"Help Miss Liu up quickly," Shen Weiwan waved her hand, and Chuntao immediately came forward with the food box, "Miss Liu, take care. You must accept this croton and black chicken soup. Nourishing food is the most important thing when you are sick. I even added three grams of Glauber's salt!"
Watching Liu Yuexi being carried away by the maid, tumbling and crawling away, Xiao Yu finally couldn't help laughing, his shoulders trembling slightly. "Your trick of 'fighting poison with poison' is three times more ruthless than any I've seen in the military camp."
"Of course," Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows and suddenly leaned close to his ear, "By the way, Your Highness, how long were you listening outside the window just now?"
Xiao Yu lowered his head, his warm breath brushing the hair by her ear, his eyelashes casting a small shadow under his eyelids. "I started hearing it from you saying 'falling in love and cheating on others are not contradictory.'" He suddenly held her hand, his fingertips rubbing the thin calluses on her palm. "Actually, I think..."
"What do you feel?" Shen Weiwan looked up at him and met his smiling eyes.
"I think after you've tricked all your rivals," Xiao Yu lowered his voice with a hint of teasing, "why not try tricking me? For example, trick me into buying you all the candied haws in the capital, and then trick me into telling you jokes every day?"
Shen Weiwan's cheeks were hot, and she was about to refute, but she heard the laughter of the people outside the wall, floating into the yard with the wind:
"Have you heard? Minister Liu's daughter went to the General's Mansion to give a gift, but ended up falling flat on her face!"
"That's right! I heard she even wore a hairpin embroidered with the Seventh Prince, and was exposed by Miss Shen on the spot!"
"If you ask me, Miss Shen is truly formidable. She easily defeated her love rival. When she becomes the prince's consort in the future, who will dare to mess with her?"
Chun Tao covered her mouth and laughed secretly, and leaned close to Shen Weiwan's ear: "Miss, your reputation of 'deceiving people's brains' is likely to spread throughout the capital along with the name of His Highness 'Wife-Looking Stone'."
Shen Weiwan looked at the undisguised fondness in Xiao Yu's eyes, and suddenly grinned, revealing two rows of small white teeth: "Let it spread, anyway, His Highness doesn't mind. Right, my 'Wife-Looking Stone'?"
Xiao Yu chuckled softly, reaching out to rub the top of her head, his fingertips brushing against the crabapple petals in her hair: "I don't mind. But next time you try to trick someone, remember to call me - I'll jump into your trap with you, and I'll eat your candy with you."
The setting sun stretched their shadows long, entwining across the petal-speckled bluestone. Shen Weiwan leaned against Xiao Yu's shoulder, listening to his powerful heartbeat. Suddenly, she felt that her life of "deceiving others" had become particularly interesting because of this person. Her so-called "love-brain" was merely a sugar coating for her deceiving nature—after all, being able to turn the scheming prince into a willing "wife-protecting maniac" was, in itself, her most proud achievement in deceiving others since her rebirth.
The night watchman's clappers rang from the corner of the street, startling the copper bells on the eaves. Chen Weiwan bit into Xiao Yu's newly bought candied haws, the frosting gleaming in the moonlight. She mumbled, "Who should I trick next? I heard that cripple Li Xiu has been hooking up with the daughter of the Minister of Personnel lately..."
Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and drew circles on her palm with his fingertips. "Do you need my help in spreading a new rumor? For example, saying that he actually loves his lame old horse and even sleeps with the saddle?"
"Your Highness is so bad!" Shen Weiwan smiled and hit his shoulder, but wrote two words on his palm: "Very good."
Under the moonlight, soft laughter echoed from the corridors of Xiefang Courtyard, startling the nightingales perched on the branches. And the latest story about "the daughter of the general's mansion, cheating on her lover while in love," had already drifted on the evening breeze through the streets and alleys of the capital. The people all said that the future consort of the Seventh Prince was a remarkable woman who could use her devious wits to bring her enemies to tears, and even convince His Royal Highness to willingly accompany her in her "evil deeds." This was perhaps what they meant by "not being from the same family, not marrying alike." The reputation of the "deceitful couple" was well-deserved.
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