She offered a brief explanation, but did not understand its meaning.

"Wipe it," a soft, gentle voice rang out. He looked at her calmly, and the Ninth Prince's hand, which was touching the handkerchief in his sleeve, twitched but then withdrew.

Nan glanced at the Eighth Prince, then understood. She took the handkerchief, wiped her hands, put the handkerchief on the table, and tore off a duck leg from the roast duck placed in the center of the table to gnaw on.

During the days she stayed in the garden, she had been eating only congee, side dishes, and medicinal cuisine. Her mouth was almost dry. For someone like her who couldn't live without meat, she felt weak all over without it. She wanted to treat herself when she went to a restaurant. She had been worried about not having enough money, but now there were three fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered across from her, their faces clearly saying, "I have money."

Nan Yi ate with gusto, while Ba, Jiu, and Shi stared blankly at her. It was a very uncouth way of eating; perhaps they had never seen a girl eat like this before. The three of them were dumbfounded, as it seemed rather crude.

The Eighth Prince chuckled. Although Nan Yi's actions were unrefined, they were still endearing. Perhaps he was simply captivated by her beauty, a perfect example of the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Nan Yi's actions were truly unseemly; she lifted her veil with one hand and gnawed on a roast duck with the other, finishing it off in a few bites. The Ninth Prince immediately ordered another roast duck. Nan Yi was speechless. Another one? Did he think she was a pig? Only when the roast duck arrived did she realize what he meant—he was treating her like a servant.

"Can I have one, Your Highness?" The Ninth Prince pointed to the roast duck. Watching her eat, he felt hungry himself, a hunger that came from the bottom of his heart.

"Take it yourself," Nan Yi said, rolling her eyes and ignoring him.

The Ninth Prince stared at her longingly.

Alright, considering he's eating for free, I'll give it to him. She handed the duck leg to the Ninth Prince, who happily accepted it.

The other two people opposite her were also looking at her. Yes, I couldn't show favoritism. I held back and broke off the other duck legs. There were three people, and three duck legs were gone.

"Nan Yi, are you familiar with the capital?" the Tenth Prince said while eating, and kept putting food on her plate in a friendly manner. Nan Yi was speechless, not caring that the food had been picked up by chopsticks that had been touched by other people's saliva, and ignoring the strange looks from the other two people opposite her.

Life on the mountain used to be tough. She wasn't really a nun, and she ate tofu, cabbage, and eggs every day, year after year. Her intestines were green with envy.

She insisted on eating meat, and her fellow students, feeling sorry for her, secretly went all over the mountains to catch rabbits and roast them for her.

Once, the fragrance drifted into the temple, and the master caught her red-handed. Her fellow disciples couldn't bear to see her punished, so they hid her in a tree, but forgot to put her down. As a result, she was left alone in the mountains for one night. When they found her the next day, she had a high fever and was unconscious, which greatly worried her fellow disciples.

The master punished them by making them chop firewood for ten whole days.

Those were truly carefree days, Nan Yi ate slowly, knowing she could never go back.

"Nan Yi?"

"Oh, we're not familiar with each other. This is my first time out, and I even stole it out," she told the truth. Anyway, she wasn't afraid of them exposing her true identity, so there was no concern about the consequences since they didn't know each other's real identities.

"Hehe... I knew you sneaked out a long time ago. Look at the girls on the street, which one would dare to go out alone without a maid or servant accompanying her?" Ninth Prince interjected, looking knowing.

Nan Yi remained silent, thinking to herself, "That's a lady from a respectable family. How could a poor girl have maids and servants to protect her?"

The Eighth Prince glanced at the woman opposite him. Daughters of noble families rarely showed themselves in public. Nan Yi was dressed plainly, but her unique aura suggested that she was not from an ordinary family.

Do you know what fun things there are to do here?

She slipped out to check out the situation outside and find out more so that she wouldn't wander around the city aimlessly next time she went out.

God gave her this opportunity, and she couldn't waste it.

"What do you want to do?" the Ninth Prince said. "When it comes to eating, drinking and having fun, you've come to the right place. There's probably no one in the capital who knows it better than me."

The Eighth Prince laughed, “Indeed, my younger brother knows the capital like the back of his hand. If you want to have some fun, he’s the best choice. If you have time, just go find him.” After saying that, he was taken aback. When had he become so enthusiastic? It was their first meeting, and they didn’t know each other well. If she thought they had ill intentions, they would be in trouble.

He glanced at her briefly and, seeing that she didn't seem to care, breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, he wanted to spend more time with her and talk to her more. Besides, it was a rare opportunity for her to get out, and he didn't know when he would see her again.

“Yes, yes, after we finish eating, we can take you to play,” the Tenth Prince exclaimed. This girl was fun, unlike the women in the Forbidden City, who were either stiff and pretentious or extremely shrewish and boring.

That's not bad; you have someone to eat and play with.

She looked up at the sky and thought to herself, "Oh no!" She had agreed to have Qingyun wake her up in two hours. She couldn't let anything slip, otherwise, if a prince's wife was lost in the villa and her husband was alerted, it would be a huge loss.

"Next time, it's getting late, I have to get back quickly. How about we meet here again in three days? I'll come find you then." Nan Yi quickly stood up, gave a few instructions, straightened his clothes and veil, and then said, "I'm leaving now, see you next time."

Seeing her in such a hurry, the three men didn't stop her. They got up and saw her to the entrance of the restaurant. She took a few steps, then walked back and turned to look at the three handsome men of different appearances. "Don't follow me, or I'll get angry and the consequences will be severe," Nan Yi said, raising his fist in a fierce gesture.

The three men smiled wryly, realizing that the clever girl did indeed have that intention.

Since I don't want them to know, then forget it, lest it backfire.

“Alright, I won’t follow you, but you absolutely must keep your promise,” the Ninth Prince said, staring intently at Nan Yi, his expression quite tense.

The Eighth Prince clasped his hands, his expression unusually forlorn. His thick brows furrowed slightly, and he said with a hint of urgency, "Nan Yi, let a carriage take you back. We're worried about you traveling alone."

Nan Yi stared at him. Of the three, he left the best impression on her. He was gentle and handsome, and his speech and behavior were very humble and polite, and he knew how to behave appropriately.

"Don't worry, I'll call a car myself later."

She thought to herself, "You guys have to tell me where you are before you can call a car."

The three men knew her little scheme, but they didn't say anything, because they didn't trust that she wouldn't follow them.

Nan Yi walked into the crowd and waved to the back of her. The three of them waved back at her, regardless of whether she could see them or not.

"Eighth Brother, are you really not going to follow her?" the Ninth Prince asked, wondering what would happen if she stood him up.

"No, I believe her."

The Eighth Prince took the horse from the servant. He wasn't really that confident, but for some reason, he trusted her. "Ninth Brother, Tenth Brother, let's go back too."

“I believe her too,” the Tenth Prince laughed loudly, then mounted his horse.

"When did you become so confident, tenth brother?" Ninth Prince teased his tenth brother. This younger brother of theirs usually only cared about eating and playing, and didn't worry about anything else. However, in some ways, his maternal clan was more noble than theirs.

In the bedroom of the villa, before she could even change her clothes, Qingyun's voice rang out from outside. She hastily stripped off her clothes, changed into her sleeping gown, and replied to Qingyun, "Coming."

Just in time, Nan Yi opened the door and let Qingyun in. Pretending to have just woken up, he went to the inner room and said, "Qingyun, fetch some water."

"yes"

Qingyun fetched water for Nanyi to wash up and went into the inner room to tidy up. When she saw the clothes carelessly thrown on the floor, a pang of heartache flashed in her eyes. These were her best clothes.

She carefully picked up the clothes and put them aside, intending to wash and iron them after serving her master so they would still be wearable.