"Miss Wei has come to deliver the Commander's lunch," the Nansi Guard said honestly.
In the blink of an eye, Wei Yexue had already walked up to Sui Ning. Seeing the Princess here, she could hardly conceal her surprise, yet she did not forget her manners. "Your servant girl pays respects to Her Highness the Princess."
"Rise. Is Yue Tingyu inside?" Jun Suining asked flatly.
Wei Yexue did not know why the Princess would ask, and answered with some puzzlement, "In reply to Your Highness, Brother Tingyu is not here. Does the Princess have business with him?"
Brother Tingyu… He was three years older than Sui Ning, and she had never once called him that. A flicker of jealousy stirred in her heart—yet the person she was now had no right to be jealous.
"Nothing." Jun Suining slightly knitted her brows, snatched the Victory Cake the Nansi Guard was hiding in his hands, stuffed it into A-Qi's hands, and turned to walk out of the gates of Nan Sansi.
"Eh? Your Highness?" The Nansi Guard looked utterly confused.
……
In her previous life, A-Yu had said he had never loved any other woman.
Right—he had never loved anyone, whether the Cui woman or the Wei woman… Sui Ning told herself this over and over in her heart.
But… since her rebirth, so many of the original threads of fate had already gone astray. Could he still fall for her as devotedly as in her previous life? Could it be that those who had never stirred his heart before would absolutely never stir any affection in him now?
Doubt filled Jun Suining's heart. She was no longer certain.
Her thoughts tangled like a thousand threads of silk, knotted and unclear, and her steps slowed. Seeing how burdened she looked, A-Qi simply followed silently at her side, like her shadow, as if barely there at all.
Jun Suining looked down at her pale apricot-colored dress, remembering that Wei Yexue had also been wearing apricot just now. She suddenly stopped, turned around, and asked the youth beside her with complete seriousness—
"A-Qi, who's prettier, me or her?"
The youth wore the same indifferent expression as always. Sui Ning remembered that he could not speak, so she very understandingly rephrased the question: "If I'm prettier, just nod."
A-Qi looked at her quietly, but made no move at all.
Jun Suining frowned and reminded him, "I gave you the Victory Cake. The least you can do is cooperate with me."
Then she asked once more, "If you think she's prettier, then nod."
A-Qi still did not move.
Jun Suining smiled faintly and boarded the carriage with satisfaction, murmuring to herself, "I knew it. Of course I'm the pretty one."
Behind her, beneath the youth's mask, the corners of his eyes and brows bloomed with a smile. He sat outside the carriage, whip in hand.
As the wheels began to roll, Jun Suining pushed open the carriage door and quietly poked her head out, saying with displeasure, "I think you're just humoring me. Let's try again—if you think I'm pretty, then nod."
The youth urged his horse on in silence, giving no response. Only after a long while, when he felt that resentful gaze still fixed on his back, did he slowly nod.
Sui Ning got the answer she wanted and slowly closed the carriage door.
And when the carriage passed the tea-and-cake shop from before, the youth on horseback instinctively touched the pastries tucked in his coat, the corners of his lips curling up uncontrollably.
……
The wheels rolled over the bluestone slabs. A gust of wind swept past, and the sky filled with dark clouds, as if day had turned to dusk in an instant. The clouds split open, and rain poured down like a waterfall, drumming "pa pa" against the carriage's canopy.
A-Qi tightened the reins. The wheels slid swiftly through the rain, splashing up sheets of water.
Inside the palace, the boy held up an oil-paper umbrella, tilting it toward the girl. The girl reached out and straightened the handle, but a moment later it quietly tilted again…
It was only when Jun Suining arrived at Chonghua Palace and saw A-Qi walking away through the rain with his umbrella that she noticed his robes had long since been soaked through, clinging to his body and outlining his perfect figure.
"A-Qi, why not change into dry clothes before you go?" Jun Suining stood under the eaves and offered gently, unable to bear it.
But A-Qi seemed not to hear, and within a few steps he vanished into the curtain of rain.
A warm fur cloak was suddenly draped over her shoulders. She turned—it was Cang Ling.
"Your Highness, today is the Awakening of Insects."
At those words, Jun Suining extended her pale hands into the rain. Raindrops fell swiftly, landing in her palms—cool, yet carrying a hint of vitality.
The rainwater slipped from her fingertips. Sui Ning smiled faintly, her voice like flowing water, light and lingering. "Thunder and rain at the Awakening of Insects—all things begin to awaken. Everything will get better."
The spring rain surged with force, and the sky gradually darkened beneath the curtain of rain.
Jun Suining was just preparing to rest when a faint rustling suddenly came from the window—subtle and distinct.
She rose from her bed and walked over. Her hand brushed lightly along the window frame as she pushed it open. Beneath the ink-black night, a bamboo slip lay quietly on the windowsill, and a fresh, clean scent lingered in the air.
Jun Suining opened the bamboo slip. Before she even read its contents, she recognized the graceful, familiar handwriting—that touch she knew so deeply. It was A-Yu's own hand.
He—had he just been here?
This unexpected discovery made her heart tremble. She had felt melancholy and sad from not seeing him all day, only to learn that he had quietly come without her knowing.
Sui Ning didn't stop to think. In only her thin inner garments, holding an oil-paper umbrella, she ran straight out of her chambers, her heart brimming with hope that she might find A-Yu's figure in the rain.
But looking all around, there was no one in sight. A sense of loss suddenly washed over her. Head lowered, she watched the rain stir ripples at her feet.
In that instant of distraction, a pair of black boots suddenly appeared before her eyes.
She lifted her head in delighted surprise—only to see the very person she longed for day and night standing quietly before her.
Yue Tingyu's face was cold and stern, his sharpness restrained yet impossible to hide. He held a large black umbrella, his dark gaze fixed steadily on her.
The rain was too heavy for Sui Ning to make out his expression. Without hesitation, she discarded her oil-paper umbrella and rushed beneath Yue Tingyu's wide black umbrella, her eyes full of joy. "Why write on a bamboo slip? Wouldn't it be better to tell me to my face?"
Yue Tingyu looked down at her, a faint frown crossing his face unnoticed. The umbrella handle in his grip was as straight as his spine—like a pine tree standing proud in the rain, unmoved by any wind or storm, bowing to no one.
As if possessed, Jun Suining stretched out her small hand and pushed the umbrella handle toward Yue Tingyu's side.
To her dismay, she couldn't move it at all. Yue Tingyu took in her little maneuver entirely, his expression cold and hard as his thin lips parted. "The umbrella is large. There's no need."
……
Oh.
Jun Suining withdrew her hand in embarrassment, and the two walked with small steps into her chambers. Sui Ning handed him the bamboo slip, unable to contain the smile on her face—
"Read it to me."