Qi Shuo caught Lin Hao’s hand firmly.
Lin Hao’s feet landed on solid ground. She casually glanced around: “You’re alone?”
In the past when she climbed the wall, there were always young servants around.
Qi Shuo smiled: “I was just walking around. I didn’t bring any servants.”
At that moment, a voice called out: “Miss—”
Lin Hao quickly withdrew her hand.
Baozhu was clinging to the top of the wall, asking earnestly: “Should this servant come down?”
Lin Hao nodded matter-of-factly: “Come down.”
The little maid revealed a smile and jumped down nimbly.
“The Heir and I have some things to discuss. Wait here.”
Baozhu answered crisply.
“Let’s go over there.” Lin Hao pointed to the rose trellis not far away.
That was a good place for private conversation.
The two walked over and stood facing each other. Lin Hao couldn’t help but smile: “Time really flies. Last year we also chatted here.”
How could she have imagined then that the sickly heir she thought he was would become the person in her heart?
“You’ve heard about Princess Lingque stealing Princess Yi’an’s prince consort, right?”
“I’ve heard.” Qi Shuo pushed aside the flowering branches blocking his view, revealing a long bench. “Let’s sit and talk.”
Lin Hao patted the bench surface curiously and sat down: “I didn’t notice before—there’s been a bench here?”
“It’s been here for a while.” Qi Shuo said without changing expression.
After talking with Ahao here last spring, he had felt this place was missing a long bench.
It truly had been here for a while.
“Princess Lingque was supposed to become the Princess Consort of Prince Wei, but because she was struck on the head by a stone, Scholar Yang became the prince consort instead. This change is too drastic.” Lin Hao rested her chin on her hand and asked the person sitting beside her: “Heir, do you think there will be any more changes to the matter between Princess Lingque and Scholar Yang?”
“Hard to say.” Qi Shuo’s lips curved upward. “Can’t Ahao divine it?”
Lin Hao first froze, then her fist swung over: “Qi Shuo!”
Qi Shuo caught her hand and smiled: “‘Qi Shuo’ sounds better than ‘Heir.’ From now on, just call me by my name.”
Lin Hao’s mock anger didn’t last even an instant, and a rosy flush crept up both cheeks: “Calling you by name isn’t quite proper.”
Except when angry, that didn’t count.
“In any case, don’t call me Heir.” The Heir of Prince Jing, who maintained restraint and reserve before outsiders, now rarely showed a touch of childishness.
Lin Hao shifted her gaze to the blooming flowers, where colorful butterflies danced around the blossoms.
“Then I’ll call you Ashuo.”
Qi Shuo’s lips curved: “Good. By the way, what did you want to tell me when you came looking for me?”
Lin Hao was speechless: “Didn’t we just talk about it?”
Qi Shuo: “…”
“What have you been busy with at home these past few days?” He quickly changed the subject.
“Making floral water.” Mentioning what she was currently busy with, Lin Hao’s eyes sparkled as she raised her hand.
The wide blue-green sleeve slid down like rippling water, presenting a section of wrist as white as frost and snow before Qi Shuo.
Qi Shuo froze for a moment.
What was Ahao trying to do?
“Do you smell it?” Seeing he had no reaction, Lin Hao withdrew her hand and sniffed it herself.
A faint rose fragrance lingered at her nose tip, not dissipating for a long time.
“The fragrance lasts much longer than the floral waters on the market, and smells even better. It will definitely be popular when the time comes…” Lin Hao spoke enthusiastically.
Her floral water shop would certainly make more money than the eatery she and Ashuo jointly opened. Perhaps if the eatery couldn’t sustain itself, she could even support it.
Lin Hao had never held much hope for the eatery whose dividends hadn’t yet exceeded twenty taels of silver.
Qi Shuo’s face showed no change, but in reality he hadn’t absorbed much of what she said. His heart was filled with only two words: regret.
If given another chance, he absolutely wouldn’t just stand there dumbly.
“Doesn’t it smell good?” Lin Hao extended her wrist again. Seeing Qi Shuo’s expression grow even more wooden, she withdrew it in confusion. “Could there be a problem with your sense of smell?”
Both Baozhu and her sister said it smelled good.
Qi Shuo fiercely pinched himself.
If given another chance—forget it, he still wouldn’t dare.
Qi Shuo recognized his essential nature as an honest person, and his brain resumed functioning.
“It smells very good. When will the floral water shop open? Have you thought of a name?”
“At the earliest, next month. I’m thinking of calling the shop ‘Wuxiang.'”
“Wuxiang?” Qi Shuo found this name somewhat strange. “Selling floral water but calling it ‘Fragrance-less’—will customers come?”
“Do you know what the original shop name was?”
Qi Shuo shook his head.
Lin Hao sighed: “Lin’s Fragrant Powder Shop!”
Qi Shuo couldn’t help but laugh: “Then Wuxiang truly is better.”
“Exactly!”
The two were talking and laughing in low voices when suddenly they heard a shout: “Aren’t you Baozhu from Second Miss Lin’s side? What are you doing here?”
It was Changshun’s voice.
Lin Hao and Qi Shuo exchanged a glance and looked through the gaps between flowers and leaves.
Changshun strode up to Baozhu with a vigilant expression.
The caught little maid’s face remained completely calm: “I’m looking for something.”
“Looking for what?” Changshun’s face was full of suspicion.
He suspected Second Miss Lin had climbed the wall again!
“Looking for a shuttlecock. Just now I was kicking a shuttlecock in the garden and accidentally kicked it over here. Strange, where is it?” Baozhu paid no more attention to Changshun and bent down to search.
Changshun tucked his hands in, his lips curled in a cold smile.
I’ll just watch you pretend!
“Found it!” An exclamation rang out. Baozhu waved a colorful feathered shuttlecock at Changshun.
Changshun was dumbstruck.
She really had kicked a shuttlecock over here?
“Then I’ll head back now. Sorry for the disturbance.” Baozhu waved her hand, took a running start, grabbed the top of the wall, and her nimble figure quickly disappeared from Changshun’s view.
Changshun’s mood was extremely complicated.
Although it was to look for a feathered shuttlecock, this maid climbed walls far too smoothly. Truly the servant reflected the master!
“Changshun, what are you standing there dazed for?” Changning walked over and patted his distracted companion.
Changshun pointed at the wall: “Just now Second Miss Lin’s maid came over to look for a shuttlecock—”
Changning seemed not to have heard, interrupting him: “Hurry and find the Heir. The Crown Prince is still waiting.”
“Right, right, let’s go find the Heir. If the Heir isn’t in the garden, where would he be?”
The two young servants hurried off.
Behind the flower trellis, Lin Hao pushed Qi Shuo: “I’m heading back. You should hurry and see the Crown Prince. I wonder what he wants with you.”
“I’m guessing he came to play chess with me.”
Lin Hao thought of the Crown Prince’s behavior and her face showed sympathy: “That’s hard on you.”
“It’s fine. More contact isn’t a bad thing.”
Knowing more about one’s enemy allowed for making appropriate judgments.
“Where did Baozhu get the shuttlecock?” At parting, Qi Shuo couldn’t help but ask.
Lin Hao smiled radiantly: “Baozhu likes to carry little trinkets with her.”
Qi Shuo nodded: “No wonder.”
No wonder she fooled Changshun so thoroughly.
“Then I’m off. If the Crown Prince does anything noteworthy, remember to tell me.”
Lin Hao climbed the wall back to the General’s Manor. Baozhu was waiting right there.
“Miss, do you want to kick the shuttlecock?” The little maid held up the pretty feathered shuttlecock, asking with a grin.
“Sure.”
Baozhu revealed a smile, tossed the shuttlecock, and kicked it toward Lin Hao.
Lin Hao caught it steadily and kicked it forcefully upward.
Qi Shuo stood at the other end of the wall, watching the colorful shuttlecock fly high, disappear from view in an instant, then fly up again the next moment, rising and falling as if kicking against his heart.
He couldn’t help but curve his lips and strode toward the front courtyard with long steps.