In early summer, the capital city resembled a honey jar baked in the sun, even the air carried a sticky, sweet heat. At the corner of West Market Street, the old locust tree drooped with leaves. Beneath it, Uncle Wang, who was selling candied haws, leaned his shoulder pole against a stone pier and clapped his palm-leaf fan, his voice deafening: "Old Zhang, your tofu pudding stall is turning into a storytelling arena!"
Uncle Zhang, the tofu pudding vendor, wiped his sweat with his sleeve, his porcelain spoon swirling around in his celadon bowl, creating milky ripples. "Didn't you hear that jingle that old woman Wang made up yesterday? 'The Seventh Prince, the Wife-Looking Stone, spends every day at the General's Mansion, cheating on scumbag men and green tea lovers, just to make her smile.' Hey, isn't that a perfect jingle?"
The boy wiping the table nearby laughed out loud, splashing water all over the place with his rag. "Sir, please stop insulting Old Lady Wang. Yesterday, I saw His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince riding by on horseback, holding a bamboo basket with icing sugar hanging from the brim!" Before he could finish his words, the sound of horse hooves suddenly rang out from the corner of the street, and everyone turned their heads in unison.
The Seventh Prince, Xiao Yu, was dressed in his dark formal attire, his black horse crushing the shadows of locust leaves on the ground. In his arms, he actually held a bamboo basket covered with blue cloth. The aroma of roasted chestnuts wafted through the fabric. He didn't even go through the main gate of the General's Mansion, but turned in through the side door with familiarity. Nanny Zhou, the gatekeeper, smiled with a smile that wrinkled her face: "Your Highness, what delicious food have you brought for the young lady today?"
"Here comes the Wife-Waiting Rock!" Uncle Zhang slapped his thigh, causing everyone to burst into laughter and startling the sparrows that were napping on the locust tree.
Beneath the grape trellis in the west wing of the General's Mansion, Chen Weiwan was sprawled on a soft window-side couch, munching on a candied cake. Her moon-white skirt trailed on the blue bricks, the sun casting a warm golden edge on it. Chuntao entered, carrying a copper basin, jasmine petals swirling at the bottom. "Miss," she asked, "have you heard what people on the street are saying about His Highness? They say he's your 'wife-waiting stone'!"
"Poof—" Shen Weiwan almost sprayed the pink and white sugar cake on the window paper. Her cheeks were redder than the icing sugar. Her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the corners of her mouth: "What wife-watching stone? I think it's a sticky candy!" Although she said so, the hibiscus cake that Xiao Yu gave her this morning flashed before her eyes—a gardenia with dewdrops on it was inserted on the snow-white cake, and the petals were still stained with the warmth of his fingertips.
Chun Tao placed the copper basin on the table, water droplets splashing on the hem of Shen Weiwan's skirt: "It's really sticky! Yesterday you said you wanted to eat the plum blossom pastry from Li Ji in the east of the city, and His Highness actually made the guards run their legs off, and when they bought it, the pastry was still falling apart!" She lowered her voice, her eyes smiling like crescent moons, "And the other day, that idiot Lin Wanrou stuffed itching powder into the cushions of your carriage. When His Highness found out, he directly ordered the guards to throw her personal maid into the mass grave outside the city, under the pretext of 'helping her find inspiration to write "Burial of Flowers"!'"
Shen Weiwan laughed so hard she clapped her hands on the soft couch, and the sugar cake crumbs fell into the cracks of the brocade cushion. Just as they were making noises, a familiar voice came from outside the courtyard gate, with a hint of laughter: "Weiwan, I brought you some newly roasted chestnuts from the south of the city!"
Chun Tao winked at Chen Weiwan and deliberately raised her voice: "Your Highness, my young lady is under the grape trellis!"
Xiao Yu lifted the soft curtains of the moonlit door. His dark robes still clung to the heat from outside, while the bamboo basket in his hand was wrapped in a cool, damp cloth. He poured chestnuts onto the carved sandalwood table, the aroma of roasted chestnuts mingling with the faint scent of cedar. Just as he was about to stroke Wei Wan's hair, she deftly dodged, "Your Highness, intercourse between men and women is forbidden!"
"Oh?" Xiao Yu raised his eyebrows, his fingertips pausing three inches from her hair. "Then if I help you peel chestnuts, does that count as being intimate?"
Shen Weiwan's cheeks turned even redder. She grabbed a shiny chestnut and stuffed it into his hand: "Peel it for you!" The sunlight shone through the gaps in the grape leaves onto the side of his face. In the shadow cast by his nose, she saw the curve of his lips.
Chuntao tactfully retreated to the corridor. Through the gap in the bamboo curtain, she watched Xiao Yu pinch the chestnut with his fingers, and the shell cracked open, revealing the golden flesh. He held the chestnut to her lips and said in a low voice, "Did you hear that street jingle?"
Shen Weiwan was concentrating on chewing chestnuts and mumbled, "What jingle? I didn't hear it!"
"Really?" Xiao Yu's fingertips brushed against the crumbs at the corner of her mouth. "You haven't heard about the 'Wife-Looking Stone' either?"
Shen Weiwan looked up suddenly, and Li Zi almost choked. Xiao Yu quickly patted her back, the warmth of his palm coming through the fabric: "Why are you so anxious? I think this is a good idea."
"What's good about that!" She glared at him, but saw the tenderness in his eyes like unmelted honey. "Is it fair for the Seventh Prince to be called a stone?"
"That's right." Xiao Yu looked at her red ears and said seriously, "As long as it's a stone looking at you, I'd be happy to squat at the gate of the general's mansion for the rest of my life."
Shen Weiwan's heart skipped a beat, and she stared down at the chestnut shells on the table. Outside the window, the cicadas chirped clamorously, but inside the room, the only sounds were the soft clatter of him peeling chestnuts and the thumping of her own heartbeat. Chuntao, hiding behind the porch pillars, pinched herself—the sweetness of her young lady and her prince was even more cloying than the candy on the table!
Suddenly, the old housekeeper coughed from outside the moon-shaped door. "My lady, His Highness the Seventh Prince, Liu has sent an invitation, inviting you to the mansion to 'view the flowers' tomorrow."
Shen Weiwan frowned and threw the chestnut shell on the table: "Appreciating flowers? What other flowers are there in her yard besides cacti? I'm afraid she wants to appreciate the flowers or to laugh at me!"
Xiao Yu wiped his fingers and said calmly, "Go."
"Go?" Shen Weiwan looked up in surprise, and saw a sly look in his eyes, "Liu must have bad intentions!"
"It's precisely because you have bad intentions that you're going." He stood up and brushed the grape leaf crumbs off her shoulders. "I'll go with you. I'll also check on her warehouse key. When will she 'voluntarily' hand it over?"
Chuntao nodded as she listened in the corridor - look, this is the enlightenment of "Wife-Watching Stone"!
At noon the next day, Chen Weiwan arrived at Liu's residence in Xiao Yu's gilded carriage. As she entered the hanging flower gate, she saw Liu, wearing a brand new woven gold dress and a dazzling red gold swaying on her head. She greeted her with a smile: "Oh, Wanwan, you're here? Come and sit down. I specially asked someone to brew this year's pre-rain Longjing tea."
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