Perhaps her reaction was a bit too much, because Xu Lingzi momentarily forgot to avoid Li Shiyue's hand that reached out to cover her mouth. The warmth of the palm touched her soft lips, and Li Shiyue was the first to withdraw her hand. Realizing that she had lost her manners, the blush on her face became even more obvious.
"You didn't react this strongly when I mentioned Fourth Brother. Could it be that you've actually fallen for Second Brother?"
Li Shiyue wished she could chop off her own hands. She wanted to raise her hands to cover her face and avoid Xu Lingzi's gaze, but doing so would only make her look more suspicious. So she simply suppressed her ulterior motives and endured Xu Lingzi's scrutiny.
"No."
This denial had no effect on Xu Lingzi; instead, it made her even more interested in getting closer to Li Shiyue, somewhat incredulous: "Really not?"
Seeing that Li Shiyue was still nodding, Xu Lingzi was suspicious and seemed unwilling to believe Li Shiyue's "no". She still wanted to ask more questions.
"Let's not talk about that now. There are some things that have been bothering me for a long time, so I can only come to my cousin for help."
Li Shiyue looked at Xu Lingzi, her earnestness seemingly genuine: "I always felt that this cousin Xie was quite strange. He seemed to know a lot about my grandmother's preferences, but this morning outside Shousong Hall he was trying to ask me about my grandmother's preferences."
Xu Lingzi hasn't left the house these days. The only time she went out was on the day Xie Yizhi came to visit. She went to the flower hall with Madam Yang to meet people, and then stayed in the courtyard for the next few days embroidering her wedding dress.
Hearing Li Shiyue's words, Xu Lingzi didn't have any particular thoughts. She was still thinking about Xie Yizhi in her mind. She didn't have much of an impression of this cousin Xie. Even on Mid-Autumn Festival, it was Xu Yunxu who accompanied her.
"Perhaps I'm overthinking it. Although the Xie family is not as prestigious as the Duke's mansion, they still have some heritage and the affection between my maternal grandmother and Madam Xie. They wouldn't do anything to harm the Duke's mansion."
Helpless, Li Shiyue suppressed her unease and tried to comfort herself first.
Xu Lingzi put down her embroidery needle and tilted her head to look at Li Shiyue: "I think you were pressured too much by your grandmother and my mother earlier. I'll have a good talk with my mother later. Marriage is not something you can rush."
"Look at your head, what have you been thinking about all day?"
After speaking, Xu Lingzi stood up and came out of the inner room carrying a wooden box. When she opened it, it was empty. Li Shiyue was puzzled, so Xu Lingzi pushed the wooden box in front of her.
"I'm getting married soon, so you'd better think about what you'll give me as a dowry."
“I understand adding to the dowry, but this empty box, you don’t mean I have to take it back, fill it with something, and then bring it back, do you? That’s too much trouble.” Li Shiyue looked puzzled, but still took the wooden box and didn’t find anything special about it.
Xu Lingzi took the wooden box from her hand. Unlike ordinary wooden boxes containing jewelry, the wooden box in her hand looked brand new, and the red lacquer was even lighter in color.
"This wooden box couldn't have been a gift from Guo Shaoqing, could it? Where did he get it? It looks a bit different from the ones outside." Li Shiyue's eyes were filled with a teasing smile as she watched Xu Lingzi treat the wooden box in her hands as if it were a treasure.
This is not difficult, after all, Xu Lingzi has a face like a peach blossom, which can be recognized at a glance.
"He carved this himself. I never expected that he could make such small mechanisms."
With a blush on her cheeks, Xu Lingzi spoke mysteriously as she opened the wooden box. Although it was blank, her fingers touched something and the red cloth lining suddenly popped open, revealing a pair of perfectly arranged gold earrings at the bottom.
The pure gold earrings are connected by slender beads. The earrings are exquisitely carved and hollowed out, and it is unknown what is placed inside, but they make a clear and pleasant tinkling sound.
“I have a gold hairpin that I just got. It goes perfectly with your earrings. I was just wondering what to put in your makeup, and now I have it.” Li Shiyue got up and was about to leave.
"I'll go back and take a look first, and I'll bring it over to you in a bit."
Xu Lingzi had just stood up when Li Shiyue had already reached the door. As Xu Lingzi walked out while talking, she bumped into Xu Yunci, who was turning from the corridor.
She was naturally helped up, but Li Shiyue was stunned by the impact. She raised her head and looked blankly at Xu Yunci. When she met his deep eyes, her heart skipped a beat.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Li Shiyue sprang out of Xu Yunci's arms, her movements so fast that no one else could react.
Only Xie Yizhi emerged from behind Xu Yunci, seemingly unaware of the strange atmosphere. He bypassed Xu Yunci and didn't even look at Xu Lingzi who came out of the house. Instead, he grabbed Li Shiyue's wrist and said, "Oh dear, it's all red. Could it be that your cousin, the young master, bumped into it?"
Li Shiyue withdrew her hand; she had accidentally twisted it when she bumped into Xu Yunci. It didn't hurt at all; there was just a red mark, but she couldn't feel anything.
"It's nothing, the mark will go away in a bit."
She took two steps back, creating a considerable distance between herself and Xie Yizhi, reacting extremely quickly. Before Xie Yizhi could even see how deep the red mark on her wrist was, Li Shiyue had already pulled her hand back, so fast that he couldn't even grab a corner of her sleeve.
Xie Yizhi looked at his hand, which was hanging in mid-air, and withdrew it. He looked at Xu Yunci, but the latter did not spare him a single glance, as his attention was entirely on Li Shiyue.
He glanced at Xu Yunci, then at Li Shiyue, who had retreated to Xu Lingzi's side, and said nothing more, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Xu Lingzi had only seen a general outline. She glanced at Li Shiyue, but did not look up. Instead, she lowered her eyes and gently covered her wrist.
"Let me see. If that doesn't work, Second Brother, go to the palace and ask for the imperial physician."
Li Shiyue shook her head slightly: "It's really nothing, I didn't feel any pain at all, and the red mark really went away in a while, don't make a fuss about me."
"Why are you in such a hurry to walk without looking where you're going?" Xu Yunci said calmly, her words carrying a hint of reproach, but the worry in her eyes was no less than the reproach in her words.
Seeing that Li Shiyue remained silent, he took two steps forward and stopped in front of her. Looking down, he saw her bright red lips, which were pressed into a straight line due to nervousness.
Before Li Shiyue could speak, Xu Yunci had already pulled her hand away from Xu Lingzi's. Through the fabric, he held Li Shiyue's wrist, the warmth of his palm faintly emanating from the material.
Even though she was standing at the doorway, Li Shiyue still felt very hot and stuffy, as if she was about to suffocate. She gently twisted her wrist, trying to break free, but Xu Yunci had already noticed her movement and held it tightly.
"Don't move."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com