"I'll help you pick them up," Gu Lan said in her calmest yet most earnest voice.
As soon as she crouched down, she again caught the faint medicinal scent from Rong Heng.
This time, the smell of blood on him was lighter. Had his injuries from the Imperial Prison healed?
Gu Lan was certain that Rong Heng was indeed injured, but she could only smell it; she couldn't heal people.
How could an assassin heal people?
An assassin only knows how to kill.
Their fingertips collided, and Rong Heng's fingers were as cold as ice, emanating a chilling coldness.
Rong Heng paused, and before Gu Lan could react, he forcefully snatched back the scroll from her hand, stuffing it directly into his wooden box with no appreciation.
Gu Lan was taken aback, then picked up another scroll.
However, Rong Heng snatched it away once more.
This time, Rong Heng looked up at her, his hand gripping the scroll tightly, with veins bulging on the back of his hand.
His pitch-black eyes were unfathomable, like a stagnant pool of water, reflecting no ripples.
He coldly spat out two words: "No need."
Gu Lan frowned slightly, pondering why Rong Heng was so cold to her.
A few days ago, when they met at the market outside the palace, they could still carry on a somewhat indifferent conversation. Although Rong Heng seemed cold, he wasn't this unapproachable.
At this moment, Aunt Fang said, "Young Master, never mind him, let's go to Yongshou Palace first."
Gu Lan glanced at the surrounding palace maids and eunuchs, her brows twitching, and the smile on her lips deepened slightly.
Hmm, probably because there are outsiders around,
the male lead is shy.
As she stood up, her wrist accidentally brushed against a cool piece of cloth within her sleeve.
Gu Lan's eyes flickered, and then, under Rong Heng's dark and indifferent gaze, she bent down once more.
The cool handkerchief wiped across Rong Heng's mud-spattered face, the soft and quiet touch finally causing a disruption in the boy's usually composed eyes.
In that instant, he thought of that foolish woman, Xiao Ning.
Xiao Ning's favorite thing to do was to wipe off non-existent food crumbs from his face and then tilt her head to look at him innocently, satisfying her maternal joy.
She had been dead for seven years.
Rong Heng instinctively turned his head slightly.
When he snapped out of his shock, he immediately donned an expression of disgust.
Gu Lan didn't care about Rong Heng's reaction; she had already wiped the mud spots off his face in an instant, then contentedly placed the handkerchief on top of a scroll, her fingertips tapping lightly on the fabric.
Immediately, Young Master Gu swaggered off like a libertine who had just teased a virtuous woman.
Rong Heng remained in place, stiffly picking up the scrolls. By the time he had placed all the books back into the wooden box, the onlookers in the palace had dispersed out of boredom.
He stared at the last scroll on the ground, unmoving.
More precisely, he was staring at a small, snow-white handkerchief on the scroll, with a border of pale blue embroidery around its edges.
A grown man, carrying a handkerchief with him.
This handkerchief seemed to have a hint of a woman's fragrance of face powder.
Gu Lan, this person must be seriously ill.
Also, a sissy.
"Your Highness, Your Highness!"
Jiu called out to Rong Heng several times before bringing him back to his senses.
"What is it?"
Jiu said, "Just now, before that Young Master Gu squatted down to pick up the book for you, he gave a fierce glare at the two servants who were mocking us the most."
No wonder he didn't hear those sharp and noisy voices around him afterward.
Rong Heng picked up the last book, once again in a daze.
Under the handkerchief left by Gu Lan, hidden were two small, brown sugar candies, round and shiny.
He already smelled that they were plum candies.
Very ordinary sugar candies, found both inside and outside the palace, which he loved eating as a child.
With his slender fingers, Rong Heng pinched the two candies gently, and with a little force, the hard candy turned into powder at his fingertips.
With a breeze, the powder was gone.
How utterly ridiculous,
in this world,
someone actually tried to placate him with candy.
The handkerchief that had wiped his face was crumpled into a ball and tossed to Jiu: "Take it and use it to charm the little palace maids."
Jiu: "This was given to you by Young Master Gu, and you want me to use it to charm palace maids—? Then in Young Master Gu's eyes, what are you, a male palace attendant?"
"Shut up."
Rong Heng's eyes darkened as he snatched back the handkerchief and stuffed it into his own sleeve.
*
Half a two-hour later, Gu Lan and Young Master Qian, whose hair was still wet, stood inside Yongshou Palace.
Gu Lan stood prominently in the hall, calm and composed, treating the glaring Young Master Qian as if he didn't exist.
Aunt Fang had already reported the entire situation to the Empress Dowager. She saw clearly that at the Floating Green Pavilion, it was Young Master Qian who tried to elbow Young Master Gu's shoulder. Unexpectedly, Young Master Gu suddenly stopped, causing Young Master Qian to lose his balance and fall into the water.
If investigated thoroughly, it was indeed Qian Rui who first harbored ill intentions.
Young Master Gu said nothing, and the matter was thus put to rest.
Qian Rui glared at Gu Lan with an ominous look, only he knew the truth. He truly intended to push Gu Lan into the water, but before he could act, his knees suddenly went weak, causing his body to uncontrollably lunge forward, bumping into the halted Gu Lan, then stumbling and falling into the water.
It was definitely Gu Lan's trick.
However, Aunt Fang and another palace maid were behind them and didn't see Gu Lan's actions, so no one believed his words.
"Cough, cough, cough—"
Sitting to the right of the Empress Dowager was the young prince Rong Yunhao, holding a cup of fruit tea. Seizing a moment of choking, he suddenly winked in Gu Lan's direction.
The young prince's action couldn't be concealed from those present. The Empress Dowager noticed, and her gaze towards Gu Lan grew more profound.
Gu Lan also winked at him, then lowered her gaze, focusing on her own fair fingertips.
Just a while ago, Rong Heng moved too quickly, preventing her from having a tangible touch of the male lead, which was truly a pity.
Yet, his hand was so cold.
Her gaze slightly shifted as she used her peripheral vision to assess the current Empress Dowager of Yan Country sitting at the main seat in the hall.
The current Empress Dowager was the biological mother of the Emperor and was named Su Xinyu. In the original book, she is a heavyweight antagonist.
The Empress Dowager's surname is Su, as is the Empress's, and the old Prime Minister in the court. The Su family produced two empresses and a prime minister, whose status in the court was not inferior to the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion and Prince Rui's Mansion, who held significant military power.
In the novel's plot, this Empress Dowager repeatedly backstabbed Rong Heng while he led his troops in battles. Later on, Rong Heng united with a group of supportive courtiers to impeach the Empress Dowager's interference in politics, forcing the Emperor to expel her from the Imperial Palace to some temple to pray for the former Emperor.
What temple is not quite remembered, as long as it's not Huanhuan's Ganlu Temple, probably a place like Qingliang Temple from which she could never rise again.
The Empress Dowager's appearance was radiant and majestic, her demeanor elegant and noble. She wore a string of sandalwood Buddha beads on her wrist, and although her face was thin, she carried a somewhat sarcastic smile.
"It seems Young Master Qian values this companionship very much, even bathing and burning incense before meeting me," the Empress Dowager said.
Qian Rui promptly knelt and tremblingly said, "I, as a subject, inadvertently fell into the water, disturbing the Empress Dowager and the Princess Consort. I am truly guilty of death and hope that the Empress Dowager will forgive me."
The Empress Dowager said, "The water of Yuanqing Pool is indeed extraordinary, as if they're falling into it like dumplings one after another. Do you not find it strange? Could it be that the position of the young prince's companion is cursed?"
Gu Lan thought to herself, the Empress Dowager isn't nearly as endearing as her own grandmother.