Jiang Mian paused and suddenly turned to look at him.
Xiao Jingcheng was sitting opposite her. His glass-like eyes were filled with sincerity.
However, there was still no smile on her face. She quietly looked at him for a few breaths, then let out a soft laugh and said, "Your Highness, why are you suddenly apologizing to me? I wonder what wrong you've done?"
Xiao Jingcheng felt a sense of relief in his heart.
This meant that he hadn't done anything wrong, and she wasn't angry with him?
It's good that you're not angry - these words were just about to come out of his mouth when Xiao Jingcheng suddenly had a jolt.
Something was wrong.
When she said this, there was still no expression on her face. Her lips were downturned, and she didn't seem happy or forgiving at all.
If he were to follow her words and say that he was right, he was afraid that it would only make her angrier.
Moreover, she usually called him by his name directly. But at this moment, she addressed him as "Your Highness". This was a bad sign!
Xiao Jingcheng probed tentatively and first said ambiguously, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said such things to you last night."
Jiang Mian's eyes flickered, and the corners of her lips lifted slightly.
Xiao Jingcheng thought to himself that he was right. The crux of the matter lay in last night.
Jiang Mian said expressionlessly, "What did Your Highness say? I've carefully recalled, and it seems that Your Highness didn't say anything wrong last night."
Xiao Jingcheng was so nervous that his palms were sweating.
If he knew which words he had said wrong to make her angry, would he still be guessing here?
But there were signs of her anger. He remembered that the first time she showed her displeasure was when he said that he wouldn't bring her any trouble.
He thought that every word of that sentence was right.
But since she was angry, then every word must be wrong.
"Actually, I don't want to leave at all," Xiao Jingcheng said. "Staying in your room is more comfortable than staying in Taoist Priest Yuanzheng's room. No one but you would care if I'm tired from lying down for too long or if my limbs feel uncomfortable."
Hearing this, Jiang Mian's nose inexplicably felt sour.
She knew that she was being a bit unreasonable. If she really thought about it, he really hadn't done anything wrong.
Now, as a proud son of heaven, he had bowed his head to apologize to her in such a humble manner. A sensible person like her should immediately forgive him, lest others say that she was being pretentious and point out her faults.
But she really just couldn't be happy. Seeing him made her feel uncomfortable.
The welling-up of grievance in her heart made her unable to hold back any longer, and she expressed her most genuine emotions: "Really? I don't think you were that reluctant to leave. You were probably eager to go, weren't you? I said I would send you back, but what about you? You just ran away without saying a word. Was it so hard for you to stay in my room?"
She glared at him angrily, and her cheeks puffed up, looking like a squirrel stuffed with pinecones that Xiao Jingcheng had once seen on a tree branch.
At this moment, Xiao Jingcheng finally understood and finally knew what she was angry about.
She was angry about his leaving without saying goodbye. In her eyes, this was a sign that he was eager to leave.
So, actually, she still couldn't bear to part with him, right?
Xiao Jingcheng felt sweet in his heart. After understanding the whole story, his mind became active.
"You said you would send me away, but you fell asleep," he said innocently.
"You had been busy with your parents' wedding for a whole day. You were so tired that you fell into a deep sleep as soon as your head touched the pillow. I was worried that waking you up would alarm others, and I was also worried that you would have trouble falling asleep again after waking up. After all, you still had a lot of things to do today, so I left first."
Jiang Mian clenched her fists.
So, he didn't leave in a hurry without even saying hello. In fact, he cared about her and wanted her to sleep a little longer?
"You don't know. When I left, it was pitch - black outside. I accidentally tripped over a step and bumped into..." He originally wanted to say his head but was afraid that she would be too worried, so he changed his words and said, "my knee. It still hurts now."
Sure enough, Jiang Mian was shocked: "Really? Let me take a look!"
She bent down and was about to lift his robe, but Xiao Jingcheng pressed her hand: "There's no wound, just some bruises. Leave the bruise - removing ointment for me. I'll ask the Taoist priest to rub it for me."
Sweat was almost dripping from his forehead.
He was just making it up. How could he let her see!
Jiang Mian stopped then. She took out the medicine bottle and stuffed it into his hand, muttering, "It serves you right for leaving without saying a word. You deserve to bump into something."
But judging from her appearance, she should no longer be angry. Xiao Jingcheng finally let out a sigh of relief and joked, "If I had known that you were so reluctant to let me go, I would have definitely stayed."
"Shameless. Who's reluctant to let you go?" Jiang Mian immediately replied with a blushing face.
Xiao Jingcheng decided to stop while he was ahead and not joke with her anymore, lest he spoil things.
Jiang Mian was really no longer angry. At this moment, she found Xiao Jingcheng pleasing to the eye everywhere.
"Did you really come out with us to buy gifts for my parents?" she asked.
"Of course," Xiao Jingcheng said.
Jiang Mian hesitated for a moment and said, "Where did you get the money?"
Xiao Jingcheng paused, then raised his hand to touch his nose and said with a smile, "You don't need to worry about this. I have my own ways."
When he met Cao Rui in Chenzhou, Cao Rui left him some money, which was enough for him to pick a wedding gift for Li Zhao and Jiang Zhiqing.
Jiang Mian said angrily, "Don't you forget that you still owe me two thousand taels of silver."
Xiao Jingcheng smiled: "I haven't forgotten. I remember it clearly."
Jiang Mian thought for a while, lifted the curtain, and said something to the coachman. Then the carriage headed towards the largest antique shop in Luozhou City.
When they were about to reach the antique shop, Xiao Jingcheng put on the yellow talisman that could cover his appearance and then got out of the carriage with Jiang Mian.
Su Yu was about to help Xiao Jingcheng, but Jiang Mian reached out her hand first, and Xiao Jingcheng naturally got out of the carriage with Jiang Mian's support.
Su Yu withdrew her hand. Looking at the two figures standing close together, she belatedly realized that their relationship was probably not ordinary.
This antique shop was called "A Hidden Paradise". There were indeed many rare treasures in the shop.
Jiang Mian accompanied Xiao Jingcheng to carefully select for a while. Finally, they spent sixty taels of silver to buy a pair of jade carvings of intertwined mandarin ducks, which were clear and moist.
The carving was exquisite, and the mandarin ducks looked so lifelike that they seemed to be about to swim at any moment. It also had the meaning of an unbreakable love.
Xiao Jingcheng had put a lot of effort into choosing this gift. Jiang Mian couldn't help but look at him a few more times.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Jingcheng touched his face and asked, "Is there something dirty on my face?"
While the shopkeeper was wrapping up the things, Jiang Mian asked as if chatting casually:
"What do you think is the most important thing for a man and a woman to get married?"
She looked at him, tilted her head slightly, and smiled faintly:
"At the spring banquet, in front of so many people, you said that it was a crazy dream for a country woman like me to try to climb up to you. In your heart, is social status the most important thing?"
Xiao Jingcheng's body stiffened, and a drop of sweat slid down his forehead.