Sheng Li was sitting on a rock beside the river stream. Only the moonlight was making his face visible when he heard someone was approaching him. He turned and saw Hu Jingguo there. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he turned back, looking towards the stream.
Hu Jingguo sat on the other rock and replied, "I thought to converse with his highness."
"I do not want to talk. You should leave," Sheng Li stated and looked at the arrow in his hand.
"Is his highness sad because the Crown Princess is angry with him?" Hu Jingguo queried. But he did not get a response from the Crown Prince. Taking a deep breath, Hu Jingguo said, "She was happy. When she told me about you, she was cheerful. 'Hushu bought a ceramic bangle for me.' 'Hushu agreed to me and will open his heart.' 'Hushu wants to love me.'"
Both of them looked at each other. "Your highness, she was telling me how you fulfilled her wishes. You now live inside her. That's why she gets sensitive to his highness because she loves you. Furthermore, she is concerned for his highness and his loyalists who are ready to sacrifice for him.
Yesterday, when General Xiao informed us that you would bait those spies so that they would not create any scene in the rest-house, the Crown Princess was terrified. That's why, without thinking about her life, she went there with us to save you. Now, you are no longer a single person but a married man. If anything happens to you, even if it's a minor scratch, then the Crown Princess is going to be affected."
Sheng Li averted his gaze from Hu Jingguo. "Why are you advocating her love? I can see that too," Sheng Li annoyingly said.
Hu Jingguo widened his eyes. "His highness knows that the Crown Princess loves him?" Hu Jingguo asked.
"Why does it concern you? Do you take me as a fool? Even I can see that" Sheng Li pronounced. Hu Jingguo smiled because the Sixth Prince was going to be happy, but he knew only the feelings of the Crown Princess, not the Crown Prince.
"She told him about her feelings, but she did not confess to me! What a stubborn woman!" Sheng Li thought when he heard someone coming there. Both of them turned to look and found the Crown Princess there. Hu Jingguo stood up from the rock.
Sheng Li too stood up and looked at her. "Give us some privacy," Ying Lili announced. Hu Jingguo bowed his head and walked away. In the moonlight, Sheng Li realized how illuminating Ying Lili's face was!
Ying Lili came towards Sheng Li and stood beside him. "Forgive me for getting angry at you there," Ying Lili apologized. She moved forward to close the distance between them and hugged him tightly. "I know you are stressed regarding our safety. I should not have said those words. I will take them back," Ying Lili whispered.
Sheng Li found the anger inside him subsided as soon as Ying Lili hugged him. "Don't be sad because of me," Ying Lili stated. She leaned her head back to meet his gaze. Her arms were still circled around Sheng Li.
"You are not angry with me anymore?" Sheng Li questioned.
"No. When you came to the tent house, my anger had gone away. I could not find you there so, I came here," Ying Lili stated as her hands loosened around Sheng Li. She drew back from the Crown Prince, but then those long arms caught hold of her such that she was on her tiptoes.
Sheng Li brought his face closer to her when he heard Ying Lili whisper, "They might see us. Let's go back."
"Let them see. I want to kiss you," Sheng Li replied and landed his lips on hers. He sucked them first followed by a gentle nibble. Ying Lili wrapped her arms around Sheng Li's neck and kissed him back equally.
"Every single time I kiss her it feels new to me. I can't get enough of kissing her," he thought. His hand was now behind her head, in her hair some of which were tangled in his fingers as he pulled her closer. Parting away his lips from her, he placed his thumb over her lower lip thus, rubbing it gently.
The kiss was short, yet it felt as if they kissed long. "Thank you for showing me the way. You are right. I shall think about their safety as well. Forgive me for acting stubbornly and do not get angry easily. It does not suit you, Wildcat," Sheng Li again apologized to her.
"If you had not gotten irked, then I would not have gotten angry," Ying Lili stated.
"Because I do not want to lie about having four wives. This is the only thing I refrain from lying about! In my life, there is only one wife, that's you. It makes me feel pathetic. But since it's the way to reach the Capital, I have to lie about it," Sheng Li explained.
Ying Lili fluttered upon hearing those words. It never hit her mind that Sheng Li was hesitating because he did not want to lie to her about having four wives. She had seen how Princes mostly had more than one wife, but it was the first time she had seen a Prince who refrained from this.
Her father was right! Even if her father had not told her the complete truth, he was definitely aware of the fact that Sheng Li would never marry another woman apart from his daughter.
She gazed into those black pairs of eyes that were shining under the moonlight. 'I will confess to him once we will be in the Palace,' Ying Lili made up her mind.
Sheng Li snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. "What are you thinking?" Sheng Li asked. Ying Lili shook her head.
"Now, tomorrow I will become a Merchant named Hushu with four wives!" Sheng Li whispered against her lips.
Ying Lili giggled but soon stopped. "Merchant Hushu?!" Her eyes glistened. "Doesn't it look funny? You want to use the nickname given by me!" Ying Lili astonishingly asked.
"Your dear friend told me to use this name," Sheng Li replied. Ying Lili nodded her head.
"So, shall we go back?"
"Hmm."
Sheng Li let go of his arm that was encircling her waist and the two walked back towards the tent house.