Yan Yunning grumbled in a low voice, “Then let me show you whether I’m good-looking or not. You deliberately said I was passable — of course I’m going to get a little annoyed at you.”

While she was having her portrait painted, she had asked him seriously, yet he had chosen to tease her instead, saying she was passable. Naturally, she had grown angry.

Xuan Yanyu: “……”

Every time, she managed to hit him right in the heart with unerring precision.

Emboldened by his affection, she felt no fear of any consequence.

It only took her saying that in her eyes there was someone more handsome, and in her heart someone more important than him, for him to feel unsettled and restless.

He could not even bring himself to imagine it — if there truly were such a person, and a man at that, living inside her heart, what he might do.

“Go outside first,” Yan Yunning waved at Ye’an.

“Yes, Crown Princess.” The bedchamber door was pulled shut by Ye’an as he left. Yan Yunning tentatively reached out and took Xuan Yanyu’s hand, drawing him over to the round table. She cupped his face in her palms, gazing into the man’s deep eyes, her expression almost comically earnest. “I was wrong, Your Highness the Crown Prince. From now on, I will never deliberately try to annoy you again.”

The man lightly brushed her hands away, his tone carrying a trace of displeasure. “So you’re admitting you were trying to annoy me on purpose?”

“I……” Yan Yunning huffed softly. “Not exactly. At the time I was just a little upset and it slipped out.”

Xuan Yanyu lifted his eyes slightly and looked at Yan Yunning. “You certainly know how to get on my nerves.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

The man fell into silence and picked up his golden chopsticks, taking his meal in an unhurried, leisurely manner.

Yan Yunning proactively ladled soup for Xuan Yanyu and carefully pushed it in front of him.

The man glanced at her and ignored her deliberately pitiable, cautious little act.

Yan Yunning fidgeted with her handkerchief and, deflated, walked over to the bed. She kicked off her embroidered shoes — not with much force — and her outer robe missed the sandalwood rack. She hesitated for a moment but did not get up to retrieve it. Instead, she pulled the brocade quilt over herself.

She planned to rest for a while, then figure out how to coax a certain someone out of his bad mood.

The bedchamber was quiet, with nothing but the sound of golden chopsticks clinking against a porcelain bowl. Xuan Yanyu had not yet finished his meal when Yan Yunning drifted off to sleep.

After a good while, hearing no sound from her, Xuan Yanyu could not help but turn his head to look. His gaze settled on the girl’s well-behaved, sleeping face. His voice was softer than cotton floss. “My mood hasn’t even settled yet, and you’ve already fallen asleep?”

——

Yan Yunning slept until the sky gradually darkened. She opened her eyes in a drowsy haze and, not seeing Xuan Yanyu’s figure anywhere, let her gaze fall to the floor. It was clean and spotless. She glanced over at the sandalwood rack — a fresh outer robe had been hung on it.

“Qiuci, Xiao Wan, Xiaoyue……” Yan Yunning lay sprawled across the bed, calling out in a soft, languid voice.

“Crown Princess.” Qiuci pushed open the bedchamber door and lit the candle lamps.

“Did anyone come into the bedchamber while I was asleep?” Yan Yunning hugged the brocade quilt, her voice husky with the rasp of someone not yet fully awake.

“No. When His Highness the Crown Prince left, he told us not to come in and disturb you.” Qiuci took Yan Yunning’s outer robe and walked to the side of the bed. “Crown Princess, shall you get up?”

Yan Yunning rolled back and forth across the bed a couple of times, hugging the brocade quilt, the corners of her lips curling up irrepressibly. It was Xuan Yanyu who had picked up her robe for her, and also Xuan Yanyu who had chosen a fresh garment and hung it on the sandalwood rack for her.

So, had he let go of his anger?

“Did Xuan Yanyu say where he went?” Yan Yunning asked.

“He did. His Highness the Crown Prince said he was going to the Zhaozheng Hall to read through official documents and that he is very busy, and that you need not go and look for him when you wake.”

Yan Yunning let out a light laugh. “He tells me not to go looking for him, yet he also tells you he’s gone to the Zhaozheng Hall?”

If he simply wanted to be left alone, he could have kept silent and said nothing at all — then she wouldn’t have known where he’d gone for quite some time.

“Crown Princess, please do be careful. First you were lying sprawled across the bed, and now you’re rolling around on it — please mind the little master in your belly.” Qiuci reminded her gently.

Yan Yunning touched her lower abdomen. She had forgotten — for a moment she had completely forgotten there was a baby in there……

The Zhaozheng Hall in the Prince Xuan’s Palace and the Zhaozheng Hall in the Crown Prince’s residence were identical in both décor and furnishings. The difference was that the Crown Prince’s Zhaozheng Hall now housed a good half of Yan Yunning’s belongings, whereas the one in the Prince Xuan’s Palace did not.

Yan Yunning arrived at the entrance of the Zhaozheng Hall and gently pushed open the door, tilting her head sideways to peek inside.

What met her eyes was the man lounging lazily in the throne seat — one hand idly swirling a teacup, the other pinching a scroll of documents and reading with a casual, unhurried air.

Behind him, Ye’an was kneading his shoulders, while Ye Chen was responsible for refilling his tea.

Inside the hall stood two more attendants. One held a porcelain plate filled with peeled lychees, while the other speared lychees on a fruit fork and held them out within easy reach, right where Xuan Yanyu only needed to extend his hand to take one.

Yan Yunning clicked her tongue. Xuan Xixi certainly knew how to enjoy himself.

This was far too leisurely.

“Greetings to the Crown Princess.” Everyone bowed respectfully.

Xuan Yanyu did not even lift his head, and said lightly, “Very busy.”

“……” Yan Yunning found herself a sandalwood chair, dragged it to face Xuan Yanyu, and sat down without a word. In passing, she snatched a lychee from his hand and popped it into her mouth.

Then she folded her hands together, rested her chin on the back of them, and looked up at him with a small smile.

The man was not at all annoyed. He leisurely speared another lychee on the fork and took a graceful bite, not deigning to acknowledge Yan Yunning, treating her as though she were invisible.

Yan Yunning gave Ye Chen a meaningful wink. The latter tilted his head, not understanding.

Yan Yunning: “……”

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow.

“……” Yan Yunning withdrew her gaze and looked at the man, who was now reading his scroll with apparent diligence.

“Xuan Xixi.”

“Be quiet. You’re disturbing me.”

“Oh.” Yan Yunning pressed her lips together.

Xuan Yanyu, using the pretext of switching to another scroll, cast a glance her way. She curved her brows and gave him a bright, open smile.

Xuan Yanyu’s hand, reaching for the scroll, paused. She had already been this well-behaved — if he continued to hold this against her, wasn’t that going a little too far?

He might end up driving her away again before long.

“Will you deliberately try to provoke me again next time?” The man’s gaze returned to the scroll.

Yan Yunning’s eyes smiled warmly. “I won’t.”

“Truly won’t?” Xuan Yanyu turned a page of the book, as though merely asking in passing.

“Mm-hm, mm-hm.” Yan Yunning took the porcelain plate from the attendant’s hands and dismissed them, stepping in to take over their duties herself.

One moment she was kneading Xuan Yanyu’s shoulders, the next she was rubbing his back; then she was passing him his tea, and then feeding him lychees.

“Xuan Xixi, can you please stop being angry with me?” Yan Yunning’s voice was warm and soft, sounding very much like she was coaxing him.

The man patted his shoulder. Yan Yunning understood at once, set down the teacup, and balled her hands into fists, pounding his shoulders for him.

“Are you no longer angry?” The girl tilted her head close to him, the distance between them very small, her voice a coaxing, beguiling murmur. “Xuan Xixi, most noble Crown Prince, forgive me just this once.”

Before Xuan Yanyu could respond, Ye’an’s voice came from outside the hall. “Your Highness, Crown Princess — His Majesty invites you both to the Taiyi Hall for the evening meal.”

“Let’s go, Your Highness the Crown Prince.” Yan Yunning took the scroll from the man’s hand, set it neatly aside, took hold of his hand, and led him toward the Taiyi Hall.

The evening breeze that drifted in as night drew near was particularly pleasant against the skin. Yan Yunning grasped Xuan Yanyu’s hand with both of hers, stepping backward as she walked so that they faced each other.

She deliberately leaned back, and the man’s complexion visibly shifted with a flash of alarm. He reached out with his other hand and tightened his grip on her wrist.

Yan Yunning used the momentum to lean into Xuan Yanyu’s arms, laughing brightly. “Did I frighten you?”

“Yan Yunning — done trying to make me angry, now you’re trying to frighten me?” The man scolded her. “Walk properly. What would you do if you stepped on a pebble and fell?”

“Look here.” Yan Yunning swung their joined hands back and forth, her voice lilting upward. “Would you really let me fall?”