Lu Wanning sheathed her knife and muttered, "So the Crown Prince is also here to buy lanterns? Are you going to give them to me? That one, that one, and that one. I like them all."
"Do you need so many lanterns by yourself?"
Lu Wanning blinked her eyes. "Yeah. I'll just move on to the next one when I get bored with this one."
The Crown Prince always felt there was something odd about her words, but he was too lazy to argue with her. He told his subordinate to buy all the lanterns and let Lu Wanning's maid carry them.
"Cousin, I've ordered some tea over there. Care to join me for a cup?"
Lu Wanning eyed him warily. "Are you the backup sent by Fu Rongxuan?"
The Crown Prince spread his hands helplessly. Knowing that Lu Wanning hated Fu Rongxuan at the moment, he quickly explained, "No. I was just chatting with the Queen Mother a few days ago. She said she misses you very much and that you've been in a bad mood. She told me to keep you company when I'm free. Don't worry. It's just the two of us. There's no one else."
Lu Wanning looked at the Crown Prince suspiciously. Although they were siblings, their relationship was not very good. Compared to the two cousins from the He family, with whom she often kept in touch, she had little to do with the Crown Prince. What on earth had gotten into the Crown Prince today that he would invite her for tea on his own initiative?
She always felt there was something fishy going on. But it was broad daylight... Oh no, it was already night, but there were so many people around at this time. What could he possibly do?
Lu Wanning thought for a while, whispered to her attendant to tell Lu Hannian, then nodded and followed the Crown Prince to the teahouse.
The Crown Prince didn't mind. When they got to the private room, he even poured tea for Lu Wanning personally and said with a smile, "Zhaoyang has been stubborn since childhood. I remember when you were a kid, you were climbing a tree. I tried to persuade you, but you threw a stone at me and broke my forehead."
Lu Wanning didn't remember this. The original owner was a real devil, causing trouble all day long and running wild in the palace. It was not impossible for her to have injured the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince smiled. "Now that I think about it, how could I neglect our sibling bond because of such a small thing? Come, let me offer you a toast with tea instead of wine, Zhaoyang."
Lu Wanning quickly picked up her teacup and looked at the Crown Prince in awe. "Your Highness the Crown Prince really doesn't blame me anymore?"
The Queen Mother was right. She was really a fool. If not a fool, then she was just too stubborn. She had liked Fu Rongxuan so much before, but now that she didn't like him anymore, she could even take out a knife.
Forget it. Today was just a test. There was no need to care too much.
The Crown Prince nodded slightly. "The Queen Mother has had a headache. If you and your aunt are free, you can go into the palace to accompany her. She will surely be very happy."
Lu Wanning nodded. After eating two pieces of dim sum, she said, "The Empress Dowager is also ill. I also want to go into the palace to accompany her."
The Crown Prince laughed. "Zhaoyang is so filial."
Lu Wanning beamed with pride. "Father also said I've grown up and become more sensible. I know how to be considerate of others now."
The Crown Prince frowned slightly to hide the disdain in his eyes. "By the way, I heard you got something good."
Lu Wanning felt relieved. So this was the Crown Prince's real purpose today. She tilted her head and asked, "You've heard about it too? Look, I've already inlaid it on my scimitar. Isn't it beautiful?"
The Crown Prince glanced at the gem on the scimitar and felt a bit impatient. A lousy stone. Was it really worth her being so obsessed with it?
Lu Wanning smiled with her eyes curved like a crescent. "It was my elder brother who found it for me. This ruby is as big as a pigeon egg. It's really rare. Does Your Highness the Crown Prince want one too? But such things are really hard to find. My elder brother searched for a long time before he found this one."
The Crown Prince raised his hand and gently rubbed the space between his eyebrows. Then he smiled again. "As long as Zhaoyang likes it. I don't like these girlish things. I heard you got a incomplete guqin score?"
Who told him? Apart from the people in the prince's mansion, the only person she told about buying the guqin score was Jiang Shishi. And then when the book dropped that day, those noble ladies were there. But at that time, she was dealing with He Chan, and those women were so scared that they were stunned. Only the out - of - this - world female lead, Shi Aohan, was holding the book with a gleam in her eyes.
Apart from Shi Aohan, no one else would bother to tell the Crown Prince about her having a rare book.
Lu Wanning could even imagine how Shi Aohan had behaved in front of the Crown Prince.
She looked up with a puzzled expression. "Incomplete guqin score? I went shopping with Sister Jiang a while ago and bought a lot of things, including guqin scores. But I don't know if there are any incomplete ones. I didn't pay attention."
The smile on the Crown Prince's brow deepened. "Oh? I remember Zhaoyang didn't like these things before. Are you planning to give them to someone?"
"Yes, I am." Lu Wanning smiled slightly. She already knew his intention. Didn't he just want to get the book for Shi Aohan?
It wasn't expensive anyway, just ten taels of silver per book. And she couldn't give it away without her backer showing up. But no matter who it was, she didn't want to give it to Shi Aohan.
The Crown Prince was taken aback and asked, "Who are you going to give it to?"
"I'm planning to give it to His Highness the Prince of Yu."
Lu Wanning propped her face up and said with a worried look, "But His Highness the Prince of Yu seems to be too busy. I can't even find him."
The Crown Prince's heart tightened. He didn't care about the rare book anymore. He just asked, "Why have you suddenly become so close to the Prince of Yu?"
Lu Wanning shook her head. "We're not that close. Last year, I got a jade screen and wanted to give it to the Empress Dowager, but no one could write an inscription for me. Coincidentally, I met him and asked him to help me with it. And because of Lady Lu San, he gave me a jade pendant. I thought I should reciprocate the courtesy, so I just bought a few books to give to him."
The Crown Prince let out a sigh of relief. So that was it. It seemed that the Prince and Princess of Zhennan had been paying more attention to raising this girl recently. She even knew the importance of reciprocity.
Lu Wanning's eyes lit up. She asked with a smile, "Your Highness means there's something good in my guqin score? Haha, that's great. I was originally going to give him a guqin too, but I was a bit reluctant. Since the guqin score is already good enough, I won't give him the guqin."
She clapped her hands in delight as if she had gotten a bargain.
The Crown Prince paused. He wanted to ask for the guqin score again, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. After all, it was something she was going to give to someone else. One couldn't just take something that someone else wanted to give away. But when he thought of Shi Aohan's gentle and disappointed look, he felt a bit heart - ache.
Shi Aohan had suffered so much. It was only now that she was finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. She had even asked him for help. How could he let her down?
Lu Wanning stole a glance at the Crown Prince's face and knew that he wasn't going to give up. She quickly stood up and said, "Oh, I just remembered. How did Your Highness the Crown Prince know I had a guqin score? Did He Chan tell you? Humph, He Chan is so annoying. I don't like her at all."
The Crown Prince felt a bit embarrassed and waved his hand. "No. I just happened to..."
Lu Wanning didn't even listen to his excuse. She just continued, "I don't care, Your Highness the Crown Prince. He Chan is your cousin, and I'm your cousin too. You can't just be partial to her! Last time, it was clearly Shi Aohan who made the Fourth Prince take a fancy to her, but He Chan insisted that I was trying to harm Shi Aohan. Just thinking about it makes me angry. How could I influence the Fourth Prince? Shi Aohan is also something else. Talking about friends and brothers. Doesn't she know what kind of person the Fourth Prince is? With her background, how could she be worthy of the Fourth Prince?"
"Enough!"