With a nervous mood, Yuan Xi came to his back garden and happened to see Mrs. Liu enjoying the flowers here.

Mrs. Liu is also a flower lover. Whenever the flower branches need to be pruned, she will personally walk among the flowers with scissors. Compared with her cruel and ruthless style of behavior, she seems completely out of place.

Yuan Xi stood in front of the arched door of the garden, thinking about how to tell her mother about this, Mrs. Liu bent down with scissors, cut off the excess branches of a flower, and said to the flowers:

"If you have anything, come in and say it."

It turned out that Mrs. Liu had already noticed Yuan Xi's arrival, and Yuan Xi had no time to think about it anymore. He helped the door and walked into the garden, came to his mother's side and saluted: "Hello, Mother..."

Mrs. Liu always lowered her head and did not look back at Yuan Xi behind her. She was just looking for any flower branches that needed to be pruned. Although Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang were both born by Mrs. Liu, Yuan Xi has always disapproved of Yuan Shang's succession as the crown prince.

Although he did not have a clear political stance on the surface, he always supported Yuan Tan in his heart, which gradually made the gap between him and Mrs. Liu and Yuan Shang deeper and his feelings became thinner and thinner.

This is also the reason why Yuan Xi was hesitant. He felt that it seemed a bit too reckless to mention this matter directly, so he found a topic to reconcile the atmosphere: "Mother still likes flowers so much, and I will add a few new plants to you in a few days."

"Okay, Shang'er has prepared it for me, so there is no need to add new ones."

Mrs. Liu lowered her head and fiddled with the flowers in the bush. She was very sour, and her words revealed a strong dissatisfaction with Yuan Xi: "How can you remember me as a mother? You know you are my son, and you don't know you think you are Yuan Tan's brother."

Yuan Xi was mentally prepared before coming. Although Mrs. Liu said this in front of the servant Ding, he still bit the bullet and listened to Zhang Ning and Yuan Shang's marriage. Not only that, he also forced a laugh:

"My mother is so rude, and Xier will always have only one mother, so how can she be biased towards others?"

After hearing this, Mrs. Liu sneered: "Is that so? Shen Pei, Feng Ji wrote several letters to ask your father to make your younger brother the heir. It would be fine if you don't help your younger brother, but you are still chewing the root of your father's ears, saying that the deposed elders and the young have been a way to cause chaos since ancient times. I think you are jealous of your younger brother because you don't have the chance to be the prince, right?"

Yuan Xi stood there listening to Mrs. Liu's words pierced into his heart like a sharp knife. He clenched his fists for a long time before letting go a little. He took a deep breath to adjust his emotions and said calmly:

"The decree of the father is a decision made by his father, and it is not something that children can control. I have never thought of inheriting my father's title. I just want to stabilize Hebei and help my father complete his great cause. As for who his father wants to make his heir, I don't want to interfere."

Mrs. Liu listened to Yuan Xi's heartfelt words, thinking in her heart that she felt that the son she raised was not like this. Her tone eased a little, turned around and walked to Yuan Xi, looking up at his eyes and said:

"You are looking for me for Miss Zhang?"

Mrs. Liu's shrewdness has always been well known, otherwise she would not have monopolized Yuan Shao's audio-visual swagger in the Yuan family for so many years, so she could guess what Yuan Xi was thinking was not a strange thing to him.

However, since the matter had been told by her, Yuan Xi felt relieved and said:

"That is, as far as the child knows, Miss Zhang's third brother has no intention of marrying her third brother. She is not sweet when she is forced to marry her. Even if she barely marry into our Yuan family, her third brother may not be happy. It is better to hire another good daughter. There are many talented and virtuous daughters in Jizhou City, so why worry about not being able to find it?"

Mrs. Liu listened to every word Yuan Xi said, although she was as calm as water on the surface, she was actually very dissatisfied with Yuan Xi's mentality of turning her elbow out. However, the one standing in front of her was her son who was born from ten months of pregnancy, so she couldn't be so angry that she could only persuade him with reason: "Xi'er, do you know why your father and I tried our best to promote this marriage?"

Yuan Xi shook his head and expressed his confusion. In fact, he had already guessed the probabilities in his heart, but he just couldn't say them clearly.

"Zhang Ning's brother is a general under your father's tent. He is brave and good at fighting and has a strategy. He is a rare handsome talent. Almost no one can surpass his martial arts except Yan Liang and Wen Chou. It is because he is such an outstanding person. You should understand what I say, right?"

This is exactly the same as what Yuan Xi guessed. Indeed, there is no doubt that if he became a in-law with Zhang He, he would be able to further win over his heart and force him to be more loyal to the Yuan family.

Besides, no one in Jizhou City knew that Zhang He loved this sister very much. When he was traveling far away, Zhang Ning was with him and tried his best to satisfy his requests. Putting her in the Yuan family was the best restraint for Zhang He.

However, it is too cruel to destroy the happy life that an originally innocent and kind girl should have because of this reason.

Even if Yuan Xi had many reasons in his mind, Mrs. Liu showed this trump card enough to make him speechless.

Seeing that he had basically convinced Yuan Xi, Mrs. Liu turned around again and bent down to fiddle with the flowers in front of her:

"If it's okay, you can leave, so as not to be embarrassed when Shang'er comes later."

After standing there for a while, Yuan Xi left the garden with a serious expression.

Shortly after he left, Mrs. Liu raised her head and said to the rockery behind her:

"You heard our conversation just now?"

What was hidden behind the rockery was Yuan Shang. He walked out and patted the dust stuck on his body. He bit his lower lip and looked at the arched doorway that Yuan Xi passed when he left. His eyes were filled with strong hostility that made people creepy.

"Mother, it seems that my second brother no longer takes me as a younger brother seriously. Look, everything he says is directed towards outsiders."

Mrs. Liu put down the scissors in her hand, raised her sleeve and gently reached out to wipe away the stains on Yuan Shang's forehead:

"Don't talk about him anymore. You are all compatriots. They are all meat that fell from my stomach. I don't want your brothers to fight." She led Yuan Shang to the pavilion and sat down, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip and continued:

"I originally wanted you, Xier, to help you deal with Yuan Tan and win the throne of prince, but unfortunately his thoughts were too naive."

Yuan Shang curled his lips and said, "I think my second brother wants to fish in the troubled waters between me and Yuan Tan, so that the fisherman can benefit."

This sentence aroused Mrs. Liu's displeasure. She put down the teacup and scolded softly:

"Don't talk nonsense. I just tried it out with words. He had no intention of competing for succession. If it was true, would you be their opponent with his and Yuan Tan's strength?"

Although Mrs. Liu has always tried to reduce Yuan Shang's hostility towards Yuan Xi, it has always achieved little success.
Chapter completed!