The late spring breeze, swirling with delicate crabapple petals, swept through the carved window lattices of the Xiefang Courtyard in the General's Mansion, striking the celadon wind chimes hanging in the corridor with a series of clear tinkles. Chen Weiwan reclined on a soft couch by the water, her fingertips pinching a plump, candied green plum, the glistening honey syrup oozing through her fingers. Suddenly, she heard the scrape of Chuntao's shoes against the blue bricks as she entered, carrying a copper basin. The footsteps were so heavy, like drums, that they startled the sparrows pecking at the fallen flowers on the windowsill.

"Miss!" Chun Tao slammed the copper basin down next to the dressing table, the splashing water condensing into a few silver beads on the mirror. "Your wedding date with His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince is almost set, why are you still thinking about that tricky thing in the backyard?"

Shen Weiwan bit the plum core with a "crack", her dark eyes rolled, and she raised her eyebrows to look at her: "Why, can't you cheat people when you're in love? Am I going to wait until my rival tricks me into tears before I go to His Highness and cry?"

"But the doorman just reported," Chuntao tugged at the corner of her clothes and took a half step forward, her voice low, "that pot of black bean and chicken soup you asked the kitchen to cook was for a 'visit' to the sick daughter of Minister Liu? She just asked Your Highness for advice on a poem at the flower viewing banquet last month..."

"If you look at me for a few more times, I'm going to be your rival. I have to cheat you." Shen Weiwan sat up straight, stuffed the last green plum into her mouth with confidence, and smeared the honey paste on the edge of the soft couch with her fingertips. "What do you know? When I have cheated all the rivals in the capital, I will take a detour and then I can cheat with His Highness with peace of mind..." She suddenly realized that she had let the cat out of the bag, and coughed twice to change her words, "Let's live a peaceful life together."

"Puff—" A very light laugh suddenly sounded outside the window, like jade beads falling on a plate. Shen Weiwan suddenly opened the window screen and saw Xiao Yu squatting behind the Taihu stone in his moon-white casual clothes. His black hair was lifted by the wind, and he was holding a half-thrown stone in his hand, his knuckles showing a light pink in the sunlight.

"What kind of passing by is your Highness?" Shen Weiwan put her hands on her hips and deliberately put on a stern face. "Could it be that the wall of the general's mansion is made of honey, which lured His Highness to climb over the wall and eavesdrop?"

Xiao Yu flipped over and jumped onto the porch, brushing off the grass debris on his hem. His moon-white brocade robe swept across the roses below, startling a few bright red petals. "I came here to smell the fragrance of candied green plums." He shook the wax paper package in his hand, the wax paper dotted with sugar and oil. "West Market's 'Tian Xiang Zhai' has new hawthorn candy, coated with three layers of icing sugar. Do you want some?"

Seeing this, Chun Tao bowed tactfully and retreated to the outside of the moon cave. Chen Weiwan snatched the candy bag and took a bite. The sour and sweet juice exploded on the tip of her tongue, but her eyes narrowed into crescents. "The daughter of Minister Liu sent me a box of 'beauty pollen' the other day. Can you guess what's mixed in it?"

"It's probably the kind of itching powder that breaks out all over your face." Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and wiped the frosting off the corner of her mouth with his fingertips. "She used the same trick to trick the daughter of Minister Li last year."

"Your Highness really does understand me." Shen Weiwan smiled with her eyebrows curved. Suddenly, she heard the maids' exclamations from the front yard. Chuntao ran in again in a panic, the silk flower on her bun tilted behind her ear: "Miss! Miss Liu Yuexi and four maids rushed to the hanging flower gate, holding a brocade box in her hand, saying that she wanted to apologize to you in person!"

Chen Weiwan and Xiao Yu exchanged a glance, then slowly stood up and adjusted her skirt. "You've arrived just in time. Bring me the 'croton and black chicken soup' that I asked the kitchen to warm up. Remember to use the food box with the gilded lotus flower pattern on it."

Under the moon-shaped gate in the front yard, Liu Yuexi, the daughter of Minister Liu, was standing on tiptoe, looking out. When she saw Shen Weiwan coming out, her eyes immediately turned red, as if she had just been rescued from tears. Her pomegranate-red gauze dress was embroidered with dense lotus flowers, and the brocade box in her hand was inlaid with pearls at the corners. When she opened the lid, she could smell a strong scent of ambergris.

"Sister Chen," Liu Yuexi's voice was filled with tears, but her fingertips were tightly grasping the edge of the brocade box. "At the Queen's banquet the other day, I didn't know the rules and shouldn't have looked at His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince twice... This is the heart-shaped hairpin I embroidered myself. I hope Sister will be magnanimous and not hold it against me."

The maid behind her came forward with a brocade box, but Shen Weiwan didn't take it. Instead, she pointed to the food box in Chuntao's arms and smiled innocently: "Sister, you are too polite. I heard that you have been unwell these days, so I specially asked the kitchen to stew croton and black chicken soup. It is the best for detoxification and beauty."

"Ba... Badou?" The color drained from Liu Yuexi's face instantly, as if someone had poured a basin of ice water over her head. The brocade box, along with her, clattered to the blue bricks. The moment the lid popped open, a red-gold hairpin inlaid with kingfisher feathers tumbled out. Two intertwined figures adorned the hairpin's head—one in a prince's dragon robe, the other in a bun, the hair of a young girl. Their faces revealed the silhouettes of Xiao Yu and Shen Weiwan.

"Miss Liu, you have excellent craftsmanship," Xiao Yu said as he slowly bent down to pick up the hairpin. His fingertips flicked the face of the little red-gold figure, causing the hem of the gold foil to rustle. "It's a pity the workmanship is so crude. It makes me uncomfortable. It looks just like a clay figurine sold on the street."

Liu Yuexi staggered back half a step, and the fingers pointing at Shen Weiwan were shaking: “You…you knew I was going to give this to you!”

"Know what?" Shen Weiwan tilted her head, the smile at the corner of her eyes like a cunning little fox, "Knowing that my sister is infatuated with His Highness, she specially made this 'heart-to-heart' hairpin? Oh, if this gets out, saying that the daughter of Minister Liu's family secretly kept the prince's hairpin..."

Before she finished speaking, Chuntao understood and raised her voice, startling the sparrows in the corridor and making them fly away: "Oh my God! Miss Liu actually hid the prince's hairpin. If the Imperial Censor knew about this, she would be punished for disrespect!"

The maids and servants who had rushed over at the news were in an uproar, their chattering humming like a beehive being pried open. Liu Yuexi screamed, turned, and ran towards the hanging flower gate, but she didn't notice the soapnut powder sprinkled on the ground. With a cry of "Ouch!", she fell flat on her back, her pomegranate-red skirt billowing up, revealing her moon-white panties. The maid behind her tried to help her, but she also slipped and fell with a plop. The master and servant rolled together on the ground, their hair disheveled and their jewelry scattered.

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