Chapter 278 – A Father’s Love (2)

Lu Shiming shook his head and smiled. “I will talk to your second uncle again.”

“Father, don’t get into fights with Second Uncle because of me,” Ye Zhen said hurriedly. The last thing she wanted was internal strife. It would set back her plans and not to mention aggrieve her foster father. As much as possible, she wanted him, his wife, and son to be away from all the ruckus.

“Don’t worry. I know how far I can go.” Lu Shiming patted his daughter on the head. “You are tired from taking care of your grandmother day and night these past two days. Take some good rest.”

Ye Zhen nodded with a smile and said yes.

She didn’t know what the two brothers spoke, but for the next few days, she didn’t catch sight of as much as a shadow of Lu Shixun. When she went to meet the old matriarch, he seemed like his usual self … like that matter between them had never happened.

Ye Zhen was only too happy to join in the charade. Soon she had long put the unhappy incident behind her and even asked Sun Wen to accompany her in enjoying the plum blossoms.

Plum blossoms bloom during late winter and early spring. From a distance, the white flowers are spread out and scattered layering the ground and sky in lush white carpet. The picturesque Meihua Forest* in the Baihua Garden was indeed very famous, many people visited this serene place to enjoy the flowers

[T/L: Meihua Forest*: Meihua means Plum Blossom]

Sun Wen had asked Ye Zhen and Chen Jinru to come to the Baihua Garden, but she didn’t expect that there would be quite a many people here, and they even met Princess Liu Hua and Gao Xueping.

“It wasn’t the best idea to go out today without reading the almanac*.” Sun Wen whispered to Ye Zhen. She hated Gao Xueping the most.

[E/D: Almanacs are used to predict the tides of the day, auspicious times, etc. SW is making light here upon the appearance of their sworn enemies.]

Ye Zhen smiled and said, “Just pretend we didn’t see them. They can look at the flowers and we enjoy ourselves.”

Although she said that, the others didn’t agree as much. look here now, when Ye Zhen’s group made to walk into the Meihua Forest, Princess Liu Hua and Co. had already walked over and stood in front of them.

“It’s really unlucky to encounter dirty things wherever I go.” Princess Liu Hua took the handkerchief and held it by her nose, looking at Ye Zhen with clear disdain.

Ye Zhen smiled faintly, and looked towards the other side of the road and said, “It is said that a good dog will not block the way, and I don’t know what dog is blocking the way now.”

“Lu Yaoyao, how dare you humiliate this princess?” Liu Hua’s expression changed, and she stared at Ye Zhen angrily.

Ye Zhen looked at her in surprise. “When did I humiliate the princess?”

She hadn’t named her from the beginning to the end and simply mentioned a dog, so who was taking it personally now?

“Lu Yaoyao, don’t think that your glib tongue will make me afraid of you!” Liu Hua snorted coldly. “Don’t try to pretend to be innocent. If you can frame Huang Fuxiang, this princess will not let you do it.”

Ye Zhen said indifferently, “Princess, what is it that you are trying to say?”

Gao Xueping walked over, whispered to Liu Hua, and tried to persuade her. “Princess, be a bigger person, if she goes back and complains, it will only get even more complicated.”

Liu Hua’s face changed, and she looked at Ye Zhen fiercely. “What did you say in front of the empress dowager?”

Ye Zhen looked confused. “Does what I said to the empress dowager have anything to do with you?”

“Lu Yaoyao, you are really despicable and shameless. You slandered me in front of the empress dowager and told Her Highness not to let me enter the palace. You want to prevent me from entering the palace. Don’t even think about it! The emperor has already cast aside Lu Wushuang, there is nothing you can do to change it.” Although Liu Hua spoke harshly and on top of her voice, she was actually not sure at all.

It was obvious that the empress dowager had already agreed to let her enter the palace, so why was there no progress up until now? How could Lu Wushuang possibly be better than me? And that Xu Huiru! It was only now that she realized Xu Huiru was just a bitch. She entered the palace without her noticing, became a beautiful young miss, and now she was also a concubine …

Ye Zhen didn’t know how to describe her feelings at this time. She held back her smile and couldn’t believe that Liu Hua actually thought she was filling the empress dowager’s ears and curbing her entry into the palace as a concubine.

“Princess, you are really overthinking this. I’m just an insignificant person. How can I influence the empress dowager’s decision? What’s more, whether you can enter the palace or not is determined by the emperor. It cannot be decided by just a few words,” Ye Zhen said.

Though what Ye Zhen said was the norm- it was the emperor and not the empress dowager who had the final say on who was allowed into the inner palace, the ever leery Liu Hua was far from convinced. In her delusion, she was certain that Mo Rongzhan liked her but it was his mother who wasn’t giving the nod. And so, he couldn’t let her enter the palace.