"… The Seventh Prince of Qingsi Palace?" Xie Wangzhi dared to speak only after leaving Lizheng Palace. She had knelt firmly for a while before, her legs were numb and her knees were still aching. She let Changsheng half-help and half-carry her to the edge of the rockery. When she recovered a little, she remembered to ask, "Did you call only me? Did you give me a menu? I'm not familiar with that place…"
"I lied to the Crown Princess." It was already this late, and he was still thinking about cooking. Changsheng was convinced. Seeing that Xie Wangzhi's legs were not feeling right, he simply stopped by the roadside and reached out to touch her knee.
"… Lie? That's the Eastern Palace, how dare you?!"
Changsheng's words were so scary that Xie Wangzhi didn't even dare to think about it. When he was startled, the boy's fingertips had already touched his knees through his skirt.
Nowadays, it is fashionable for young ladies to wear Hu clothing. When Xie Wangzhi's mother was still alive, she did not restrict her. She even said that she could go out if she wanted to, drink and go outing with other men, even if it was okay to hang out in wine shops and singing houses. But there was one thing: she had to take good care of herself and not let anyone touch or see her.
However, now, close to the rockery, there was a handsome young man in front of Xie Wangzhi. He lowered his eyes slightly and leaned over naturally to touch her knees.
She was clearly wearing a skirt and thick shorts underneath, but she was inexplicably nervous. Her heartbeat suddenly quickened and her face turned red. She stared at Changsheng, unable to utter a word.
"So what about the Eastern Palace? She's just the Crown Princess, a woman who depends on the Crown Prince. Would she dare to send someone to the Qingsi Palace to verify it?" In his eyes, the Crown Princess was not as important as Xie Wangzhi's knees. Changsheng was too lazy to think about it. He pressed it again and felt that the feeling on his fingertips was not right. He frowned, a little worried, "Does your knee hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt. But I seemed a little stiff when I was kneeling earlier." Xie Wangzhi felt it and said honestly.
"... That's strange." Changsheng straightened up and frowned, "I just touched it and it felt like your knee was a little swollen. It should be painful right now... Are you frozen?"
Hearing him say this, Xie Wang was startled. After a while, he suddenly thought of something: "You...how did you find it?"
"You touched it like that." Changsheng was puzzled. "It's just the legs underneath the skirt."
Xie Wangzhi stared at Changsheng for a while and understood. It was a common thing, but in front of him, she couldn't say it out loud for some reason. She felt a subtle sense of shame from the bottom of her heart, as if she said it out loud, this man would have discovered some secret.
She was so embarrassed that her face turned red. She twisted her sleeves and stammered, "I think... you might have touched my shorts... I'm afraid of the cold, so I put a lot of cotton inside."
Changsheng was slightly startled, but couldn't help but smiled. He didn't quite understand this, but seeing Xie Wangzhi's blushing face, he probably knew that he couldn't smile at this time. He quickly forced himself to swallow his smile and said vaguely: "This is also good, so as not to catch a cold."
Xie Wangzhi always felt that she was being laughed at, and felt ashamed and annoyed, but she went to Lizheng Hall by herself, and she wore such thick shorts by herself, so even if she was laughed at, she was not right. She really couldn't answer, and could only stare at Changsheng.
She didn't say anything, and Changsheng didn't know what to say, so he stared back at her with a little embarrassment.
The two of them stared at each other in silence for a while. Xie Wangzhi admitted defeat and swallowed: "If you are not here to deliver a message, why are you in Lizheng Hall?"
"It was indeed a message, but it was from Princess Changning." Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief. "Princess Changning wanted to find the Crown Prince and asked me to deliver the message. Since the Crown Prince is not here, I have no one to tell him. I might as well get you out."
"Princess Changning?"
"You don't know?" It's normal that you haven't heard of it. Changsheng patiently explained, "Princess Changning is the daughter of Princess Pingyi. Princess Pingyi died early, and Princess Danhua died even earlier. Princess Changning didn't have the protection of her mother and grandmother. Giving her a princess title and letting her open her own residence is considered a respect for the royal family."
"She is a poor person as well." Xie Wangzhi nodded, "Why does she want to see the prince?"
"Don't say she's pitiful. No one is watching over her. She lives a very carefree life. Last time, a gossipy censor impeached her for entering Pingkangfang and she was whipped in public." Changsheng has a good relationship with Princess Changning. He smiled and said, "She came to the palace to play these few days. She is the same generation as the prince. It's just a token of her invitation. The prince won't go anyway."
This is quite interesting. Xie Wangzhi smiled and was about to speak when Changsheng opposite him suddenly changed his expression.
"How… "
Before she could finish her words, a hand came over to cover her mouth. Before Xie Wangzhi could react, she was already in Changsheng's arms and pulled behind the rockery. Changsheng even freed up one hand and covered her mouth half-loosely, just enough to cover her instinctive scream.
Xie Wangzhi was half a head shorter than Changsheng, and being so close to him, she felt more and more oppressed. Changsheng put one arm around her waist and abdomen, and covered her mouth with the other hand, as if he was hugging her from behind, or as if he was holding her in his arms.
Through the fabric, Xie Wangzhi could feel the muscles on the boy's arms tensed, just right. He looked slender and tall, but definitely not weak. The hand covering his face had even bones and flesh, and each finger seemed to be carefully carved out of mutton-fat jade. The tip of the index finger was slightly rough, and it was clearly warm and cool, but it set off clusters of fire when it touched his face, burning Xie Wangzhi's face again.
This time the heartbeat was more obvious. No one spoke and there was silence all around. Xie Wangzhi could clearly feel the beating in her chest, beat after beat, making her dizzy.
Being hugged so tightly by someone, and he was still a teenager, Xie Wangzhi should have pushed Changsheng away and hit him in the face, but she could only hear her own heartbeat and the buzzing in her ears, and she even forgot to struggle.
"Excuse me." Changsheng suddenly let go of his hand, "Sorry, I'm hiding."
Xie Wangzhi's face was still red, and he quickly dodged to the side, rubbing his hot face with the back of his hand: "...Who are you hiding from?"
"Princess Changning."
Xie Wang was stunned: "Ah?"
"Princess Changning asked me to deliver a message. If she sees me here, she probably won't let me go." Changsheng sighed and pointed Xie Wangzhi in a direction.
Xie Wangzhi looked over and saw two figures, one tall and one short, about a foot apart, walking farther and farther away on the palace road. The shorter one was wearing a skirt and a cape, with her long hair half-covered and half-tied up, and she should be Princess Changning; the taller one looked like a teenager from behind, with his long hair slightly curled at the ends.
Princess Changning raised her head slightly to look at the young man beside her and seemed to say something. The young man reached out and stroked her shoulder, probably to smoothen her cloak.
"He is a hostage of the Huihe tribe. His name is translated as Xudar." Changsheng guessed what Xie Wangzhi was thinking. "I have met him a few times. He is a nice person, but a little dull and overly cautious. He was sent here after the Huihe tribe was suppressed for causing unrest. He was said to be the Khan's youngest son. But he is a foreigner after all. He was bullied a lot in the palace. Changning couldn't stand this, so she just took him back home."
"Is that so?" The heat on his face had not yet faded, and Xie Wangzhi instinctively felt that he could not let Changsheng know. He licked his lips and made a poor excuse, "I should go back to the Shangshi Bureau, otherwise the female official will look for me."
Changsheng had no idea what she was thinking, and thought it was true. After thinking about it, he warned her again, "After this incident, you must not go to Lizheng Hall again."
Xie Wangzhi nodded randomly, lowered his head, and ran away in a hurry.
Seeing her running so fast, as if she was hiding from something, Changsheng was puzzled and stunned for a moment. He leaned against the rockery, watching the girl's figure disappearing into the distance, and suddenly recalled Xie Wangzhi's red face.
He thought of something, spread out his hand, and looked down at his palm. This hand had been around the girl's slender waist and had also covered her face.
"…Are you shy?" Changsheng whispered. He tried to retract his fingers, as if the feeling of the previous contact was still lingering. The girl's skin was delicate and felt like a freshly peeled lychee.
Her lips pressed against his palm, soft and slightly warm, like a very light kiss.
**
The Crown Princess had that dream again.
In the dream, it was the beginning of spring in March, and the crabapple blossoms were in full bloom. She was not married at that time, and neither was her elder sister. Lanling Xiao received an invitation from the Daming Palace, and probably understood that the prince wanted to use this opportunity to select a concubine, so she sent the two sisters to the palace.
This was the first time the Crown Princess entered the palace. The red walls and green tiles, the lotus in Taiye Lake, the palace ladies coming and going, Chang'an was so prosperous and wealthy, and the Daming Palace was the most prosperous place in Chang'an City. The things that dared not be imagined were piled together, which dazzled the eyes of the two ladies.
As they walked, they found themselves lost. The palace maid who had led the way had gone somewhere, and they were wandering in a large crabapple forest. All they saw were large patches of flowers, bright red or white, overlapping each other, making them dizzy.
It is a taboo to wander around in the palace. Concubine Xiao is of a softer character and was so anxious that she was about to cry. However, the Crown Princess still gritted her teeth and went to look for him to see if there was any palace servant passing by who she could ask.
After walking for a while, she saw Li Qishen under a crabapple tree.
The young man was wearing a long indigo-colored sleeve, standing under the flowers. When the wind blew, the petals fell down, landing on his hair, staining his cuffs, and even gently brushing the end of his eyes, as if he was putting on makeup. Li Qishen stepped on the fallen flowers on the ground, his expression calm, and his pair of light amber eyes seemed to hide a handful of broken gold under the sun.
The Crown Princess didn't know who he was at that time, and there was no one around, so she could only go up to him and ask, her voice trembling, where the Eastern Palace was.
Li Qishen looked at her steadily for a while without saying anything, and just raised his hand and pointed in a direction.
The Crown Princess was about to thank him when the crabapple tree behind Li Qishen suddenly fell down, and the thick branches hit her directly. She couldn't dodge in time, and her eyes widened in horror, reflecting the crabapple trees in her pupils. The flowers were in full bloom, and turned into ashes in an instant.
The Crown Princess suddenly opened her eyes, still in shock. She gasped, her chest rose and fell violently, and was covered with fine cold sweat. She didn't care about the hair stuck to her face by the sweat, and raised her hand to her heart. After stroking it for a few times, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her abdomen.
She was stunned and first smelled a strong smell of blood. The bloodstains on the mattress gradually spread out, like the crabapple flowers in her dream.
The Crown Princess stared at the bloodstain for a while, and suddenly screamed: "... Someone come! Someone come--"