"I'm laughing because you're so endearing," said Helian Qi, his eyes curved with a tenderness that seemed to drip water.
Dongfang Yi stared at him, her heart fluttering uncontrollably. But her mouth was still unyielding as she said, "Come on, you're just good at saying nice things." In fact, her heart had already melted.
Helian Qi watched her lovely and contradictory expression, the smile on his lips deepening. Then he said, "I've brought you some new delicacies to taste."
With that, he waved his hand, signaling Ru Yi behind him to place a tray on the table. The tray was covered with a cloth, looking quite mysterious.
"What is it?!" Dongfang Yi couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Just lift the cloth and see," he replied with a smirk.
Dongfang Yi then lifted the cloth covering the tray, only to be surprised to see plump, shiny red lychees.
"Lychees?!" she exclaimed in delight. She loved this fruit the most, but since coming to this era, she hadn't even seen one.
Then she thought that lychees were tropical fruits, so it was impossible to find them here.
Hearing her exclamation, Helian Qi was quite surprised and couldn't help but ask, "You've seen this kind of food?!"
These lychees were tribute from Persia yesterday. It took half a year by ship to transport ten such trees here. Half of the fruits were spoiled during the long journey, leaving only about forty. Half of them were sent to the Cining Palace, and the other half were all here. They were extremely precious.
Dongfang Yi naturally knew that this fruit, which was common in modern times, was a rare treasure here. She couldn't admit that she had seen it before, as it might expose her secret. So she could only answer, "I once saw this fruit in a book. I heard it can only grow in extremely hot places. I never thought I'd get to taste it in my lifetime."
After saying that, she let out a long sigh, relieved that she had been smart enough not to give herself away.
Helian Qi naturally believed her words. Seeing her so happy, his heart leaped with joy. He casually picked up a lychee, peeled it, and held it to her lips.
Dongfang Yi opened her mouth and took a bite. Immediately, the cool and sweet taste filled her mouth, stimulating her taste buds.
"Um, so sweet!" she said with a look of happiness.
Helian Qi watched her with an even deeper smile on his lips. When he received these fruits yesterday, the first thing he thought of was this little glutton. He could even picture her happy expression when eating the fruits.
Now that she was right in front of him, exactly as he had imagined, his heart softened.
"You have one too," Dongfang Yi peeled a lychee and held it to his lips.
When they had eaten their fill, Dongfang Yi was almost stuffed. She sat down on the edge of the bed and said, "Give me some more tomorrow. I'll take them to share with Concubine Shu and the others."
Hearing this, Helian Qi's mouth twitched. He thought to himself that did she think these fruits were as common as Chinese cabbages, available in endless supply? So he replied, "These are all there are. There won't be any more."
"What?!! Why didn't you tell me earlier? If I had known, I would have eaten more sparingly!" Dongfang Yi said dejectedly as she lay back on the bed.
She knew lychees were precious, but she didn't know they were so scarce. She had gobbled up so many just now without leaving any for later.
Helian Qi found her remorseful expression quite amusing. He walked over and tapped her nose, saying, "You little glutton. Do you know that there were only forty - one of these fruits in total as tribute? Half of them have already gone into your stomach, and you're still not satisfied?"
Hearing this, Dongfang Yi's face froze. She lowered her head and fidgeted with her fingers, saying, "I didn't know, okay..."
Helian Qi laughed heartily in satisfaction. Then he asked, "Since you like this fruit so much, give it a name. It doesn't have a name in the Central Plains yet!"
Hearing this, Dongfang Yi became interested. She thought that she never expected to have the chance to name a fruit. So she thought of a poem and recited it casually.
"A courier gallops through the dust, the beauty smiles. No one knows it's lychees that arrive."
Helian Qi was delighted after hearing her recite the poem. He never expected that this usually carefree girl could recite poetry so well. He couldn't help but feel more fond of her. So he replied, "Dong'er, does the beauty in this poem refer to yourself?"
Hearing this, Dongfang Yi forced a laugh. How could she compare herself to Yang Guifei? But anyway, no one would ever know. Thinking of this, she turned around proudly and said, "Yes. Then let's call this fruit 'lychee'!"
She sighed inwardly again about how important it was to be well - educated.
So the two of them decided to name this fruit "lychee". But now there was no chance to show it to others, as all those twenty - odd lychees had ended up in her stomach.
She had eaten so much fruit that she naturally had no appetite for dinner. But Helian Qi hadn't eaten much. So the two of them had dinner together. During the meal, they talked about the glazed rattlesnake from the Western Regions.
It was said that this kind of snake had a very strange personality. It was only controlled by one musical instrument in its lifetime. Even if the same tune was played on a different instrument, it could recognize it instantly and then attack people crazily. That was why it only had one master in its lifetime. As the saying goes, a musical instrument is never passed on easily, so no one else could play the same instrument well.
So if the snake they were going to catch was really controlled by Yaoji, they mustn't alert her. After all, if they fell out, and she let the snake go crazy, the helpless palace servants in the palace might be in danger.
Saying this, Helian Qi took out a few small yellow bags from his bosom and handed them to the woman in front of him. Then he said, "These are filled with realgar. Keep them in case of emergency. If a snake comes, just sprinkle it."
His eyes were bright and determined, for he would never allow any harm to come to the woman in front of him again.
He had already sent people to sprinkle realgar powder all around the Queen's palace. As long as no one brought a snake into the palace, no snake would be able to enter. This was the best they could do for now.
Dongfang Yi naturally knew how much he cared about her. So she put the realgar powder in her bosom and nodded firmly, saying, "Don't worry. I'll take good care of myself!"
The two of them looked into each other's eyes for a while and then hugged each other, whispering sweet nothings.
Outside the window, the twilight deepened, and the moon hung high in the sky. Inside the palace, the candles flickered as the two people were pouring out their feelings for each other.