When the man turned around, Song Xizhi saw that familiar face.
Her bone structure was well-defined, with a high and straight nose bridge and a small mole on the tip of her nose. Her lips were moist and bright red.
He was wearing an ivory-white round-necked robe, his black hair was tied up with a jade crown, and there was an unfinished chess game next to him, as if he was playing against himself.
This gentle, jade-like quality is quite different from his cold and aloof appearance.
Song Xizhi stared at his face, momentarily lost in thought.
"Zhizhi?"
It wasn't until the man's voice rang out that Song Xizhi snapped out of her daze. She hurriedly closed the door and then quickly walked to the man's side.
She lowered her voice and asked, "Have you switched back now?"
He Jingyan nodded, sat on the soft couch, and looked up at her: "I'm worried that you don't want to see another face."
Upon hearing this, Song Xizhi's eyes widened in surprise.
She rushed forward and covered the man's mouth, lowering her voice even further: "Be careful what you say! That's His Highness the Crown Prince's face, how could I dare say I don't want to see it?"
He Jingyan smiled, observing her without revealing his expression: "Now you know how to be careful with your words and actions?"
"Last night, after you mistook me for His Highness the Crown Prince, weren't you indignant and demanding a divorce?"
Song Xizhi sheepishly withdrew his hand: "I know I was wrong now. I was so angry that I lost my mind. I still feel scared when I think about it now."
"How can His Highness the Crown Prince be criticized by me at will?"
"Besides, my mention of divorce was merely an attempt to give His Highness the Crown Prince a way out."
The man, perhaps unwilling to listen any longer, reached out and grasped Song Xizhi's hand, saying gently, "Actually, you don't need to be so alarmed. His Highness the Crown Prince is much easier to get along with than you imagine."
"He is kind, sincere, humble, resolute, and gentle, and very easy to get along with."
Song Xizhi pondered the man's words, then squinted at him again: "Are there really such good people in the world?"
He Jingyan was quite certain: "That's just the kind of person he is, so you don't need to be too careful with your words or actions, or feel any distance from him."
Song Xizhi nodded casually, then released the man's hand and sat down on the soft couch next to him, her voice low and gentle: "That's not the point."
"I was just a little disappointed that I didn't see how you changed your human skin mask. That's something you only see in storybooks."
Upon hearing this, the man raised an eyebrow slightly, understanding Song Xizhi's implied meaning.
So he slightly raised his hand and called out, "Bronze."
Hearing the commotion, the bronze figure outside the door carried a tray into the house. After placing the tray on the square table in front of the two men, he silently withdrew.
The bronze was made to look mysterious, and the tray was covered with a black cloth.
Under Song Xizhi's curious gaze, He Jingyan reached out and gently pulled down the black cloth from the tray.
What comes into view are faces, some male and some female, some handsome and some plain.
The ordinary kind is the kind that you can't remember at all after just one glance.
Upon seeing these items, Song Xizhi's eyes lit up: "So many? These are truly wonderful things!"
He Jingyan smiled as he watched her reaction, and then began to introduce the bottles and jars on the tray.
"This is the special potion for the human skin mask, and the other bottle contains the antidote to remove the human skin mask."
While listening to the man's introduction, Song Xizhi carefully observed the materials used to make the human skin mask.
"Can you smell both the medicine and the antidote?"
He Jingyan nodded, and Song Xizhi opened the white porcelain bottle and then held the medicine to his nose to smell it.
Surprisingly, the potion was colorless and odorless, making it impossible to discern its ingredients at first sniff.
The human skin mask was as thin as a cicada's wing in the sunlight, seemingly revealing the texture of the skin. However, after carefully touching it, Song Xizhi still couldn't discern the material of these human skin masks.
He Jingyan sat to the side, observing Song Xizhi's changing expressions without revealing his thoughts, and simply asked with a smile, "You want it?"
Song Xizhi shook his head: "This is a military secret. You also have a mission to carry out for His Highness the Crown Prince. I'll just take a look at this kind of thing."
"To avoid giving everything away and affecting your mission, which would incur His Highness's wrath."
He Jingyan's gaze remained warm as he looked at her: "It's alright, His Highness won't blame you. These human skin masks will be given to you. You're often surrounded by dangers, and they will surely be useful in the future."
“That’s not what’s important to me.”
Upon hearing this, Song Xizhi felt a warm feeling welled up inside him, a mixture of surprise and joy.
She quickly stood up and sat down on the same soft couch as He Jingyan.
She pondered He Jingyan's words carefully: "For you, the most important thing is His Highness the Crown Prince's human skin mask?"
He Jingyan was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected Song Xizhi to say that, but he quickly recovered and nodded seriously.
“That’s right. Once I return to the Marquis’s residence, I will have to change my mask. And in order to avoid offending His Highness, I cannot show you his mask, but the principle is the same.”
Song Xizhi nodded; she could understand that.
The prince's human skin mask is of utmost importance to their mission; they can't just take it out and show it to her casually, can they?
That would be far too offensive to His Highness.
However, Song Xizhi always felt that there were still some strange things.
She couldn't figure out what was wrong, but she couldn't suppress this strange feeling.
Song Xizhi pursed her eyes, staring at the face so close to hers, and shifted her position on the soft couch a couple more times, getting even closer to He Jingyan.
The two were extremely close, staring at each other with wide eyes, so close that they could even see their own reflections in the man's dark eyes.
She stared intently at the man's face: "I know most about the human skin mask, but I still feel that you've changed since our trip to Heyan Mountain."
He Jingyan raised an eyebrow and met her gaze: "Different?"
"Now that your face has returned to normal, do you still feel any difference?"
Song Xizhi shook his head: "It's not a matter of face, it's a matter of your attitude."
"Perhaps I'm being too sensitive. Having gotten used to seeing a different face on Heyan Mountain, it still feels a bit strange to see this face now that it's back."
The man pondered silently for a moment, then quickly lowered his eyes and said, "I understand."
Song Xizhi looked at him with great curiosity: "Do you know what's strange about it?"
He Jingyan nodded, leaning back lazily on the soft couch, and those large hands pressed against his waist belt.
With a slight twist of his wrist, he deftly pulled out his belt and began to unbutton his clothes.
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