"She likes you very much too, Master. I'll take the radishes back and buy some fine marrow bones tomorrow morning, then simmer a bone broth to send them. The little young miss of the Marquis's Residence is just at the age to start eating solids, so it's perfect."
The Fourth Prince nodded and left with Sangshen.
His authority had now been whittled down to a mere fraction of what it had been. For the time being, he could only protect himself; it was unwise to make any further moves.
The matter of the Second Prince also struck him as strange.
Second Brother was not cut out for politics. If they sent him as an envoy to the Jin Kingdom, they would be lucky if he did not start a fight and provoke a border conflict.
He had no idea what his imperial father was thinking. The emperor was becoming harder and harder to fathom.
Sangshen picked up on some of his concerns and whispered, "Master, should I go ask around?"
The Fourth Prince shook his head. "I can barely protect myself as it is. Why would I walk straight into their hands? Thank you for all your hard work lately. Let's simply shut our doors and eat and drink as we please."
Sangshen gave a rare smile and readily agreed. When they returned that evening, she added two more dishes to their meal.
Unable to swallow her anger, Huahua secretly gave Five Flower a beating.
Feeling wronged, Five Flower crawled into the empress's arms, whimpering.
Huahua cursed furiously: [You little brat! How dare you hide behind someone else? Come out! Just watch me give you a beating!]
Five Flower refused to back down: [I don't want to do this either! But I turned into a girl, and loving handsome men