"She sent it?"
"Yes." Chang Zu guessed what Li Qishen meant and said tentatively, "The young lady even asked me what she should do for you. It seems that she really cares about it."
Li Qishen liked what he heard, but he didn't show it. He still had a faint smile on his face. He put his fingertips on the food box and tapped it lightly: "Really?"
"Of course." Chang Zu said quickly, "I heard that the young lady has good cooking skills and is very serious about it. I think it will taste good. Would you like to try it?"
"Try." The lid of the food box had been loosened long ago, and Li Qishen opened it casually, revealing the contents inside.
The food box was not deep, just enough to hold a small jar. Li Qishen took out the porcelain jar, opened the lid, and a hot sweet aroma hit him in the face.
It was a jar of Tremella soup. It was obvious that a lot of thought had gone into it. The Tremella was stewed until it was extremely soft and mushy. You couldn't tell that it was originally a bunch of flowers. It was as sticky as translucent glue, and together with the sugar juice, it wrapped the lotus seeds inside, making them translucent, as if they were a layer of sugar shell. In order to make the color look good, a few pitted red dates were also cooked inside, and a handful of bright red wolfberries were sprinkled on top.
The sweet soup is really sweet. The aroma makes people feel greedy, but Li Qishen doesn’t like sweet food, and he doesn’t like wolfberries even more.
Chang Zu had just been trying his best to praise Xie Wangzhi's cooking skills, but when he saw the Tremella soup, he almost broke out in a cold sweat. He was thinking about how to remedy the situation, but Li Qishen was calm and naturally took the spoon, slightly set aside the wolfberries on the soup, and scooped up a spoonful of the clear, sticky and sweet soup.
Chang Zu was stunned: "Your Highness..."
Li Qishen had already put the spoon in his mouth. When he took a bite, his brows furrowed, his Adam's apple moved, and he swallowed it with difficulty. After a while, he said, "... Why is it so sweet?"
Chang Zu quickly poured tea and said, "Then... shall I go to the kitchen and tell them?"
"No need." Li Qishen threw the spoon back, "Go down."
He didn't like having people serve him closely, especially at night, so Chang Zu understood and bowed and quietly left.
There were not many palace servants in the palace, and few human voices could be heard. After they left, it became even quieter, and even the sparks from the lights could be heard clearly. The candles were still burning, and through the flowers, birds, fish and insects painted on the wall, the warm yellow light fell on Li Qishen, illuminating the boy's tall figure and beautiful features, with tiny dots of light dancing on the ends of his hair and eyelashes.
Li Qishen sat at the table for a while. He wanted to take some time to read a book, but the sweet fragrance from the jar came out in wisps. It was clearly a smell he didn't like, but it made him feel itchy.
… never mind.
If I don't eat it and let someone take it back as it is, I don't know what Xie Wangzhi will think. It's just a jar of Tremella soup. It's sweet. Anyway, I won't die if I eat it.
After a moment, Li Qishen stopped struggling and resigned himself to reaching out for the spoon again.
The moment the spoon entered the jar, he looked at the sticky syrup hanging from the porcelain spoon, suddenly lowered his eyes, smiled inexplicably, and sighed: "It's all my fault. I owe you."
**
The weather has been cold recently. It is already the beginning of February. In previous years, it would gradually warm up, but this year it is strange and there is no warmth. It snowed at night, but fortunately it was not heavy, only a thin layer on the stone floor. When the shoes stepped on the ground, shallow footprints could be left, and the snow on the soles of the shoes was immediately pressed into thin ice.
There were no female officials in Qingsi Palace to set rules. Xie Wangzhi was bored, so she put on a cloak she brought with her, went out with a lantern, and stepped on the snow with the dim light of the lantern. The snowy night was particularly quiet, and all the palace people had returned to their rooms. There was no one to keep watch tonight. It seemed that she was the only one in the huge Qingsi Palace.
Xie Wangzhi was usually sensible, but he was only thirteen years old after all, and still had a child's playful heart. He walked in the yard with a lantern in his hand, and when he saw that there was no one around, he would occasionally squat down and make a snowball to play with.
While walking and playing, they unknowingly arrived at the entrance of the main hall. The main hall has always been used as a sleeping hall, divided into inside and outside. Xie Wangzhi was not sure where the Seventh Prince was at this time, so he was too lazy to go forward and cause trouble.
She was about to turn around and avoid it when a beautiful silhouette appeared on the window.
The window was a mullioned window with window paper pasted on it. The silhouette was cut into small pieces, but the combination was very beautiful. The profile was smooth, and it looked like she should have long, smooth hair. The light was on in the room, and the shadow fell on the window, like a silhouette drawn by a skilled hand. Xie Wangzhi stared at it for a while, and suddenly thought of the shadow play in the East Market.
There is a story in the shadow play, which is cliché in itself, telling the story of a lady and a man falling in love at first sight. What touched Xie Wangzhi was one of the scenes, which said that the man came rushing in and caught a glimpse of the lady's silhouette through the window.
Shadow puppets are just shadows, so they naturally cannot act out the shadow of the lady cast on the window. But when Xie Wangzhi looked at this shadow at this moment, an elusive emotion suddenly welled up in his heart, as if through the light-blocking curtain, his thoughts overlapped with those of the man in the story in an instant.
She stepped forward involuntarily, not knowing what was going on. She only heard her own voice: "Seventh Prince?"
The window was not closed tightly. When the boy inside the window heard the sound, he was startled and his first reaction was to reach out and close the window tightly.
The snowy night was silent, so this was particularly noticeable. The "bang" sound startled both people inside and outside the window.
Xie Wangzhi's grip on the lantern tightened, thinking that he was being driven away, and felt inexplicably sad: "Excuse me, Your Highness, I'll take my leave."
"… No!" The girl's voice was obviously disappointed. Li Qishen was anxious, afraid that she would be angry, so he started to talk nonsense, "The window is not closed tightly. I caught a cold and can't be exposed to the wind."
Listening to the boy's voice through the window was indeed a bit muffled, as if listening to someone else's voice under water. Thinking of his sudden appearance at the window earlier, Xie Wangzhi thought Li Qishen was here to close the window, and felt a little embarrassed. Taking advantage of the fact that he couldn't see, he quietly raised his hand and scratched his face: "... So that's it."
"Hmm." After eating a bowl of sweet soup with an extra ounce of sugar, Li Qishen felt uncomfortable in his throat and coughed.
Xie Wangzhi was shocked when he heard this: "Your Highness's cold... is it serious?"
"Not bad." Li Qishen hadn't been sick for many years. He felt a little uncomfortable pretending to be sick in front of her, so he turned and walked towards the door.
Xie Wangzhi didn't know what this meant. She watched the beautiful silhouette passing through the windows. She followed the shadow until she stood in front of the door.
The door of Qingsi Hall was completely sealed, connecting the top and the bottom. Xie Wangzhi could not see Li Qishen's silhouette, but she knew he was behind her. She swallowed, not understanding what he meant, and did not dare to speak.
Li Qishen was not in a good mood either, his mind was full of confusion. He raised his hand and pressed on the door, wanting to open it for a moment, but then he became nervous again.
Opening the door is easy, but what comes next is troublesome.
Xie Wangzhi looked soft and easy to talk to, but after spending time with him, she could see that he had a tough character. She could accept a eunuch or a musician as a friend, but she might not be able to accept a prince, especially one who had deceived her for half a year.
Li Qishen slowly withdrew his hand, but was still worried: "Is it cold outside?"
"… Are you okay?" Xie Wangzhi had no idea what the man behind the door was thinking. She just thought he couldn't see the wind and wanted to go outside but couldn't, so she asked. She stretched out her hand to feel the night breeze, "The wind blows over, it seems a little cold… But I don't feel it on my body with the cloak on."
"Okay." Li Qishen asked again, "What are you doing here?"
"It's snowing, slave..."
"stop."
Xie Wang was stunned: "...Your Highness?"
"Don't call yourself that. I don't like it."
Xie Wangzhi was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a moment.
She was born in a noble family, and she had many maids around her at home. Xie Wangzhi did not think she was superior to the maids because she was paid to do things for them, but she never thought of asking them not to call themselves that. When she arrived in the palace, she still thought so, and did not think it was shameful to call herself a "slave". She just followed the rules.
However, now in Qingsi Palace, snow was falling, and the Seventh Prince, who was standing across the door, asked her not to call herself that.
Xie Wangzhi couldn't tell what she was thinking. He found it funny for a moment, but didn't laugh. Instead, he felt his eyelashes trembling, and tiny snow beads fell off.
“… That’s rude.” She said, “Your Highness, it’s snowing outside.”
"I know."
"I like snow, and I also like to go out and play." Xie Wangzhi continued, "There's no one here tonight, so I came out to see the snow and take a walk at night, which is also very interesting."
"Are you feeling bored here?"
“… It’s hard to say that.” Xie Wangzhi said honestly, “I used to work at the Shangshi Bureau for quite a while. I’m familiar with the things there and have friends I can talk to. I don’t have that here.”
She paused, "Your Highness, you may think that I am ignorant or that I don't know how to appreciate my good fortune. But I still think that Qingsi Palace is great, but I don't know anyone there, so Shangshi Bureau is more suitable for me."
Li Qishen retracted his fingers and resisted the urge to open the door: "It's okay. You just said, friend?"
"Yeah. Although I don't know many people, I still have a few friends. I live with two ladies who are very nice..." Thinking of Yao Yupan, Xie Wangzhi still felt a little uncomfortable, but she couldn't let Li Qishen hear it, so she avoided the question vaguely, "And..."
"… besides?"
"... and a musician from the Jiaofang." Xie Wangzhi was a little embarrassed at first, as he always felt awkward mentioning it to Li Qishen. But when he really said it out loud, he felt relieved.
"You know a lot of people." Li Qishen was in a complicated mood and asked, "So what do you think of him?"
Xie Wangzhi didn't expect Li Qishen to be interested, but she couldn't just say "it has nothing to do with you". She hesitated for a moment, put the lantern aside, gathered her cloak and skirt, leaned against the door, and slowly sat down.
The door was blocked by the eaves, and the stone brick in front of it was clean. Li Qishen heard the rustling sound outside and guessed that Xie Wangzhi had sat down. With a slight movement in his heart, he turned his back and sat down slowly next to the door, leaning against Xie Wangzhi across the door.
Then he heard Xie Wangzhi's voice. Unlike the obvious nervousness and uneasiness when she spoke before, this time the girl's tone was quite relaxed, with a hint of smile, as if she was narrating the feelings hidden in her heart.
"I think he's a good person." Xie Wangzhi said, "The best person I've ever met, except for my brother."
The author has something to say: Let us congratulate Changsheng for getting the Good Guy Card!!! Let’s applaud him!!