Seated within the carriage, Feng Zeyue unwrapped a piece of peach crisp, dangling it before Su Shang.
Her eyes twinkled with amusement. "Xingzhi, would you like to try? This pastry tastes very good."
Su Shang shook her head. "No... Mmph~"
Before Su Shang could finish, Feng Zeyue shoved the peach crisp into her mouth.
Seeing the anticipation and laughter in Feng Zeyue's eyes, Su Shang couldn't bring herself to spit it out. Instead, she chewed obediently a few times and swallowed.
As soon as Su Shang swallowed the pastry, Feng Zeyue eagerly asked, "How does it taste?"
Su Shang recalled carefully and replied earnestly, "A little... sweet."
"Sweet is good," Feng Zeyue nodded with a smile and pouted playfully. "I fed Xingzhi, can Xingzhi feed me too?"
Su Shang paused, looking at the pastries in the box. After a moment of thought, she finally nodded silently.
She picked up a pastry and gently placed it at Feng Zeyue's lips.
Feng Zeyue parted her lips and took a small bite, smiling. "It's really sweet~"
Whether it was Su Shang's imagination or not, she felt Feng Zeyue wasn't talking about the pastry, as her gaze was fixed on her so intently.
A faint blush spread across Su Shang's face, and she shyly turned her head away.
Feng Zeyue took a couple more bites of the pastry. As it grew smaller, her eyes brightened slightly. She feigned complaint, "Xingzhi, move it closer. I can't reach it anymore."
Su Shang snapped back to attention and silently moved her hand closer to Feng Zeyue.
The next second, as Feng Zeyue bit down on the pastry, she also bit Su Shang's fingertip.
The tingling sensation on her fingertip made Su Shang freeze.
She even forgot to retract her hand, her eyes wide as she stared at Feng Zeyue, seemingly unable to believe what had happened.
Feng Zeyue swallowed the pastry in her mouth and blinked innocently, her expression bewildered. "Xingzhi, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
So adorable!
Su Shang thought. The anger she had felt from being teased vanished in an instant.
She silently withdrew her hand and said calmly, "It's nothing."
But a tempest raged within her heart, her heartbeat accelerating rapidly.
Su Shang tried hard to maintain her composure, but her heart wouldn't cooperate. In the end, Su Shang became annoyed again.
However, the annoyance wasn't directed at Feng Zeyue, but at herself. Why was she so useless!
"My, my mother has arrived. Let's stop here for today! I, I'm leaving now," Su Shang said hastily.
Without waiting for Feng Zeyue's reply, she leaped out of the carriage and walked away. After passing through a small alley, she began to run.
The wind whistling past her ears helped her mood return to calm.
She cast aside her jumbled thoughts and walked towards home as if nothing had happened.
Inside the carriage, Feng Zeyue could only stare at Su Shang's series of actions with a bewildered expression.
Feng Zeyue pondered to herself, was Su Shang angry or shy?
Books said that when people are shy, they sometimes react with anger.
To have some private time with Su Shang, Feng Zeyue had brought no one with her except for the guards who served as her coachmen. Now that she had encountered a problem, she could only return to the manor and ask the experienced Zhi Yan for advice.
"General Su must be angry," Zhi Yan stated with certainty.
"Your Highness, you also said that General Su has always been rather cold. Of course, you said she is cold on the outside but warm on the inside, but she hasn't shown any particular affection towards you these days.
Your sudden ambush might have startled her. You need to take things one step at a time," Zhi Yan said with conviction.
Her understanding of General Su was limited to what the Princess had said, and she had only seen the real person from afar. However, she trusted the Princess's judgment.
Besides, if it were that easy to win her over, why would the Princess be so troubled?
Feng Zeyue trusted Zhi Yan greatly and accepted her conclusion, then added with some frustration, "Then what should I do? I've been reading too many romance novels lately and couldn't resist trying things out with her."
"Perhaps, Your Highness could give General Su a gift?" Zhi Yan suggested.
"I heard that noble ladies in the capital have recently been expressing their affections by giving sachets to men. The fragrance in the sachet would be a scent Your Highness often uses.
If General Su were to carry a sachet with her, it would be akin to her getting used to Your Highness's scent, making it easier to take the next step later on."
Feng Zeyue's eyes lit up. "What a great idea! Why didn't you tell me such a good idea sooner?"
"Your Highness was embroidering the red wedding handkerchiefs a few days ago. I didn't dare to disturb you. It's not too late to embroider a sachet now!"
Seeing the Princess pleased, Zhi Yan immediately offered to find a seamstress for her.
"No need," Feng Zeyue waved her hand, her face full of confidence. "I'll embroider it myself. This is my heartfelt intention for her." httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"Your Highness, are you... sure?" Zhi Yan hesitated to say something discouraging at such a moment, but there were some things Your Highness needed to know.
"Last time, it took you ten days just to embroider the eyes of those two mandarin ducks. If you were to embroider a sachet, you might not even finish it by the time Your Highness gets married!"
Zhi Yan didn't want to displease the Princess, but if the sachet was never finished, it would be more than just displeasing the Princess.
Feng Zeyue fell silent. As a Princess, she didn't have to embroider the red wedding handkerchiefs herself. However, to show her sincerity, she had to embroider the eyes of the mandarin ducks.
After ruining countless red wedding handkerchiefs, she finally managed to embroider one that was barely passable. But even then, anyone with eyes could tell that the red wedding handkerchief was ruined by the eyes.
Even so, her fingertips had been pricked several times.
Giving a sachet was about the sentiment. Who embroidered it didn't matter.
Feng Zeyue successfully convinced herself and instructed Zhi Yan, "Then find someone with good embroidery skills. Oh, and! Don't find someone young. The older, the better."
"Yes, Your Highness, rest assured!" Zhi Yan replied with a smile and left.
Feng Zeyue muttered an impudent remark, but didn't hold it against her.
As long as it didn't cross her bottom line, she was generally very gentle.
When Su Shang returned to the manor, Gong Ningsi was staring blankly at the character "战" (zhàn, meaning war) hanging in the main hall.
She remembered that Su Yu's general's manor also had this character, or perhaps it wasn't just him; any general's manor would have this character.
But inevitably, her heart still ached.
The dense pain made her extremely irritable, and a desire to destroy surged within her.
Su Shang's timely return, with a call of "Mother," brought Gong Ningsi back to her senses.
Looking at the face that so closely resembled the person she loved, Gong Ningsi couldn't help but take a few steps forward, her eyes filled with longing and triumph.
What if she had won? In the end, she had turned to dust. Her daughter had been raised as a son by her, and now even called her mother with an expression of adoration.
She had still won!