After sending off the manservants, who had retreated with their chins nearly tucked to their chests, Hua Zhi brought the one who was clutching her stomach and crying she was starving back inside.

Before long, Fu Dong came in with a few junior maids and spread out a spread of large and small dishes. Shao Yao’s eyes lit up and she swallowed hard — she was already regretting it. She should have eaten lunch here before leaving!

Hua Zhi placed a pair of chopsticks in her hands, rested her cheek in her palm, and looked at her. “Eat.”

“Just for me?”

“Yes.”

Shao Yao broke into a wide grin at once. If anyone else had suddenly set out this much good food for her, she would definitely be wondering what their motive was — but Huahua was not just anyone.

Watching Shao Yao eat with such unguarded happiness made something inside Hua Zhi go soft. Thinking of the one still shut in the room across the way, she raised her head and gave instruction: “Have the courtyard gate closed. And please invite A’Jian to come over.”

“Yes.”

Shao Yao chewed and looked sidelong at Huahua.

“Eating alone isn’t as enjoyable. Let him come and keep you company.”

Shao Yao wanted to say that eating alone was actually quite enjoyable and that whatever she couldn’t finish could serve as a midnight snack — but then she thought of that child, covered in wounds and insisting he wasn’t a bad person, and swallowed those words along with the food.

“Hua jiejie. Shao Yao jiejie.” A’Jian arrived quickly. His heart had settled in these past days, and the wariness and caution of his first arrival were gone from his face, leaving only a gentle, well-behaved manner.

“Come and have something to eat. These are things you won’t find outside. That beef is a little spicy, though — not good for your wounds. Don’t touch that one.”

A’Jian smiled with his eyes and complied, taking the seat across from Hua Zhi.

Shao Yao glanced at him and went back to chewing her beef jerky. She still wanted to call him Xiao Liu — somehow that name felt right — but she did not want to return to the past, nor to remember the things she had vowed to forget.

Fu Dong’s cooking was always appealing to the eye and pleasing to the palate and full of flavor. The larger and the smaller one ate with cheeks puffed in perfect unison, their movements entirely matching. Hua Zhi found herself joining in with a few bites as well. When A’Jian’s pace slowed, she made intermittent, unhurried conversation with him.

“Are your wounds still hurting?”

“Not hurting…” Under Shao Yao’s gaze, A’Jian pressed his lips together, then told the truth: “Still a little. And itchy.”

“It would be strange if they didn’t hurt or itch. If you don’t want scars, just endure it — don’t scratch.”

“Yes.”

As though certain that once he agreed, he would follow through, Shao Yao went back to eating.

Hua Zhi lowered her gaze. As an imperial prince, scars on his body would likely cost him dearly — though hidden beneath clothing, who would see them? But then again, he was a prince. Had not the Shizi, Lord Lu, been forced to scar his own face simply to prove he harbored no such ambitions?

The imperial household. How laughable.

“Hua jiejie, Bailin said you’re going away for a few days.”

Hua Zhi looked up at the slightly apprehensive young prince and nodded. “Yes, to the manor to take care of some business. I’ll be back in a few days. Bailin will look after you.”

A’Jian nodded, though he could not quite say why his heart still felt unmoored.

“This courtyard of mine has always been a place one does not enter uninvited. While I am away, you may keep watch and note if anyone slips in without permission. You need only record who comes — don’t trouble yourself with what they do.”

“If they take something with them, I still shouldn’t stop them?”

“Just a few business ventures that have come to nothing. Let them take what they like.”

Shao Yao hurriedly swallowed what was in her mouth. “There’s a spy in the household?”

“I want to find out if there is one.” Hua Zhi rested her cheek in her hand, a faint smile on her lips. “I hope there isn’t. But if there truly is someone I can make an example of, I wouldn’t say that’s unwelcome either.”

“Should I post one of my people here?”

“When I truly need it, I’ll ask.”

Shao Yao said nothing further. A’Jian seized on the momentary silence and agreed with full enthusiasm.

Hua Zhi could hardly imagine how this gentle, obedient young prince had survived in a place as cold and ruthless as the imperial palace. What struck her most was that he had grown up in such surroundings and still not grown crooked. Had his heart been full of scheming and calculation, she would never have agreed to let him stay. Even if he were a prince — even if he represented the Hua Family’s hope of revival — the Hua Family had a fine character of its own and had no need of that sort of person muddying its waters.

“Lord Lu said that once he has things sorted out, you won’t have to be confined to your room anymore. Bailin sometimes teaches at the clan school — he told you, didn’t he?”

“Yes. Bailin said he would fill in for a few days when Hua jiejie is busy.” The astonishment of learning that Bailin, young as he was, had become a teacher had already been surpassed when he discovered that Hua jiejie was a teacher as well.

Before coming here, he had always believed his imperial mother was the most capable woman in the world. Not capable in the sense of knowing how to win favor, or how to navigate the palace with ease — but capable in the breadth of what she knew. He had been at the Hua Family for only a few days, yet already he sensed, with a vague certainty, that Hua jiejie seemed to know even more than his mother, and was even more capable. Every time Bailin spoke of his elder sister in such-and-such a way, he felt it afresh.

“In time, you may go to the clan school as well — to study or to teach, either is fine. Preceptor Mu’s scholarship is outstanding, and his character is admirable. Study under him alongside Bailin. The six arts of a gentleman must not be neglected. Bailin learned his riding, archery, and swordsmanship from Lord Lu — you may study alongside him.”

A’Jian listened with a heart full of longing, wishing those days could come at once.

He could see Yanxi gege’s feelings for Hua jiejie plainly enough. And knowing it, he was all the more startled. As the person His Imperial Father trusted most, what Yanxi gege was doing now was not at all what would please His Imperial Father.

If His Imperial Father were to learn that Yanxi gege had developed feelings for the daughter of a convicted criminal, perhaps…

At the thought of the man who sat upon the high throne, A’Jian involuntarily went cold all over and gave a shudder he could not suppress.

“What’s the matter?” Shao Yao set down her chopsticks and moved to take his pulse.

A’Jian shook his head quickly. “Nothing — I just… ate a little too much.”

Seeing that his face was merely a shade paler than usual, Shao Yao picked her chopsticks back up. Having lost so much blood, it would be strange if his complexion were fine. “You’ve barely eaten anything. If you want to recover what you’ve lost, you need to eat more.”

A’Jian smiled and agreed. He did eat more at the Hua Family than he ever had in the palace. The food in the palace was never this warm — especially for someone like him, who had no mother to care for him. Eating cold rice and cold dishes was perfectly ordinary.

Although, truth be told, he had kept half his stomach empty on purpose. In less than half an hour, Bailin would come over with that enormous food box he always carried, to share another meal with him.

“If there are any books you’d like to read, just tell Bailin. No rare or collector’s editions, but ordinary ones we’re not short of.”

“Yes. Bailin has already brought me some. And there’s no shortage of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones either.”

“He’s competing with you.” Hua Zhi laughed. “He has always prided himself on his intelligence, though he’s a little too confident for someone who has yet to truly test himself. He thought there was no rival among those his own age — and then you turned out to be every bit his match. Now he’s terrified of being left behind. He’s been putting in quite a lot of effort these past few days.”

A’Jian immediately felt the pressure himself. There was no way he could leave Bailin behind — if anything, it was he who was at risk of being outpaced. He knew exactly how hard he had worked just to keep up with Bailin that day, and Bailin had looked perfectly at ease the entire time.

If Bailin applied himself even further now…

A’Jian could not sit still. He shifted and fidgeted on his cushioned stool, yet could not quite bring himself to take his leave on his own initiative.

Shao Yao’s eyes were practically rolling to the ceiling. Did they think she was blind? “Go on then — you’re putting me off my food.”

A’Jian looked as though a pardon had been granted. He bowed to both of them and was off at a sprint.

Only then did Hua Zhi laugh out loud.

Shao Yao jabbed at a meatball with her chopstick and gave a low harrumph. “Huahua, you’ve been picking up bad habits from Yan gege.”