Jiaojiao’s long eyelashes trembled, and she instinctively looked away.
This tyrant was really too proud and too cunning. He had actually used this method to force her attention to remain completely focused on him.
The curtains blocked off the path behind them. The small pavilion was like an isolated island. In the quiet space, the only sound was the lake water gently hitting the pavilion pillars.
For a moment, Jiaojiao did not dare meet his eyes. Her gaze wandered around until it suddenly stopped.
Gui Heng’s crown was slightly crooked.
She unconsciously reached out.
“Your crown…”
“What?” Gui Heng asked calmly, naturally lowering his head at the same time.
He was too tall, so Jiaojiao had to stand on tiptoe. With both hands, she straightened the silver crown.
Now that she was closer, she noticed that the ends of Gui Heng’s hair were very curly. That was why an ordinary man could tie his hair with a single crown, while the crown on his head always seemed as if it might fall off at any moment.
Jiaojiao silently thought that she should find a good hairpin for him when she returned.
Black ebony or green jade would both look good. With a hairpin together with the crown, his hair would not come loose so easily.
“Is it all right now?”
Hearing his deep voice, Jiaojiao realized that she had become distracted again.
She quickly released her hands and stood properly.
“Y-yes. It’s fine.”
Gui Heng reached up and lightly touched the silver crown.
Then he suddenly lowered his eyes and smiled.
“Thank you.”
He usually had a serious expression. Even when he occasionally curled his lips, there was usually a mocking look in his eyes.
This smile, however, was genuinely sincere.
There was even warmth in his eyes.
Jiaojiao could not help smiling too.
“You must have been in too much of a hurry when you changed clothes, right? No one reminded you.”
Her mood suddenly improved.
She pulled Gui Heng over to sit on a small embroidered stool. Then she arranged the snacks and tea set that Aunt Du had prepared for her.
The smile on her lips grew wider and wider.
He was real.
If it were not for her, his crown would still be crooked right now.
Gui Heng watched her movements and raised an eyebrow.
“Looks like you’re planning to have a long conversation.”
Jiaojiao’s hand stopped.
“Is that not allowed?”
Gui Heng sighed inwardly.
He stood up and took the teapot from her hands.
“Let me do it.”
Only then did Jiaojiao realize that she had been pouring the tea all over the outside of the cup.
She dejectedly let go.
“Go ahead,” Gui Heng said calmly as he took over. “What do you want me to thank you for this time?”
“Huh?”
Jiaojiao was stunned for a moment before realizing that he was talking about the silver spear.
“It wasn’t really a big deal…”
She almost said, “You don’t have to thank me.”
But she quickly stopped herself.
Her eyes shifted.
She placed both hands neatly on her knees and spoke carefully.
“But… I do want a little something in return.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Jiaojiao looked at his calm expression.
He did not seem angry that she was asking for something in return for her kindness.
She gathered her courage and said nervously,
“Fifth Brother, you always call me by my title. It sounds too distant.”
“Could you… could you call me by my name?”
“Your name?”
Gui Heng repeated the question.
Jiaojiao nodded hard, her mouth suddenly dry.
“How should I call you?”
Gui Heng thought about it.
Then he tried,
“Jiaojiao?”
After he said her name, no one spoke for a long time.
The night breeze lifted one corner of the gauzy curtain.
Under the moonlight, the lake was perfectly still.
Above the quiet water, the two of them looked at each other.
The petite girl stared at the calm young man across from her.
Her long eyelashes trembled, and her eyes gradually became brighter and brighter.
“All right.”
Gui Heng suddenly lowered his eyes and sighed with a smile.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
After all the excitement, everyone gradually dispersed.
Roujia was the most impatient of them all. She had long complained that the wind on Chengyue Terrace was giving her a headache.
After giving the Emperor an overly charming bow, she returned to Ganlu Palace.
For some reason, Princess Jiaoran and Gui Heng also left unusually quickly.
The Crown Prince had already exchanged a look with Empress Wen.
Now that the Empress had successfully kept the Emperor occupied, the moment Gui Heng left, Gui Yan immediately brought the angry Gui De and the constantly persuading Gui Che forward to greet Emperor Heng.
“Father.”
The Emperor glanced at him.
“I know what you want to say.”
Gui Yan bowed deeply.
“Father naturally sees everything clearly. However… Fifth Brother really went too far tonight. He has always refused to respect me as his older brother, so your son has no choice but to ask Father to stand up for Third Brother.”
Emperor Heng looked down toward the field.
“Where is Fifth Brother?”
Gui Yan looked slightly embarrassed.
“I didn’t expect him to leave so quickly. I looked away for only a moment and he had already disappeared into the crowd. If I had sent people to stop him, I was afraid it would only cause more gossip…”
Hearing this, the Emperor frowned.
“This happened between the two of them. One of them is now absent. How am I supposed to make a judgment?”
Gui Yan froze.
“This…”
Gui De could not hold himself back any longer.
“Father!”
The Emperor frowned and looked at him.
Gui De immediately began complaining.
“I already told you that he held a spearhead against my throat and threatened me, but you didn’t believe me!”
“Fifth Brother is always pretending to be harmless. Even if he were here, he would definitely come up with all kinds of excuses!”
“He says he doesn’t know how to use a spear? Just look at him tonight! Does he look like someone who can’t use one?”
Emperor Heng said in a deep voice,
“His spear skills are indeed excellent.”
Something about his tone sounded strange.
Gui Che could not help looking up at the Emperor.
The Emperor’s expression was calm, and there even seemed to be a trace of admiration in his eyes.
…The Crown Prince had miscalculated this time.
Gui Che sighed inwardly and decided not to say anything else.
Gui De still wanted to speak, but the Emperor interrupted him with slight impatience.
“He attacked openly. You lost because your footing was unstable, and you were defeated in front of everyone.”
“Even if he really pointed the spearhead at your throat in the weapons storehouse, he did so openly. It was not a sneak attack.”
“You are several years older than him, yet you lost because your skills were inferior. Now you are accusing your younger brother here. Is that how an older brother should behave?”
The Empress realized that the situation was going badly.
She quickly poured a cup of tea and offered it to him.
“Your Majesty, please don’t get angry…”
The Emperor turned and looked at her.
His gaze seemed almost tangible.
The Empress did not dare meet his eyes. She awkwardly placed the tea down and lowered her head.
“Empress.”
His voice was deep.
“The children like to fool around together. As their father and ruler, there are times when it is inconvenient for me to interfere.”
“But you are the Empress. You have also allowed the princes to form alliances with some while distancing themselves from others.”
“Can you really be called the head of the imperial harem and the mother of the entire kingdom?”
The words were extremely serious.
The Empress’s voice trembled.
“Your Majesty…”
She staggered and knelt down.
Gui Yan and the others immediately knelt as well.
The night wind grew colder.
Gui Yan could feel a layer of cold sweat covering his back.
When the wind blew against it, he shivered.
Gui Che knelt beside him without much concern.
As he listened to the Empress and Crown Prince stumbling over their explanations, his mind wandered.
Jiaojiao should have returned to Jiaoran Hall by now, right?
And because he had been dragged into this mess for no reason, he would soon have to walk all the way back to his palace along the lakeside in the cold night wind.
Jiaojiao nibbled on a rose milk pastry while looking at the person quietly sipping tea across from her.
After Gui Heng had called her “Jiaojiao,” the distance between them seemed to have suddenly disappeared.
It felt as though a little rabbit was happily jumping around inside her heart.
He was willing to call her by her name in a slightly affectionate way instead of using her cold formal title.
That should mean he had developed at least a little sibling affection for her…
Could this count as a successful first step?
Gui Heng called her,
“Jiaojiao.”
Lin Jiaojiao’s heart trembled.
She immediately sat up straight.
“Yes! Fifth Brother, what is it?”
She answered so brightly that it was almost as if she were afraid he might change his mind.
“Besides asking me to change the way I address you… you still have something you want to say to me, don’t you?”
“Mm…”
The dimples at the corners of Jiaojiao’s lips disappeared.
She pressed her lips together nervously.
While waiting for him, those words had gone around and around in her mind.
But now that she really had to say them, she still found it difficult.
Gui Heng glanced at her and said indifferently,
“If you still have doubts about me, why should I change the way I address you?”
“From now on, I can simply call you Princess Jiaoran as before.”
“No, no!”
Jiaojiao’s heart jumped.
She quickly shook her head.
The long string of pearl tassels beside her face swung like little hammers against her temples, but she did not notice.
She puffed out her cheeks unhappily and looked at Gui Heng, tears shimmering in her eyes.
Gui Heng had deliberately provoked her.
But when he actually saw her become so anxious, he could not bear to continue.
He leaned forward and held the two strands of round pearls beside her face.
Then he called her name again.
“We are alone right now. Ask whatever you want.”
His cool breath brushed against her soft ear, leaving it flushed red.
Jiaojiao instinctively held her breath.
Only after he released the pearl tassels and sat back down did she swallow nervously.
“Fifth Brother… actually, you could have defeated Third Brother much earlier, couldn’t you?”
Gui Heng nodded.
His eyes remained fixed on her still-wet eyes.
Jiaojiao gathered her courage and continued.
“And the needle in the cloak really was put there by you.”
The corners of his lips lifted slightly, but he said nothing.
“But why?”
Jiaojiao bit her lip.
“You knew that hurting him would make him retaliate against you ten or even a hundred times worse.”
“And besides, the Empress and Crown Prince usually protect Third Brother. No one stands on your side…”
“If you get into a fight with him, you’re the one who will suffer.”
Gui Heng’s expression had remained calm until then.
But after hearing those words, he looked deeply at her.
The little princess had fair, delicate skin, and the redness around her eyes was especially obvious.
He played with the teacup in his hand and said quietly,
“That cloak was embroidered for me by my mother. Do you know how it ended up in his hands?”
Jiaojiao had thought about that.
“He stole it?”
“Yes.”
Gui Heng gave her a sidelong glance.
“Third Brother has always disliked me. Whatever I have, he must have as well. If I dare show even the slightest happiness, that itself becomes a crime.”
“Mother gave me the cloak. Once he happened to see it, he was bound to come and take it.”
“If I simply gave in to him, he would only become more aggressive next time.”
“And if he could not get what he wanted from me, he would certainly find someone else to vent his anger on.”
As Gui Heng spoke, he actually began to laugh.
“So I thought I might as well add something to it before giving it to him.”
He seemed to genuinely find the situation amusing.
The curve of his lips deepened as he rapidly spun the green jade teacup between his fingers.
This was the first time Jiaojiao noticed that there was actually something slightly wicked about his appearance.
His features were deep and sharply defined.
His eyebrows were long, straight, and thick, slanting upward toward his temples.
When he smiled like this, there was an indescribable sense of malice and mockery in his expression.
Jiaojiao was somewhat afraid of his usual cold expression.
But the look on his face now…
was almost too striking.
Her lips trembled.
“You hurt him, and he still won’t let you off.”
“So what?”
Gui Heng’s tone was completely calm.
“If he takes his anger out on me, at least it is better than him dragging someone else into it.”
“You mean Noble Consort Yan?”
Jiaojiao suddenly understood.
“He uses Noble Consort Yan to threaten you.”
“Then what about tonight… why did you do it this time?”
She looked completely confused.
Gui Heng only smiled faintly and said nothing.
Jiaojiao slowly came to a realization.
She had a guess, but she was afraid to say it.
She simply kept peeking at him from beneath her long eyelashes.
Gui Heng’s eyes fell on the plate.
There was only one rose milk pastry left.
He studied it for a moment before slowly breaking off a piece.
“It is exactly what you are thinking.”
Jiaojiao became anxious.
“The last incident was understandable. He was the one looking for trouble.”
“But why did you deliberately humiliate him again this time?”
Gui Heng answered calmly,
“I am narrow-minded. I always repay every grudge.”
Jiaojiao sighed.
“I think you’d rather hurt yourself just to hurt someone else.”
And not just hurt them while hurting yourself a little.
He would hurt the enemy by one hundred while hurting himself by eight thousand.
Gui Heng’s lips flattened slightly.
He glanced at her.
“You think you understand me very well?”
The little princess nodded.
Gui Heng’s eyes narrowed slightly.
A dark flame seemed to stir deep within his black eyes.
Before he could speak, Jiaojiao moved the small stool she was sitting on a little closer to him.
She leaned toward Gui Heng and raised her head, seriously looking into his dark eyes.
“I know that Fifth Brother is a good person.”
Her voice was soft and sweet, but there was complete certainty in it.
Gui Heng silently looked at her.
Jiaojiao pressed her lips together and met his gaze.
Inside her sleeves, her fingers nervously curled into a tight knot.
She had once read about a psychological suggestion technique.
The book said that if you thought your husband was lazy, you should not get angry or accuse him of being irresponsible or not loving you enough.
Instead, you should praise him.
Even if all he did was pick up a bottle of cooking oil from the floor, you should happily say, “My husband is so wonderful! I knew you were the most hardworking and loving husband!”
After being praised like that, perhaps he would start sweeping the floor on his own the next day.
In other words, if you want someone to become a certain kind of person, tell them that they are already that kind of person in your eyes.
Over time, they may unconsciously rise to meet that image and gradually change in the direction you want.
She wanted Gui Heng to become a good person.
She did not want him to really become the cold-blooded emperor from the original story.
After all, her entire life depended on it.
Would it work?
Jiaojiao looked seriously at Gui Heng, fully aware that she was making a huge gamble.