Little Guizi was caught off guard when his young master stopped, and he almost bumped into his master while walking behind with his head down.
Just as she was about to bump into the young master's back, Xiao Guizi hurriedly stopped and looked up, following the young master's gaze.
In the hall, a girl dressed in lake-colored clothes stood in front of a landscape painting.
A beam of sunlight shone through the straight-lattice window, its halo reflecting off the girl's delicate profile, as if it were plated with a layer of gold.
She stood there quietly, gentle and serene, like a beauty who had stepped out of a painting.
Xiao Kang had a flash of inspiration and suddenly felt an urge to create a painting of a lady.
His previous paintings mainly featured flowers, birds, and landscapes, and he had even copied paintings of court ladies from previous dynasties.
Based on his aesthetic sense, he felt that the paintings of ladies created by his predecessors were overly flamboyant and exaggerated, giving people a frivolous feeling.
The woman standing before the painting is focused, serene and graceful, her figure elegant and refined—the very image of the woman of his dreams.
"Why don't you go inside and look at the paintings, young master?" Xiao Guizi asked indirectly.
He wasn't blind; with such a demure beauty standing in the hall, the young master was naturally attracted to the pretty girl.
To protect the young master's delicate, petal-like face, he could only say he was looking at a painting.
"Too talkative."
When Xiao Kang saw the girl turn her head away, he gently scolded Xiao Guizi, and then gave the girl in the hall an apologetic smile.
The girl returned his smile, and a blush rose behind Xiao Kang's ears. He then continued walking towards the flower hall.
With just that fleeting glimpse, the girl's image was etched into his mind.
Little did Su Hui know that the glance she gave him as she turned her head had captured his handsome features. Just by looking at his flamboyant phoenix eyes, Su Hui knew that he was the eldest son of the Prince's mansion.
Su Hui couldn't help but secretly marvel at how blessed the prince and princess were. The young master was exceptionally handsome, and the young lady was exceptionally beautiful and intelligent, especially their phoenix eyes, which looked as if they were made from the same mold.
Xiao Dai went to the flower hall, where the princess saw the young ladies gathered in the garden admiring the flowers.
"Kang'er, take a good look around later and see which girl catches your eye. Your mother thinks all the girls who came today are very pretty, so don't get blinded by them."
After finishing a plate of fruit, Xiao Yun picked up a handkerchief and, imitating her mother, delicately wiped her mouth.
"Big brother, I like Sister Lin, so please marry her!"
"Yun'er, don't talk nonsense." Xiao Kang knew that his little sister's composure wouldn't last long, so he quickly reached out and covered her mouth.
Xiao Yun used her small hands to pry open her older brother's large hand that was covering her mouth.
She pouted, feeling wronged. "Yun'er really thinks Sister Lin is very nice. She's gentle and beautiful, not too fat and not too thin. Dad even praised the Lin family for their good family traditions."
"The key point is that she ate with you and even picked out a chicken leg for you, right?"
Xiao Yun stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "Big brother, you're amazing! When I went to Sister Lin's house, she really did put a chicken leg on my plate. How did you know?"
Xiao Kang was physically weak in the past, and he had never been a guest in anyone else's home.
Seeing that her older brother seemed to have been there before, Xiao Yun admired him immensely.
Xiao Kang affectionately patted his little sister's head and chuckled, "You little glutton, you want to sell your big brother for just one chicken leg? Big brother has really spoiled you for nothing."
"If you think Miss Lin is good, you can remind your second brother later and ask him to consider it. After all, he and Lin Xiangzhi are close, and Miss Lin sees him often. They are childhood sweethearts."
Xiao Guizi: "..."
He absolutely refused to admit that the young master was sacrificing his friend to save himself, but rather that the eldest brother was like a father to the young master, and that the eldest young master was concerned about the happiness of the heir.
Princess Yannan and Aunt Cai exchanged a glance, watching the brother and sister talk, neither of them able to guess Xiao Kang's thoughts.
The princess also thought Lin Ruyin was a good match, but she knew that mutual affection between husband and wife was more important than anything else. She thought it to herself, but she wouldn't say it out loud.
"Has my second brother come back yet? I haven't seen him."
"Big brother, you talk to Mother first. Yun'er will go to the garden to get to know the older sisters."
She was asked to arrange a marriage for her second brother. She had eaten bear meat before, but she had never tasted the heart of a bear or the gall of a leopard.
Watching his younger sister pretend to be calm and run out in a flash, Xiao Kang couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Miss Yun'er is fearless, except for the young master. With the young master home, the princess is much less worried." Aunt Cai said, covering her mouth and chuckling.
The princess looked helpless. "That's right. A few days ago, she released a parrot that the headmaster had raised for many years in the academy. She even had the audacity to say that the parrot told her to open the birdcage door."
"puff……"
Aunt Cai and her maids couldn't help but burst out laughing.
In order to allow the girls of Yannan to study at the academy, the headmaster specially set aside a courtyard and hired a female teacher to teach at the academy.
It's unclear how she learned that the headmaster kept a talking parrot under the corridor of the study in the academy.
One day, when the headmaster was not in his study, she quietly slipped over, teased the parrot for a while, and then released it.
"Our second young lady is a bit mischievous, but she is honest by nature. If it were any other child, she would never admit to letting the parrot go," Aunt Cai said, trying to smooth things over for Xiao Yun after she finished laughing.
The princess sighed and said, "Alas! She takes after her father; she's too straightforward. Even the headmaster only knew it was the girls' academy's doing because of the footprints on the chairs under the corridor."
"When the headmaster went over and asked her, she stepped forward and admitted it. Don't you think the children here are stupid?" The princess sighed and rubbed her forehead.
Aunt Cai: "..." It turns out she was overthinking it; the princess didn't mean it that way.
The maids suppressed their laughter and secretly thought to themselves, "So the second young lady has taken after the princess—she's bold."
Xiao Kang stood up and bowed to the Princess Consort. "Mother Consort, it's really not my second sister's fault for releasing the mountain parrot. Who knew that the parrot could mimic speech and shout 'Open the door'? I will go back and make a painting to send to the academy as an apology."
"You should pay attention to the matter of finding a match."
Watching her refined and gentle son leave, the princess rubbed her forehead. It seemed the banquet had been ineffective.
She sent her maid to Qinghui Courtyard once again to see if Xiao Jingzhao had returned to the mansion.
"Master, are you done bathing? The Princess has already sent someone to urge you." Xiangyang held up his clothes and craned his neck to call out towards the washroom.
"Put the clothes on the couch and go tell my mother that I will be there soon."
He returned covered in dust and grime, and it had just rained. He had ridden his horse along a muddy path, and the hem of his clothes was splattered with mud. He needed to take a bath before going to see his mother.
Everyone in Qinghui Courtyard knew that the manor was hosting a banquet today. It was as if everyone had conspired together. As soon as the young master returned to the manor, no one mentioned it.
At this moment, outside the Prince's mansion, a man dressed as a guard dismounted.
He took out his waist token and flashed it in front of the gatekeeper, who quickly made way for him.
The man went straight to Qinghui Courtyard. "Master, a letter has arrived from the capital."
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