Yao Huang was shocked by Prince Hui’s action of using his hand to remove the candied hawthorn fruit.

Admittedly, eating round, plump candied hawthorn elegantly and properly without dropping crumbs was indeed difficult, but hawthorn fruits coated in sugar ice were sticky!

She watched Prince Hui’s small movements as he lowered his eyelashes and carefully chewed, then looked toward his wrist resting on the wheelchair armrest. His slender palm naturally drooped slightly beyond the armrest, his thumb and forefinger separated as if nothing were amiss.

Yao Huang smiled. While staring at Prince Hui’s right hand pretending to be normal, she bit off the second-to-last hawthorn fruit, watching to see how long he could keep up the act.

Zhao Sui noticed the princess consort’s gaze and lowered his right arm, ensuring the princess consort couldn’t see his palm.

Only the last and smallest hawthorn fruit remained on the bamboo stick. Yao Huang stared at it for a moment, then said to Prince Hui: “This one is definitely especially sour. Does Your Highness want to try it?”

Zhao Sui shook his head.

Yao Huang smiled. She gently gripped the hawthorn fruit with her teeth tips, sliding it horizontally to the top of the bamboo stick, then held the fruit that was barely coated with any sugar ice before Prince Hui. Blushing slightly, she said: “Your Highness said it yourself—you don’t disdain me.”

Prince Hui had no choice but to take this hawthorn fruit, half the size of the large one at the very top, into his mouth.

Such a reserved Prince Hui reminded Yao Huang of the shy, refined beauties in storybooks who couldn’t withstand men’s teasing.

Previously, Yao Huang hadn’t understood why beauties blushed so easily. Now, watching Prince Hui who was even too embarrassed to open his mouth to bite candied hawthorn in front of her, Yao Huang understood why those men all liked teasing beauties. It really made one’s heart itch, especially since Prince Hui was extremely handsome, even his lips were that attractive thin-lipped type, not the kind that were merely two layers of lip skin looking mean and sharp.

Prince Hui, currently holding a round hawthorn in his mouth: “…”

He didn’t even know whether he should bite the hawthorn, yet he couldn’t control the changes elsewhere aroused by the princess consort’s gaze.

Zhao Sui didn’t want the princess consort to notice and said: “Water.”

Yao Huang naturally had to take good care of Prince Hui. When standing up, she casually placed the brownish-yellow oiled paper that had caught some ice fragments on the low cabinet.

Zhao Sui picked up the oiled paper. While the princess consort wasn’t paying attention, he spit the hawthorn fruit with its slightly greenish skin onto it, wrapped it up, and extended his hand out the carriage window.

Fei Quan, following the carriage, saw this and immediately came forward to receive it.

Such a large movement—Yao Huang saw it but didn’t tease him about anything. When Prince Hui held the tea bowl with his left hand to drink water, Yao Huang took the teapot and poured water to dampen a handkerchief. After Prince Hui finished drinking water, she proactively handed it over, letting him wipe the sugar off his right hand.

After finishing all this, Yao Huang still wanted to sit on Prince Hui’s lap.

Zhao Sui lowered his eyes and gripped the princess consort’s waist, saying in a low voice: “There’s wind today. The curtain might blow up at any time.”

Yao Huang looked down at Prince Hui’s handsome face from above, laughing softly: “What a terrible excuse. If Your Highness finds me too heavy and uncomfortable pressing on you, or some other reason, just say so directly.”

Zhao Sui: “…”

In an instant, just as Yao Huang twisted her waist wanting to go to the side seat, Prince Hui gripped her waist and directly brought the princess consort onto his lap, holding her.

The princess consort didn’t struggle, only lowered her head with an appearance of being greatly wronged.

Zhao Sui: “I’ve never thought you were heavy.”

Yao Huang continued lowering her head: “It’s not about being fat or thin. Then it must be another reason. Because someone else stared at me, Your Highness has become suspicious of me, right? Suspecting I have something unclear with him, suspecting I’ve eaten candied hawthorn he bit in half.”

If Prince Hui hadn’t asked about the half candied hawthorn issue, Yao Huang still wouldn’t be certain whether he’d noticed Li Tingwang’s abnormality. Once he asked, Yao Huang knew everything.

Zhao Sui fell silent.

Although he had merely spoken without thinking for a moment, he had indeed had such a flash of suspicion.

The princess consort was still feeling sad. Zhao Sui said carefully: “I’ve never questioned your character.”

Childhood friends, and in common folk society that didn’t pay much attention to rules, going out to play and make noise at ages seven or eight, or twelve or thirteen, or even fifteen or sixteen was human nature and permitted by customs. Never mind that the princess consort had just personally said she hadn’t shared eating a hawthorn fruit with Li Tingwang—even if she had, Zhao Sui wouldn’t mind because of it. That would only be young people’s first awakening of love, having nothing to do with character or propriety.

The princess consort was indeed informal, and did say some bold things, but Zhao Sui knew she was only like this privately with her own husband, not toward all men.

Yao Huang tilted her head, looking at him: “Not questioning my character, but questioning whether I had a romance with him?”

Zhao Sui avoided her gaze and said: “Childhood friends—I can understand. It doesn’t count as romance.”

They’d been married so long now. On their wedding night, Zhao Sui could feel that the princess consort was genuinely willing to consummate the marriage with him, without half a bit of reluctance or bitterness. So toward Li Tingwang, she at most had a young girl’s first awakening of love. Even if there were regrets, she had thought everything through and severed them before the wedding, deciding from then on to wholeheartedly be the princess consort, with no attachments remaining to old acquaintances.

Yao Huang thought for a moment and nodded: “If we say boys and girls who grew up together from childhood are childhood friends, then he and I are indeed childhood friends. Moreover, I have many such childhood friends. It’s just that the other childhood friends stopped coming around me after growing up. Only he, because he was my brother’s classmate, often came to Longevity Alley to find my brother, so indeed we frequently met.”

When the princess consort spoke, she wasn’t looking at him. Zhao Sui continued watching her as she quietly narrated.

However, before Prince Hui could conjure images in his mind of the princess consort being intimate with others as childhood friends, the princess consort suddenly huffed: “I know—many men and women called childhood friends eventually marry. The childhood friendship becomes icing on the cake. But Li Tingwang and I aren’t like that. This person indeed has many strong points. He’s more handsome than my brother, has better martial skills than my brother, is excellent at polo, and helped my brother fight at the martial academy. But he’s especially annoying. He likes calling me Huanghuang. Knowing I hate this nickname, he still deliberately provokes me. He likes mocking me for being fat, always pointing at other slender women telling me to eat less and learn from them. When having snowball fights, he specifically targeted me alone throwing snowballs, several times hurting me. His mother especially likes coming to my house to show off. Your Highness, tell me—how stupid would I have to be to like such a childhood friend?”

The princess consort looked over huffily, her disgust toward Li Tingwang’s various behaviors above completely genuine.

But Zhao Sui, looking at the princess consort’s eyes that were even brighter and more rippling because of anger, suddenly understood why Li Tingwang would deliberately make her angry. Just as at night sometimes the princess consort was clearly truly begging for mercy, yet he insisted on making her cry—even the princess consort’s scratching and scolding he enjoyed.

However, if the princess consort truly liked Li Tingwang, or smiled welcomingly at Li Tingwang out of fear of Li Father’s official position—like she had treated him when first marrying over—Li Tingwang would absolutely not bear to use those mischievous methods to make the princess consort angry. From this it could be seen that precisely because the princess consort was indifferent to Li Tingwang and didn’t care too much about Li Father’s official position, Li Tingwang would deliberately seek the princess consort’s attention.

Childhood friends was true. The flowers harbor feelings but the flowing water is heartless—also true.

Zhao Sui grasped the princess consort’s hand and said: “That kind of person indeed doesn’t deserve your affection.”

If it were him, even if the princess consort treated him indifferently, Zhao Sui wouldn’t use methods that humiliated the princess consort to exchange for any response from her, much less hurt her by throwing things.

Yao Huang huffed: “Whether Your Highness believes it or not, I want to make this clear. Even without the selection, even if I didn’t have the fortune to be Your Highness’s princess consort, even if that Li Tingwang passed the martial examination or became martial champion, if he came to my house to propose marriage I still wouldn’t agree. If I were to marry, I’d marry someone gentle and considerate toward me, willing to give me the cool bamboo mat to use, personally wiping my feet on rainy days fearing I’d catch cold, quickly warming my hands on snowy days fearing they’d be cold, and best of all able to paint excellent paintings, build a beautiful snowman as if stolen from the immortal palace…”

Before the princess consort finished listing everything, Prince Hui’s handsome face had already taken on a thin flush.

Seeing this, Yao Huang lowered her head and said shyly: “He’d also have to be especially handsome, so handsome I’d be willing to eat something with his saliva on it, and he wouldn’t disdain me either.”

Other words might be sweet talk, but her eating the half hawthorn fruit Prince Hui left was real. For anyone else, even her mother who couldn’t be closer, or First Princess and Chen Ying who were as beautiful as flowers, unless absolutely necessary Yao Huang wouldn’t want to eat candied hawthorn they’d left behind. Just like those hugging and embracing things at night—she could only do them with Prince Hui.

Zhao Sui lowered his eyes, seeing the princess consort’s powder-pink peony face, seeing her full lips even redder than her cheeks.

How much saliva could possibly be on hawthorn fruit? With such words, would she really not mind, or was she deliberately saying this to dispel his concerns about today’s events?

Suddenly, the carriage stopped.

The carriage body shook slightly. Hearing Zhang Yue dismount and pull out the diagonal wooden board from under the carriage, Yao Huang hastily moved to the side seat.

Before unfastening the wheelchair’s securing device, Yao Huang lifted one window curtain, letting the cold wind blowing in disperse the heat from her face.

Stealing a glance at Prince Hui, he had his eyelids lowered, completely composed.

Entering the prince’s residence, Prince Hui remained in the front courtyard. Yao Huang went to the rear courtyard to relieve herself.

After tidying up, there was still some time before lunch. Yao Huang sat before the dressing table, looking at her own lips and even pressing them with her fingers.

But no matter how Yao Huang pressed, there was no unusual feeling on her lips. It wasn’t as ticklish as when she slid her fingers across her neck.

Storybooks depicted kissing as fantastically elaborate—she didn’t know if it was true or false.

During lunch, Yao Huang was quietly shy because of the words in the carriage. Prince Hui, who was already not talkative, naturally wouldn’t initiate conversation either.

After eating, Yao Huang glanced at Prince Hui and asked quietly: “Does Your Highness want to come rest at my place for the afternoon nap?”

Zhao Sui: “…Alright.”

From lowered peripheral vision glimpsing the princess consort’s lips curving upward, Prince Hui finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Yao Huang carefully brushed her teeth once, making A’Ji stare in bewilderment: “Why is the princess consort brushing her teeth at midday?”

Previously she would just rinse her mouth.

Yao Huang didn’t explain. She had A’Ji fetch a small dish of crystalline, translucent osmanthus sugar that had been bestowed from the palace some time ago. Estimating Prince Hui would arrive soon, Yao Huang pinched a cherry-sized piece and placed it in her mouth.

When the osmanthus sugar had completely melted, leaving only a faint sweet fragrance on her lips and tongue, Prince Hui indeed arrived.

Yao Huang received the wheelchair from Qing Ai’s hands in the main hall, pushed it to the inner chamber, and was about to head straight for the canopy bed when she noticed Prince Hui glancing at the dish of osmanthus sugar on the table. Yao Huang’s heart stirred: “Osmanthus sugar bestowed by Mother Empress. Sweet and refreshing without being cloying. Does Your Highness want to eat a piece?”

Prince Hui paused, then nodded.

Yao Huang went to pinch a piece of osmanthus sugar and fed it into his mouth.

With sugar in his mouth, after moving to the bed Prince Hui first leaned back against the headboard. Seeing a storybook placed on the low cabinet at the side of the floor screen, he had the princess consort fetch it for him.

Yao Huang fetched it for him and incidentally lowered the bed curtains.

Zhao Sui glanced at the thin gauze hanging to one side and opened the first page of the storybook.

A proper storybook—Yao Huang wasn’t afraid of him reading it. She first lay to the side, raising her head to examine Prince Hui’s lips, chin, and Adam’s apple.

Prince Hui’s gaze fell on the black characters on white paper, but in his heart he wondered whether the princess consort was hoping he would eat it faster or slower.