Shen Xihe raised her eyebrows and couldn’t help but smile genuinely: “Your Highness, never has anyone made me feel so at ease in conversation.”

Even without trust, without letting down her guard, without complete honesty, there was still an inexplicable sense of comfort.

“It’s my fortune…” Xiao Huayong said softly.

“Your Highness.” Shen Xihe gazed at him deeply. “What do you seek in a wife?”

Xiao Huayong lowered his head under cover of coughing, contemplating for a moment before saying: “To not betray.”

His requirement was just these three short words – he only needed his wife not to betray him.

“Would it matter if she were weak-willed?” He only wanted loyalty, without considering how a gentle nature could be easily manipulated and used by others.

“This Eastern Palace is filled with lethal schemes *cough* *cough* *cough*…” Xiao Huayong lowered his eyes and said, “If she’s willing to enter the Eastern Palace… but can’t stand firm, falling into traps *cough* *cough* *cough*… I won’t save her… If I’m harmed because she’s been used, it’s my incompetence, and I won’t blame her…”

For a moment, looking at Xiao Huayong, Shen Xihe felt as if she were looking in a mirror.

They were so similar at their core, both resolute in trusting only themselves.

Lost in thought, her gaze wandered for a moment before she suddenly smiled, picked up her teacup, and drained it: “It’s getting late, Zhaoning takes her leave.”

Xiao Huayong stood up without trying to keep her. He accompanied Shen Xihe while she wrote down the wonton recipe, then, supported by Tian Yuan, personally escorted her to the Eastern Palace gate.

“Your Highness, please remain.” Shen Xihe stood before the gate, watching the fire-red maple tree in front, its leaves swirling in the gentle breeze. “Your Highness, you are wonderful.”

With a slight smile at Xiao Huayong, Shen Xihe departed gracefully, her shawl around her shoulders.

Today she wore a crimson floor-length dress with an apricot-yellow shawl. As she disappeared beneath the red maples, she was like a dazzling sunset slowly sinking. After she vanished, the world seemed to darken, all its brilliance withdrawn.

Xiao Huayong remained standing at the palace gate long after she disappeared: “She said I am wonderful.”

Tian Yuan: …

His Highness’s slightly foolish smile was truly too much for Tian Yuan to look at directly. He could only lower his head: “Your Highness, there are people outside the palace.”

The Eastern Palace was absolutely secure – all its people had been replaced over time to become Xiao Huayong’s people. Some didn’t realize this, still thinking these were their own informants, but beyond the palace gates was different.

Xiao Huayong immediately pressed his fist to his lips, breaking into heart-wrenching coughs, nearly half his body leaning on Tian Yuan as he supported him inside.

“If Your Highness wishes to marry the Princess, why say such things earlier?” Tian Yuan had been terrified earlier.

What kind of things to say to someone you want to marry – about not being able to stand firm, about not saving them if they fall into traps?

Once inside, Xiao Huayong stood before the gradually reddening pomegranate tree and sighed deeply: “Those are the words she’ll believe.”

He would have liked to say some words of love, he knew how to make grand romantic promises too, but if he dared say such things, from tomorrow Shen Xihe would probably avoid him like a snake or scorpion.

A person without sentiment views love as a joke – otherwise, when he said last time that he wouldn’t hurt her, she wouldn’t have remained unmoved and even found it laughable.

She didn’t want love – she only wanted mutual benefit and comfort.

Tian Yuan’s eyes widened: “How can there be such a woman in this world!”

Princess Zhaoning wasn’t even fifteen yet, was she? In all their years traveling the four seas with His Highness, he’d seen many women. Even the coldest ones at most just didn’t easily fall in love, or feared falling in love, or didn’t dare hope for love, but deep down still longed to be truly loved.

Princess Zhaoning was someone truly without sentiment, someone who truly didn’t need genuine feelings!

“This… must be what they mean by an otherworldly immortal,” Xiao Huayong laughed softly.

Tian Yuan: …

Meeting such a difficult woman, not only did his Highness not find it troublesome, but he seemed to enjoy it.

Not even daring to express his feelings directly, having to rely on deception and schemes to pursue marriage – didn’t His Highness find this pathetic?

He found it beneath their dignity, but he didn’t dare say so!

He seriously suspected his master would ascend to the throne faster than he would capture the Princess’s heart.

“Your Highness, shall I have the wonton recipe taken to the kitchen?” Tian Yuan asked about the paper weighted down with a paperweight after they entered.

Xiao Huayong got there first, took the recipe, examined it carefully, then placed it together with the address note from when Shen Xihe had arranged to meet him: “Who said anything about having the kitchen make them?”

If not to make them, why need the recipe?

“This recipe was written for me.” Xiao Huayong put the brocade box away carefully. “Tomorrow morning, go to the Princess’s mansion and say that the wontons made according to the recipe in the Eastern Palace – I couldn’t eat them.”

Tian Yuan: …

He had overestimated their Highness, truly!

When Tian Yuan brazenly conveyed this message to Shen Xihe, she too was stunned for a moment.

“Princess, somehow, even following your recipe exactly, His Highness just says they don’t taste right,” Tian Yuan said, going against his conscience.

“Wait a moment, I’ll prepare another bowl of filling for you to take back.” Shen Xihe had just received Xiao Huayong’s favor, especially in requesting Shen Yun’an’s entry to the capital. Since she had initiated it, even though she was skilled at taking advantage, her principles wouldn’t let her refuse Xiao Huayong’s desire for a bowl of wontons.

Shen Xihe prepared a large bowl with two types of filling and placed it in a food box: “In autumn daylight, have the cook wrap all the filling into wontons and store them in the ice room. Whenever His Highness wants to eat, just take out a few and boil them in water – the taste will be the same.”

Tian Yuan hadn’t expected Shen Xihe to have such a method. Now his Highness’s scheme to find excuses to have the Princess make wontons every few days would fall through.

For some reason, Tian Yuan felt a secret satisfaction in this misfortune.

When Tian Yuan returned with two large bowls of filling and conveyed Shen Xihe’s message, Xiao Huayong’s smile overflowed with endless fondness: “Trying to gain even a small advantage from her is truly difficult.”

Shen Xihe paid no mind to what Xiao Huayong thought. According to her filling portions, they could make over a hundred wontons – stored in the ice room, that would last Xiao Huayong quite a while. She didn’t spare any thought for Xiao Huayong, focusing entirely on preparing the residence for Shen Yun’an.

At the same time, she collected more and more flowers and plants, beginning to carefully plan the Princess’s mansion. As various spices arrived from different regions, Shen Xihe made more and more fragrances. She hired several perfume makers, training them at a good pace, and they did excellent work.

After the workshop produced a batch of good quality products and Hong Yu personally inspected them, they were moved to the Dulive Tower.

And so Shen Xihe’s Dulive Tower opened for business.

On opening day, two shops used the fragrances Shen Xihe had created with purple velvet incense, spreading an aroma that could be smelled for ten li.

It was as if a fragrant mist hung over all of the capital, making an instant name for itself.

Tian Yuan immediately informed Xiao Huayong of this.

“Dulive Tower?” Xiao Huayong repeated the name, an indescribable feeling stealing over him.