Tang Ziyan stepped forward first and bowed to Zhizhu. "I'm sorry. It was all my idea to go out for a stroll that made Miss Zhizhu recall such unpleasant memories. To show my apology, I'll grill this fish."
Hearing this, Su Mingyu raised an eyebrow. "You can grill fish?"
Tang Ziyan nodded. "I'm good at many things. Your Highness will find out in the future. I'll go and grill the fish for you first."
Watching Tang Ziyan's back as he walked away, Su Mingyu clicked her tongue. "Zhizhu, look at Tang Ziyan. He's good-looking, talented, and can cook. A good man like him is hard to find. Why don't you be with him?"
Su Mingyu was just joking, but Zhizhu pouted and looked aggrieved. "Your Highness, you're so annoying. I'll get angry if you keep saying this."
Seeing that she couldn't take a joke, Su Mingyu stopped teasing her. Instead, she said seriously, "The matter of Qingfeng can't be solved by just brooding over it alone. So don't be so down. Look how much Tang Ziyan cares about you. Seeing you in a bad mood, he quickly asked me to take you out. Don't make us worry so much."
After hearing Su Mingyu's words, Zhizhu murmured an assent and nodded. "Thank you, Your Highness."
Su Mingyu curled her lips. "Don't thank me. Thank Tang Ziyan instead."
The two chatted idly. Before long, Tang Ziyan came up with a plate of fragrant grilled fish.
The three of them ate and drank to their heart's content on the boat before slowly making their way back from the outskirts.
Maybe because she hadn't slept well for several days, Zhizhu fell asleep on Su Mingyu's shoulder on the way back.
Looking at the sleeping Zhizhu, Tang Ziyan almost instinctively took off his coat and covered her with it.
Watching Tang Ziyan's gentle gesture, Su Mingyu became curious. "Mr. Tang is so good at taking care of others. Is it just his nature?"
"No one is born to serve others," Tang Ziyan said as he carefully tucked in the corner of the coat for Zhizhu. "I learned it from the madam after I went to Nanyuan."
"Don't be deceived by my appearance. You might think I'm very popular, but in fact, many girls and gentlemen who like young men think I'm too good-looking and are not willing to choose me."
"Your Highness knows that I make a living by my appearance. If they don't choose me, I won't have any silver. Later, I watched how others entertained guests and did the same. Gradually, everyone knew that although I look cold and aloof, I'm actually very gentle. Then they were willing to choose me."
Hearing Tang Ziyan's words, Su Mingyu couldn't help but think that it was a waste of talent to keep him only in a small Nanyuan.
With such a good-looking face, if he were in the 21st century, he would definitely be a top-notch little fresh meat.
"Actually, don't look at me like this," Su Mingyu pointed at herself. "Before I met Gu Ruobai, I might have had a worse life than you."
"Su Yueyue and my stepmother both excluded me. No one in the mansion cared about me. Even the people from the Ye Mansion ignored me."
As she said this, Su Mingyu gently placed her hand on Zhizhu's head. "I remember for a long time, I was hungry and cold. But even under such difficult conditions, this silly girl Zhizhu was still willing to follow me."
Tang Ziyan frowned. "If I remember correctly, Your Highness is the legitimate daughter of Minister Su. With such a noble status, how could you go hungry?"
Hearing Tang Ziyan say this, a hint of sarcasm flashed in Su Mingyu's eyes. "No matter how noble your status is, it's useless if someone doesn't want you to eat."
"When I was fifteen, I started washing the clothes of Wang Manwen, my stepmother. If I didn't wash them well, I wasn't allowed to eat. Do you know? The servants in our mansion were so vicious that they even threw mud into the clothes I had washed. Those days were really eventful."
As Su Mingyu spoke, the memories of the original owner flooded back. Those painful memories of the original owner became calm in Su Mingyu's mouth.
She and the original owner both had an unfortunate childhood, but the original owner was a little luckier. At least in this cold world, there was this silly girl Zhizhu accompanying her.
Hearing Su Mingyu's gentle voice, a hint of shock flashed in Tang Ziyan's eyes. "So even the legitimate daughter of a high-ranking official can be bullied like this. I thought only in Nanyuan would there be such things where people took pleasure in oppressing others."
Su Mingyu pursed her lips. "Where there are people, there will be oppression. But where there is oppression, there will be resistance."
"I've never heard Your Highness say such words before," Tang Ziyan said as he poured a cup of hot water from the kettle and handed it to Su Mingyu.
Su Mingyu took the hot water and took a sip. "Thank you."
Tang Ziyan squinted his eyes. "Your Highness doesn't need to be so polite to me. Although I'm the top courtesan in Nanyuan, I'm just a servant. Your Highness has been very kind to me. I'm grateful enough."
"What do you want to do after I redeem you?" Su Mingyu suddenly became interested.
Tang Ziyan thought for a while. "Maybe I'll travel around the world. After all, I don't know anyone in this capital city. It would be better to go to other places."
Hearing Tang Ziyan's words, Su Mingyu raised an eyebrow. "That's fine."
The two chatted as they walked and soon returned to the Rui Xian Prince's Mansion.
As soon as Su Mingyu got off the carriage, she saw a restless figure waiting at the door. When she saw who it was, her eyebrows shot up. "Mr. Tang, please take Zhizhu back."
Tang Ziyan also recognized the person. He nodded, turned around, went back to the carriage, picked up Zhizhu, and walked straight past Qingfeng.
When Qingfeng saw Tang Ziyan and Zhizhu, his face darkened like ink.
"Stop!"
Qingfeng took a quick step and blocked Tang Ziyan's way. Tang Ziyan lowered his eyes and glanced at him coldly. "Mr. Qingfeng, what are you doing?"
"Put her down," Qingfeng said with a hint of anger in his delicate eyebrows.
But Tang Ziyan didn't take his threat seriously at all. He just glanced at Qingfeng indifferently and then said in a deep voice, "Mr. Qingfeng, if I remember correctly, Her Highness seems to have said that you two are not allowed to meet again. It's not appropriate for you to act like this, is it?"
"I told you to put her down!" The anger in Qingfeng's eyes burst out. "Stop pretending to be a gentleman. Zhizhu is naive and doesn't doubt the story you made up at all, but I'm not that stupid."
As he said this, Qingfeng stepped forward and looked at Tang Ziyan obliquely. "I've investigated. You're not a traveling gentleman at all. You're just a courtesan from Nanyuan. What right do you have to be by Zhizhu's side?"