28. Chapter 28 Saliva
Mu Wen couldn't stand Mu Xi's smug look the most, as if all the girls in the capital were stupid and only she was smart.
She said angrily, "So what if I like him so much? He still won't marry me."
Xiaoxiao finally suppressed the impatience that was inexplicably rising in her heart and asked curiously, "Why doesn't Brother Pei want to get married?"
Mu Xi spoke up first, "Why? It must be because there are too many women who annoy him. My cousin doesn't have a good temper. I remember hearing Dad say that when he was a teenager, he was particularly popular with women. I think some people even stopped him on the street. He could tolerate it once or twice, but after so many times, he became more and more disgusted with women. He rarely had a good face when he saw a woman. I was afraid of him when I saw him."
Xiaoxiao was stunned when she heard this. She felt that she was talking about someone else. Although Brother Pei did have a bad temper at times, overall, he was very easy to get along with.
Unexpectedly, Mu Wen immediately refuted Mu Xi's words, "No, it must be because Gu Zhen hurt his heart that he has some aversion to women."
Xiaoxiao's heart tightened. She had never heard of this name before, and she was inexplicably concerned about Mu Wen's words. She subconsciously asked, "Who is Gu Zhen?"
Mu Wen didn't hide it from her.
Gu Zhen is the daughter of the former prime minister. Her mother and Pei Xiuhan's mother were close friends. Both of them were extremely beautiful. One entered the palace and was crowned queen, while the other married the powerful prime minister.
Because of the good relationship between the elders, Gu Zhen often entered the palace with her mother when she was a child. She was three years younger than Pei Xiuhan, and the two were childhood sweethearts. It was said that the queen liked Gu Zhen very much at that time and had always intended to let her marry Pei Xiuhan. Although their marriage was not officially settled, their parents tacitly agreed to it and were just waiting for Gu Zhen to come of age.
On the eve of her coming of age, something unexpected happened.
At that time, the border was in turmoil, and Pei Xiuhan carried his father to the battlefield. After he left, the emperor's health deteriorated. The third prince, born to Concubine Shu, chose to abdicate and imprisoned the crown prince. Pei Xiuhan's mother was also controlled by the third prince. Pei Jing was only three years old at the time, and was able to escape the disaster because he was hidden by the crown prince.
The situation changed drastically at that time. The prime minister also chose to stand on the side of the third prince and promised Gu Zhen to him. When Pei Xiuhan finally rushed back, his father and mother were both dead. He killed countless people before he rescued the prince.
It was only after the crown prince ascended the throne that he began to purge the people around him. It was because he was betrayed that he was easily captured by the third prince.
That year, the capital was in turmoil.
Everyone in the Prime Minister's Mansion had a bad end. They were either executed or exiled. Only Gu Zhen and her daughter were not implicated and stayed in the capital. It was said that Pei Xiuhan gave them a chance to live out of their old friendship.
After Mu Wen finished recounting what happened, she sighed, "If the Prime Minister's Mansion hadn't promised Gu Zhen to the Third Prince, my cousin would have definitely married her back home long ago."
Mu Xi rolled her eyes and disagreed with her point of view, but she didn't say much. She sensitively noticed that Xiaoxiao was in a low mood. Thinking that the little girl was always kind-hearted, Mu Xi thought that it was the Third Prince's rebellion that made her feel uncomfortable.
She simply changed the subject. "Why are we still talking about the past? It's so boring. During the Lantern Festival, I want to go to the streets to enjoy the lanterns. Xiaoxiao, do you want to come with me?"
Mu Wen puffed out her cheeks, a hint of anger in her eyes, "I invited Xiaoxiao a long time ago. If you want to poach her, go poach someone else."
Mu Xi snorted and leaned lazily against the wooden board behind him. Compared to Mu Wen, he seemed much calmer. "So what if you invited her? Is Xiaoxiao yours alone? Why should you monopolize her all day long?"
"Okay, okay, stop arguing."
Xiaoxiao's head hurt from their quarreling, so she tried to mediate, "We can go out together. It's not like only two people are allowed on the street."
She finally coaxed the two of them into submission. When she returned to Prince Yan's Mansion, Xiaoxiao felt even heavier in her heart. She didn't know why, but she kept thinking of Li Sisi, Zheng Danyun, and Gu Zhen. She had never met Gu Zhen, but she had a picture of a gentle and charming woman in her mind. A girl who could be liked by Brother Pei's mother must be good, right?
Brother Pei's willingness to let her go definitely means that she did not participate in the rebellion. It is possible that she was forced to be promised to the Third Prince.
Xiaoxiao felt inexplicably sour in her heart. She actually didn't want any woman to get close to Brother Pei. After realizing her possessiveness of Brother Pei, Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment and shook her head quickly.
Brother Pei is a human being, not one of those wild fruits she picked. How could she treat him as an object and want to monopolize him? Even if Brother Pei is a good person, it is impossible for him to be good to her only. If a girl likes him, she should be happy for her brother.
After Xiaoxiao finished beating herself, she finally felt relieved and returned to Su Yuexuan.
After that, Xiaoxiao stopped going to the clan school, and Zhong Miao and Mu Wen also stopped going. They were about to reach the age of marriage in a few months, and they needed to learn accounting from their mother and practice needlework. After all, when they got married, they would have to embroider their own wedding dresses.
After this year's study, Xiaoxiao made rapid progress. Not only could she play many songs, but her handwriting also became more and more like Pei Xiuhan's. Every time he checked her homework, Pei Xiuhan was surprised by her progress.
If Pei Jing could be half as diligent as she was, Pei Xiuhan wouldn't want to scold him every day.
On the tenth day, Pei Xiuhan pinned the assassination on a man. This man was Li Ge Lao's favorite student. He was only in his thirties, but he had been promoted to the third-rank Minister of Rites. Although he was talented, he was too cunning and cruel. He always used any means to achieve his goals. Pei Xiuhan always suspected that he had done things for the third prince.
Several times, when they tried to track him down, he had avoided them. This man would even dare to commit treason if he was given enough benefits. In time, he would definitely become Pei Jing's biggest headache.
Pei Xiuhan also took some effort to point the evidence at him. When he was thrown into the dungeon, Li Gelao entered the palace again and started to scold Pei Xiuhan. He was a veteran of three dynasties and had always been highly respected. Even if Pei Jing was unhappy, he couldn't scold him on his uncle's behalf.
Pei Xiuhan has never cared. No matter what these people say about him in private, as long as they don't make a fuss about it in front of him, he can ignore it. To a certain extent, he is very broad-minded.
By the time the matter had completely calmed down, it had already been a few days. Pei Xiuhan had been in a good mood recently. When he was busy a few days ago, he rarely returned home. Today, when he was free, he planned to go home. When he returned, it was gradually getting dark.
There were many lanterns hanging on the streets. At a glance, the entire capital city almost became a world of lanterns. Pei Xiuhan then realized that the Lantern Festival had arrived unknowingly.
He had never been fond of crowds; it had been years since he had seen lanterns. His good mood had piqued his interest, so he turned and told the servant to go back and fetch Xiaoxiao, then headed into Zuixiang Pavilion.
Xiaoxiao had just arrived at Wuya Hall. During the Lantern Festival, her grandmother would always make dumplings for her and her brother. Xiaoxiao hadn't seen Pei Xiuhan for several days and wanted to see him very much, so she planned to cook dumplings for him and see him at the same time.
She worked in the kitchen for an hour before she finished making the glutinous rice balls. Because she didn't know when Brother Pei would be back, she didn't cook them. She went to Wuya Hall first and saw that he still hadn't come back. Xiaoxiao couldn't help feeling disappointed.
She didn't know why. Even though he had returned from the border, she still felt so far away from him. Xiaoxiao felt inexplicably depressed.
The little girl's head drooped as she returned to Su Yuexuan in frustration. She had to wait until it was completely dark as she still had to go out with Mu Wen and Mu Xi, so she could only have dinner first. Xiaoxiao had just picked up the chopsticks when the servant came to call her, saying that the prince asked him to come back to pick her up.
Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up instantly. Because there was still more than half an hour before her appointment with Mu Wen, she followed the servant out of the house first.
The servant took her directly to the private room of Zuixiang Pavilion. When the door was pushed open, Xiaoxiao was attracted by him. The Tianzi private room was backed by Lishui Lake, with a water pavilion behind it. The water pavilion was also hung with lanterns. Hundreds of lanterns lit up the sky. He sat by the window, with a sky full of lanterns behind him. His handsome face was indescribably charming.
Xiaoxiao was stunned, her heart started pounding again. She suddenly remembered the day he came back and she accidentally kissed him on the chin. It seemed that even now, she could still recall the touch at that moment.
"What are you staring at? Is there something wrong with your face?"
It wasn't until Pei Xiuhan spoke that Xiaoxiao suddenly came back to her senses, and her face was burning again. The girl's skin was as white as jade, and when her face was stained with a light red, it was as if she had drunk alcohol.
Pei Xiuhan smiled as he lazily leaned back in his chair. "It's okay that you blushed a lot when you were little, but why haven't you improved? Don't you think you've grown up?"
He was tall, and even when he was sitting lazily, it was hard to ignore the powerful aura around him. Xiaoxiao tried her best to control her heartbeat, but when she met his smiling eyes, her heart started beating uncontrollably. She felt inexplicably that when he smiled, he looked like a vixen that sucked people's blood and essence, and was always disturbing people's minds.
Xiaoxiao walked closer to him in desperation and ignored him.
Pei Xiuhan laughed and shook his head, and asked the waiter to serve the dishes. Xiaoxiao then told him about her appointment with Mu Wen and Mu Xi.
Pei Xiuhan said, "What's the point of hanging out with them? They'll definitely go to crowded places. Be good, and I'll take you to a nice place later."
Xiaoxiao also wanted to be good. She wanted to stay with Brother Pei rather than go to crowded places. She hadn't seen him for several days and missed him very much. Even if he was standing right in front of her, Xiaoxiao would still miss him a little. She deliberately sat opposite him so that she could see his cold and enchanting eyes as soon as she raised her eyes.
But she had already made an appointment with Mu Wen, so she felt awkward. After a moment of hesitation, she finally said seriously, "I can't break the appointment."
Pei Xiuhan sneered, called the servant in, and said to him, "Go to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion and tell my cousin that Xiaoxiao has been taken away by me. We will meet them again next year."
Without waiting for Xiaoxiao to react, the servant responded and ran away. Before leaving, he helped them close the door.
Xiaoxiao pursed her lips, feeling a little helpless.
Soon the waiter brought a table full of dishes. The dishes at Zui Xiang Pavilion have always been famous far and wide, and it is difficult to eat them without making an appointment in advance. Only Pei Xiuhan can come at any time and get the best private room.
The dishes on the table are all Zui Xiang Ge's signature dishes. Each one is delicious and fragrant. Just smelling the smell makes people's mouths water. Xiaoxiao has been hungry for a long time, so she followed Pei Xiuhan and picked up the chopsticks.
After they finished dinner together, Pei Xiuhan took her away from Zuixiang Pavilion. Along the way, Xiaoxiao was curious about what the good place he mentioned was. She felt like her heart was scratched by a kitten and was full of anticipation for this place.
She felt inexplicably happy in her heart, and felt that this night seemed to be stolen. The next moment, the man's words dampened her joy.
There were already quite a few people on the street, and there were all kinds of snacks. Pei Xiuhan spotted an old man selling candied haws. He remembered that the little girl liked them very much, so he casually asked, "Kid, do you still want candied haws?"
The word "child" made Xiaoxiao feel a little depressed. She glanced at the bright red candied haws, resisted the urge to swallow her saliva, and said sullenly, "No, I'm not a child. Brother, don't call me a child anymore."
Pei Xiu Han found it a little funny. The girl pursed her tender pink lips tightly. She said she didn't want to eat it, but her eyes were still glued to the candied haws, like a greedy little cat.
Pei Xiuhan almost laughed out loud, but he held back his laughter for fear that the little girl would get angry again. He walked towards the stall. Because of his long legs, he reached the old man in a few steps. He then took out a piece of silver and gave it to him, whispering, "Give me a string of candied haws."
Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed him, reached out and tugged at his sleeve, whispering, "Brother, I already said I don't want to eat!"
When the old man asked for change, Pei Xiuhan waved at him, took the candied haws, and continued walking forward. Then he said to the little girl, "I didn't buy it for you. Can't I eat it myself?"
One piece of silver could buy dozens of strings. Xiaoxiao felt a little depressed seeing that he was always so wasteful.
Pei Xiuhan picked up the candied haws and actually took a bite of one.
Last time he said it was something to appease children, and asked him to eat it, but he refused. Xiaoxiao couldn't understand why he liked it again.
She couldn't help but open her eyes wide, her mouth watering with greed. She sniffed and turned her head away. The next moment, he stuffed the candied haws into her hands and said, "It's so disgusting. It's unpalatable."
Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment before she realized that he clearly bought it for her. She curled her lips. Although she hadn't eaten the candied haws yet, she could already feel the sweet taste in her mouth.
"Throw away the second one before eating." When he finished speaking, he saw Xiaoxiao had already bitten off the second one.
Pei Xiuhan's expression paused slightly.
Xiaoxiao blinked, not understanding why she couldn't eat the second one. She held it in her mouth, not wanting to spit it out, so she just chewed it.
Pei Xiu Han didn't say anything more. Halfway through chewing, Xiao Xiao suddenly understood why he asked her to throw it away. When he ate the first one, he must have touched the second one. Did she, she, she actually eat Brother Pei's saliva?
After realizing this, Xiaoxiao's little face started to burn again, and her whole body was smoking. She couldn't spit out or swallow the candied haws in her mouth.
She froze in place, holding a candied haws in her mouth.
Pei Xiuhan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows after seeing her expression. He felt inexplicably unhappy. He reached out and patted her head, "Little girl, do you still dislike your brother?"
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