"Not to the point of being mad at her," Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and lightly scratched her nose with his fingertips, causing her to wrinkle. "But I sent someone a 'big gift' to her mansion, enough to make her very upset. I guarantee she'll be terrified of pigskin rafts for the rest of her life."
"What did you give me again?" Shen Weiwan asked curiously, her eyes shining like stars. She tugged at Xiao Yu's sleeve and shook it, "Tell me quickly, Your Highness~"
"The secret cannot be revealed." Xiao Yu deliberately kept it a secret, tapping his folding fan in his palm to a brisk rhythm. The jade pendant on the jade handle shone with a hint of clear green. "You will know tomorrow. I guarantee it will be more exciting than today's 'Nezha Conquers the Dragon King'."
Sure enough, the next morning, Chuntao ran into Xiefang Courtyard in a panic, laughing so hard that she couldn't even stand up straight, and she barely managed to stand by holding on to the door frame: "Miss...something big happened in Lin Shangshu's mansion...hahahaha...I just came back from the palace gate and heard the eunuchs saying..."
It turned out that after Lin Wanrou was carried home the previous night, she had been growing increasingly angry. Just as she was falling asleep that night, there was a sudden, loud clang from the carved beam above her bed. A massive, inflatable pigskin raft, nearly a man's height, fell from it. Affixed to the raft was a yellow note with cinnabar inscription: "For Miss Lin, a successor to the Wind and Fire Wheel. A must-have for drowning. Gifted by Nezha himself." The raft crashed right onto her dressing table, shattering a bronze mirror. Terrified, Lin Wanrou fainted on the spot, digging her fingernails into the brocade quilt. Minister Lin was terrified and quickly invited a wandering monk to exorcise the evil spirit. However, upon seeing the pigskin raft, the monk was stunned for a moment, then pointed at it and smiled for a long time. Stroking his white beard, he said, "This is the Third Prince Nezha appearing and blessing you. Congratulations, Master Lin! Your daughter has found her destiny! However, this 'Wind Fire Wheel' is a mundane object and I'm afraid it can't bear the promise of immortality. It needs to be enshrined in a clean room and worshipped with three sticks of incense daily."
Upon hearing this, Shen Weiwan laughed so hard that she slapped her thigh and almost rolled off the couch, even spilling tea on her skirt: "Your Highness's move of 'Nezha's Blessing' is really murderous! I'm afraid Lin Wanrou will never dare to see a pigskin raft again in her life! She will have to walk around ponds in the future!"
Just as she was laughing, Xiao Yu walked in carrying a food box. Inside was a freshly made candied haws with crushed peanuts. The candy coating covered the crushed peanuts, and the aroma was fragrant. The icing shimmered in the sunlight. "To deal with this kind of brainless green tea, you have to hit her in the face with her own stupid tricks. Beat her until she dares not to act like a troublemaker again. Try this, fresh out of the pot."
Shen Weiwan took the candied haws and bit into one. The sweet and sour hawthorn mixed with the crispy peanuts was so delicious that she squinted her eyes, and the icing on the corners of her mouth stained. She looked at the undisguised doting in Xiao Yu's eyes and suddenly felt that with him by her side in this life, those green tea and white lotus trying to make trouble were just the seasoning in life, adding a lot of fun to the ordinary days.
"Your Highness," she suddenly spoke, her voice soft and coquettish, "Will you still help me if I do this again? What if I provoke someone I shouldn't?"
Xiao Yu reached out and rubbed the top of her head, his movements as gentle as brushing a feather. He smiled, his eyebrows curved, his eyes full of determination. "Of course. I may not have any other skills, but I am more than capable of supporting my little princess. If anyone dares to make you unhappy, I will make his embarrassing story into a joke and let the people of the whole capital know about it. He will be like that cripple Li Xiu, hiding at home and afraid to go out."
Sunlight streamed in through the pavilion's carved window lattices, landing on their clasped hands, a warm glow. Shen Weiwan leaned on Xiao Yu's shoulder, listening to the distant birdsong and faint laughter. Suddenly, she felt that being able to turn life with him into a series of hilarious jokes was truly worth this rebirth. All the hardships of her past life had become a passing cloud, and now all she had was the sweetness of the present and the anticipation of the future.
The story of "Miss Lin and Nezha's Sea Trouble" had spread like wildfire throughout the capital's streets and alleys. In teahouses and taverns, storytellers recounted the sharp-tongued words of the general's daughter, who had silenced the green tea servant, leaving even the empress dowager in a state of hilarious laughter. Children chased each other through the streets, singing a newly coined jingle: "Miss Lin, a mischievous creature, a pigskin raft, like the wind and fire, Nezha's sea-drifting riot, bound to face her own demise!"
Chen Weiwan listened to these "good stories" that spread throughout the capital with a faint smile. She turned around and discussed with Xiao Yu what "surprise" they should use to "greet" those blind guys next time. She counted on her fingers: "Next time it will be the turn of the young lady from the Minister of Personnel, right? I heard she always says bad things about me behind my back..."
Xiao Yu raised his eyebrows, a hint of mischief flashed in his eyes: "Well, I remember she spilled tea on you at the banquet last time, why don't you..."
As the two men conferred in low voices, bursts of laughter emanated from the pavilion, startling the swallows nesting beneath the eaves. The sun shone brightly, the fragrance of lotus flowers permeated the air, and their daily, "deceptive" life continued. As for those green tea and white lotus trying to cause trouble? Better to learn how to save face under Shen Weiwan's "finishing blow" first, and not be so humiliated that they dare not even return home! After all, everyone in the capital knew that the general's daughter and the seventh prince were a pair of "deceptive chivalrous couple" who were the most formidable.
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