Chapter 52 Pei Ji actually became friends with Sheng Sheng?

That day, he lowered his head, and just then the wind picked up, causing the little dumpling's bow headband to flutter, making her look so pretty!

Wearing this on one side just feels a bit odd; it doesn't look as good as wearing two.

Xie Yunqi muttered to himself, when he saw the little dumpling wearing only one bow headband tilt its head and wink at him, its dimples appearing at the corners of its mouth.

Xie Yunqi covered his mouth and coughed lightly.

Well, my sister looks cute wearing it on one side too.

"Did you drop it somewhere?" Xie Yunqi paused, then suddenly became arrogant again. "Ahem, but you don't look too bad wearing it on only one side. It's passable, so-so, uh... it's easy enough to catch my eye!"

"Fifth brother, isn't it a bit strange to use the word 'casually' here?"

Xie Yunchuan was taken aback upon hearing this, and looked at Shengsheng with a puzzled expression.

Sheng Sheng touched the only remaining bow headband and chuckled, "This bow headband is like this, you only wear one side!"

"Fine, whatever you want." Xie Yunqi looked like he couldn't do anything about it.

Xie Yunchuan suddenly remembered the orange headband on Xie Yunwen's head, which seemed to be the same as Shengsheng's, except that the bow on it had been removed.

Could it be...?

Xie Yunchuan had some guesses, but the little dumpling hadn't said anything yet, probably because it wasn't appropriate to say it in front of everyone.

Pei Ji watched from a distance across the crowd, having overheard the entire conversation, and roughly guessed what had happened.

"The little dumpling is quite smart."

Pei Ji chuckled lightly, then stood up to leave.

Afu asked in confusion, "Hey, young master, won't you go and greet the princess in a little while? I heard that the second princess was assassinated yesterday."

In all the years the young master has been in the Kingdom of Yu, he has only ever been close to the Second Princess.

Afu thought that the young master must consider the second princess as a friend.

Since we're friends, shouldn't we at least say hello when we meet?

We still need to keep an eye on the assassination attempt.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, Afu realized something.

“That’s true. Young Master’s status is special. Although we have become friends with him in private, the Second Princess is, after all, a princess of the Yu Kingdom. It seems inconvenient to show this on the surface.”

Pei Ji remained indifferent, showing no reaction to Afu's words, as if he hadn't heard them at all.

She still had the same light laugh as before, not even the curve of her smile had changed.

Sometimes Afu was really curious. His young master was only a teenager, so how could he have such stable emotions?

Pei Ji stood up, and for reasons unknown, he first slowly straightened his clothes, smoothing out any non-existent creases, before calmly saying, "The play is over, what are the spectators still doing here? Let's go."

"Oh." Afu followed him.

"Hey! Brother Pei Ji, wait a minute!"

A familiar voice came from behind him, and Pei Ji froze, rooted to the spot.

At this moment, Pei Ji himself was unsure whether he felt more surprise or... more delight.

Afu was clearly surprised as well. Before they turned around and others couldn't see their expressions, she quickly whispered to Pei Ji, "Young Master, this...this...how could the Second Princess stop you in front of several princes? Isn't she afraid..."

Aren't you afraid of being talked about?

The people in the Wenhua Hall had not all left yet; there were still a few young men in twos and threes who had not yet departed.

Her shout will likely soon reveal to others that she, a hostage from the Song state, has a private relationship with someone.

And what about her brothers? Aren't she afraid of being disciplined?

Pei Ji remained silent and turned around.

The little girl ran over, lifting her skirt; her bright orange-red dress was particularly eye-catching.

"Brother Pei Ji, Sheng Sheng has prepared a gift for you. You'll see it when you get back!"

Pei Ji stared at her quietly for two seconds, then shifted his gaze back. The princes, some surprised and some puzzled, were all looking at them.

The little dumpling didn't seem to notice anything amiss, and simply waved her little hand in front of his eyes: "Brother Pei Ji, did you hear that?"

Pei Ji chuckled: "Thank you, Second Princess."

Sheng Sheng was quite blunt. She had figured things out a bit now. If she said something like "I don't expect anything in return" or "No need to thank me," it would sound like she was giving charity to someone out of pity.

It's better to be open and honest.

"I'll accept your thank you, after all, we're good friends." The little dumpling smiled. "But Sheng Sheng also needs to return the favor; she wants to eat tender bamboo shoots in the spring!"

Jingyue Pavilion is located in a bamboo forest, so in spring, we can definitely dig up lots of bamboo shoots to eat.

This was a statement that Pei Ji hadn't expected. Without hesitation, Pei Ji nodded and said, "Okay."

The little dumpling was delighted: "Goodbye, Brother Pei Ji!"

Pei Ji nodded slightly.

This time, Pei Ji was truly gone.

No one noticed that Pei Ji's steps were lighter this time, unlike his slow pace before.

Xie Yunqi asked in surprise, "Sister, do you know that hostage?"

"Um!"

The answers were all affirmative, without any hesitation. Xie Yun's expression was somewhat subtle. It wasn't that she meant to discriminate against Pei Ji, but because of his special status, he had to be treated specially.

In addition, as the crown prince of Yu, he had to show some concern for this hostage from Song, and they would occasionally communicate with him in the past two years.

Based on his understanding of Pei Ji, Pei Ji disliked socializing and would not deliberately try to please others in order to find a backer.

Despite his young age, he is certainly not naive.

In an enemy country, quietly fading out of the crowd is obviously the best way to protect oneself, and Pei Ji clearly understands this.

I never expected that he would become friends with the second princess.

Xie Yunchuan rubbed his forehead, knowing that Sheng Sheng meant to take care of Pei Ji.

The child is still young and doesn't know how to assess situations; all he knows is to be good to his friends.

If it were someone else, even if they were on good terms with Pei Ji, they would choose to ignore him because Pei Ji had no one to associate with in the Yu Kingdom.

Unlike his older brothers, Xie Yunqi didn't fully consider the implications in his mind. He spoke his mind freely: "Sister, he's a hostage from an enemy country. In a way, he's our enemy!"

Sheng Sheng knew they wouldn't understand, so she didn't intend to persuade them.

She simply smiled and said, "Sheng Sheng knows, Fifth Brother, don't worry."

Before Xie Yunqi could say anything more, Shengsheng quickly changed the subject: "Fifth Brother, Shengsheng brought you honey."

With a wave of her hand, Sheng Sheng immediately brought over a small jar of golden, sweet honey.

"Fifth Brother forgot to take the beehive with him yesterday, so Shengsheng had someone fetch the honey. However, Shengsheng is greedy and wants more honey. This small jar is for Fifth Brother. Please don't be angry that it's not enough. I'll take you to the lake to fish for small fish tomorrow to make up for it, okay?"

The little dumpling held out a small jar of honey to him, its round eyes filled with anticipation, and it looked at him obediently with a smile.

Xie Yunqi's heart melted; how could she blame her?

Besides, he hadn't really taken the honey to heart; he had only decided to conquer the beehive on a whim yesterday.