The late spring wind blew fallen petals across the rockery, carrying the faint sound of chess pieces falling from the nearby waterside pavilion. Chen Weiwan was squatting beside a rose bush, poking ants migrating in the soil with a twig. Chuntao stood nearby, holding an oil-paper bag containing candied plums she had just brought from the kitchen.
"Miss, you've already disturbed three nests of ants," Chun Tao muttered softly, "Are you still thinking about what happened with Li Xiu yesterday?"
Without even looking up, Chen Weiwan used a branch to trap a lone worker ant. "I was thinking, this person is just like an ant. He's obviously lame, but he insists on imitating a peacock spreading its tail—" She suddenly straightened up and raised her voice behind her, "Master Li, are you trying to scare my ants away by opening your tail so loudly?"
As he finished speaking, Li Zhengzhen emerged from the moon-shaped gate, leaning on a pearwood cane. He had changed into a dark blue brocade robe, a jade pendant dangling from his waist, attempting to project an air of elegance. Unfortunately, his lame leg caused the hem of his robe to tilt with every step, making him look like a drake that had stepped on a nail.
"Sister Weiwan," Li Xiu lowered his voice, trying to replicate the "deep affection" he had yesterday, but his lips twitched, making his voice look particularly distorted. "We didn't finish what we said yesterday, so I came here specially today—"
"I've come to prove that your leg isn't fully healed yet?" Chen Weiwan interrupted him, the branch in her hand still dripping with mud. "I see your crutch is shinier than yesterday. Did you go to the blacksmith shop to have it covered with copper? In case it breaks and you have trouble walking?"
Chuntao burst out laughing and quickly lowered her head to pretend to adjust the hem of her skirt. Li Xiu's face flushed the color of liver, and he slammed his crutch down on the bluestone slab: "Chen Weiwan! Don't be so unreasonable!"
"I'm being unreasonable?" Shen Weiwan opened her eyes wide and tilted her head innocently, "Mr. Li, it seems like we really aren't familiar with each other? Yesterday you said you knew me, and I thought you were..." She suddenly moved closer and stared at Li Xiu's lame leg, as if she had discovered some shocking secret.
Li Xiu subconsciously shrank back, but heard Shen Weiwan clapping her hands as if she suddenly understood something: "Oh! I remember now! You are the groom who broke his leg in the stable in the west of the city the other day! Right?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Li Xiu was so angry that his cane was shaking. "I am Li Xiu, the son of the Minister of Personnel! How dare you confuse me with a groom!"
"Ah? Not a groom?" Shen Weiwan blinked, fingering her chin. "But your leg... is just as limping as the groom I saw. And he was dressed quite respectably at the time. He said he fell while helping his master walk the horse, which is similar to your excuse of 'walking carelessly'."
She paused, then suddenly revealed an apologetic expression. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I've been face-blind since I was little, so I can't remember a lame person... No, someone with a disability. Master Li, please be magnanimous and don't argue with someone like me who has a weak brain."
"Face blindness? Can't remember the lame guy?" Li Xiu was so angry at this series of "finishing blows" that he was shaking all over. But when Shen Weiwan said this, her eyes were clear and her tone was sincere, as if she had really just recognized the wrong person. "Stop acting crazy here! You clearly did it on purpose!"
"What are you doing on purpose?" Shen Weiwan spread out her hands, and the mud on the branches fell on Li Xiu's shiny boots. "I'm just telling the truth. Besides, Mr. Li, you always come to me, what on earth do you want? Could it be..."
She suddenly lowered her voice, leaned close to Li Xiu's ear, and said in a voice just loud enough for the servant sweeping the floor nearby to hear, "Could it be that you, like my cousin Shen Ruorou, also think that my position as the general's daughter is too comfortable and you want to come over and have a bite of food?"
"You're slandering me!" Li Xiu took a step back, nearly stabbing his foot with his cane. "Miss Shen and I are innocent. How can you say I'm just eating for free?"
"Oh? Innocent?" Chen Weiwan raised an eyebrow and suddenly pointed at Li Xiu's cuffs. "Why is the lotus embroidery on Mr. Li's cuffs exactly the same as the pattern on the handkerchief my cousin lost last month? I remember there was a thread missing from the corner of her handkerchief. It must have been scratched by her cat."
Li Xiu subconsciously glanced at his own cuffs—there was indeed a lotus embroidered there, specially embroidered by his mother. But Chen Ruorou's handkerchief? When had he ever seen it before?
"You...don't make wild guesses!" Li Xiu hurriedly defended himself, "This is my own embroidery. It has nothing to do with anyone else!"
"Really?" Shen Weiwan tilted her head, looking "confused". "But how did I hear that the other day you asked the little maid in my room to send a bag of candied fruit to my cousin? The little maid was not very good at speaking and said 'for my young lady' instead of 'for my second young lady'. She only confessed after I found out. Mr. Li, whose heart are you trying to sweeten with this candied fruit?"
This was half true, half false. In fact, it was a "rumor" that Shen Weiwan had specifically instructed the maid to spread this morning. Li Xiu was struck by lightning when he heard it - he did want to pass a message to Shen Ruoruo through the maid, but he definitely didn't send candied fruit! This Shen Weiwan was clearly trying to force a relationship between him and Shen Ruoruo!
"Chen Weiwan! What on earth do you want to do!" Li Xiu's voice was filled with anger, "I treat you sincerely, but you slander me and your cousin everywhere!"
"Sincerely?" Shen Weiwan took two steps back as if she had heard a huge joke, covering her mouth exaggeratedly, "Mr. Li, please don't scare me! My little heart can't stand your sincerity. Besides, if you give this sincerity to the wrong person and it gets to my cousin's ears, she's probably going to come to me crying to settle the score."
As she spoke, she deliberately looked out into the garden and raised her voice, "Hey, look who that is? It looks like my cousin is here with someone! Mr. Li, would you like to hide first? Otherwise, she'll catch you and me having a 'secret meeting' here and cause some misunderstanding."
Li Xiu followed her gaze and saw several figures approaching the Moon Gate. The figure leading the group vaguely resembled Shen Ruoruo. He immediately panicked—if Shen Ruoruo caught him and Shen Weiwan arguing here, then his previous plan to use Shen Ruoruo to find out about the General's Mansion would be ruined!
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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