As the young man in brocade robes placed the green plum blossom on the white jade plate in front of Jiang Si, the ladies were suddenly startled.

Had they seen it wrong?

Some impulsive noble ladies began rubbing their eyes, while even those with calmer dispositions found it hard to maintain composure.

Prince Yan had given both green plum blossoms to Miss Jiang.

Glancing at Ji Fanghua, who was not far from Jiang Si, many people had a thought: Did Prince Yan’s hand slip? Was this plum blossom meant for Miss Ji from Duke An’s manor?

Miss Ji came from a high-ranking family and was Consort Xian’s niece. She was Prince Yan’s first cousin, so receiving a plum blossom from him would have been natural.

If Prince Yan cared about saving face at all, one of the six plum blossoms should have gone to his maternal cousin. Otherwise, it would make Consort Xian look bad.

At this moment, Consort Xian’s face had elongated, her jeweled fingernails pressing against the table, making a faint scratching sound.

She had tolerated the first green plum blossom going to the Dong Ping Earl’s daughter, following Prince Shu’s example. After all, it was natural for young people to admire beauty. But for the second green plum blossom to also go to that Jiang girl was simply intolerable!

She had just been thinking about watching Consort Zhuang’s embarrassment, but in the blink of an eye, she had become the laughingstock herself.

Consort Zhuang almost failed to maintain her calm expression.

So Consort Xian’s youngest son was this kind of person…

Blinded by beauty, her son had been foolish once too, but at least he had come to his senses in time. Prince Yan, however, had been blinded twice.

This way, the excuse of giving flowers due to Miss Jiang’s outstanding performance no longer held water.

This was purely because he was taken with Miss Jiang’s beauty!

Consort Zhuang shook her head inwardly.

If Prince Yan was this kind of person, she could rest easy.

Come to think of it, Consort Xian must be furious right now, right?

Consort Zhuang turned to glance at Consort Xian.

This glance brought Consort Xian, who was on the verge of exploding, back to her senses.

She couldn’t lose control. If she did, it would only play into Consort Zhuang’s hands.

She forced a smile, closely watching Yu Jin’s next move.

Jiang Si looked at the two green plum blossoms on the jade plate, somewhat surprised, yet feeling this was exactly the kind of thing Yu Qi would do.

She had thought she might receive one green plum blossom from Yu Qi, and then watch how he would navigate between the Emperor and Consort Xian to settle their marriage. She didn’t expect him to forgo all pretense and give her all six plum blossoms.

Yes, by now Jiang Si understood that the remaining green plum blossoms in Yu Jin’s hand would surely all be hers.

But then again, who else would he give them to? The thought of watching her man give flowers to other women was infuriating.

Jiang Si curved her lips slightly.

What’s that? There was already a third plum blossom on the plate. Sorry, she naturally paid no attention to gifts from people she wasn’t interested in.

Seeing Jiang Si’s smile, Yu Jin’s mood instantly soared.

Seeing A Si happy made him happy too.

The scene could no longer remain calm. Low whispers came from all directions, as annoying as buzzing flies.

Yu Jin paid no attention to any of this, single-mindedly doing what he wanted to do.

“Please accept this, Miss Jiang,” he said, placing the third plum blossom in front of Jiang Si.

The whispers grew louder, turning into an uproar.

“What? Prince Yan gave the third green plum blossom to Miss Jiang as well?”

One noble lady murmured, “So Prince Yan giving out the second green plum blossom wasn’t a slip of the hand…” Her tone was drawn out, sighing, unable to hide her dissatisfaction and bitterness.

Why? How could there be such a lucky woman? Just because she was a bit prettier?

One plum blossom from Prince Shu, three plum blossoms from Prince Yan, was Miss Jiang trying to steal all the limelight?

Another noble lady laughed self-mockingly: “How could it be a slip of the hand? Prince Yan favors Miss Jiang.”

“Who will Prince Yan give the fourth green plum blossom to? Surely not to Miss Jiang again?”

One noble lady shook her head repeatedly: “Impossible, absolutely impossible. How could all four green plum blossoms go to the same person? This is a bridal selection banquet—”

Realizing she had let slip something improper, the noble lady quickly bit her lip, blushing furiously.

Although it was an open secret that the two princes were selecting brides at this plum blossom appreciation banquet, saying it out loud was somewhat awkward.

But at this moment, no one paid attention to this noble lady’s embarrassment. All eyes were fixed on Yu Jin, watching to see who he would give the fourth green plum blossom to.

If he gave it to another noble lady, there would still be three chances left. But if he gave it to Miss Jiang again… No, no, Prince Yan must be mad to do such a thing.

And yet, the fourth green plum blossom in Yu Jin’s hand resolutely fell onto the white jade plate in front of Jiang Si.

“Please accept this, Miss Jiang,” the young man’s voice remained steady and clear as if washed by spring snow melting on a mountain peak.

Pure, and with an inexplicable warmth.

How could it not be warm? Four plum blossoms all going to one person was enough to prove the young man’s intentions.

“He’s mad, he’s mad, Prince Yan must be mad…” one noble lady muttered, her expression blank.

A nearby noble lady quickly covered her mouth, chiding softly, “Wake up! What nonsense are you saying?”

No matter what, Prince Yan was still a prince. How could they openly discuss him so casually?

Consort Xian had unconsciously straightened up, no longer maintaining her completely calm demeanor.

Yu Jin smiled as he placed the fifth green plum blossom on the white jade plate in front of Jiang Si.

Compared to the empty white jade plates in front of the other noble ladies, the plate in front of Jiang Si was already piled high with plum blossoms.

By this point, the scene had once again fallen silent.

Shocked to numbness, all that was left was to watch wide-eyed how things would unfold.

Could anything more surprising happen?

Surely not. At most, Prince Yan would give the sixth green plum blossom to Miss Jiang as well.

Go ahead, give it to her! Did he think they would still be surprised? Hmph, after Prince Yan had done such a shameless thing, nothing could surprise them anymore!

Reality proved these young ladies were too naive.

When Yu Jin placed the sixth green plum blossom down, saying “Please accept this, Miss Jiang,” he casually rummaged through the jade plate piled high with plum branches, pulled out the one tied with a blue ribbon, and tossed it onto a nearby table.

The ladies were stunned. As they followed his action with their eyes, they became even more bewildered.

It was one thing for Prince Yan to toss aside the green plum blossom Prince Shu had given to Miss Jiang, but he had thrown it onto someone else’s table!

Staring at the green plum blossom on the table in front of her, Ji Fanghua bit her lip.

This was an unexpected disaster, wasn’t it?

She swore this cousin was the person she disliked the most, bar none.

But because of this, looking at Jiang Si not far away, Ji Fanghua suddenly felt a sense of empathy and sympathy.

Back when Third Brother had insisted on marrying a commoner, canceling his engagement to Miss Jiang, it must have been a true disaster out of the blue for Miss Jiang.

Miss Jiang’s frustration at that time must have been a thousand times worse than her own now.

A hand reached over picked up the plum blossom in front of Ji Fanghua and tossed it to the ground.

“Sorry, I missed my aim,” Yu Jin said.

He then turned to Prince Shu, cupping his hands in salute: “Miss Jiang’s jade plate couldn’t hold so many plum blossoms, so I removed Sixth Brother’s. You don’t mind, do you?”