The roast duck from Tan’s Restaurant in Yunyang City indeed tasted different from the one in the Capital. Ren Yaoqi couldn’t quite pinpoint what the difference was, though the roasting technique and sauce appeared no different. If pressed to say which one tasted better, Ren Yaoqi truly couldn’t make that judgment—she didn’t have Xiao Jinglin’s obsession with food.

Ren Yaoqi felt that Xiao Jinglin ate very contentedly, because by the time they finished their meal, there was nothing left on Xiao Jinglin’s table. She recalled that Princess Xiao seemed to have the good habit of never wasting food.

The three of them thus quietly finished their lunch in this manner, then the maids came in to attend to them, helping them rinse their mouths, wash their hands, and clear away the dishes.

When they sat in the inner room drinking tea, Ren Yaoqi said, “Young Master Xiao, I wonder if I might borrow one of your subordinates?” Seeing Xiao Jingxi look over, Ren Yaoqi quickly added, “I only need someone to deliver a message for me.”

“Let Hongying go,” Xiao Jinglin said from the side.

Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi was momentarily stunned, then realized that the maids around Xiao Jinglin were all skilled in martial arts, and their abilities should be no inferior to Dongsheng’s.

“Hongying’s skills are indeed good, but if it requires infiltrating an inner residence, it’s better to use my people,” Xiao Jingxi smiled and said. “Delivering messages—they’ve done such things before.”

He smiled as he glanced at Ren Yaoqi.

Being looked at by his meaningful gaze, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but feel somewhat embarrassed.

The last time he had Dongsheng deliver a message to her, she hadn’t asked Xiao Jingxi, the master, for his opinion. Though Xiao Jingxi didn’t seem like he was going to hold it against her, it made her feel that asking this question was somewhat pretentious.

Xiao Jinglin didn’t notice the atmosphere between Xiao Jingxi and Ren Yaoqi. After thinking for a moment, she said nothing more. Her maids had always followed her at the frontier. Though skilled in martial arts, they were indeed less familiar with the various households in Yunyang City than the people around Xiao Jingxi.

This large private room was presumably used by people of status on ordinary days, including some scholars and refined gentlemen, so against the wall stood a red sandalwood writing desk about two feet high, with the four treasures of the study placed upon it.

Ren Yaoqi walked over and picked up the paper and ink to examine them. Everything was of good quality, though they were all items that could be bought in the writing supply shops of Yunyang City—nothing special.

Hongying quickly walked over and asked quietly, “Miss, do you need to use the writing materials?”

Ren Yaoqi nodded. She had originally intended to call Pingguo, who was standing in the outer room, but Hongying had already stepped forward to help her grind the ink. Ren Yaoqi simply let her do so.

After a moment, Ren Yaoqi held the brush in her left hand and stood before the writing desk, lowering her head to dip the brush in ink and began writing.

Light streamed in through the half-opened window, falling precisely on her left hand holding the brush. Her fingertips were crystal clear and translucent like pure snow, startling to look at at first glance, yet the strength with which she gripped the brush was steady without the slightest hesitation.

Xiao Jingxi had somehow walked over and stood to the side, watching her write.

Ren Yaoqi caught a whiff of a crisp medicinal fragrance, which made her concentrate even more intently on what was beneath her brush.

It wasn’t until the final stroke was completed that Xiao Jingxi’s voice sounded nearby: “You’re accustomed to writing with your left hand?”

Xiao Jingxi imperceptibly withdrew his gaze from Ren Yaoqi’s fingertips.

He asked this because although Ren Yaoqi’s left-hand writing had no particular distinctive features, it was extremely neat. One could tell at a glance that it had been practiced for many years. Given Ren Yaoqi’s age, if she normally used her right hand for writing most of the time, it should be impossible for her to practice her left-hand writing so well, nor would there be any necessity for it.

But he remembered that when Ren Yaoqi held chopsticks and picked up chess pieces, she used her right hand, so he was inevitably somewhat curious.

Ren Yaoqi looked back at Xiao Jingxi, thought for a moment, then switched the brush to her right hand and took out another piece of white paper to write the character “Jing” on it.

Although it was only one character, it was clear to any discerning eye that it was not written by the same person as the characters she had written with her left hand earlier. Ren Yaoqi wrote extremely well. Her writing was elegant with a touch of free-spirited grandeur, very much in the style of a master calligrapher—something even her father was quite satisfied with.

“Using my left hand to write is just so people won’t recognize it,” Ren Yaoqi explained with a smile.

Her right-hand writing had been practiced for over twenty years. Even if she wanted to change her style, those familiar with it could still recognize it. Fortunately, her left-hand writing was also presentable.

Xiao Jingxi, however, stared at that character “Jing” in a daze.

When Ren Yaoqi wrote it, it was just casually done. Perhaps because Xiao Jinglin was standing on the opposite side of the writing desk, and since they were already friends, she hadn’t considered the taboo of avoiding names. She had simply forgotten that Xiao Jingxi’s name also contained the character “Jing.”

Fortunately, Xiao Jingxi’s expression quickly returned to calm, and he nonchalantly picked up that piece of paper, comparing it with the letter Ren Yaoqi held in her hand: “Your right-hand writing is better than your left-hand writing,” he commented objectively.

Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi smiled and turned to glance at him, saying half-jokingly and half-seriously, “That’s natural. I normally use my right hand. I mostly use my left hand for writing when I’m doing bad things.”

Looking at the smiling face so close at hand and hearing her teasing directed at him, Xiao Jingxi couldn’t help but laugh as well.

Standing on the other side of the writing desk, what Xiao Jinglin saw were those two people behind the desk—one gentleman elegant as jade, one gentle and beautiful. Each holding a piece of paper with fresh ink marks, they shared a perfectly synchronized smile before speaking in low, soft voices. The scene was incredibly harmonious, making one reluctant to disturb it.

As if possessed by a ghost, the Princess, who never liked poetry and songs nor enjoyed lamenting spring or mourning autumn, actually opened her mouth and softly murmured, “From now on, green sleeves tend the grass, red sleeves add fragrance, companions seeming immortal, literary works bringing glory to the nation.”

Her voice was very small, so Ren Yaoqi didn’t hear it. Nor did she see that the expression on Xiao Jingxi’s face, who stood beside her, suddenly became extremely strange.

By the time she noticed, Young Master Xiao had already returned to normal as if changing faces. Only his ear tips had somehow inexplicably turned red.

Ren Yaoqi was discussing future arrangements with him and didn’t deliberately pay attention to the expressions on his face.

Xiao Jingxi lowered his head to look at Ren Yaoqi’s eyelashes gently trembling as she spoke. The voice reaching his ears was very light and soft, gentle and pleasant to hear, causing his steps, which had originally intended to move away, to remain rooted in place, unable to move even one step.

This feeling was very strange, as if suddenly his hearing, vision, and sense of smell had all become extraordinarily sensitive, yet he had also fallen into some kind of reverie where what he heard, saw, and smelled was all related to that specific person. So his bodily movements were instead constrained.

Xiao Jingxi suddenly felt somewhat bewildered. Logically, such an expression should never appear on the face of the calculating and immortal-like Young Master Xiao.

Facts proved that no one was truly omnipotent. At least in the seemingly all-capable Young Master Xiao’s life, there were profound mysteries that even he couldn’t fathom.

Of course, with our Young Master Xiao’s abilities, understanding these things was merely a matter of time and experience. He was, after all, still a young man whose apparent strength made it easy to overlook his age.

“Young Master Xiao?” Seeing that Xiao Jingxi didn’t respond to her words, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but turn and call out, only to see Xiao Jingxi staring at her motionlessly, not knowing what he was thinking.

Fortunately, her call brought Xiao Jingxi back to his senses. Young Master Xiao lowered his eyes and said imperceptibly, “Let Tongxi go instead.”

Ren Yaoqi looked at Xiao Jingxi with a somewhat strange expression. She had just asked Xiao Jingxi if Dongsheng could deliver the message. Then, after thinking for a long time, Xiao Jingxi replied that Tongxi should go.

Could it be that Dongsheng and Tongxi weren’t the same person? Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

Or was it that this person, Xiao Jingxi, had a quirk where using his people meant accepting the names he gave them? Even dominance had to be expressed so subtly and with “grace”? The world of immortals was truly incomprehensible to ordinary mortals.

Ren Yaoqi was silent for a while, then nodded obediently and smiled, “Alright.”

As long as Xiao Jingxi was willing to help, she didn’t mind accommodating his quirks.

Xiao Jingxi had Hongying call Dongsheng in. Ren Yaoqi folded the already-dried paper and handed it to Dongsheng, then carefully instructed him with a few sentences.

Xiao Jingxi didn’t interfere with their conversation, walking to the table to sit down and drink tea by himself.

Xiao Jinglin also sat back down opposite him, unusually thoughtful as she stared carefully at Xiao Jingxi’s face.

“You blushed again just now,” Xiao Jinglin said this time in a very small voice that only she and Xiao Jingxi could hear.

“You saw wrong.” Xiao Jingxi’s hand holding the teacup paused, but his tone remained calm and gentle, without a trace of guilt. He even gave his sister a gentle and confident smile.

Xiao Jinglin propped up her chin and examined him carefully for a long while, then expressionlessly concluded, “You’re lying.”

Xiao Jingxi: “…”

When Ren Yaoqi finished instructing Dongsheng and returned, she saw the brother and sister sitting at the table, both silent, with a somewhat strange atmosphere. She couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

Xiao Jinglin opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Xiao Jingxi’s gentle voice: “Nothing. Lin’er was just thinking about the upcoming Thousand Gold Banquet, worrying about what talent to perform.”

Ren Yaoqi looked toward Xiao Jinglin, only to see Xiao Jinglin’s face seem to stiffen.

Just as she was about to ask a question, she heard Xiao Jingxi say while smiling gently, “Mother specifically invited a qin master into the residence and plans to personally teach her calligraphy, so if she wants to go out in the future… it might be somewhat difficult.”

As he spoke, Xiao Jingxi looked at Xiao Jinglin meaningfully, smiling exactly like a doting older brother.