Cheng Xiran personally poured a cup of tea for her. Xue Lianyu looked rather reluctant. "Xiran, if you give this tea to her, it's simply a waste. How could a maid like her know how to appreciate it..."
Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by Chu Liyin. Chu Liyin spat it out while making a disgusted face. "What kind of tea is this? It's not sweet at all. It tastes terrible!"
"See, I told you so..." Xue Lianyu's expression became even more certain.
Cheng Xiran was helpless but still poured a cup of warm water for her. "Drink this instead."
Chu Liyin's cute behavior was quite different from her cautiousness when they first met. But it was normal for someone as slow - to - warm - up as her.
Immediately afterwards, the two of them started to play around for no apparent reason. Cheng Xiran was watching from the side and didn't notice He Lianduo approaching from behind her.
It was not until the familiar and unique sandalwood scent reached her nose that she instinctively turned around and was surprised to find He Lianduo had been watching her.
But soon Cheng Xiran's attention was caught by a mutton - fat jade pendant hanging from his waist. The jade was smooth all over and had a unique shape. It was definitely a rare treasure. The intricate carvings on it must have taken a great deal of effort...
He Lianduo noticed her gaze and took a half - step back. "What are you looking at?"
"The jade pendant on Your Highness must be very rare, right?"
Looking at his spotless crescent - white robe today, although he was standing by the window with trees outside, not a single dappled tree shadow fell on him.
The blue sky stretched as far as the eye could see, and he seemed like the biggest cloud on the horizon, elegant and refined, almost ethereal.
Cheng Xiran was a bit stunned for a moment but quickly came to her senses and couldn't help teasing him. "Your Highness is dressed like this. Are you planning to become a monk?"
"Doesn't it look good?" He Lianduo asked casually.
Cheng Xiran propped her chin with one hand and tilted her head slightly, trying to find an angle. But no matter how she looked, his handsome face remained the same.
"Your Highness naturally looks good, but it's almost too perfect to be real... However, Your Highness can carry off any color. I think the green robe Your Highness wore the other day was also quite astonishing."
Cheng Xiran just mentioned it casually, but He Lianduo took it to heart.
Seeing He Lianduo come, Xue Lianyu stopped fooling around with Chu Liyin and came over to continue telling Cheng Xiran about Ruo Yue's story.
"She originally came from a prominent family. Unfortunately, her family declined when she was ten. After she ended up in Huayan Pavilion, she was favored by the madam and continued to learn various musical instruments. Now she is the top courtesan in Huayan Pavilion. Every day, countless people come here just to see her and listen to her play a little tune to relieve their boredom."
To Cheng Xiran, there was nothing special about this story, so she just listened to it as an ordinary tale.
Seeing the atmosphere becoming a bit dull, Xue Lianyu pretended to be mysterious. "There's a secret about Ruo Yue that you definitely don't know and can't even imagine!"
What could it be? It was probably just some young master giving up his official career for her or some young master dying of melancholy because of unrequited love. Cheng Xiran had heard and made up many such stories. It was just a momentary infatuation, not real love.
So there was nothing interesting to listen to.
He Lianduo obviously wasn't interested either and just kept playing with the object in his hand. Only Chu Liyin was listening attentively.
"Your Highness... Your Highness, it's me, Qiao'er!"
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside. Hearing it was Qiao'er, He Lianduo still let her in.
To be honest, when the maid came in, she really scared Cheng Xiran. Her light - colored cloth dress was stained with blood, and there were spots of blood all over her body. The color was especially bright, even more so under the sunlight.