Chapter 1220: Surrender

His second son’s thoughts were written all over his face. As the Emperor, how could Qi Xiuyuan not tell?

Qi Xiuyuan took a deep breath and forced a smile, then waved at him and said, “Come here. Royal Father won’t beat you up.”

Qi Wensu retreated another two steps and looked at his Royal Father warily.

Mingzhu and her four younger brothers looked at their Royal Father, then at Qi Wensu. In the end, they placed their hands on their waists and shouted, “Royal Father, it was my idea to trim the flowers and trees. You’re not allowed to hit them.”

As Qi Xiuyuan only had one daughter, he had always doted on her. Until now, he had never so much as given her a stern look, so he had been shouting at the boys without reprimanding her. Now that he heard that she was protecting the boys, he was instantly angry and troubled. “My good daughter, look at what they’ve done to Royal Father’s imperial garden.”

Mingzhu patted her chest and took full responsibility. “This was my idea!”

Qi Xiuyuan thought that he couldn’t let this stalemate continue, so he waved his hand helplessly and said, “Alright, I won’t beat them up anymore. Just get Wensu, Tiger Head, and Little Lion to come over and apologize.”

There were many ways to punish them even if he didn’t beat them up. The key was to capture them first.

Mingzhu believed him and waved at the three of them. “Hurry over to apologize.”

However, the three brats didn’t believe it at all. After all, they had grown up by Qi Haoran’s side, and he had lied to them like this many times in the past. After capturing them, even though Qi Haoran didn’t beat them up, he would torment them in other ways. In addition, Little An wasn’t around, so the three of them were afraid of being at a disadvantage and refused to go over no matter what.

Tiger Head and Little Lion were very safe squatting on the tree. Although Qi Wensu was on the ground, he was far away. As soon as his Royal Father took a step forward, he would take two steps back. After a few times of doing this, the distance between them actually increased.

Eunuch Wan stood at the back with the other eunuchs and guards, their heads lowered, pretending not to see anything.

This was the first time Eunuch Wan had seen such the Emperor act like this even though he had served in the palace since the previous dynasty. He felt a little helpless, but his heart felt warm at the same time. Only such a humane Emperor could warm up one’s heart.

Realizing that he couldn’t fool the children and unable to think of any good ideas, Qi Xiuyuan instantly put his hands on his waist angrily. “Where did Little An go? Someone, find Prince An!”

Far away from here, Little An seemed to hear someone call his name. He pricked up his ears and felt that it was an illusion, so he continued to trim using the pruning shears…

He had never known that trimming flowers and trees was such a joyous thing.

Little An’s belief was that if he decided to do something, he would put in his best effort!

At first, everyone did obey Mingzhu’s instructions when they trimmed the flowers and trees. But Little An felt that the garden would look hideous if the plants were all shaped like rabbits or cats. Thus, he sneaked away when no one was paying attention.

Little An felt that he had already gotten the hang of it and could trim it according to his own ideas, so he walked past the Chinese rose garden and the peony garden. When he saw that the camellia flowers in the camellia garden looked like it had not been trimmed, his mood lifted a bit…

When Qi Xiuyuan found this place under the guidance of a guard, he saw that the camellia flowers that were about to bloom had all been trimmed to look like the top of mushrooms. Before the shock could register, a series of rustling sounds under the camellia tree attracted his attention.

Qi Xiuyuan followed the sound and saw Little An kneeling under the camellia tree. Busy cutting the forked branches below with pruning shears, he didn’t even look up to see the effect of his trimming. After cutting a few branches, he climbed to the next tree and continued…

No wonder Tiger Head and Little Lion couldn’t see him from the tree. It turned out that this kid was moving around under the trees!

Qi Xiuyuan pulled out the forked branches that he had cut off. The originally bloated-looking camellia tree now looked identical to the mushroom-top-shaped one beside it.

Qi Xiuyuan, who was about to fly into a rage, fell silent. He couldn’t help but praise in his heart. Little An was smart enough, and his memory and calculation skills were also excellent. Otherwise, why would he bury himself in work without checking the effects from the top?

However, no matter how much Qi Xiuyuan admired him, he couldn’t praise him now, because these were camellia trees!

These were precious camellia trees that had been painstakingly transplanted from all over the country!

Qi Xiuyuan reached out and pinched Little An’s ear under the tree to pull him out!

Little An was so frightened that he almost screamed. He subconsciously pointed the shears towards the attacker. The expression of the guard beside him changed drastically, but Qi Xiuyuan reached out and snatched the shears away. He grabbed his ear and pulled him out. “I don’t believe that I’m not able to catch any of you!”

Seeing that it was his Royal Uncle, Little An asked guiltily, “Royal Uncle, why are you capturing us?”

Qi Xiuyuan pointed at his camellia garden and asked, “What do you think?”

Little An immediately explained, “Royal Uncle, don’t worry. Give me a little more time and I’ll definitely be able to trim all the camellia trees. I’ve already trimmed the leaves on this tree and there aren’t many left…”

“It’s precisely because there aren’t many left that I’m angry!” Qi Xiuyuan shouted at him. “Do you know that these camellia trees will bloom in two months? Will they still bloom this year after you trim them like this?”

Qi Xiuyuan was furious. “I wouldn’t be so angry even if you chose something like cotton trees like Tiger Head and Little Lion…”

In the end, this brat chose a precious species just like Wensu.

It wasn’t easy to get these camellia trees, and it wasn’t easy to nurture those Chinese rose plants either. As a poor Emperor, he didn’t dare to build or even buy precious flowers and trees. These were all either left behind from the previous dynasty, transplanted from King Rong’s residence, or given by the Dali royal family. It wasn’t easy for him to elevate the quality of the imperial garden.

Qi Xiuyuan grabbed Little An’s ear and went back. “You have to get Wensu, Tiger Head, and Little Lion to come over. Otherwise, I will definitely beat you kids up!”

Mingzhu and the four princes were doing the work of Tiger Head and Little Lion under the tree. They persuaded them, “Quickly come down. Otherwise, my Royal Father will really beat you up in a fit of anger.”

Tiger Head and Little Lion pondered for a moment and gathered together to discuss. “Actually, we’re really not afraid of being beaten up! But we’re afraid that Royal Uncle will lock us up.”

Before he could finish speaking, Tiger Head saw that Little An had been caught and immediately exclaimed, “Oh no, Little An has been caught. Run!”

Hence, when Qi Xiuyuan returned with Little An, the three children fled like a swarm of bees. The four princes seemed to have sensed their Royal Father’s killing intent and ran away as well.

Mingzhu opened her mouth wide and felt that something was wrong. Just as she was about to call her younger brothers back, Tiger Head and the others ran back again, and this time, they ran to his Royal Father.

Having seen the three brats escape into the distance, Qi Xiuyuan also raised his eyebrows in surprise. Just as he was wondering if he should ask the guards to capture them, the brats actually took the initiative to return.

The three brats lined up in front of him and lowered their heads. “Royal Uncle (Royal Father), we know we were wrong. We won’t do it again.”

Qi Xiuyuan raised his eyebrows and asked, “Why are you back?”

The three brats looked at Little An and lamented, “Since our marshal has been captured by you, us soldiers definitely won’t be able to escape from you. If we come to you of our own accord, we might be let off leniently. If we resist, you might just increase the severity of the punishment.”

“Then why did you escape just now? Shouldn’t you have surrendered as soon as I caught Little An?”

Vexed because of his failure, Tiger Head said unhappily, “Couldn’t we struggle a little?”

Qi Xiuyuan: “…”

“No, no.” Little Lion quickly smiled at Royal Uncle ingratiatingly. “This only occurred to us after we escaped, and we came back as soon as the thought came to us.”

Qi Xiuyuan didn’t believe it. “Even so, why did the three of them return at the same time? It’s reasonable for the two of you to return together since you escaped together, but why did Wensu come back at the same time? Wensu, tell me!”

Qi Wensu looked at Little An, then at Tiger Head and Little Lion. He decided to tell the truth and whispered, “We received Little An’s message, so we came back to surrender.”

Qi Xiuyuan raised his eyebrows in astonishment. “How did you send the message? Why didn’t I see it?”

Little An had been by his side all this while.