Gu Ziyi didn't speak, but his eyes said it all.
Lili's somewhat bewildered gaze met Gu Ziyi's eyes, which were still filled with anger, and she was taken aback.
Something flashed through my mind very quickly, but I didn't have time to grasp it.
Why is Your Highness so angry? Is it because your younger brother is too impulsive?
Besides that, Lili couldn't seem to find any other reason.
Gu Ziyi placed a bowl of sweet rice wine dumplings on Lili's table, ignoring the still-frightened person on the other side, and said softly, "The army is rough, this is the only sweet thing, warm yourself up while it's hot."
Lili smiled and said, "It's already very good, thank you, Your Highness."
"Um."
Seeing Lili's gentle smile, Gu Ziyi's inner turmoil was finally calmed.
Gu Xiaoran was about to come over again when Zhui Feng stopped him. Before Gu Xiaoran could make a fuss, Li Wu, who was sweating profusely, dragged him backward: "Hey, young master, shall we go get some food?"
Gu Xiaoran: "Who wants to eat this? Li Wu, what are you doing? Let go of me!"
Lili laughed out loud and couldn't help but say, "Your Highness is really cute."
They're adorably silly.
Gu Ziyi raised an eyebrow: "Does Lili like this kind of thing?"
Lili was startled and unexpectedly met his deep eyes: "What is Your Highness talking about? Please don't tease me!"
She was terrified that Gu Ziyi would try to find her a good husband again, so she practically wore the words "avoid suspicion" on her face. "Lili just thinks it's really lucky that His Highness, born into royalty, has such a carefree personality. The Prince and Princess must dote on His Highness very much."
"Yes, the Imperial Uncle only has one legitimate son, so naturally he dotes on him."
Gu Ziyi spoke while looking at her.
Lili felt inexplicably guilty; it seemed like the thing she had just missed had slipped away again. Lili nodded haphazardly and went to eat the glutinous rice balls in her bowl.
A sweet taste exploded in her mouth, reaching her palate and nasal cavity (not really)...
Neither of them mentioned the previous incident, and Gu Ziyi remained calm, as if he had simply gone to prepare dessert for Lili.
The name Shen Lili is quite well-known in the border region. Everyone knows that the rice in Nanlin County is growing better than that in Jiangnan, all thanks to her.
Especially within the Red Eagle Army, various stories circulated about their Crown Prince and Miss Shen's childhood sweetheart relationship.
The Red Eagle Army is the personal guard of the mighty general, and His Highness the Crown Prince is the great general's grandson. Whether within the Red Eagle Army or in the eyes of outsiders, the Red Eagle Army will be His Highness's possession in the future.
Therefore, the Red Eagle Army is very concerned about the movements of their Highness. However, the Red Eagle Army is strict in its management and Miss Shen is low-key, so they have never met Miss Shen in person.
Today, His Highness actually brought the person here, and even personally ran around preparing a dessert for them to warm them up.
People made many jokes, both openly and subtly, but no one dared to say it openly.
Lili ate about half a bowl, then felt a little tired of it and decided to take a break before continuing to eat.
Just as the martial arts competition ended, the sound of gongs and drums rang out again.
A person crept closer from the edge, and Lili keenly noticed it, turning her head to look while putting down the porcelain bowl.
Through the sparse crowd, Lili met a somewhat unfamiliar gaze.
A man dressed as a civil official was standing at the edge of the platform, looking this way with an eager expression. When he saw Lili looking over, he was taken aback for a moment, and then he gave her a simple and honest smile.
Lili paused for a moment, then nodded in response with a polite smile.
Before she could ponder for long, the man made his way through the crowd.
Gu Ziyi raised his eyes, and after recognizing the person who had come, he said, "Lord Wang."
His attitude wasn't exactly warm, nor was it distant; it was certainly not as close as it had been to General Huang.
Wang Fei grinned, revealing his somewhat yellowed teeth: "Your Highness."
When the person arrived, Lili naturally had to pay her respects, but since she didn't know who he was, she simply gave a curtsy.
Wang Fei looked flattered and hurriedly raised his arm to help her up, but then realized that it was inappropriate. He awkwardly waved his hands and simply stood aside, saying, "No, no, Miss Shen is of noble birth. How can you bow to a rough man like me?"
"Lord Wang is joking. The soldiers who defend our country are true heroes. Everyone here has contributed to the country. How can we not accept this?"
Wang Fei chuckled twice, while Gu Ziyi remained calm, the corners of his mouth curving into a faint smile: "What is it, Lord Wang?"
Wang Fei waved his hand, his tone becoming more relaxed: "I have long heard of Miss Shen's great name. What Miss Shen has done has truly benefited the people! Although Miss Shen is young, I truly admire her. Therefore, as soon as I heard that Your Highness had brought Miss Shen here today, I made a special trip to see her face."
Lili was quite surprised to hear this. Of course, she could guess how others would treat her, but she didn't feel it at all, even though Lord Wang said he admired her.
Looking up, I saw that beneath the other person's honest smile lay a shrewd glint in their eyes.
Pear understood.
Lili didn't think much of it. After all, she was just a child, and the other party was probably just saying polite words. These polite words were already very kind to her.
No one responded for a moment, and Wang Fei seemed a little embarrassed, so he started talking on his own.
"Is this sweet rice wine with glutinous rice balls?" Wang Fei asked, noticing the items on the table. "Sweet rice wine is mild, perfect for young ladies. On this cold day, a bowl of warm wine is truly refreshing!"
Lili glanced at Gu Ziyi out of the corner of her eye, and seeing that he didn't seem inclined to respond, she could only smile and agree, "Yes."
Wang Fei, seemingly oblivious to Li Li's polite words, continued, "Sweet wine is plentiful in the army, but glutinous rice balls are quite rare. His Highness specially made a bowl of sweet wine and glutinous rice balls for Miss Shen, which shows His Highness's affection for Miss Shen."
Lili:?
How strange, is making a bowl of glutinous rice balls considered pampering?
This person really didn't care about her at all, just to say some flattering words to please His Highness the Crown Prince.
However, considering that Gu Ziyi is a noble Crown Prince, all signs indicate that he is indeed somewhat special to her, so it's no wonder that others would go to such lengths to flatter him in this regard.
Lili muted her microphone, somewhat displeased, but didn't show it.
Wang Fei observed Gu Ziyi's expression, his attempts to curry favor subtly revealing his true intentions.
Gu Ziyi frowned, but calmly said, "I regard Miss Shen as a kindred spirit. A bowl of sweet rice wine dumplings is nothing to me."
Seeing his displeasure, Wang Fei quickly apologized, "Yes, yes, it was my fault for speaking out of turn."
Pear is digging her toes into the ground again.
This is so awkward. When will this awkward conversation end?
Fortunately, at this moment, a loud commotion suddenly erupted from the crowd below. The soldiers said something excitedly, and all their eyes were turned to one place.
The people on the platform also turned their gazes in that direction, wanting to see what had happened.
Gu Ziyi and Lili, on the other hand, did not dwell on the unpleasantness from earlier and also looked towards the crowd.
Wang Fei was one of the few civil officials in the military camp, one of the four grain and fodder officers, with a granary supervisor above him.
He was addressed as Lord Wang, but in reality, he was among the lowest-ranking soldiers in the military camp and held little real power.
With a predictable career path ahead, it's not surprising that he's eager to seize the opportunity to curry favor with his "boss," Gu Ziyi.
Seeing that the two men were preoccupied with other things, Wang Fei could only turn away awkwardly.
But once that honest smile disappeared, his narrow eyes made him look somewhat shifty and sneaky.
Lili immediately spotted the strange people again, and saw that the source of the commotion was the two people next to the man.
The man standing next to the other person craned his neck and shouted at the opposite side, "Don't talk nonsense, Ke An isn't afraid!"
"I didn't say he would be scared. I only said he couldn't beat that guy, and I didn't just say that about him. Why are you taking advantage of me?"
"You're talking nonsense! You just said exactly what you meant, you said exactly what you meant..."
"What did I say? Tell me! Just say it!"
The man's neck turned red with anger. He hesitated for a moment, then finally said angrily to the person next to him, "Ke An, aren't you angry that he said that to you?"
Because they were far apart, Lili couldn't hear clearly, so Zhuifeng, who had excellent hearing, whispered the explanation to her.
It turns out that the man's name was Ke An.
Ke An hesitated, seemingly wanting to remain silent.
But his companion didn't give him a chance and started arguing loudly with him again: "You just said that if Ke An stood on that dueling platform, he would definitely be beaten to his knees and begging for mercy in less than half a cup of tea's time! You've always been at odds with us, and today, on the day of the duel, you still want to cause trouble?"
"Oh, so what? If you're so tough, go up there and fight me."
Ke An's companion was furious again.
The people around were so excited about the competition that they stopped caring about military discipline and started jeering.
"Let's fight!"
"Yeah, just fight it out, why all the fuss?"
"It just so happens that the champion has been defending his title for three rounds. Why don't you two go up and let him rest for a while?"
"Ke An, you're not scared, are you?"
"Of course he wouldn't dare. These two never get along. Ke An has been holding back because he can't beat them, hahaha."
People who love a good show are always eager to stir things up, and the commotion grew bigger and bigger. Even people on the other side of the arena who didn't know what was going on started shouting with the crowd, "Let's fight! Let's fight!"
General Huang stood on the high platform and shouted twice in an attempt to quell the noise of the crowd, but it was to no avail.
Chu Zhenyue frowned, about to reprimand him, when Gu Ziyi lazily curled his lips: "Today is a martial arts competition, so why not let the two of them compete? With everyone watching, I can be a witness and help them turn enemies into friends."
Pear's eyes sparkled, a hint of amusement stirring within her.
It seems this is a well-orchestrated show by His Highness.
Chu Zhenyue frowned and thought for a moment, then sat back down without offering any opinion.
General Huang understood; the Grand General had agreed.
So General Huang personally stepped onto the dueling platform and, with great effort, quieted everyone down, saying, "What kind of behavior is this, making such a racket? Do you even remember where you are?"
A hush fell over the room. Only then did General Huang say to the two men with satisfaction, "You two, come up and have a match."
Ke An was clearly taken aback, and glanced at the distance in a flustered manner, which was spotted by Li Li.
There were many people in that direction, but Lili knew he was looking this way.
That's interesting. What are you panicking about?
Countless eyes were fixed on Ke An, while another person had already casually gone up on stage to wait for him.
Left with no other choice, Ke An had to go on stage.
The other person smiled and said, "That's enough."
Ke An nodded, controlling himself to stop looking away, his mind still replaying the scene he had witnessed that night.
That night in Yuncheng, he saw that the guard accompanying this woman had a fighting style somewhat similar to that of the guard accompanying Gu Ziyi.
Are they the Crown Prince's personal guards?
Does His Highness the Crown Prince value this woman so much?
Ke An was a little distracted and accidentally took a few punches from his opponent, drawing boos from the crowd.
Ke An was somewhat angry. He didn't know what had gotten into this person. It was true that the two of them had conflicts in the past, but who would have thought that this person would publicly slander him today and let others hear it.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have wanted to fight him in front of everyone.
Ke An intentionally concealed his movement techniques, making his movements somewhat hesitant and indecisive.
Lili stood up abruptly, a hint of surprise in her round eyes.
That movement technique looks familiar. Although Ke An can hide it, sometimes his subconscious movements can't be completely concealed.
She had seen that movement technique before in Yuncheng that night.
Those are those big golden statues!
Gu Ziyi glanced thoughtfully at the stage and asked her softly, "What's wrong?"
Lili snapped back to reality, met his questioning gaze, and immediately concealed her emotions: "I'm just a little tired."
Gu Ziyi leaned over to test the temperature of the hand warmer in her hand; it had only cooled slightly.
"It's windy today, so don't stay out in the wind for too long. Why don't you go back to your residence and rest for a while?"
“Yes, that’s what I was thinking too.” Lili smiled and whispered playfully, “When Your Highness returns to the manor today, could you please bring me some pork jerky from that meat jerky shop?”
Gu Ziyi chuckled and agreed. He then called Zhuifeng to prepare her carriage and horses at the stables and instructed Yunshu, "Take good care of Miss."
"yes."
Lili greeted Chu Zhenyue and then hurriedly left with Yun Shu.
Gu Ziyi watched her figure disappear before turning his gaze back to the dueling platform, his eyes deep and thoughtful.
After seeing Lili leave, Wang Fei returned to his original seat.
Lili slumped in the carriage, letting Yunshu massage her shoulders, feeling so comfortable she almost fainted.
"Yun Shu, your technique is amazing! Do they teach this kind of thing in the Dark Guard Camp?"
Yun Shu: "I used to work as a spy in Jiangnan. My identity was that of a female doctor, so I learned some basic skills."
"Not bad, not bad, Yun Shu, you're really amazing."
Encouraged, Yun Shu put in a little more effort. After seeing that Li Li's expression had eased, she asked, "Miss's expression suddenly changed just now. Did you notice something was wrong with that person?"
Lili and Gu Ziyi were whispering to each other, which was inaudible to others, but the guards could hear them.
Speaking of this, Lili opened her eyes and stared blankly at the roof of the car. After a while, she called out, "Xiao Qi."
An Qi's voice suddenly came from somewhere: "Your subordinate is here."
"Does that person's movement look somewhat familiar?"
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