Yan Yunning poked him on the cheek, pouting with a wronged little expression. “No, I didn’t. I just thought it looked like it would be the kind of sweet that would hurt your teeth. But then again — if you buy it, it won’t be like that.”

If she actually ate it, he was going to be furious again.

Ye Chen elbowed Ye’an in bewilderment, muttering quietly, “The one His Highness buys won’t hurt your teeth? Aren’t they all made by the same vendor?”

“What would you know?” Ye’an rolled his eyes.

Ye Chen pressed his lips together and repeated the words back at him mockingly. “What would you know? Oh, only you would know!!”

Ye’an: “…?”

He was beginning to wonder whether Ye Jian had picked a fight with His Highness on purpose just to escape Ye Chen and get himself out of the Crown Prince’s estate.

In the time the two of them had been whispering to each other, Ye Chen raised his eyes — and there was Xuan Yanyu, who only moments ago had been radiating cold displeasure, now handing Yan Yunning a freshly purchased sugar figurine.

And in the same motion, he had taken the phoenix figurine — the one already beginning to melt — right out of Yan Yunning’s hand and into his own.

“It’s delicious,” Yan Yunning declared with exaggerated enthusiasm, shaking her head theatrically.

Xuan Yanyu watched her with a curved smile. The fierce, brilliant light fell across her face, bathing her fair, delicate cheeks in a faint blush. Her round, bright eyes carried a glint of playful cunning, which added a bewitching charm to her beauty — she was impossibly lovely.

The man flashed a broad grin and leaned down close to her, then took a bite from the spot where the girl had bitten, and remarked, “Very sweet.”

Yan Yunning: “…”

Something must be wrong with his sense of taste. It tasted fine, yes — but it was not that sweet at all!

How strange — wasn’t a sugar figurine supposed to be sweet?

What she did not know was this: when she had said it was sweet enough to hurt her teeth, Xuan Yanyu had quietly asked the vendor to adjust the ratio of sugar to water — so that it would not be quite so sweet.

“Very sweet?” Yan Yunning stared at the figurine in her hand and asked again.

The man held her gaze, smiled, and nodded.

Yan Yunning bit her lip. She’d had no idea Xuan Yanyu had a problem with his taste!

“Try it again.” She held the figurine up to Xuan Yanyu’s lips, motioning for him to take another bite.

The man’s throat moved in a slow, subtle roll as he bowed his head and took another bite where she had left off. The gossamer threads of spun sugar snapped and scattered as he bit down; with the few crumbs that fell away, very little of the small figurine remained.

“Is it sweet?” Yan Yunning asked, eyes full of hopeful anticipation.

Xuan Yanyu touched the tip of his tongue to his lips and curved his mouth into a smile. “Sweet. Very sweet.”

Yan Yunning: “…”

She tasted the last remaining gossamer threads herself. It was nowhere near as sweet as the man claimed!

“Xuan Yanyu — do you genuinely think it’s very sweet?” Yan Yunning looked up at him, her expression etched with concern.

“Hmm?”

Seeing how serious his expression was, Yan Yunning began to doubt herself. She broke off two small pieces from places neither she nor Xuan Yanyu had bitten, and held them out to Ye Chen and Ye’an with a flutter of her lashes. “Taste this and tell me — is it sweet?”

She watched them eat the pieces and waited eagerly for their answer.

“Very sweet, Crown Princess. Far too sweet,” Ye’an affirmed without hesitation — whatever His Highness said, that was the truth of it.

Ye Chen scratched his head and echoed Ye’an. “Very sweet.”

His Highness and Ye’an both said it was sweet. If he said otherwise, that wouldn’t go over well.

Yan Yunning pursed her lips, feeling as though something surreal was happening. Her sense of taste was perfectly fine — so why could she not detect this supposed sweetness?

Noticing the conflicted expression on the girl’s face, Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow and smiled. He had a fairly good idea by now why Ningning was wearing that look — and why she had kept asking him over and over whether the sugar figurine was sweet.

He himself had never actually said the sugar figurine was sweet. As for those two, they had simply gone along with what he implied, which had led Ningning to start doubting her own senses.

“Stop overthinking it. The sugar figurine is not sweet.” Xuan Yanyu slung his arm over Yan Yunning’s shoulder, a mischievous grin playing at his lips. “Has this palace ever said the sugar figurine was very sweet?”

Ye Chen and Ye’an: “…”

With His Highness saying that, didn’t it make it sound as though they had deceived the Crown Princess?

“…?” Yan Yunning was speechless for a long moment. “You never said it. But when I asked you, why did you say it was very sweet?”

“Fool.” The man knocked lightly on her forehead and smiled with unbridled warmth. “Let’s go back to the estate.”

Yan Yunning: “…”

——

Crown Prince’s Estate.

They had barely reached the entrance of the estate when Eunuch Feng arrived in person, delivering the treasures Prince Xuan had bestowed upon Yan Yunning.

“Your Highness, this servant has an imperial verbal edict to convey.” Eunuch Feng said with a smile.

Xuan Yanyu loosened his hold on Yan Yunning’s hand and curved his lips into an easy smile. “Ningning, go on ahead and eat — this palace will join you at Qishan Hall shortly.”

“Alright.” Yan Yunning nodded.

Once Yan Yunning had entered the estate, Xuan Yanyu’s smile faded. He cast a languid glance at Eunuch Feng. “What does the Imperial Father wish to say?”

“Your Highness, the Crown Princess has agreed to your taking a side consort.” The moment the words left his mouth, Eunuch Feng felt an immediate chill in the air, yet steeled himself and pressed on. “His Majesty has also bestowed these gifts upon the Crown Princess in recognition of her gracious and understanding conduct.”

“Your Highness, you need not hold back on account of the Crown Princess…”

“Did the Imperial Father pressure Ningning?” The man’s expression darkened considerably.

“No, no, not at all.” Eunuch Feng waved his hands in a flustered denial, his voice tinged with fear. “The Crown Princess still carries His Majesty’s little imperial grandchild. How could His Majesty possibly pressure the Crown Princess? It was the Crown Princess herself who said so to His Majesty.”

“Ningning said so?” Xuan Yanyu lowered his gaze and smiled, yet his eyes were icy cold. “She told this palace to take a side consort?”

“Indeed, Your Highness. His Majesty promised the Crown Princess that after Your Highness ascends the throne, her child will be the next Prince Xuan — and it was on that assurance that the Crown Princess agreed.” Eunuch Feng quietly stepped back a few paces.

His Highness did not appear to be pleased in the least. On the contrary, his expression had turned cold and dark. He stood motionless in place, exuding a chilling stillness that made no one dare draw near or speak another word.

Xuan Yanyu clenched his fist. Without the Imperial Father making Ningning any promise, their child would already be the next Prince Xuan after he ascended the throne — that went without saying, and Ningning was certainly not too naive to have thought of it.

She had thought of it, and yet she had spoken to the Imperial Father in this way — did this mean she no longer cared for him so deeply? That she was willing to push him into another woman’s arms simply to comply with the Imperial Father’s wishes?

To avoid angering the Imperial Father?

Impossible!

It was more likely that she wanted him to relent and allow the child to acknowledge Aci as a godfather.

He thought of how she had cheerfully piled food into Aci’s bowl, of how she wanted their child to take Aci as a godfather, and of how today she had chatted so happily with Pei Shuluo. Xuan Yanyu felt a suffocating weight of irritation press down on him.

——

Half an hour had passed since she arrived at Qishan Hall to wait, and still Xuan Yanyu had not come. Yan Yunning rubbed her stomach and murmured, “I’m so hungry.”

“Crown Princess, if you’re hungry, do go ahead and eat a little — His Highness won’t mind,” Xiao Wan said with a smile, beginning to serve food into Yan Yunning’s bowl. “Crown Princess, just a little something to tide you over.”

Yan Yunning pouted. Xuan Yanyu had said he would come eat with her soon — she wanted to wait for him.

And to properly explain things to him.

After another quarter of an hour, there was still no sign of Xuan Yanyu coming to Qishan Hall. In his place came Ye’an, who stepped in with a smile and delivered a single message: “His Highness the Crown Prince has matters to attend to — Crown Princess, please begin your meal.”

Yan Yunning lowered her eyes and picked up her golden chopsticks, eating slowly.

She suspected that Xuan Yanyu’s absence was because Eunuch Feng had told him something, and that he was once again angry and unwilling to come keep her company.

After finishing her meal, Yan Yunning returned to the inner chamber and told Xiao Wan and Xiaoyue that she wished to retire early, and that there was no need for anyone to keep a night watch. She then snuffed out the candle and lay down on the bed.

When she could no longer hear any movement outside, Yan Yunning dressed herself, slipped out quietly, evaded the patrolling guards, and made her way to the gates of the Crown Prince’s estate.