When the Third Prince walked out through the gates of the Imperial College with the food box in his arms, his footsteps felt much heavier than usual.
His carriage was already waiting outside. The coachman spotted the Third Prince from afar and hurriedly jumped down from the driver's seat to lift the curtain.
The Third Prince stepped into the carriage in one stride, carefully placing the food box on the seat beside him. He kept one hand braced against it, afraid that the jolting carriage might damage whatever was inside.
“To the palace.”
The Third Prince’s voice was somewhat strained. Once the curtain fell, he leaned against the carriage wall and closed his eyes, drawing a deep breath.
A faint fragrance filled the carriage, drifting from the food box. It was sweet and delicate, much like Shi Huai’s voice when he spoke to him.
As the carriage rattled along Chang’an Street, the Third Prince’s fingers gently stroked the lacquered surface of the food box, as though caressing some priceless treasure.
His mind replayed the moment Shi Huai had handed him the food box.
Shi Huai’s fingers had been long and fair. The instant his fingertips brushed the back of the Third Prince’s hand, the latter had nearly heard his own heartbeat.
The journey from the Imperial College to the palace gates took only half an hour, yet during that brief trip, he had rubbed the lacquered surface countless times—until his fingertips grew hot.
After changing to a sedan chair at the palace gates, the Third Prince still kept one hand on the food box and the other on the sedan chair’s armrest.
He seemed completely distracted, his gaze fixed on the food box the entire time.
The sedan chair stopped outside Princess Jinse’s chambers. The Third Prince jumped down, straightened the collar of his robe, which had been tousled by the wind, and took a deep breath before walking inside.
Princess Jinse was sitting by the window, embroidering.
She wore a pale-yellow beizi, with several velvet flowers pinned in her hair. She looked fresh and tender, like willow shoots in spring.
“Third Brother, what brings you here?”
Princess Jinse set down her embroidery frame. Her eyes fell on the exquisite food box in the Third Prince’s arms, and her brows drew together slightly.
“What’s that? Did you bring more delicious food to tempt me?”
The Third Prince said nothing. He walked up to Princess Jinse, placed the food box on the table, then took a step back with an enigmatic smile playing at the corners of his lips.
His deliberately mysterious manner made Princess Jinse itch with curiosity.
She reached out to lift the lid, but when her fingers touched it, she paused and glanced up at the Third Prince.
He nodded.
Princess Jinse drew a deep breath and lifted the lid.
Inside the food box were several neatly arranged plates of pastries and sweets: lotus seed soup, almond tofu, and jujube-paste pastries.
Every dish was exquisitely prepared and mouthwatering enough to whet one’s appetite at a glance.
But Princess Jinse’s gaze did not linger on the sweets. Instead, it fell upon a slip of paper pasted to the inside of the lid.
On it was a single character: “Shi.”
Princess Jinse’s eyes immediately widened, and her mouth fell slightly open. She stood frozen in place as though someone had cast a binding spell on her.
Her fingers trembled faintly, and her almond-shaped eyes brimmed with stunned disbelief.
“Third Brother, this… this was Young Master Shi’s gift to me?”
Her voice was as soft as a dream, as though she feared that raising it even slightly would shatter the dream.
Watching his sister’s dazed expression, the Third Prince felt a sourness rise in his heart, like an overturned vat of vinegar. It stung so badly that even his teeth ached.
Yet all he could do was nod.
“Yes. He asked me to bring it to you.”
Princess Jinse carefully peeled the slip of paper from the inside of the lid and pressed it to her chest.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them again, they were already rimmed with red.
“Why would he send me food? Could it be that he…”
She could not finish.
Because she had realized that her voice was trembling, her heart was trembling, and her entire body was trembling.
The Third Prince looked at his sister’s flushed ears and the faint smile lifting the corners of her lips. It felt as though a blunt knife were slicing into his heart again and again, leaving him too pained to speak.
“Third Brother, do you think Young Master Shi might think I’m a good person too?”
Princess Jinse lifted her head to look at him.
The Third Prince drew a deep breath.
He held that bitterness in his chest for a long while before finally exhaling it. His voice was slightly hoarse.
“He probably… probably does think you’re a good person. He said so himself. He said you were cheerful and sincere toward others.”
When Princess Jinse heard the words “he said so himself,” she felt as though she had been steeped in a jar of honey, sweetness flooding her from head to toe, inside and out.
She grabbed the Third Prince by the sleeve, her voice trembling with excitement.
“He really said that? He really said I was cheerful and sincere toward others?”
Looking at his sister’s barely contained delight, the Third Prince felt the sourness in his heart grow even more intense.
He nodded and pried her fingers from his sleeve one by one. His voice held a trace of helplessness.
“Really. Why would I lie to you?”
Princess Jinse released him and stood up, turning several circles around the room. The velvet flowers in her hair trembled with each step, like a tireless butterfly.
Then, midway through another turn, she suddenly stopped and walked over to the dressing table. Sitting before the bronze mirror, she examined herself from side to side, adjusted the velvet flowers in her hair, and smoothed the loose strands beside her ears. Then she smiled at her reflection.
“Third Brother, does this outfit look good on me? What color does Young Master Shi like? I’ll wear it for him next time.”
Princess Jinse turned to look at the Third Prince, her eyes filled with earnestness and anticipation.
Watching his sister gaze left and right at herself in the mirror, the Third Prince’s lips twitched faintly. He sighed inwardly, his voice drifting somewhat helplessly.
“How would I know what color he likes? I’m not a worm in his stomach.”
Princess Jinse laughed at the sourness in his tone, but after laughing, she sensed that something was off.
She tilted her head and studied the Third Prince, a hint of suspicion in her eyes.
“Third Brother, why are you acting so strangely today? You sound so sarcastic. Are you jealous?”
The Third Prince’s heart gave a sudden jolt. His expression stiffened for a moment before he swiftly returned to his usual composed demeanor. He reached out and flicked her lightly on the forehead.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Jealous of what? What do I have to be jealous of?”
Princess Jinse covered her forehead and gave an indignant hum, but she did not press him further. Instead, she turned back to the bronze mirror and continued examining herself from side to side.
She took a red-gold hairpin adorned with a pearl from her jewelry box and placed it in her hair. After tilting her head to inspect it, she took it out and replaced it with a jade hairpin. She nodded at her reflection, then shook her head.
In the end, she simply removed the hairpin as well and put the velvet flowers back in her hair.
“The velvet flowers still look best. Young Master Shi said they suited me.”
Princess Jinse gazed at herself in the mirror, talking to her reflection. Her smile was so sweet it could make a person’s teeth ache.
The Third Prince leaned against the back of a chair, watching his sister lose herself over a single character—“Shi.”
His heart was sour and bitter, yet there was also a trace of complicated relief.
At least his sister still had a chance.
He did not even have the right to speak.
