Jiang Qingqing was afraid that the sensitive identity of the emperor's uncle would be seen by outsiders, mainly because her princess's mansion was almost under the nose of the imperial city.

Let Xiao Linting walk through the main gate openly. If this was noticed by some official who disliked her, both she and the emperor's uncle would be speechless.

So she held the emperor's uncle's broad palm tightly with her backhand, looked around carefully first, and seeing that there were few people coming and going, she immediately pulled the man next to her who was almost a head taller than her and walked deeper into the alley.

The princess's mansion is surrounded by alleys.

She didn't dare to pull her uncle to the front one or two side halls to enter, but instead took him to the back door leading to the courtyard and sneaked in.

This journey was tense and exciting.

Xiao Linting's facial features looked indifferent, but his pair of bright eyes were fixed on the little girl's profile without missing a moment. When he saw her nervous expression, the smile in his eyes became fainter.

He originally wanted to tell her that he had arranged all the routes to the imperial city so that no one would be able to detect his presence.

But seeing how Jiang Qingqing was nervous for him, he was no longer in a hurry to clarify.

Apart from anything else, it feels pretty good to be able to make the little guy's emotions change because of him.

Two people, no, to be exact, it was Jiang Qingqing alone, who sneaked into the back door of the princess's mansion and then the back door was closed.

She breathed out a sigh of relief.

Because the backyard is the boudoir, Jiang Qingqing did not deliberately arrange maids from the mansion to stay in the backyard. At most, there were her own people like Gan Yuan and Gan Lin.

As she pulled Xiao Linting all the way to the yard, they happened to meet Gan Yuan who was carrying a small basket of embroidery thread balls.

"Your Highness!?" Gan Yuan looked up and saw a man following Jiang Qingqing.

Due to the shadow cast by Chi Dao yesterday because of Xin Juan, Gan Yuan subconsciously reached out to take out a ball of thread from the basket before he could even see the person clearly, and raised his hand to hit the "lecher".

“Shh—”

Jiang Qingqing's eyelids twitched. Seeing Gan Yuan's disrespectful behavior, her brain got hot, and she pulled with her little hand, pushing Xiao Linting, who was standing behind her, in front of her. She hid behind Xiao Linting, without even showing her head, and only made a hushing sound.

For a moment, I didn't know who she was booing to.

Fortunately, Gan Yuan was quick-witted and clenched the ball of thread in his hand tightly, staring blankly at the "former master" in front of him whom he had not seen for a long time.

"Prince...Prince?!" Gan Yuan said hesitantly.

Gan Lin, who heard the noise in the room, hurried out and shouted, "Who is it! Is that scoundrel here again? I'll have someone beat him out!"

Gan Lin is small in stature, but his temper is getting worse day by day. Because he is eager to protect his master, the sound of his roar is even louder than when Gan Yuan called him "Your Highness" just now.

"Oh my god..." Gan Lin walked out angrily. When she saw the tall, wheat-colored man with an indifferent look, her face suddenly turned awkward. "Why are you here, my Lord?"

The first-class maids around her reacted more strongly than each other.

Xiao Linting couldn't help but raise the end of his eyebrows, slightly tilted his head, and glanced at the little guy hiding behind him with the corner of his eyes.

"Your Highness, how should I explain it?" Xiao Linting threw the question directly to Jiang Qingqing.

[What are you talking about? I didn't write the letter to ask you to come back, why are you asking me to explain? ]

Jiang Qingqing muttered to herself, took a slight side step, and looked at the stunned maids standing at the door, maintaining an awkward yet decent smile.

"My uncle secretly brought it back to celebrate my coming-of-age birthday. Don't tell anyone else, or the censors outside might submit some messy memorials to me."

Gan Yuan and Gan Lin put down their hands and did not even dare to raise their heads, for fear of meeting the prince's gaze and freezing to death.

"I will go serve tea to the prince and His Highness." Gan Yuan hurried away.

Gan Lin tugged at her sleeves in bewilderment. She hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Where is your Highness going to receive the prince? I can clean up the room."

This question makes some sense.

"Let's go to the central hall." Jiang Qingqing said subconsciously. She had been receiving some relatives and friends in the central hall these days.

When Xiao Linting heard the word "central hall", he looked at the door, which was the main door to the main hall in the backyard, and pursed his thin lips.

"Am I not worthy of the main hall in Your Highness's backyard?" He said this very bluntly.

Compared to the reserved and introverted uncle in Beijing five years ago, the uncle five years later has a more indescribable feeling.

Seems more reckless than before?

"How could it be! The Emperor's uncle is the one who watched me grow up, we are one of our own!" Jiang Qingqing exploded as if something had caught her.

She turned around and pointed to the main hall in the backyard, and said to Gan Lin, "Clean up the main hall. I'll take my uncle to visit the princess's mansion."

After saying this, she didn't need anyone to lead the way. She just grabbed the big hand that had been holding her hand and turned to walk out.

Gan Lin stood at the door of the main hall and nodded, his eyes naturally falling on the backs of the two figures, one tall and one short. Following his gaze downwards, he saw the two sleeves pressed closely together.

Then, as the steps swayed, the sleeves were slightly pulled open, and the hands holding each other could be vaguely seen.

Gan Lin touched the back of his neck awkwardly, brainwashing himself into thinking he hadn't seen anything he shouldn't have seen. He turned around and muttered to himself, then went into the house and started cleaning up.

The princess's mansion was neither big nor small, and Jiang Qingqing really didn't dare to bring the emperor's uncle to the front hall and the middle hall. The emperor's uncle was really shameful nowadays, and the fewer people knew that he was in the capital, the better.

The backyard is not big, so I just walked around for a while and then went back.

"Uncle, are you used to the life at the border these years? The border is not as good as the capital. There is no consideration at all. It should not be as comfortable as the capital, right?"

Jiang Qingqing took Xiao Linting back to the main hall in the backyard. After they sat on the Arhat chair, their hands naturally separated.

She didn't think there was anything wrong, so she poured a cup of tea in front of the emperor's uncle.

Xiao Linting glanced at her from the side and saw that her movements were smooth and natural. He thought that she must have done the same with others many times in her daily life.

When he thought of her personally serving tea and water to others, Xiao Linting's eyes darkened slightly.

He raised his teacup, took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, and said slowly: "I have been in a military camp before. At first, I was not used to it for only one or two days, but later I got used to it and didn't feel any inconvenience."

"Are there any fun things at the border?" Jiang Qingqing smiled and asked another question.

The two of them were talking back and forth in the hall, there was no awkward or dull topic, and the atmosphere was surprisingly warm.