The courtyard, which was large but empty, could be regarded as a discarded place. Only at the corner of the wall were there a few unknown saplings, which were so inconspicuous.

The pavilions, terraces, and towers were clean and tidy, but everything here looked deserted maybe because it had been so long since someone had been here the last time.

There were many courtyards like this in the imperial palace, so who would visit a discarded one without scenery or trees? More importantly, this place was far away from the center of the imperial palace.

Prince Chen’s Mansion, Chu Liuchen’s house, was also called the Southern Palace, which had a side door here. Even just for the sake of avoiding arousing suspicion, the palace concubines did not dare to come here.

A path led to the secluded place where there were beautiful pavilions, terraces, and towers. Actually, this place was not bad except that there were no flowers or trees that looked interesting being together nor were people moving inside it.

This place was tranquil. After bypassing the one-story pavilion ahead, one could even see a big lake, where there was a waterside pavilion connecting an islet. Rarely, there were trees on it. Watching from afar, one could see a pavilion among the trees.

Shao Wanru looked back at the pavilion behind her and then looked at the building in the center of the lake. This place was actually very secret. One who came here to take a walk would find that this was a quiet place and that he would not be easily found.

Shao Yanru also saw the islet in the heart of the lake and asked, “Your Highness, that place is nice. Could we go and take a walk?”

Chu Liuyue glanced at the islet in the center of the lake and nodded. He really wanted to talk to Shao Yanru about something, and it was not suitable to have many people around.

“Sister, Your Highness, go ahead. I’m a little tired. I’ll take a rest here, okay?” Shao Wanru said and pointed to the pavilion behind her.

“Well, Wanru, please take a rest. We will be back soon. Are there servants here, Your Highness?” Shao Yanru was overjoyed and immediately said when hearing that Shao Wanru was going to stay.

“There are no servants here, but there’s one who has been cleaning the furnishings here. It’s good for you to stay and rest, Fifth Miss!” Chu Liuyue nodded and walked to the waterside pavilion, and Shao Yanru was close after him.

Shao Wanru turned around and walked back, but the other two ladies looked at each other, wishing to follow them. But Chu Liuyue did not invite them, so they felt too ashamed to follow. Yet, they did not want to give up. So, they exchanged a glance, clenched their teeth, and followed Shao Yanru.

Since Prince Yue did not say anything to them, he naturally wanted them to follow him.

Yujie looked back and said to Shao Wanru with a smile, “Miss, they all have gone over!”

Shao Wanru nodded. Obviously, the two ladies were here because of Chu Liuyue, so how could they stop following him so easily? This way, she could enjoy some quiet moments here.

Actually, the array of tall buildings ahead had a large courtyard, facing the gate they had just come from earlier. Probably, it was the main section of the house. In the courtyard, there was a row of five main rooms and there were eight wing rooms on each side. No wonder this was the imperial palace. Even a discarded courtyard was so large.

Shao Wanru did not enter the main rooms but sat down in the cloister. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the sunshine from the opposite direction. The sunshine was warm, not strong, and there were walls on all sides, preventing the wind from coming in. So, it was quite comfortable to sit here.

There was an unknown big tree in the center of the yard, but there were only a few leaves on the tree. When the wind swept past, they fell one after another. They were all withered yellow broken leaves.

Shao Wanru asked Yujie to sit down beside her, but her eyes fell on the big tree.

They looked like maple leaves. Even if they were, the fallen leaves were all withered now. They were not as red and lively as they had been in autumn. They still had beautiful colors, but they had lost all their water and become broken, so it was hard to deal with them.

Sitting sideways under the cloister, she put her hand on the balustrade, supported her chin, and listened to the dismal squeaks of the wind that went past her ears. At this moment, she felt so quiet and calmed down.

Yujie couldn’t sit quietly here. Only after a while did she say that she was going to pick some maple leaves. Shao Wanru let her do it and saw that she was happily picking up leaves under the tree. Yet, every time she picked up a leaf, she had to throw it away because they were either ugly or broken. Some of them would immediately break a bit if she touched them.

“Miss, why are all of them bad? The ones that we picked up earlier were all good, weren’t they?” After picking up a few leaves, she still didn’t find anyone intact or good-looking or hard to get broken, so she could only return without real gains.

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“The previous ones were leaves that fell in the golden age of the autumn, so they were extraordinary. But leaves at this time only look beautiful!” Shao Wanru explained with a smile.

“Miss, what is the collage you made earlier? It is so beautiful,” Yujie asked with a smile as she turned her eyes and remembered the collage Shao Wanru had pasted with maple leaves earlier.

In fact, she had asked other people about it in private, but they all said that they didn’t know. But they had picked up a lot of beautiful maple leaves for their young lady earlier.

“First, pick up the suitable maple leaves, then build a good foundation, and finally stick them to it, making a collage. I’m going to make it a gift and send it to someone!” Shao Wanru did not hide it this time. It would be Empress Dowager’s birthday soon. In her previous life, something had happened at that birthday and Empress Dowager had had a serious illness because of it.

And this had something to do with the maple leaf collage!

Now she had also made a maple leaf collage because she simply wanted to avoid this disaster.

That memory also seemed to be related to Chu Liuchen, so she could not remember it clearly. She only vaguely felt that Empress Dowager’s illness had affected Chu Liuchen greatly. It seemed that he had almost been ruined at that time. As for the specifics, she could not remember them, but she knew that she must stop it from happening.

Therefore, she had long prepared the maple leaves and started to make the collage bit by bit.

The collage made of maple leaves required her painting skills. She had a moment of enlightenment because of Wen Xichi. However, in her previous life, when she met Wen Xichi, the man had already been in very poor health. It was just his novel idea. After all, he had never tried it before. It was a whim he had had when he was ill. Since he could not make it come true, he had told Shao Wanru about it and the points for attention！

When she was in the Deputy Prime Minister’s house, Shao Wanru had not done anything. But when she was in the imperial palace, she had tried to learn it by herself for some time.

The skillful painting with the properly made maple leaf theme looked even more vivid and different.

Although she had skills, Shao Wanru had ruined many maple leaves. The maple leaves she had gathered earlier were not enough, so she had asked a few other servant girls to gather some more later.

In the past, she didn’t know if she could make a good maple leaf collage, so she didn’t tell her servant girls about her intent. Now, when she had made one with much difficulty, she was not afraid of leaking some information.

“Send it to someone as a gift? What a pity! Miss, you’ve spent so much effort making this one!” Yujie said, feeling pity for Shao Wanru.

That was how she really felt!

Her lady had failed numerous times before she finally got this good work, but she would give it to another person. Thinking of all this, she really felt pity.

“No matter what, I’ll send a gift!” Shao Wanru said with a smile and shook her head. She didn’t think it was a pity. In fact, a painting like this was not good, but it was unique indeed. If it was taken as a real painting, it was naturally incomparable to the paintings of the painting masters. Actually, the advantage of this one was only the creative design.

It was just a small trick used to make Empress Dowager happy and prevent the disaster from happening on that day. That was the best result to expect.

Seeing Shao Wanru smile without saying anything, Yujie knew that her lady had made up her mind, so she stopped persuading her. But she pointed to the maple tree and said, “Miss, do you want me to pick some more for you?”

“No, I’ve had enough, and these are basically useless!” Shao Wanru shook her head. Although they had beautiful colors, they had withered. It was almost impossible for her to fold and cut them into the shapes she wanted. Besides, she had almost done it, so she didn’t need more.

One was enough!

Yuejie, who was facing the gate of the courtyard, suddenly pointed to the gate and said in surprise, “Miss, I saw someone just now. It’s strange. There is usually no visitor here, but how could someone pass by?”

“They are back?” Shao Wanru turned to the gate.

“Let me go and check it out!” Yujie went out and looked around at the gate, but she didn’t see anyone, so she looked back in surprise at Shao Wanru and said, “No one!”

After that, she walked out of the courtyard in disbelief and went in the direction where they had come from. She really felt that she had seen someone moments earlier, but why was there no one outside?

Without finding anyone, she stamped her feet and turned around to go back. Unexpectedly, when she turned around, she saw Xiao Xuanzi standing with a smile behind her. So scared, she took a step back and almost fell.

“Why… why are you here?” Yujie asked angrily. After standing still, she covered her chest and looked in horror at Xiao Xuanzi who had suddenly appeared behind her.

“I came here with my master. Let me take you to watch a good show!” Xiao Xuanzi said happily without feeling that Yujie was frightened. At the moment, she didn’t want to go out with him at all.

“I won’t go. I have to guard my lady!” Yujie said coldly and returned to the courtyard.

“Hey, don’t go back. My master is there!” Seeing that she was going back, Xiao Xuanzi hurriedly came back, stood in front of her, and whispered, “Madam, don’t go back. If you disturb my master, I will be in big trouble!”

His master had just gone inside. If the stupid Yujie rushed in, his master would be angry.

“No, I have to go and take a look first, or I will be worried!” Yujie said. Then she pushed Xiao Xuanzi away and turned, walking toward the gate. After thinking for a while, she did not dare to rush in. Instead, she carefully pressed herself against the gate and looked inside.

Chu Liuchen’s sudden appearance made Shao Wanru so surprised that she stared at him in astonishment. She didn’t know why he had suddenly come here at this time.

Chu Liuchen smiled, walked up to her, held her hand, and said, “Let’s go inside and watch the show!”

After saying that, he led her, who was still in a daze, to the main room in the middle. But he suddenly looked at the gate insidiously, which made Yujie so scared that she took her head back and leaned against the wall in a great panic and a cold sweat!

So surprised, she thought, “Why did Prince Chen suddenly come here?”

“Hurry! Let’s watch the good show, or we’ll miss it!” Xiao Xuanzi pulled her sleeve hard, trying to take her to the right side of the courtyard…