Although Lin Zhaoyue felt displeased in her heart, there was a distinction between monarch and subject, so she restrained her emotions. After a moment, she spoke:
“Crown Prince, if you wish to taste Qianwei Restaurant’s signature dishes, you can have the waiter come over to explain them.”
Xiao Yan ignored her words. His eyes, like black ice, stared intently at her, as if soaked in night, deep and unfathomable.
His aura was cold and unyielding.
Xiao Yan had never looked at her like this before—as if she had stolen something, or as if he were probing and threatening. She couldn’t decipher his gaze, only knowing that his earlier request for her to recite the dish names again was serious.
Madman.
Lin Zhaoyue cursed inwardly, then recited the dish names once more:
“Steamed Chicken with Wine, Four Soft Lamb Parts, Cherry Pork, Stir-Fried Phoenix Tongue… Drunken Pork Ribs.”
As Lin Zhaoyue recited each dish name, Liu Yiyi’s hands, clutching her handkerchief, tightened further.
Just as she finished, before Xiao Yan could speak, Liu Yiyi said:
“I didn’t expect Sister Yue’s memory to be so good. Yiyi only mentioned to Sister Yue twice that every year on this day, Yan Brother and I eat these dishes, and Sister Yue could recite them flawlessly.”
Lin Zhaoyue frowned slightly, wondering when Liu Yiyi had told her about this, when Xiao Yan’s low voice came again:
“Is that so?”
Lin Zhaoyue didn’t want to indulge Xiao Yan’s madness or watch them flaunt themselves before her. It was just a few dish names, so she followed Liu Yiyi’s words:
“Yes, I remembered after hearing Miss Liu mention it twice. Is there any problem? Or are these dishes only for you to eat, forbidden to outsiders?”
“Not at all, Sister Yue misunderstood Yan Brother. It’s just that the order of these dish names is a secret only known to Yan Brother and me. It’s all my fault; I didn’t explain clearly when I told Sister Yue.”
The doubt in Xiao Yan’s eyes did not dissipate. His gaze, like black ice, remained dark and heavy upon her, as if trying to see through her heart.
She had already recited the dish names again as he demanded, yet he persisted endlessly. Lin Zhaoyue grew impatient:
“It’s just a few dish names! If the Crown Prince still wishes to hear them, Your subject’s daughter can recite all Qianwei Restaurant’s dish names!”
Just a few dish names?!
Seeing Lin Zhaoyue’s indifferent and mocking expression, Xiao Yan’s hand hidden in his sleeve tightened.
So, what had he been suspecting earlier?
A self-deprecating smile curled at his lips, and Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze.
“Yan Brother, Yiyi is hungry.”
Upon hearing Liu Yiyi’s voice, Xiao Yan turned his head and smiled gently at her:
“Let’s go upstairs.”
Hmph.
Cold mockery, coercion, and exploitation toward his fiancée; heartfelt sincerity and tender care toward his childhood sweetheart.
This was the difference. Love and lack of love were so evident.
So, how could she not annul this marriage?
“Sister Yue, the main hall is rather noisy. We have a private room upstairs. Would you like to join us?”
“I enjoy lively places, so I won’t disturb you two.”
How dare she disturb their flirtation!
She wished they would lose control, passion igniting like dry wood meeting fire, so she would have grounds to annul the marriage.
A fiancée saying she won’t disturb her fiancé with another woman—she truly was magnanimous.
Xiao Yan said nothing further and led Liu Yiyi upstairs.
Following behind Xiao Yan, Liu Yiyi cautiously asked:
“Yan Brother, should I go and call Sister Yue again? I fear she might be angry.”
“Angry?”
Xiao Yan lowered his head to look at Lin Zhaoyue, who was already eating the first dish. She didn’t seem angry at all.
For some reason, seeing her like that felt like something was blocking his chest, making him stifled.
“Didn’t she personally say she wouldn’t disturb us two? Why would she be angry?”
Xiao Yan’s voice was slightly low, and his aura grew increasingly cold.
Seeing Xiao Yan’s expression, Liu Yiyi pursed her lips slightly.
After finishing her meal, Lin Zhaoyue felt it was still early, so she went to stroll around the market again.
Unconsciously, she walked back to the lantern riddles area at Washe.
An Guo had an open social atmosphere, where men and women coming out to stroll at night was a common occurrence, and this place remained bustling.
Seeing those fine young men racking their brains to win prizes their beloved girls liked, Lin Zhaoyue felt envy deep in her heart.
That pair of white jade bracelets she had longed for two lifetimes without ever obtaining.
Clearly not something valuable, yet she had longed for them for two lifetimes.
Lin Zhaoyue was too immersed in her feelings of regret and did not notice that, across the crowd, a sharp gaze was fixed on her.
After finishing their meal, Xiao Yan and Liu Yiyi accompanied her shopping, buying many things girls liked.
Rabbit lanterns, jade ornaments, hairpins…
She also wanted to buy a round fan, so the two came to Washe.
They unexpectedly encountered Lin Zhaoyue here.
She held nothing in her hands, merely watching the men guessing lantern riddles on the stage with envy.
The second daughter of Duke Lin, the cherished pearl of the Guogong Mansion.
Beautiful appearance, illustrious family background, bright and vibrant personality, the future Crown Princess…
It was always others who envied her; unexpectedly, Xiao Yan could also read envy in her eyes one day.
What was she envying?
Those inferior white jade bracelets—if she wanted them, someone would bring them before her just to smash and play with…
His gaze flickered slightly; for a moment, Xiao Yan seemed to see another Lin Zhaoyue.
Lin Zhaoyue sensed something, turned her head, and met Xiao Yan’s deep, handsome black eyes.
His eyes held emotions she could not understand.
Controlling her emotions, Lin Zhaoyue bowed to him and then turned to leave.
The bustling crowd seemed to isolate her, solitary and alone, looking quite lonely.
Looking at Lin Zhaoyue’s back, Xiao Yan’s heart felt as if pierced by something, carrying a slight, subtle pain.
He wanted to grasp something, but didn’t know what to grasp.
“Hey, Yan brother, isn’t that Yue sister?”
Liu Yiyi held a rabbit lantern in one hand while pointing at Lin Zhaoyue’s back.
Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze and said indifferently:
“No, let’s go back!”
After speaking, he turned and strode away, the two figures gradually moving farther apart…
The heavens were unkind; the sky had unknowingly begun to drizzle, dampening Lin Zhaoyue’s exquisite embroidered shoes.
She ran to a stall selling umbrellas, but the umbrellas were already sold out. The stall owner hadn’t even kept one for herself, packing up the stall while getting rained on, grinning broadly with her teeth.
Being able to sell all the umbrellas meant this rain was a blessing for them.
The sound of rain hitting the tiles grew louder. Lin Zhaoyue tossed down a silver ingot and ran to another eaves to shelter from the rain.
While packing up her stall, the stall owner discovered there was still an old straw raincoat. Just as she intended to ask the young girl if she wanted it, offering it free, she looked up and found the person had already vanished, leaving only the gleaming silver on the stall…
Just as Lin Zhaoyue was about to dash into the rain to feign a minor illness costing twenty silver coins, a bamboo-handled black oil-paper umbrella edged with gold was held over her head, the faint scent of ambergris lingering around her nostrils.
Then a cool voice sounded beside her ear:
“You can’t even take care of yourself, yet you still have energy to care for others?”
Lin Zhaoyue looked at the person approaching, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.
Wasn’t he supposed to escort his beloved back?