Chapter 236 The man is in love, and the woman is not uninterested either.
As for whether Miss Li likes the Second Prince...
That's a bit hard to say.
Although Xie Yunjia was asked by Shengsheng and Xie Yunchuan to spend more time talking to Li Manyan, Xie Yunjia was not a talkative person, and since she didn't know Li Manyan before, she didn't know what to say after briefly inquiring about her injuries.
After thinking for a moment, Xie Yunjia said, "I heard that Miss Li has studied playing the flute?"
Li Manyan nodded and replied, "I wouldn't say I'm very good at it; I just know a few tunes."
"No need to be modest. I happen to know a little bit about the zither. We can play a duet together sometime."
Li Manyan was surprised for a moment, then readily agreed: "I was amazed to see the eldest princess playing the zither at the last palace banquet. It would be my honor if I had the chance to play a duet with the eldest princess."
"Well, I'm not bad at playing the piano." Xie Yunjia nodded thoughtfully, "But actually, my piano playing is still a little lacking, it's nothing special."
Li Manyan asked, puzzled, "What do you mean by that, Princess?"
Xie Yunjia smiled and shrugged indifferently: "Because I don't actually like playing the piano that much. I was forced to practice by my mother. If my mother hadn't forced me to learn the piano, I wouldn't have even touched it. You don't know, but my biggest wish is actually to lie down, do nothing, and live my whole life like this."
"ah."
Li Manyan really didn't know about this. Xie Yunjia brought it up so frankly that Li Manyan didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Seeing Li Manyan's stunned expression, Xie Yunjia said nonchalantly, "Don't be nervous, it's nothing. You've probably heard about it, right? Well, they say the eldest princess is spoiled and willful, and likes to take her anger out on others."
“I don’t think the eldest princess is that kind of person,” Li Manyan said sincerely.
After spending some time with this eldest princess, Li Manyan could certainly sense what kind of person Xie Yunjia was.
She does indeed possess a princess-like arrogance and languor, but Xie Yunjia is not as spoiled as rumored; Li Manyan actually finds her quite easygoing.
"It's true, actually," Xie Yunjia said gracefully. "My mother always wanted me to be a proper young lady, just like you. She felt that a princess should act like a princess, and only by being dignified and elegant could she uphold the dignity of the royal family. But I didn't like it. I hated learning those things, and I didn't like always wearing a fake smile to please others. I especially didn't like being restrained. You know, the less a person has, the more likely they are to show it. So I've always been very irritable, which is really just being willful. Whenever something doesn't go my way, I really want to throw a tantrum."
Li Manyan was stunned. When she heard Xie Yunjia say "I don't like being tied down," she suddenly thought of Li Manyun.
Actually, Li Manyun probably thought about the same thing.
She was unwilling to have her light overshadowed, which is why she overlooked other things.
Li Manyan smiled and said, "Everyone has their own constraints. In fact, Consort Xia was just trying to be good to the princess from her own perspective."
Xie Yunjia was somewhat surprised, not expecting Li Manyan to dare to say such a thing.
"Yes, actually my mother loves me very much, but she is very persistent about this matter."
Xie Yunjia changed the subject, "But you didn't know that my second brother can play the piano?"
"ah?"
The topic shifted too quickly, and Li Manyan subconsciously shook her head: "This humble woman does not know."
Can the Second Prince play the zither?
Li Manyan genuinely didn't know this. She hadn't known Xie Yunchuan for very long, and their meetings were usually focused on business. She had no idea that Xie Yunchuan could play the piano.
I've never seen Xie Yunchuan perform at any banquet.
Xie Yunjia took a sip of tea, but kept observing Li Manyan's expression out of the corner of her eye.
Who wouldn't want to eat the melon that's right in front of them?
“Unlike me, my second brother genuinely loves playing the piano. The teacher who taught us together when we were little said that the strings of his piano have a warmth to them. I think that probably means he puts his heart into it,” Xie Yunjia said. “In my memory, my second brother seems to succeed at everything he does easily. It was after seeing him play the piano that my mother decided to have me learn with him. However, he rarely plays. For him, playing the piano is probably just a way to calm his mind.”
"Ah, I see."
Li Manyan listened attentively, imagining Xie Yunchuan and Xie Yunjia sitting side by side playing the zither when they were young, with an old man with white hair listening and nodding repeatedly, then praising Xie Yunchuan: "Not bad, not bad, wonderful! The Second Prince's zither strings are filled with warmth, truly making the music reach people's hearts."
Then Xie Yunchuan stood up solemnly and curtsied: "Teacher, you flatter me. It is because you teach me well."
As she thought about it, Li Manyan chuckled. Why did this scene seem kind of cute?
Xie Yunjia raised an eyebrow, staring at Li Manyan's upturned lips with great interest.
Ah, interesting, very interesting.
The man is in love, and the woman doesn't seem to be uninterested either.
*
It would take more than an hour to get to Haijin on horseback, but taking a carriage would be much slower. Moreover, there were quite a few of them, and they were carrying a lot of things, so it would take at least two hours.
However, the two children didn't feel it was too long. They enjoyed the scenery and chatted along the way, treating it as a picnic.
Knowing the journey was long, Xie Yunqi specially asked Consort Li to prepare a lot of snacks for him. At this moment, Xie Yunqi was thoughtfully sprinkling soybean powder evenly onto the donkey roll for Shengsheng.
After spreading the mixture evenly, Xie Yunqi carefully picked up a piece with chopsticks and brought it to Shengsheng's lips.
There were only the two of them in the carriage. They didn't care about their image at all and just ate the food in one big bite, stuffing their mouths full, with soybean powder smeared on the corners of their mouths.
Xie Yunqi wiped her mouth as he spoke, saying, "Be careful, don't eat too fast and you might choke."
"Yes, thank you, Fifth Brother."
"No need to thank me." Xie Yunqi took a piece for herself and asked, "Hey, but why are the Crown Prince and Second Brother suddenly going to Haijin? I don't believe Father Emperor would agree to just take us for fun."
"Oh, Fifth Brother, didn't you know?"
Sheng Sheng tilted her head in surprise as she looked at him.
"Know what?" Xie Yunqi looked bewildered. "What do I need to know? Nobody told me."
Judging from Xie Yunqi's expression, he really didn't know.
Sheng Sheng thought her brothers would tell him, since they were already on the carriage, how could they not know anything?
While chewing on a sticky donkey roll, Sheng Sheng told him, "Just a couple of days ago, didn't we accidentally catch two notorious bandits? Fifth Brother, guess what they stole?"
Xie Yunqi scratched his head: "I heard they came from Haijin. Sigh, could it be related to our trip to Haijin?"
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