Li Qishen's heart trembled, and he was silent for a moment before he said "hmm" very lightly: "You are in Qingsi Palace, don't you have any new acquaintances?"
"Of course. However, there is always a difference between 'acquaintances' and 'friends'." Xie Wangzhi did not notice his weirdness. "The palace maids in Qingsi Palace are very nice, but they are always a little distant. I don't think I can stay here forever... I can't say they are friends."
"You want to go back to the Shangshi Bureau?"
A question came at him, and Xie Wangzhi thought it was too direct, so he carefully threw the question back: "Then can I ask Your Highness why you asked me to be here?"
This is a good question. Li Qishen was also in a state of excitement at the time. When he heard Cui Shi's words, he was so angry that he didn't care about anything else. There were some things he couldn't do for the time being, but he would never sit and wait for death. Rather than letting Xie Wangzhi run around outside and run into danger at any time, it would be better to keep him by his side.
He is different from Li Tuoqi. Li Tuoqi is patient and gentle, and he is overly restrained, while Li Qishen does things as he pleases, and he might go crazy if he is not careful. Li Chengjin always has to pretend to be a kind father in front of him, and there are some things he cannot do.
However, he couldn't tell any of the reasons. Li Qishen felt bitter. He held it in for a while and thought that the selection should be similar. That group of palace maids were specially picked out, so there was no need to go to the Shangshi Bureau to rescue them.
He thought for a moment and said, "Wait until early March, then go back."
"Really?!" Xie Wangzhi was instantly excited, but then he thought that this couldn't be allowed, so he cleared his throat, "... Thank you, Your Highness."
What else could Li Qishen do? He could only ignore her obvious joy and said softly, "Tell me about your story."
"… I?"
"Yeah." Li Qishen thought of an excuse, "I can't go out for the time being, so I want to hear what's going on outside."
"Oh... OK." Xie Wangzhi actually had nothing to say. He thought for a while and said, "Your Highness, do you know that Huihe hostage?"
"Sydar?" Li Qishen was slightly startled. "Did you see him today?"
Xie Wangzhi said “hmm” and said, “When I went outside, I happened to see him feeding the cat… I didn’t dare to say much, and after watching for a while, two people came.”
"Two people, they look like twins?"
"How did your highness know?"
Li Qishen sneered very lightly, but spoke calmly, his tone could even be described as gentle: "He is from the Lanling Xiao family, don't worry about him. But he has a bad temper, so it's better to avoid him."
“…Oh.” Xie Wangzhi recalled the situation at that time, nodded, and whispered, “Then there is nothing else.”
"Okay." Li Qishen responded, "Then listen to me?"
Xie Wangzhi responded quickly, but he felt a little uneasy in his heart, and unconsciously clenched his sleeves: "I'm listening."
Li Qishen smiled slightly: "What legends have you seen?"
Xie Wangzhi never expected that he would bring up this topic, and her tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed, and she actually smiled. She was not very good at dealing with people, but when it came to legends, she had more to say, and she leaned against the door and slowly opened up.
The two sides had more things to say. Li Qishen's throat was uncomfortable, so he spoke less, and when he spoke, he was very restrained. Most of the time, it was Xie Wangzhi who chattered about random things. But she was very happy. It was clearly the first time she talked to the boy through the door, but when she spoke, it was like they were old friends.
It was quiet all around. The girl leaned against the door, looking up at the snow, the lantern beside her still burning. The boy inside also leaned against the door, his dark hair curled on the ground. The lamps in the hall burned out a warm yellow light, shining through the doors and windows.
The snow gradually stopped, and a few stars appeared faintly on the indigo sky.
"... Later, the scholar who married the dragon girl became an immortal, and gave the elixir to his former friend, and then that friend disappeared." Xie Wangzhi gently ended the legend, "That's it."
"It is indeed the immortal who gave me the elixir." The story was beautiful, but Li Qishen was not moved at all and responded indifferently.
Xie Wangzhi exhaled and looked at the yard in the light of the lantern: "... Yeah, the snow has stopped. I should go back."
"good."
"Then I'll be leaving first. Your Highness, you should take a rest and take care of yourself. It won't be good if you catch a severe cold." Xie Wangzhi stood up holding the lantern and patted his cloak.
"Um."
Knowing that the other party couldn't see, Xie Wangzhi still smiled, as if standing in front of the young man. It was cold outside, but she felt that the spot under her eyes was slightly warm. She couldn't help but reach out and touch it, and inexplicably said something unnecessary: "Your Highness, the snow outside is very thick."
"I know." Li Qishen didn't understand. "What's wrong?"
"…Nothing. I just thought that if you didn't have a cold, it would be nice to come out and see the snow now." Xie Wangzhi said, "The snow has just stopped. It will be different tomorrow morning."
"yes."
Li Qishen kept speaking in a bland tone, and Xie Wangzhi couldn't figure out what he meant. Besides, it was late at night, and it was not good to stand outside. She knew she had to leave, but she seemed a little reluctant: "... Your Highness?"
"how?"
"... Ah, I made a bowl of Tremella soup today and asked someone to send it over." Xie Wangzhi tightly grasped the long handle of the lantern, and her fingertips were a little painful, but she didn't feel it. She lowered her head, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, how do you feel?"
The sweet feeling in his throat suddenly came up, Li Qishen suppressed it, coughed, and said insincerely: "... Not bad, I like it very much."
"As long as you like it." Xie Wangzhi suddenly became happy again, unconsciously approaching the door, as if offering a treasure, "I can make other sweet soups. Since Your Highness likes it, I will make it for Your Highness."
Li Qishen's heart skipped a beat, and he thought that if he really drank it every day, the extra sugar would make him go to see his ancestors sooner or later.
But he couldn't refuse, so he was silent for a moment and resigned himself to his fate: "Thank you."
"… Yeah." Xie Wangzhi had no idea what he was thinking. He stroked the lantern and said softly, "Then I'll be leaving. I'll bother Your Highness tonight."
"No problem."
Xie Wangzhi responded again, pulled his cloak tightly together, lifted his skirt slightly, and walked back along the snowy path on the ground.
Li Qishen leaned against the door and listened for a while. After making sure that there was no sound outside, he stood up and suddenly pushed the door open.
The cold wind at night rushed into the house, blowing away the fruit wood fragrance from the burning silver charcoal, and instead made people feel refreshed. Li Qishen stood at the door, looking at the sparse stars in the sky and the snow on the brick and stone ground, which was as bright as silver frost.
"Yeah." The ends of his hair that were blown by the wind fell back to their original place, and he sighed softly, "Wait until tomorrow morning... It will be different."
**
One must do what he promised, and the next day, Xie Wangzhi went into the kitchen as usual, wanting to make a bowl of sweet soup to send over. Just as he soaked the mung beans, a young eunuch from the main hall came over, saying that he was serving food for the Seventh Prince, who wanted to eat something salty.
Since he wanted to eat something salty, Xie Wangzhi had no choice but to put down the mung beans and cook something else. It happened that there was a newly caught fish in the kitchen, which had many bones but fat meat. Steaming it might be greasy, and picking out the bones would be troublesome, so it was better to make it into fish balls.
Xie Wangzhi decided to make a bowl of fish ball soup. He immediately rolled up his sleeves, spread a fish in half, and started slicing the fish.
Her knife skills are average, but she is patient. She removes the bones bit by bit, and the sliced fish is well-formed, evenly thick, without any fish oil.
After slicing half of the fish, a voice suddenly came from behind: "What are you doing? Sour soup fish fillet?"
Xie Wangzhi was so startled that she almost cut her hand with the knife. She looked back and saw that it was Cui Shi. She remembered that this handsome man was the Seventh Prince's companion, so she breathed a sigh of relief: "… I was scared to death. Why is he in the kitchen?"
"I'm a little hungry. I didn't have breakfast today." Cui Shi touched the tip of his nose. "Can I order something to eat in advance?"
The cook who was preparing the dishes nodded: "What do you want?"
"Let's cook whatever we have." Cui Shi was not picky. "It'd be best if you could make a soup with some pepper. I'll eat it with some bread."
The cook responded, and his eyes fell back on the fish fillet: "You haven't told me yet, what is this?"
"I want to make fish ball and vegetable soup." Xie Wangzhi did not hide it from him, "The Seventh Prince said he wanted to eat something salty, and fish happens to be available, so it won't be difficult to make."
Cui Shi keenly sensed something was wrong and said "Oh" in a long voice: "Seventh Prince?"
“…Yes, Seventh Prince.” Xie Wangzhi had a feeling that something was wrong, but he didn’t know what was wrong, so he nodded blankly.
Cui Shi stared at it for a while and then let out a long "oh".
Xie Wangzhi was stared at so hard that his entire body felt hairy: "... Sir? Is there something wrong with me?"
"No." Cui Shi couldn't say that he wanted to watch the fun, so he said casually, "I just want to ask, you and..."
He almost blurted out the word "Changsheng", but then he thought it was inappropriate. He couldn't casually mention the word "Changsheng" in front of a strange young lady, so he changed the word abruptly, "... Are you familiar with him?"
"I'm not familiar with him. We only said a few words to each other." Xie Wangzhi instinctively wanted to avoid it. "Why are you asking this?"
"Nothing, nothing." Cui Shi quickly denied, "I just want to ask, what kind of person do you think the Seventh Prince is?"
“…Why are you asking me?”
"Just asking. Just asking casually." Cui Shi refused to give in.
Xie Wangzhi pursed his lips: "What do you think?"
She usually speaks in a soft tone and her voice is gentle and soft, sounding like a dough that is easy to knead. But this sentence sounded hard, and you couldn't tell that she was angry. But looking at her expression, her lips were tightly pursed, and she was obviously a little annoyed.
Cui Shi secretly thought that this was not good. He was only thinking about watching the fun and did not notice that his questions were too demanding, which made them seem like interrogation.
"The Seventh Prince is gentle and refined." He spoke nonsense without thinking. He felt embarrassed to stay in the kitchen any longer, so he said goodbye and hurried out.
… inexplicable.
Xie Wangzhi was too lazy to pay attention to him. He put the sliced fish into a bowl and beat it gently with a small wooden hammer. The texture of the fish slices gradually spread out and turned into delicate fish paste under the hammer.
The finer the fish paste is, the chewier the fish balls will be. Xie Wangzhi pounded it patiently, thinking aimlessly about last night's conversation in the snow and the beautiful silhouette behind the window, and also remembered what Cui Shi had said before.
Gentle and refined.
The sages said that only a gentleman would be like this, gentle and elegant in just the right way.
Xie Wangzhi's heart suddenly trembled.
The author has something to say: Because of his education, Wangzhi already had a good impression of this kind of gentleman in the traditional sense. In addition, Changsheng had been very restrained before, and the situation was a little ambiguous, such as the talk in the snow at night. Wangzhi was really a little moved, probably similar to the way he was moved by the school hunk with good grades when he was a student xd
Changsheng: I won’t say any more. I will stab my own little man (…)
Hehe, thank you to the little angels who cast the tyrant votes or irrigated the nutrient solution for me~
Thanks to the little angel who cast [mine]: Heart 1118 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
mushroommm 114 bottles; Doudoudoudoudu, Duhaijihe 15 bottles; Jiumu 10 bottles;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!