"What's wrong?" I looked at him in confusion.?

"No, it's okay." He shook his head, as if he was blushing a little again, and hesitated to stuff the remaining large piece of snacks into his mouth.

Looking at this confused big boy, he was like a reckless and straightforward brother next door. I smiled and wiped the sauce on the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, and said, "Look at you, you still have some food left on your mouth. Do you want to keep it for lunch at night?"

I don’t have that kind of reserve between men and women when facing him. Maybe it would be good to have such a younger brother.

He smiled embarrassedly and said, "It's really delicious. Did you make it yourself?"

"yes."

"How did it make it? The taste is so special."

I smiled and said, "The filling is to marinate the petals of osmanthus and roses with sugar for three days, then stir-fry them with hot oil; the dessert crust outside is to stir-fry the glutinous rice for 70% cooked, grind it into fine powder, and wrap the filling with lard, put it in a tray, steam it, and then brush a layer of fruit wine, and then sprinkle some sugar powder, and it's fine."

He was stunned and said, "It's so complicated, no wonder it's so delicious. I've never eaten such delicious pastries by your highness."

"I've told you everything. If you like it, you can let your mother cook it for you to eat."

"My mother? She never cooks food for me, and—" he shrugged and said regretfully: "Mother, she doesn't like the smell of osmanthus the most. She gets angry every time she smells it. Why do she use osmanthus to make snacks for me?"

Seeing his pitiful look, I couldn't bear it, so I said, "Then - I'll make it for you to eat. If you want to eat in the future, come to me."

"Really?" He opened his eyes wide and looked at me in surprise.

"Um."

"Thank you, you're so nice!"

His eyes narrowed into a slit when he smiled so hard that he looked so happy that I was also infected. He smiled at him. Only then did I remember that I had not known his name yet, so I asked, "By the way, I don't know what your name is yet."

"Me?" He blinked his eyes and said, "You can call me Xiao Wu."

"Xiao Wu..." Looking at his stupid and silly appearance, his martial arts must be good, I smiled and said, "I'm sure that if you want to eat in the future, you can come to me at any time, but - don't be so unruly anymore, be careful of being seen by the manager, and you will be punished."

"Okay, I know!"

The snacks I made on that day fell into Xiao Wu's stomach. There was no way. The next day, I made another plate of pastries and planned to take them to the cold palace. Unexpectedly, Ningyan seemed to be determined and avoided me at all. Even the snacks I placed on the windowsill were pushed to the ground by her hand and smashed them to pieces.

I know that she placed all her hopes on me, hoping that I could help her regain the love of the third prince, but the longer I stayed in Shangyang Palace, the more I knew that staying with that man was not a happy or safe thing.

What Jin Qiao said to me was still in my ears. I believe that she did not lie to me. Shangyang Palace is a pool of water that can eat people.
Chapter completed!