Chapter 77: A Mistake
"Is your young master really as good as you say? Why didn't I hear about him when I was in the capital?" Qin Xiangnuan forced herself to chat casually with Anliu. She was so sleepy, but she wanted to get some information out of Anliu. After all, she knew so little about Jiang Lin. Whether he was a friend or an enemy, she always had to know something.
Upon hearing this, Anliu seemed to open up his chatterbox. He simply squatted on a nearby rock and complained to Qin Xiangnuan non-stop, "Our prince doesn't like to attend banquets. Even when summoned by His Majesty, he only shows some respect when he's in a good mood. So, although people outside know that there is a prince in Xiaoyao Marquis's mansion, they rarely see him or befriend him."
"The daughters and young masters in the capital city wanted to come and deal with the prince, but our master had a cold personality and would turn away all those who came to visit him. Not to mention meeting him, even the gifts he sent would mostly be returned. As time went by, naturally no one was willing to touch stones anymore, so our prince's mansion gradually became deserted." Anliu recalled the days when Xiaoyao Hou was in the mansion and missed him very much.
But ever since Xiaoyao Hou excused himself to illness and traveled with his wife, leaving the mansion to the Crown Prince, the hallway has been truly deserted. Anliu couldn't help but sigh. Qin Xiangnuan narrowed her eyes, as if recalling the memories of the original owner. She couldn't recall any interaction with Jiang Lin. "No wonder, I had no memory of him at all. It was only when he came forward to help during the confiscation of the General's Mansion that I learned of his existence."
"How could that be? The prince saved the third young lady before."
When Anliu heard her say this, he immediately jumped up and spoke up for his master, "That year, you went to the palace to attend a banquet and accidentally fell into the pond in the back garden. It was our prince who pulled you out. Although you choked on the water and may not remember it clearly, I saw it clearly from the side. As soon as you cried for help, our prince jumped in and pulled you out."
"You know, he hates dirty water the most. He later threw away all those clothes. The prince was still a little cold when he returned home. He drank several bowls of ginger soup, which he would never touch on a normal day, and finally he felt better." Anliu looked at Qin Xiangnuan with some resentment, muttering in a low voice, "But who would have known that you would chase after the Seventh Prince later. We met several times in the palace, but you didn't even say thank you, and you didn't even bow to my master, let alone ask him how he was."
Slip? Fall into the water?
Qin Xiangnuan's head was filled with confusion, aching slightly. She stared at the dancing flames, carefully recalling the original owner's memories, searching for key information. It wasn't until several fragmented and blurry images appeared before her eyes that she finally reconstructed the true events of that day. "So, it was Jiang Lin who saved me, not Gu Mingqi?" Her muttering was overheard by Anliu, and his dark face was also startled.
"How could it be the Seventh Prince? He was standing very far away at the time!"
Anliu raised three fingers to the side of his face and spoke with great confidence. Qin Xiangnuan shook her head helplessly. The original owner was young and naturally timid when she entered the palace. She didn't dare to make a sound wherever she went, and she followed the familiar sisters in small steps, but the sisters didn't pay any attention to her and were only busy talking. The original owner accidentally walked to the side of the pond, stepped on the slippery pebbles, and fell into the pond. She was not good at floating in the water, and although the pond was not deep, she struggled to float, attracting the attention of the people around her.
In the inner courtyard of the imperial palace, the girls were afraid of falling into the water and getting their clothes soaked, which would be embarrassing, so naturally no one came to their aid.
The original owner felt her breathing become increasingly rapid, choking on water, and her lungs ached intensely. She thought she was dying, but through a hazy blur, she saw a figure in white slowly approaching her from the water. Strong arms grasped her waist and pulled her to the surface. The original owner tried to see her benefactor's face, but despite her efforts, she lost consciousness and passed out.
When the original owner woke up, he had been sent back to the general's mansion.
She could only ask the maids and servants around her, "Which man wore white at the palace banquet today?" The maids hadn't followed the original owner into the imperial garden, and didn't know she'd fallen into the water and been rescued. They could only rely on their memories to tell her, "Today was a flower viewing banquet, and everyone wore bright clothes. It seemed the only one wearing white was the Seventh Prince."
The seventh prince, Gu Mingqi.
From that moment on, the original owner had developed feelings for Gu Mingqi. If one could truly trace it back to the beginning, it was simply because of the life-saving grace he had given her that day. The original owner paid more attention to Gu Mingqi, and from then on, wherever she went, her eyes followed the Seventh Prince. The daughter of a general's family was naturally brave enough to express her feelings, so she confessed her inner thoughts to Gu Mingqi. Gu Mingqi was also very gentle with her, but all that was a deliberate coaxing.
"I didn't expect that everything would go so wrong."
Qin Xiangnuan shook her head, her eyes revealing no deep emotion. It was as if all this had been a fleeting dream. Anliu had never imagined that Gu Mingqi had impersonated her master's kindness. "Didn't the Third Miss later ask the Seventh Prince about the incident in the pond?"
"Of course I did ask. Gu Mingqi wanted to target the General's Mansion, so he lied to me. It was him that day."
Qin Xiangnuan felt sorry for the original owner, who had been kept in the dark her entire life. Anliu, upon hearing this, was furious, as if he wanted to rush to the Seventh Prince's residence and pull Gu Mingqi out to give him a beating. He looked at Qin Xiangnuan tentatively, feeling more and more that she was a perfect match for his master. He couldn't help but quietly ask, "Miss Third, I'm going to ask, if you knew it was the Crown Prince back then, would you have fallen in love with him at first sight?"
"Love at first sight?"
Qin Xiangnuan didn't answer. Thinking of Jiang Lin smiling as he handed her the token under the tree at the General's Mansion, she couldn't help but smile as she said, "As you said, your master is such an outstanding figure, it's natural for him to be tempted." Her frankness made the undercurrent a bit overwhelming. He pretended not to hear and fanned the bonfire. Qin Xiangnuan yawned and reminded him, "If you push harder, you might set the whole forest on fire."
"It's getting late, go and rest."
Qin Xiangnuan got the news she wanted and fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.
Anliu returned to his residence, thought for a while, took out the letter paper from his arms, buried his head and wrote down the incident and Qin Xiangnuan's words on it. Then he tied it to the legs of the carrier pigeon. He touched the pigeon's feathers and said, "Go quickly! Tell the prince!"
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