Chapter 56 How did they all show up?

Chapter 53

The servant was trembling with fear. Just when he thought his young master was about to lose his temper, his expression calmed down instantly, returning to its usual gentleness.

"I see."

However, his pale knuckles, hidden beneath his wide sleeves, tightened inch by inch. His face appeared gentle, yet it conveyed a calm indifference as if a storm was brewing.

"I've been quite busy lately, so I'd like to trouble you to keep an eye on Princess Mingyue's whereabouts."

After saying this, Lin Xiao took out a silver ingot and gave it to him. The servant was first surprised and then delighted. He quickly reached out and took it, bowing repeatedly, "Yes, sir, I will definitely handle this matter well."

"Go down."

"yes."

The moment the servant left the room, Lin Xiao's originally gentle expression suddenly darkened. He lowered his eyes, and his long eyelashes cast a shadow over his emotions.

The room was completely silent; you could hear a pin drop.

*

Shen Panyan thought that Gu Jinyan would only look for her for one day. Who knew that after that day, he would come to her door every day to ask her to go out. She didn't want to go, but he was a persistent person. She had no choice but to go out with him.

Gu Jinyan was very familiar with the capital. Today he took her to see a play here, and tomorrow he took her to go boating over there. He arranged everything in a very orderly manner. Shen Panyan, who was helpless at first, couldn't help but gradually become more interested.

However, she didn't like going to crowded places. It was fine for two or three days, but after a while, Shen Panyan started avoiding him and simply disappeared.

Taking advantage of this time, Shen Panyan finally managed to sort out the account books that the Empress had given her.

The Empress should have made up for every tael of silver she had taken from her fiefdom over the years, but the amount she received was a full 20,000 taels of silver short.

Not only that, the people in her estates were also unruly and started causing trouble. Shen Panyan had no way to deal with these people, but she could find someone who could—her father.

With the Emperor's intervention, the matter was resolved in just two or three days, but it also thoroughly angered the Empress.

However, Shen Panyan never enters the palace. Even if she does, she only goes to the Imperial Study where Emperor Gan Ning resides and never has any contact with her people. No matter how angry the Empress is, she cannot find an opportunity to take action and can only be filled with impotent rage.

Now, Shen Panyan has finally shed her heavy psychological burden. She is well aware that she is no match for the Empress and the Crown Prince, so she will not seek her own death by recklessly confronting them.

With her father around, she only needed to sit and watch their show, so her days became quite leisurely. Apart from not being able to go out, things were no different from before.

Also, her father's birthday is in two and a half months, and she needs to think of a good way to ask him to take Lin Xiao away from him when he is in a good mood on that day.

She had indeed tried to ask him, but her father's attitude was that he could give her a bodyguard, but it would never be Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao is not only highly skilled in martial arts, but also unlike other secret guards, he is not rigid in his actions. He is very likely to be the next Shadow Guard, and Emperor Gan Ning will not easily agree to send him away.

The matter reached a stalemate, and could only be dealt with gradually.

*

In the warm spring of March, peach blossoms are red and willows are green, the sky is clear and cloudless, and the day is as still as water.

Shen Panyan sat at the stone table, her slender white fingers holding a brush, writing something intently. Her skin was naturally fair, and the sunlight fell on her cheeks, making her rouge-colored silk dress seem as if it were draped in golden gauze. Her jet-black hair fell softly over her shoulders, making her look gentle and radiant.

After some time, Zhuzhi suddenly walked over quickly, bent down and whispered in her ear, "Princess, Young Master Gu has arrived."

Chen Panyan: "..."

Ever since that day, Gu Jinyan has been like a pest to her, coming to look for her every day. Even if she doesn't see him, he will always come to the princess's mansion to ask, making it difficult for her to go out.

"Just say I'm not here." Shen Panyan put down her pen, sighed, and rubbed her temples.

"They've arrived." Zhuzhi pointed.

Not far away, on the courtyard wall, Gu Jinyan was perched, waving to her with one hand outstretched, his eyebrows raised and his smile bright, "Princess!"

Chen Panyan: "..."

She never expected that after she stopped seeing him, he would climb over the wall of her residence.

"you....."

Gu Jinyan struggled to climb the courtyard wall. "The princess doesn't want to see Jinyan, so Jinyan had no choice but to climb the courtyard wall to see the princess."

The walls of the princess's residence were extremely high, but they weren't too difficult for Gu Jinyan, as he was skilled in martial arts.

However, perhaps to make his wall-climbing more visually appealing, he didn't pay much attention when he rolled over, and his clothes got caught on a tile, momentarily halting his previously nimble movements.

—Immediately afterwards, a scream rang out.

"Aaaaaah!!! Your Highness, help me!!!"

With a "bang".

Gu Jinyan landed awkwardly.

Chen Panyan sighed, rubbing her forehead.

She quickly got up to check his injuries and instructed, "Zhuzhi, go and fetch a doctor."

"Yes." Zhuzhi hurriedly left.

Shen Panyan walked quickly to Gu Jinyan's side, "Young Master Gu, are you alright?"

Gu Jinyan lay on the ground, looking disheveled, and raised his head. His hair was covered in grass clippings. Despite the pain, he gave her a smile and said, "I'm fine!"

Ouch, that really hurts!

Fortunately, there was grass below; otherwise, he would definitely have broken his ribs from that fall.

Shen Panyan could tell he was putting on a brave face, and sighed, "Can you still move, Young Master Gu?"

"Yes, it's still possible."

As he spoke, Gu Jinyan struggled to his feet from the grass. Seeing his disheveled and exhausted appearance, Shen Panyan quickly reached out to help him. "If you wanted to find me, you could have just entered through the main gate. Why bother climbing this courtyard wall..."

Gu Jinyan was helped up by him, her voice dejected: "But Jinyan had someone inform Her Highness the Princess for several days, but she refused to see me, so I had no choice but to climb over the courtyard wall to see Her Highness the Princess."

Shen Panyan looked at the young man in his fine clothes standing before her with his head down and ears drooping, his clothes covered in bits of grass, and felt a headache coming on. "It's not that I don't want to see you, it's just that I don't like crowded places..."

“If Your Highness doesn’t like crowds, then Jin Yan can arrange for us to go somewhere less crowded. I heard from my father that His Majesty gifted Your Highness a horse. If Your Highness likes it, Jin Yan can teach you how to ride, as long as Your Highness is happy.” Gu Jin Yan raised his head, his dark eyes fixed on her.

Chen Panyan: "..."

She turned around, twisting the handkerchief between her knuckles. "If you, Young Master Gu, only want to apologize because you feel guilty that day, there's no need for this. I truly don't blame you."

"I didn't..." Gu Jinyan quickly explained, his brows furrowed with anxiety, "Your Highness, Jinyan hasn't been... because of what happened that day..."

"If it's not because of what happened that day, then why have you been bothering me?" Shen Panyan looked up at him.

Gu Jinyan was momentarily speechless when she looked into his clear almond-shaped eyes.

"I, I am..."

That day, he thought he was going to die, and he had already prepared himself to be dragged away and flogged twenty times. But then Princess Mingyue appeared.

Her slender figure passed by him, her skirt trailing on the ground, carrying a faint fragrance of orchids that lingered in his nostrils. He knelt on the ground, not daring to look at her face, only knowing that she stood before him, bowing gracefully to the heavens, and did not reprimand him, but simply asked him to apologize to the people who had been frightened because of him, and that would be the end of the matter.

From that moment on, he remembered her.

Gu Jinyan talked for a while, "I just... I just felt that Your Highness's health wasn't good, and staying cooped up in the manor all day wasn't good for your health, so I wanted to take you out to play..."

Chen Panyan: "..."

How could she not see the cautious look in the boy's eyes, filled with expectation, as if afraid of being rejected?

This reminded her of that day when Lin Xiao disappeared for half a day, then suddenly reappeared, looking at her cautiously and giving her a fluffy raccoon dog.

His gaze now is the same as his gaze back then.

Gu Jinyan seems to... like her?

Shen Panyan suddenly fell silent.

*

“Young master, I didn’t see how the young master of the Rongguo Duke’s mansion entered today, but I did see him come out of the Princess’s mansion through the main gate, and he even changed his clothes.”

Lin Xiao snapped the pen in his hand.

"I understand. Keep an eye on things for me."

His voice was as calm as the calm before a storm.

Over the next few days, the servants kept reporting back to him.

Princess Mingyue was initially unwilling to see the young master of the Rongguo Duke's Mansion, but later, for some reason, she suddenly became willing to see him. As soon as he came to the door, he was guaranteed to enter the gate of the princess's mansion and stay for a long time until sunset before leaving the gate of the princess's mansion.

News travels fastest among the nobility, and in no time, rumors began to circulate in the capital that Princess Mingyue was interested in Gu Jinyan and that the Rongguo Duke's mansion wanted to marry the princess. This news even reached the palace.

Emperor Gan Ning was surprised and quickly ordered someone to summon Shen Panyan to the palace.

"Mingyue, do you really like Gu Jinyan?"

"Father, I didn't!!" Shen Panyan quickly explained, "I don't like him."

"Everyone in the capital is saying that you invited him to your residence..."

Shen Panyan felt utterly powerless in this matter.

She wouldn't let him into the palace, so he would climb the walls of the princess's residence, always falling and getting hurt. What if he actually got injured one day? She had no choice but to give in and let him in.

She originally wanted to get rid of him, but Gu Jinyan was shameless. As soon as she mentioned leaving, he hugged the pillar and acted like a spoiled child, refusing to leave no matter what. She was also shy, so what could she do but let him stay?

During this time, she was both troubled and exhausted, while Emperor Gan Ning just laughed it off.

"I never expected that the youngest son of the Duke of Rong would have such a personality. I think he is quite a good match for you."

Mingyue was timid by nature and didn't like going out, while the youngest son of the Duke of Song was lively. One was quiet and the other was active, so they were a good match.

Shen Panyan was shocked, her face turning deathly pale. "Father, I absolutely did not mean that. I only have ordinary feelings for him as a friend..."

"Look at what you're saying, I didn't say I would bestow a marriage upon you immediately." However, Emperor Gan Ning did include Gu Jin Yan in his considerations for a consort.

Although the Rongguo Duke's Mansion was a founding noble family, it has now been passed down for three generations and is no longer as glorious as it once was. Gu Jinyan also has two older brothers and is the youngest son. Marrying a princess is not a big deal... The more Emperor Gan Ning thought about it, the more he felt that the two were a good match. However, seeing Mingyue's pale face, he hesitated for a moment.

After all, she is a young girl, and she is easily embarrassed. In previous years, she has been pressured and suppressed by the Empress. She has finally had some peace and quiet. If she doesn't want to get married now, then she shouldn't get married. It can be delayed for a year or two.

He still hoped that Mingyue could find someone she liked to be her husband, just like he and Consort Shu had done back then.

After finally managing to deal with Emperor Gan Ning, Shen Panyan was still shaken. On her way back to the mansion, she ran into Gu Jinyan again.

Moreover, there was another person involved this time.

—Lin Xiao.

He stood in front of the princess's residence, watching Shen Panyan step down from the carriage, and smiled gently, "Your Highness, you're back."

Gu Jinyan quickly stepped forward, "Your Highness, Jinyan has brought you a gift you like. I've been waiting for you here for a long time."

Lin Xiao: "Your Highness, I have also brought a gift that you would like."

Although he didn't move, his gaze remained fixed on her, his eyes deep and intense.

Shen Panyan took two steps back, looked at Lin Xiao, then at Gu Jinyan, feeling helpless. A long-lost feeling of wanting to burrow into the ground and never come out again welled up in her heart.

Why are both of them showing up today?!