None of Emperor Youning's princes are good-for-nothings, but their intelligence varies. Obviously, the Second Prince, Prince Zhao Xiao Changmin, is at the bottom of the list, so Shen Xihe is not surprised at all that Xiao Changqing used him as a scapegoat.
"The second brother just couldn't control his curiosity, and he deserves it." Xiao Huayong stretched his neck and looked at Shen Xihe pressing the incense ash.
She sat upright with her head slightly lowered, a light gauze dress and her long black hair flowing down. The white porcelain incense burner was as white as silver and snow, with a delicate texture, just like the white hand that stretched out from her sleeve, and it was glowing.
The bamboo stalk of incense ash moved gently along with her fingertips, smoothing out the white frost-like ash.
Xiao Huayong really liked watching the process of her lighting incense. It was as graceful as a painting and every move made him unable to take his eyes off.
Seeing that she remained silent, he continued, "The Dengzhou incident had nothing to do with the Second Brother. He just wanted to know who was causing the trouble, so he sent people to Dengzhou to investigate. The Fifth Brother was waiting for him to fall into his trap. The Fifth Brother killed the person who spread the rumor that the historian would monitor the rainy day. This person and the Second Brother's people fell into the hands of the Eighth Brother. The Fifth Brother's people insisted that they were in cahoots with the Second Brother's people, and they got some unclear evidence, so the matter fell on the Second Brother's head."
After Shen Xihe flattened the incense ash, he picked up a brush and moved it around the edge of the incense burner to clean the dust. Then he gently placed the incense stick on the flattened incense ash: "The day after tomorrow will be the day of rain."
Up to now, Emperor Youning has not agreed to grant amnesty to the imperial harem. If we delay for two more days, and it really rains the day after tomorrow, the matter of granting amnesty to the imperial harem will be shelved.
"Your Majesty must issue an amnesty for the harem within tomorrow." Xiao Huayong's eyes fell on the incense stick. Shen Xihe did not stop while talking to him.
There are various kinds of incense sticks, which are used to sprinkle incense powder and form a pattern or a word on the incense ash. Shen Xihe's incense stick is homemade. After the incense powder is sprinkled, the incense stick is lifted up, and the khaki incense powder forms a flat leaf shape like a butterfly spreading its wings on the snow-white incense ash.
He took the lit incense stick and gently lit it on the petiole of the Pingzhong leaf which was made of incense powder. White smoke rose up, and when the incense burner was covered, a pure and elegant fragrance wafted out.
Xiao Huayong couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he smelled it: "This is Ping Zhongye's breath."
It seems to be there but not there, but one can still discern the scent of Ping Zhongye.
"Pingzhongye is light, and cannot be used as the main ingredient." Shen Xihe retained the flavor to the greatest extent possible, stretched out his hand to fan the smoke that drifted out, savored it carefully for a moment, and nodded with satisfaction, "It can only be like this."
She had tried mixing it before, but the flavor was strong at first, but became weaker and weaker as it burned, and in the end it was completely suppressed by the other spices, leaving no trace of it at all. So she had to develop the formula from scratch.
"This fragrance..." Xiao Huayong also leaned in to smell it, and then asked cautiously, "Is it okay?"
If the fragrance falls into the hands of his wife, it will no longer be an elegant and pleasant thing, but a killing knife that can kill people at any time!
"There are thousands of useful things in the world. How could I defile something I love?" Shen Xihe glanced at Xiao Huayong sideways.
Pingzhongye is not a harmless thing, and it is not difficult to use it to harm people, but since she likes it, she naturally won't touch it.