"Oh? What business does Lady Wu have to discuss with me?" Shen Yanshui's tone was flat, sounding almost perfunctory, yet no one could point to any outright disrespect in her words even if they tried.
Lady Wu's eyebrows pinched together slightly, before she let out a proud cold snort. "The Dragon Boat Festival is just a few days away. Every year on this occasion, His Majesty and the Empress lead the entire imperial court and the inner palace to the Jinling Pond to watch the dragon boat races. I've heard it's an incredibly lively, spectacular event."
She glanced at Shen Yanshui as she spoke, her tone thick with undisguised smugness. "Every year, the Crown Princess brings two companions with her to the event. Just yesterday, the Crown Princess specifically mentioned this to me. It's such a pity, though—it seems this year, younger sister won't have the good fortune to attend."
Shen Yanshui lifted an eyebrow in response, but before she could say a word, a familiar bird cry rang out of nowhere.
"Shut up, so noisy, so noisy!"
Lady Wu's face immediately darkened. She pointed furiously at the little creature darting around over her head, daring to scold her out loud. "Insolent thing!"
She spun around and snapped at the palace maids and eunuchs waiting at her side. "You fools! What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and knock this little beast down!"
"Help! Help!" The bird's cry was piercingly loud, sending the whole scene into chaos of flapping wings and panicking people.
"Little me is so scared! Danger, danger! Fly fast, fly fast!"
Shen Yanshui: "......" The person who raised this little parrot must be a total chatterbox.
She had originally been thinking of helping the little creature out, but seeing how high and fast it was flying, she relaxed. Though this little thing was undeniably a little annoying in its cheekiness.
"Someone come, someone come! Ugly people are trying to kill the bird! Kill the bird! Save the bird's life! Save the bird's life!"
Lady Wu was so angry she nearly lost all her poise. "Use stones! Smash this little beast down!"
One of the palace maids looked worried, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "My lady, this parrot clearly belongs to someone of status. If we really injure it..."
No one who served close to their master in the palace was truly stupid. These little creatures, if they belonged to the right master, were far more valuable than the lives of ordinary palace maids and eunuchs. No one dared to actually lay a heavy hand on it.
Lady Wu barely listened to her personal maid's reminder, but she still frowned tightly, holding back her anger until her chest ached. "Fine, forget it..."
Plop. Something warm landed right on her forehead.
Shen Yanshui watched with her own eyes as a small, unmistakably stinky blob of droppings landed right on Lady Wu's forehead. She stared as Lady Wu lifted her hand in bewilderment, and then touched a whole handful of...
"Ah——!" The second Lady Wu realized what had landed on her forehead, she broke down and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Kill this little beast! Kill it!" Her face twisted with unbearable disgust, she scrubbed at her forehead frantically with her handkerchief.
"M-My lady..." The several maids and eunuchs had never expected such a bizarre coincidence. Faced with their master who had clearly lost her mind in rage, the three of them were flustered for a moment, unsure what to do.
Smack! Lady Wu slapped the palace maid standing in front of her hard across the face. "What are you all still gawking at?! If you don't kill this little beast today, I'll have the Crown Princess send every last one of you to the Palace Supervisor's Office!"
Shen Yanshui had just started to frown, about to step in, when the sound of approaching footsteps reached her ears.
"Who are you sending to the Palace Supervisor's Office?"
The man who stepped into view wore a dark black informal robe embroidered with subtle silver cloud and thunder patterns, his hair held back by a jade crown, a leather belt cinching his waist. His voice was low and icy, radiating a bone-deep cold that made people want to shrink back the moment they laid eyes on him.
It was none other than the Crown Prince.
In an instant, everyone in the vicinity had knelt to the ground.
"Little me is scared to death! Scared to death! Your Highness is blessed, Your Highness ten thousand blessings!" The little parrot landed right on his shoulder, squawking noisily.
Cui Yu frowned instinctively.
Shen Yanshui curtsied in greeting. "This servant greets Your Highness, may Your Highness be well." She wondered if he had just happened to arrive, or if he had been watching from the shadows for a while, and a faint wariness rose in her chest.
She had never expected this cheeky, loudmouthed little parrot to belong to the Crown Prince...
Lady Wu's face flushed bright red then drained of color, then flushed again. A faint dark stain still marked her forehead, ruining her once beguiling, begonia-like beauty and making her look utterly disheveled.
"Your Highness..." Tears began to roll down Lady Wu's cheeks like a broken string of pearls, her voice trembling, sounding so pitiable.
But Cui Yu was completely unmoved, not the slightest bit swayed. The look he gave her was nothing short of impatient.
Face burning, Lady Wu bit her lip. "Your Highness, please forgive me. I had no idea this parrot was yours. It was only because... because..."
She could not bring herself to admit out loud in front of the Crown Prince that the bird had defecated on her forehead, and she ended up sobbing in frustration. "Your Highness, I truly did not mean any harm. That bird offended me first, I simply lost my composure for a moment."
"Bad person! Bad person!" The parrot squawked on.
Cui Yu suddenly frowned, and said coolly, "Shut up, noisy thing."
Shen Yanshui: "......" Alright, that explained it. The bird really did learn that line from its master.
This time, the parrot stopped its cheeky squawking, pacing back and forth on his shoulder in silence. It clearly had plenty of practice behaving itself when told off.
Cui Yu glanced at the palace maid kneeling on the ground, one side of her face already swelling up bright red, and his brows twitched slightly.
He had been walking along the corridor outside the Fangyao Garden when he heard his familiar parrot cry "Help——" so he had come to investigate. He glanced at Lady Wu's forehead, which she had rubbed raw, then looked away, and said in a deep, steady voice, "Help your lady back to her quarters."
Lady Wu heaved a huge sigh of relief. The Crown Prince had not punished her—he still cared for her!
She could not bear to stay looking like a mess in front of the Crown Prince anyway, so she blinked back her tears, her voice soft and delicate, the kind that was supposed to tug at people's heartstrings. "Your Highness is most just. This servant takes her leave~"
But seeing that the Crown Prince was not looking at her at all, she was left with a strange mix of feelings, half relieved that she could leave, half disappointed by his indifference.
Once everyone else had finally left, Cui Yu noticed that Shen Yanshui was still holding her curtsy. He glanced at her, reached out, wrapped his hand around her forearm, and personally helped her to her feet.
His palm met warm skin, separated only by a thin, smooth layer of fabric, and he felt a handful of soft, delicate, almost boneless softness.
Shen Yanshui tilted her head up to look at his face, and smiled. "Thank you, Your Highness." Her voice was clear and melodious.
Shen Yanshui took the chance to wrap her hand around his for a moment, then stepped back with a grin. "Did Your Highness notice? This is a new dress I made, using the Luminous Brocade that Your Highness bestowed on me. It's the first time I've ever worn such fine material. It's so comfortable and beautiful—don't you think it looks lovely on me?"
As she spoke, she turned her body slightly to let him get a full look at it.
The moment their palms pressed together, Cui Yu felt a flicker of unfamiliarity. Just as he was about to pull his hand back, he caught sight of the bright, sunny smile on her face. He hesitated for a beat, and in the end, did not move to withdraw his hand at all.
Listening to her voice brimming with pure joy, he looked her over carefully from head to toe. The sun was gentle and bright that day, its soft glow spilling over her figure. The fabric of her dress shimmered with every small movement she made, and the graceful sway of her slender, supple waist as she turned was delicate and stunning. For a split second, his throat felt tight, and his voice dropped a little deeper, "Yes, it looks good."
"Pretty! So pretty!" The little parrot suddenly flew from his shoulder and landed right on the pearl hairpin in her hair.
Dongyi's heart jolted with alarm! She was terrified that this parrot would blurt out one of its crude lines in front of their master too — that would be a total disaster!
Cui Yu held out his hand to the parrot with a blank, unamused expression. "Come here."
"Your Highness, blessings and prosperity! Your Highness, long life and good fortune!" The little parrot hopped nimbly to another wooden hairpin in her hair instead, its obvious evasive manner both stubborn and cowardly at the same time.
Cui Yu frowned.
Shen Yanshui said, "Your Highness, let me try to get it, if you would allow."
Cui Yu looked down and met her smiling eyes. Seeing that she was not the slightest bit frightened, he gave a low "mm" of assent.
Hidden by the sweep of her wide sleeve, Shen Yanshui reached out and plucked another apricot blossom bud. This time, she channeled a smaller amount of her special ability into it, and what settled in her palm in the end was a half-bloomed pink apricot blossom. "Your Highness, what is its name?"
Cui Yu paused for a moment, and said nothing right away.
"I'm Little Jade! I'm Little Jade! Pretty lady, pretty lady, I'm Little Jade!"
"Pfft!" Shen Yanshui could not hold back a laugh. She was amused by the deeply folksy, unrefined name Little Jade, which could not be more mismatched for the grand, regal status of the Crown Prince standing right in front of her. No wonder the man had looked like he would rather say nothing at all just a moment earlier.
Cui Yu: "..."
