Fu Miaoxue was skeptical, yet hopeful. “There’s not actually something in there, is there? It was clearly empty.”

The cap was placed over her hand. She reached inside and groped around, eyeing Du Lai with suspicion. “…There’s nothing there.”

Du Lai smiled. “Miss, this cap is being coy with you. You need to pat it, give it a little kiss.”

Fu Miaoxue’s expression immediately cooled. She said with displeasure: “You want me to kiss that filthy cap of yours?”

Du Lai blinked, then quickly put on a coaxing smile. “A Miss of your standing is naturally above doing anything so undignified — honestly, I think it’s dreaming too! But this cap has a stubborn streak. When it’s in a bad mood, it refuses to produce anything. What are we to do? Perhaps… Miss could breathe on it? Miss is a celestial beauty descended from the heavens — with one breath from you, it would surely come to life a hundredfold.”

Fu Miaoxue burst out laughing, eyes glimmering as she tilted her head to look at Du Lai. “What is your mouth made of? The things you say — honestly, it’s a shame to have you as a gardener. Would you like to come work indoors? It would certainly beat standing out here in the sun and wind.”

Du Lai made himself seem as humble as possible. “Wherever you think best, that’s where I’ll be.”

“Oh, smooth~” Fu Miaoxue smiled. “Then we’ll see how this cap performs. If it does well, I’ll reward you. If it doesn’t…” She tilted her head. “How about I throw you into the sea to feed the fish?”

Bai Youwei, listening from a distance, felt the corner of her mouth twitch.

That was very Fu Miaoxue of her — laughing and chatting with someone one second, threatening to throw them into the sea the next. Like someone completely unhinged. Only Du Lai could put up with her.

Sure enough, Du Lai did not disappoint. He crouched down with a smile and said to Fu Miaoxue: “As long as it makes the young miss happy, I’d be willing to go feed the fish.”

Bai Youwei rolled her eyes. Two unhinged people.

Fu Miaoxue blew a gentle breath onto the cap, then looked at Du Lai. “There. Now it’s your turn.”

“Miss,” Du Lai said with a smile, “please flip the cap over.”

Fu Miaoxue flipped the cap — and a huge burst of red roses suddenly came leaping out!

“Oh!” She gasped with delight, scooping up the bouquet — and beneath it, another enormous cluster of white roses sprang up.

“There are more flowers!” Fu Miaoxue gathered the white roses into her arms too, and underneath those appeared yet another armful of pink ones. She couldn’t hold them all. The moment she stood up, the cap tumbled to the ground, and rose after rose came pouring out of it — until an entire carpet of flowers lay spread beneath her skirt.

“Aah, aah, aah! …So many! So many roses!”

Fu Miaoxue was beside herself with delight.

“How could so many flowers possibly fit in one cap?!” She tossed the ones in her arms aside and went burrowing through the pile with gleeful abandon, searching for the cap. “I have to see how it worked!”

She searched and searched, but couldn’t find it. She was very nearly about to abandon all dignity and plunge headfirst into the pile.

“Where’s the cap? …Where did the cap go? It clearly fell down just a moment ago, right at my feet!”

Du Lai helped her up and smiled. “Miss, the cap is right here.”

“Where?” Fu Miaoxue asked — and then stopped, her brows lifting into an expression of delighted surprise. “Oh! How did it end up on your head? When did you put it back on?”

“That’s a good question.” Du Lai smiled. “When did it wander back there?”

Fu Miaoxue of course knew it was a trick, and she knew Du Lai would never easily give away the answer. But even knowing it was all an illusion, she was happy.

“You’re not bad at all. Come work inside from now on.” She flicked the petals off her skirt and asked with a cheerful smile, “Tell me — is there any particular job you’d like? A dining room attendant, a corridor guard, a kitchen helper, or… what about a driver? Do you know how to drive?”

Du Lai smiled. “Whatever you arrange, Miss. As long as it isn’t on the third floor.”