"Does Your Highness remember the day the Drunken Immortal Pavilion opened?" Xie Lin asked.
Jiang Yunshu immediately nodded at the mention of the restaurant. "Of course."
"The signature dish, Drunken Immortal Chicken, is the best chicken I've ever tasted—tender yet not greasy, crispy to the bone, with a rich aroma of wine."
"And the sweet and sour fish, the eight-treasure rice..." Jiang Yunshu listed the delicacies with a nostalgic expression before suddenly realizing the implication of Xie Lin's words.
"Did the Chief Eunuch see me on the day the Drunken Immortal Pavilion opened?" she asked in surprise.
"Impossible." She shook her head. "Though I sneaked out of the Marquis's Mansion that day, I took a carriage both ways and sat in a private room at the restaurant. I only walked a few steps after getting off the carriage, and I wore a veil the entire time."
Jiang Yunshu remembered it clearly—she was always this cautious whenever she slipped out of the mansion, without exception.
"How could the Chief Eunuch have seen my face?" she pressed.
Xie Lin smiled helplessly. "This servant indeed did not see Your Highness's full appearance."
Jiang Yunshu: "...Did the Chief Eunuch recognize me by my figure?"
Xie Lin shook his head. "It was a gust of wind that lifted a corner of the veil."
That moment surfaced vividly in Xie Lin's mind, as clear as yesterday.
That day, he had ridden swiftly through the streets on urgent business, unable to clear the road in advance.
Coincidentally, it was the Drunken Immortal Pavilion's grand opening, and the street was crowded and noisy. Irritated, Xie Lin glanced up at the restaurant's signboard—only to catch sight of Jiang Yunshu walking along the second-floor railing.
A gust of wind lifted the veil's gauze, revealing a pair of eyes he would never forget.
Those eyes sparkled like stars, bright as the moon, so clear they seemed otherworldly.
Xie Lin rode past, imprinting those peach-blossom eyes and the woman's attire firmly in his memory.
He didn’t elaborate, merely mentioning the wind lifting the veil in passing.
Yet when Jiang Yunshu met his gaze and saw how he looked at her eyes, she understood everything.
"The Chief Eunuch didn’t see my full face, but he remembered my eyes."
It dawned on her—no wonder he had paid such close attention to her eyes when she first came to his side.
Xie Lin nodded.
Jiang Yunshu continued, "And then the Chief Eunuch found me based on just my eyes?"
This time, Xie Lin shook his head.
From what he had seen that day, he inquired about the woman's identity—only to learn she was the Marquis of Xiping's legitimate daughter.
"At the time, I mistook her for Jiang Zhaohua."
Jiang Yunshu suddenly understood. "Right, that day, the Marchioness also took my elder sister out."
It was only because of this that she had managed to sneak out unnoticed.
She vaguely recalled, "To maintain her reputation, the Marchioness would have similar dresses made for us, the illegitimate daughters, to match Jiang Zhaohua's."
This was her way of showing she treated all daughters equally, never neglecting the illegitimate ones.
Perhaps that day, Jiang Yunshu had worn a dress resembling her sister's, and with their similar peach-blossom eyes, Xie Lin had easily been misled.
After all, Jiang Zhaohua was the celebrated beauty of the capital, while Jiang Yunshu was an unknown shadow in the mansion.
Later, when Jiang Zhaohua forced Jiang Yunshu to take her place in the imperial marriage, it was a twist of fate that brought the right person to Xie Lin.
Marveling at the coincidence, Jiang Yunshu voiced her lingering question, "Why did the Chief Eunuch like my eyes?"
If it was just because of their peach-blossom shape, many others shared the same trait—Jiang Zhaohua's eyes were nearly identical to hers...
Xie Lin reminded her, "Your Highness, this is your second question."
"What will Your Highness offer in exchange for the answer?"
In the end, Jiang Yunshu agreed to Xie Lin's terms, her face burning crimson.
Xie Lin turned away, unable to look at her—the answer was too personal. He had once believed he would never bare his heart to anyone, yet now he was willing to tell Jiang Yunshu.
"Because Your Highness's eyes resemble those of a lifesaver I met in my youth."
Lost in memory, Xie Lin spoke slowly, "That winter, my adoptive father abandoned us in the freezing wilderness. I collapsed from cold and hunger."
"When I woke, a little girl was feeding me pastries."
"She couldn’t have been more than three years old, like a celestial child."
Jiang Yunshu's eyes widened slowly. "Was the pastry she fed you...?"
"Ruyi cake?"
"Ruyi cake."
They spoke the words simultaneously.
Xie Lin stared at her, stunned.
After a long silence, he sighed softly. "Your Highness was so bright and precocious as a child, unlike any mortal. How did you grow up to be so..."
Jiang Yunshu glared at him fiercely, cutting off his unfinished words.
