already superb." Fu Yi lowered her head and blew away the petals that fell on the painting, and sighed: "I have long heard that your highness is knowledgeable and talented. After seeing your highness's paintings today, I finally understand what it means to be a banished immortal who has come down to earth and is so talented."

"It's good as long as Miss Yun doesn't mind my simple painting." Sui Tingheng made way to the side so that he could admire the painting: "Today is the sixth day of March. In three days, it will be Miss Yun's eighteenth birthday?"

Only then did Fu Yi remember that her birthday was approaching.
No wonder her mother had been making new clothes and new jewelry for her recently. She thought her mother had been touched by her recent good behavior, but it turned out that her birthday was approaching.

"Fu Yi is already eighteen?" The Queen walked over to the two of them holding a few flowers in her hands. "Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, you have become a grown-up girl."

The Queen's overly cordial words made Fu Yi doubt again whether she had injured her brain and lost some of her memories. Otherwise, why did the Emperor and the Queen both act as if they were very familiar with her childhood?
When she was a child, she was naughty and playful, and she didn't like studying. She skipped school and played with Lin Xiaowu and others all day long, and had never had any contact with Prince Li's palace.
Could it be that father has been secretly in contact with the emperor for a long time?

Seeing Fu Yi blinking and looking at her, the queen touched her hair and asked kindly, "Do you prefer to be with people with outstanding talents, or appreciate people with outstanding martial arts?"

"My good friend Cao Sanlang is an outstanding martial artist, and my elder brother has studied hard since he was young and has quite a bit of knowledge." After thinking carefully, the minister said, "I admire both of these people."

Seeing that Fu Yi didn't understand the meaning of her words, the queen shook her head and chuckled. It seemed that she didn't understand at all.

"Mother," Sui Tingheng asked, "Did you pick these flowers for father?"

The emperor was a rough man, but the empress liked to plant flowers and plants. Whenever flowers and plants appeared in his room, they must have been arranged by the empress.

“Your father is busy dealing with government affairs and has no time to appreciate the flowers. If you don’t let him take a look at them, wouldn’t it be a waste of the peach blossoms in the garden?” The queen put the peach blossoms in a vase and told the eunuch to send the vase to the emperor.

Royal study room.
The emperor looked at Prince Ning who was kneeling in front of the imperial desk. He hadn't seen him for more than ten days. Prince Ning had lost a lot of weight and was wearing a light blue spring robe. He looked both shabby and obedient.

"What are you doing?" The emperor walked up to Prince Ning and held him up with his hand. "How can we brothers become so estranged?"

"I failed to discipline my subordinates, and my wife had just married into the palace not long ago, so I didn't manage the harem well, which allowed those treacherous people to sneak into the palace and almost caused a disaster." Prince Ning's eyes were slightly red, and his face was full of regret: "I have disappointed you, my brother."

"Lu is from a prominent family in northern Lingnan. She was personally chosen for you by your father and Concubine Zeng. She must be a rare and virtuous woman." The emperor patted his shoulder lovingly. "She must be very scared after such a thing happened. You should spend more time with her during this period."

"Your humble servant will follow your brother's instructions." Prince Ning's face turned pale, and the emperor patted his wound.

"I have been on the throne for only two years, and the ministers in the court have recently become dissatisfied with you. You must be careful with your words and actions in the future and do not cause trouble again." The emperor was full of sorrow: "Next time something like this happens, I am afraid I will not be able to stop the gossip, so I can only bear the pain and punish you severely."

"Yes, brother Your Majesty, I have made note of it." Prince Ning knelt down again, and the emperor standing in front of him did not stop him.

"Rui Jing," the emperor looked down at the young man kneeling in front of him, "I remember that you don't like to wear such bland colors. Although your father is gone, you still have your brother. Don't let yourself down."

"Yes." King Ning looked at his clothes and answered obediently.

"Stand up and answer. How can brothers kneel to each other?" The emperor pulled Prince Ning up and turned to see the eunuchs of Zhaoyang Palace standing outside. He asked, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, the Queen saw that the flowers in the peach forest were in full bloom and wanted you to see them too."

"Bring it in." The emperor's smile became more genuine: "Your sister-in-law likes to send flowers and grass. It's a rare opportunity for you to come to the palace today, so go and enjoy the flowers."

"Oh, that's right." The emperor took out two poetry collections from the imperial desk and put them in Prince Ning's hands: "I heard that you like poetry recently, take these two poetry collections back and read them."

"Thank you for the reward, brother. I will read it carefully." Prince Ning stood with his body bowed, allowing the emperor to pat his injured shoulder lovingly again.

After leaving the imperial study, Prince Ning covered his numb shoulder with his hand and handed the poetry collection to the eunuch waiting outside. "Just because you heard that I like poetry, my brother found the poetry collection for me. My brother treats me so well, but I can't even manage my own house and cause him so much trouble. I really don't live up to my brother's high expectations."

"Your Highness, please don't be too sad. Your injuries haven't healed yet." The eunuch supported Prince Ning and said, "Once the princess is familiar with the affairs of the inner house, there will be no more trouble like this." "This is because I didn't discipline my subordinates. What does it have to do with the princess? Don't talk nonsense!" Prince Ning interrupted the eunuch and scolded him with a sullen face, "Go back and accept your punishment!"

After saying this, he turned around and left, ignoring the eunuch who was kneeling down to beg for mercy.

When passing by Chenque Palace, the outer fences had been removed and the entire palace had changed greatly, with green bamboo and a lotus pond behind the palace.

Seeing the plaque hanging above, King Ning turned around and left with an expressionless face.
He forgot that this palace was no longer called Chenque Palace, but Chenxi Palace.

Seal, the seal of the emperor.
Even though his father's will could not be changed for three years, his good brother still spared no effort to show the world his trust and love for his only son.

Thinking of the queen in the peach blossom forest, he could only endure the pain in his wound and turned to walk towards the peach blossom forest.

"Your Highness, is this how peach blossoms are painted?" Fu Yi rolled up her sleeves and drew a simple peach blossom on the paper.

“Although it’s a little crude, it has some of the peach blossom’s cuteness and loveliness.” Sui Tingheng used a pen to add stamens to the peach blossom. This peach blossom, which originally looked very sloppy, gained a bit of charm.

"Your Highness has great hands." Fu Yi stared at Sui Tingheng's hands with envy. They all have hands, so why is there such a big difference?
"It's just that you learned a few more years than Miss Yun." With just a few strokes, Sui Tingheng painted another peach blossom to accompany this flower. "If you have been painting since elementary school, you may be better than me."

Talented people, even if they are of noble status, can speak so beautifully.

Fu Yi looked at the two peach blossoms huddled together, put down her pen and said, "With such a beautiful view, I really should have a couple of drinks to live up to the spring scenery in the garden."

"Miss Yun hasn't finished drinking the wine she dug up two days ago." Sui Tingheng put down his brush and put away the drawing paper: "Should I ask someone to bring the wine?"

"Okay." Fu Yi looked around: "Where's the Queen?"

"Just now when you went to pick flowers, Princess Kangyang came to the palace to ask for an audience, and my mother returned to Zhaoyang Palace." Sui Tingheng took Fu Yi to sit down at the carved white marble table under the peach tree: "Before my mother left, she asked me to take you to Zhaoyang Palace for lunch at noon."

"Thank you, Her Majesty." Fu Yi bowed in the direction of Zhaoyang Palace.

"My mother loves you very much." Sui Tingheng reached out and brushed away the flower petals on the table: "If it weren't for the Flower Festival..."

"Your Highness." Fu Yi interrupted with a smile: "It is the duty of a minister to share the worries of the king."

After spending several times with Sui Tingheng, Fu Yi had a better understanding of this exiled immortal prince. At least, she no longer regarded him as a perfect and emotionless jade sculpture: "If Your Highness mentions words of gratitude again, it will be my fault."

"My father was demoted to Chongzhou, and Your Majesty called him back to the capital to employ him. This is like a rebirth for me and my family." Fu Yi looked at Sui Tingheng seriously: "It is difficult to repay the kindness of a wise ruler, so I can only swear to be loyal to him until death."

The wind made the branches rustle. Sui Tingheng looked at the hairband fluttering in the air between his temples and said, "I understand everything."

"Your Highness, the wind is strong and you have an injury on your shoulder. You can go to see the Queen next time." Seeing that Prince Ning's face was getting paler and paler, Cen Chu reached out to support him.

"I'm fine." King Ning saw a group of eunuchs carrying various food boxes and heading to the Peach Garden. The two leading them were holding jars of wine. He stopped in confusion.

The emperor's sister-in-law never drinks, so why did she ask the palace servants to prepare wine?
"Your Highness," Cen Chu could not help but speak after seeing the patterns on the wine jars, "Those two wine jars...seem to have been brewed five years ago to celebrate the late emperor's birthday."

Five years ago was the late emperor’s sixtieth birthday, so all the utensils used in the palace that year were printed with the words “longevity” and “happiness”.

Why did the Queen use five-year-old wine when entertaining others?

Prince Ning walked into the peach forest, stepping on the fallen petals, and heard a familiar voice.

"I am a fairy drinking under the peach tree. It's a pity that Fu Yi doesn't know how to write poetry, otherwise I would really write a poem for Your Highness."

He looked at the two people under the peach tree, one of them was wearing a red robe with gold weaving and had beautiful eyebrows and eyes.
One of them was wearing a goose yellow palace skirt and was as beautiful as a flower.

"The wine that has been buried for five years seems to be stronger when you drink it."
King Ning suddenly remembered that he and Yun Fuyi had buried two jars of wine here and agreed to dig them out when she turned eighteen.

The peach blossoms were shimmering in the sky. Sui Tingheng drank the wine in the cup, turned around and saw Prince Ning in the distance.

He calmly withdrew his gaze, filled the cup with wine, and gently clinked glasses with Fu Yi. When he raised his hand, the big red sleeves overlapped with Fu Yi's sleeves, the red was brilliant, the yellow was warm.

"Although it's strong, it's very delicious. I love it very much."

(End of this chapter)