Chapter 48 The missed heartbeat
Mingzhao clenched his hands, which were still behind his back, and told the latest news: "Xie Xuezhi has returned to the Xie Mansion. Perhaps we will soon find out what she wants to do to you."
Shi Jianli's eyes moved, and she swallowed the word "thank you" that was about to come to her lips, and pursed her lips into an arc, "Well, I'll go to school first."
Mingzhao was still looking at her back, feeling a little frustrated. After leaving the court, he pulled Yu Heming aside and asked, "How do you get along with Princess Kangning?"
Yu Heming looked at him suspiciously, "Why, which girl do you like?"
"Don't ask around."
Yu Heming tucked his hands and tablet into his wide sleeves. "How can we get along? We've been childhood sweethearts. When she talks, I listen. When she's quiet, I accompany her and do what she likes. And it's because I look the way she likes me."
The princess loved playing with him because of his appearance.
Yu Heming's mother and the queen were close friends, and she often brought him into the palace when he was young.
Hearing his narcissistic tone, Mingzhao looked up at the sky and said, "She doesn't talk to me very often."
Seeing his frustrated look, Yu Heming couldn't help but grin, "Are you looking for ways to woo women from me?"
"What else? Why am I telling you all this? If you don't tell me, I'll leave."
Yu Heming held him back, "Don't go, I'll tell you what I'm going to say."
At the academy, just after class, Shi saw Li and Mingyuelin walking together. Mingyuelin said, "The Fifth Princess is having her coming-of-age banquet, and we've been invited to attend. Sister Li, Princess Kangning asked you to come too."
Shi Jianli recalled how angry Princess Kangning was at the flower viewing banquet and asked, "Is Princess Kangning on good terms with the Fifth Princess?"
"No, it's not the kind that we dislike each other. Princess Kangning said that the Fifth Princess always tries to compete with her in everything, and she's really fed up with the Fifth Princess."
Ming Yuelin took her hand and said, "My mother took me to the Fuguogong Mansion two days ago, saying that we were going to keep in touch, but it turned out that Ji Rangzhou was not at the mansion at all. He was busy at the Dali Temple on his day off."
"Luckily, Sister Yang Qing is back, otherwise I would be bored to death. Sister Yang Qing's son is three years old this year and is quite interesting."
Shi Jianli listened quietly to her voice which was sometimes sad and sometimes happy, and soon she took her to her yard to have lunch with her.
In the afternoon, Li had nothing to do, so she went to stroll around the lotus pond with its leaves spread out. Many koi were wagging their tails in the pond.
She squatted down and said to Lanxing who was following her, "Go get some fish food."
"good."
There were footsteps beside her. Shi Jianli turned around and saw Mingyueshu with Shuxi.
Ming Yueshu's attitude was quite good this time. When he saw her, he didn't sneer or grumble. Instead, he smiled and called her, "Cousin Li."
"Yeah." Shi Jianli responded lightly, retracted her gaze, and silently moved away from the water.
Seeing that she ignored her, Mingyueshu didn't want to make herself unhappy and left with Shuxi.
Seeing Mingyueshu leave, Shi Jianlicai approached the water again and put his fingers into the water. The koi that popped out of the water shot out and swam away like frightened birds.
The sunlight was a little strong, so she stood up and moved to another place, squatting under a large patch of drooping wisteria flowers. She picked a bunch and put it into the water, which scared away a large group of koi.
There was a path behind me, and I could hear light footsteps approaching, and then someone stopped.
Sometimes she would look up, with wisteria flowers brushing against her hair and resting on her temples. The light and shadow intertwined and changed on her cheeks, as if her eyes were blurred.
She tilted her head and called out, "Cousin."
"Are you alone here?" Mingzhao also half-knelt down.
It rains and I stand far away.
Shi Jianli looked at him from the side, then turned her head back to the side. She stirred the water with the wisteria flowers in her hand and said, "Lanxing went to get the fish food. Is it time for my cousin to finish his shift?"
"Well, I'll be back after 3 p.m." Mingzhao was still watching the ripples in the water, and he added, "It's a cool summer this year. At the end of May, my family will be returning to Chaozhou to worship our ancestors. Will you be going, cousin Li?"
The Ming family's ancestral home was in Chaozhou, which was a long way away and took twenty days to get there, so they only returned to their ancestral home once every five years.
Shi Jianli couldn't help but turn around and look at him, "I'm not from the Ming family. Everyone goes back to worship their ancestors. It's not a good idea for me to go to Chaozhou, right?"
Mingzhao smiled and said, "It's okay to go out and have fun. You don't have to go to the sacrifice ceremony. Second Aunt and Third Brother will be there, and Grandmother will also be leaving. You will be alone in the house. Won't you be lonely then?"
"Besides, Third Brother doesn't treat you as an outsider. If you treat yourself as an outsider, won't that hurt Third Brother's feelings?"
Shi Jianli looked into his eyes and asked tentatively, "Cousin, do you want me to go?"
"nature."
He nodded, and the eyes he looked at her had become gentle without her noticing.
Shi Jianli pinched her palms with the fingers hidden in her sleeves, and her confused thoughts became clear after a moment, leaving only the sound of her unsteady heartbeat echoing in her ears.
She turned to look at the pool, "Let me think about it."
Mingzhao stared at her for a few moments, caught a glimpse of the discomfort between her eyebrows, and curled his lips.
Lan Xing ran back and was a little surprised to see Ming Zhao still there. He greeted him, "Prince."
"Yeah." Mingzhao nodded slightly.
Shi Jianli looked at her and asked, "Why did you take so long?"
"There was no fish food left, so I went to the kitchen and got some mung bean cakes." Lan Xing handed her the plate.
"Go and rest over there." Shi Jianli pointed to the long stone bench under the wisteria trellis.
"Okay girl."
Shi Jianli glanced at Ming Zhaohuan, picked up a piece of mung bean cake, crushed it and sprinkled it in the water.
The fish swam over in groups. Shi Jianli watched them and quickly reached in to poke the head of one of the carp.
The carp quickly turned its head and swam away, the water splashed on her wrist by its tail, and the water droplets slid down her white hand.
"Aren't you afraid that they will give you another tail?" Mingzhao asked with a hint of sarcasm.
Shi Jianli was slightly embarrassed, so she crushed up the remaining half piece of mung bean cake and sprinkled it in. "One shouldn't be unlucky with the same thing twice."
Because my hands were wet, the mung bean cake was not as loose as the first time, but instead formed a lot of large lumps.
Mingzhao also took a piece from the plate in her hand, crushed it like she did and sprinkled it into the fish pond.
Shi Jianli looked at him again, shook her hands in the water, and removed the pastry stuck to her fingertips.
He didn't say anything. Shi Jianli looked at the fish scrambling for food and asked, "Cousin, do you see your cousin and second cousin every day in the army?"
"Yes, they're doing pretty well, competing for first place every day. Now that summer is here and the sun is strong, I'm afraid they'll be even darker next time they come back."
Shi Jianli poked the fish's head again, scaring it away.
After feeding a plate of mung bean cakes, Shi Jianli put her hands in the water and shook them, then took out a handkerchief to wipe off the water droplets.
Mingzhao followed her example and also put his hands covered with pastry crumbs into the water and shook them.
Shi Jianli lowered her eyes and watched his slender fingers swaying in the water, then took out another clean Supa and handed it to him.
Mingzhao turned his head and looked at her with a smile.
She blinked and turned her wrist, trying to retract the handkerchief.
"Thank you." He took the handkerchief from her hand, and his slightly wet fingertips touched hers. As if afraid that she would regret it, he stood up and said, "I'm leaving first."
Shi Jianli curled up her fingers, looked at the handkerchief he had taken away, and nodded.
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