Chapter 425: Chapter 428: You Must Be Careful
Hua Manman was fuming.
She didn’t say another word to Li Ji all the way back to the Prince Mansion.
Feihua Zhenren was sitting under the veranda, peeling and eating a pomegranate. He was quite surprised to see the young couple return one after the other.
"Why are you back so early? Why didn’t you stay out and have fun for a while longer?"
Hua Manman said sullenly, "It wasn’t fun."
She sat down next to Feihua Zhenren, picked up a pomegranate from the fruit platter, and began peeling it in silence.
Li Ji walked over and sat down beside Hua Manman.
So when Gao Shan came looking for them, he saw Princess Consort Zhao with Feihua Zhenren seated to her left and Prince Zhao to her right.
The three of them sitting in a row was a strangely comical sight.
Gao Shan stepped forward and bowed. "Your Highness, Your Grace, Hua Zhaorong from the palace has sent someone with an invitation, wishing to invite the Princess Consort to the palace to catch up."
He held up an apricot-white invitation with both hands.
Hua Manman casually stuffed the half-eaten pomegranate into Prince Zhao’s hands, then reached out, took the invitation, and opened it.
The invitation, which gave off a faint scent of osmanthus, had a few lines of text written in elegant script.
The gist of it was that the sisters hadn’t seen each other in a long time and Hua Zhaorong missed her younger sister dearly. The osmanthus trees in the palace had just bloomed, making her nostalgic for their childhood when they played together under the trees. She had specially prepared some osmanthus tea and wanted to invite her sister to the palace to enjoy it.
Hua Manman closed the invitation and said to Gao Shan.
"Tell the messenger that I will go to the palace for the appointment tomorrow."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Gao Shan turned and left.
Hua Manman turned her head and saw Li Ji holding out a jade bowl.
The bowl was filled with peeled pomegranate seeds.
The glistening, translucent red pomegranate seeds created a striking contrast with the smooth, delicate white of the jade bowl, making for a surprisingly beautiful image.
Hua Manman remembered she was still angry. Her rational mind told her to refuse, but her hand reached out uncontrollably.
She took the jade bowl and grumbled as she ate.
"Don’t think a small favor like this will make me forget the hurt you caused me just now."
Feihua Zhenren leaned in, his eyes twinkling with the light of gossip.
"The Prince actually has the heart to hurt you?"
Hua Manman jutted her chin in Li Ji’s direction. "Go ask him."
Li Ji said with a straight face, "I didn’t hurt you."
Hua Manman glared at him. "You just implied my face was big. Isn’t that hurtful?"
Li Ji denied it. "I never said that."
Hua Manman pouted. "You didn’t say it, but that’s what you meant. You were subtly dissing me for having a big face."
The more Feihua Zhenren heard, the more curious he became.
He couldn’t help but press, "What did the Prince say just now? What made the Princess Consort so angry?"
Hua Manman gave a rough account of what had happened on the boat earlier.
Feihua Zhenren absolutely couldn’t hold it in. He clutched his round belly and collapsed to the ground, laughing.
"HAHAHA! Your Highness, you’re really one of a kind!"
Li Ji stared at him blankly. "Is it that funny?"
Feihua Zhenren was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. "This humble Taoist truly never expected that the Prince, who usually seems so serious, could be so amusing when he speaks! HAHAHA!"
Perhaps because his laughter was so infectious, Hua Manman was affected and couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from turning up.
Li Ji had originally wanted to teach Feihua Zhenren a lesson and stop him from laughing like an idiot, but when he caught a glimpse of Manman being amused, he forced himself to suppress the urge.
’So what if they laugh at me?’
’Let them laugh all they want. It’s not like I’ll lose a piece of flesh over it.’
Hua Manman thought for a moment.
’It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the female lead. Is it time to go to the palace and see how she’s doing?’
So, early the next morning, Hua Manman changed into a more formal dress, preparing to go to the palace to see Hua Zhaorong.
But she saw Li Ji, already dressed and waiting at the door.
From the looks of it, he intended to go to the palace with her.
Hua Manman asked him what he was going to the palace for.
Li Ji answered with conviction.
"The palace is full of people with malicious intentions. It’s too dangerous for you to go alone. I’ll go with you."
Hua Manman tried to refuse politely. "But you’re an outside male. You’re not supposed to enter and leave the inner palace freely, are you?"
Li Ji retorted on the spot.
"I’m Hua Zhaorong’s brother-in-law. That doesn’t count as an outside male."
"But Hua Zhaorong isn’t the only concubine in the inner palace. There are many others."
Hua Manman tried to placate him. "You should just stay home. I’ll take Qing Huan with me to the palace. Her skills are good, she can protect me. You don’t have to worry too much."
Li Ji was very dissatisfied.
"No matter how good Qing Huan’s skills are, can she be as good as me?"
Hua Manman coaxed him in a soft, pleasant tone.
"It’s precisely because your skills are too good that I don’t need you to waste your time accompanying me to the palace.
Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? A talent like you should spend your time and energy on more important things.
For example, thinking about what to name our child?
How should we decorate the baby’s room?
And what style of crib should we get for the baby?
These are all important matters that need you to resolve them one by one!"
Li Ji stared at her fixedly, seeing right through her with a single sentence.
"You’re saying all this just because you don’t want me to go to the palace with you."
Hua Manman blinked, a fawning smile on her face.
’Are you kidding me?!’
’That damn man knows the Mind Reading Technique.’
’When I see Hua Qingqing later, he’ll be able to read everything I’m thinking.’
’There’s no privacy at all. It’s scary just thinking about it!’
’Wait.’
’Don’t tell me that damn man has already heard everything I’m thinking right now?’
Hua Manman met Li Ji’s piercing black eyes. Her heart leaped in panic, and her expression gradually stiffened.
’It’s over, it’s over! He really heard everything!’
Li Ji said, "If you don’t want me to hear you, turn your face away. Don’t let me see your eyes."
Hua Manman quickly raised her hands to cover her eyes.
"I forgot."
’I only hate that sunglasses don’t exist in this world.’
’If there were sunglasses, I could just prop them on my nose, and no one would know what I was thinking.’
In the end, Li Ji still accompanied Manman to the palace.
But he only escorted Manman into the palace before they parted ways.
Hua Manman went to the Moon Viewing Pavilion, while Li Ji went to the Imperial Study Room.
Before parting, Li Ji didn’t forget to remind her again and again.
"You must be careful!
Don’t eat anything from strangers, and don’t go off with them.
If someone approaches you, find an excuse to put some distance between you.
If you really can’t handle it, just call for help. I’ll rush over to help you as soon as I get word.
Remember, no matter what happens, your personal safety is the top priority."
Hua Manman readily agreed. "Okay, I know!"
She complained internally, ’His tone is just like an overprotective dad.’
Li Ji said, "Even an overprotective dad wouldn’t worry as much as I do."
Hua Manman was startled.
’He knew what I was thinking again!’
She quickly covered her eyes with her hands. ’Jeez, this Mind Reading Technique is so scary!’
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