Chapter 696: Gardenia Flower
Chapter 696: Gardenia Flower
Long Qian Xing enjoyed walking beside Nan Hua. This place was well maintained but it had a lot of plants because the previous owner loved to plant flowers and many types of plants. This was also the reason for its name.
Garden Palace.
The place was more like that of a garden rather than palace. The palace itself was placed in the middle and looked more modest compared to the other palaces in this place.
"Hua'er, did they give troubles for you?" Long Qian Xing asked as they passed by a corner.
Nan Hua shook her head. "Princess Hu only wants to nitpick a bit."
Nitpick?
Long Qian Xing's eyes narrowed a bit when he heard that. He knew that Nan Luo and Old Master Nan has been secretly replacing the people who were working for Tu Family. They even made sure that the Tu Family had no real power within the ministry.
It seemed that he should lend a bit of hand. Song Chuan had been quite idle lately, so he could use this chance to push the Tu Family further away from their original power.
Song Chuan, who had unknowingly got another work: "…" Young Master, since when I have no work?
"Her Highness has too much time in her hand." Long Qian Xing chuckled lightly, but the glint within his eyes were very cold. Those who knew him personally knew that the wider his smile, the colder his eyes would be, the more miserable the fate of those who dared to cross him.
"Mhm, indeed."
Nan Hua thought that she should just left Princess Hu in Nan Luo's hand along with the Tu Family behind her. But since the princess seemed to be wanting to drag her into the mud, Nan Hua had no qualms taking the matter into her hand.
After all, Emperor Yang Zhou could only settle the officials after his inauguration, which would only happen in a few more weeks. He had to get married first.
There was enough time.
Nan Hua was not that impatient.
"Do you want me to interfere?" Long Qian Xing glanced at Nan Hua and felt that the little girl didn't seem to mind that he knew her problems with the Tu Family at all. Did she trust him that much or it was because she knew of what he had known?
"Brother Long is already busy enough. This small matter shouldn't bother you." Nan Hua looked at Long Qian Xing.
Long Qian Xing smiled helplessly. Well, if Nan Hua could still say that it was a small matter, he didn't know what else he should say to convince her. With this, he knew that she didn't want him to interfere either.
It seemed that Nan Hua wanted to do everything by herself as much as possible.
Since that was the case, he would not try to pester her.
The two of them continued walking until they stopped by a large flowerbed. There was only one type of flower on this particular flowerbed: gardenia flower.
"Emperor Huan used to give the consort who live here gardenia flower before her death." Long Qian Xing stepped forward and plucked one of them. "It's because of this that the servants maintained one particular flowerbed to be filled with only one flower."
Nan Hua stood still as Long Qian Xing inserted the flower in his hand on her ear. His movement was very gentle and careful as if he was afraid that he would hurt her if he exerted a bit more force.
The white flower hung onto her ear and Long Qian Xing drew his hand back.
"Hua'er is pretty," Long Qian Xing praised with a smile.
Nan Hua blinked her eyes, resisting the urge to touch the flower on her ear.
Gardenia flower.
It was a white flower that symbolized purity and gentleness. However, this particular flower also had another meaning.
Secret love.
Along with trust and respect.
"Thank you, Brother Long."
Long Qian Xing merely smiled and raised his hand to caress Nan Hua's head. if only it was possible, he really wanted to do more than just this light petting. But his rationality was telling him that this was already more than enough.
The story of how Emperor Huan cared so much for a consort was actually an old love story that he heard from his grandmother. But because at that time he had only consolidated his power and stood out among his brothers, he couldn't show his favor. Thus, he sent gardenia flower to his consort every single day.
Unfortunately, the consort fell sick and died without any children.
This palace has been left empty ever since then. Emperor Xuan didn't dare to cross his father and continued to leave this place empty. Besides, this place didn't really look like a palace and more like a garden.
Everyone slowly forgot about this place.
But Long Qian Xing knew because his grandmother was friends with that consort and felt pity for that woman.
She was not suited to the palace. But she had the Emperor's favor and also loved him back secretly. Thus, she had no other choice but to enter the palace and become the Emperor's consort. Her status was not enough for her to become the Empress.
Her capabilities were also not enough.
She was satisfied to just become a consort, but the other women were not satisfied when they saw her receiving so much attention. This eventually led to her death in the harem.
*cough*
Hearing that cough, Long Qian Xing drew his hand unwillingly and turned around. Of course, he knew that there was someone else who was in this garden, but he had purposely ignored the other party.
He just wanted some time together with his little fiancée, alright?
Nan Hua turned her head and curtsied. "Nan Hua, the first young miss of Nan Family, greets His Majesty the Emperor."
While Nan Hua still followed the protocol, Long Qian Xing directly broke it. "Your Majesty, can't you wait a little bit more?"