Chapter 204: The Twenty-Year-Old Handsome Youth

Nan Xueyin walked to the doorway, and Xiao Youlan was already standing not far away waiting for her.

Dean Lin followed behind, coming out; he was old, and coupled with the dizziness in his head from Nan Xueyin's relentless questioning just now, he walked somewhat sluggishly.

Seeing Xiao Youlan, he said from a distance: "Your Highness, Crown Prince."

Xiao Youlan merely glanced at him briefly and did not speak, his gaze falling upon Nan Xueyin, "Finished?"

Nan Xueyin nodded her head, "I'm hungry."

Xiao Youlan smiled and said: "Let's go have lunch; it must be all prepared by now."

Nan Xueyin put on a show and asked: "The gentlemen from the Supervisory Court have been busy and tired today; should we keep them at the Eastern Palace for lunch?"

Xiao Youlan said calmly: "They didn't give advance notice of their arrival today, so the Eastern Palace hasn't prepared food for them."

"Is that so? Then there really is no help for it," Nan Xueyin turned back to look at Dean Lin, appearing very regretful, "Dean Lin, you will have to go back to have lunch. Next time you have business to conduct, arrange it in advance so you don't change plans at the last minute again."

After speaking, without waiting for him to answer anything, she turned toward Xiao Youlan, "Let's go."

After leaving the main hall, Nan Xueyin then asked Xiao Youlan, "You don't like that one surnamed Lin?"

When Xiao Youlan heard her ask this, he couldn't help but curve his eyes.

He felt that Nan Xueyin was so cute.

To the man's face, she called him Dean Lin.

Now, behind his back, she called him "that one surnamed Lin."

He gave a small laugh and replied: "His given name is Fu; his father was once my Imperial Father's teacher, teaching him to read and write, and because of this, he often frequented the palace and was very close to my Imperial Father. Later, when my Imperial Father ascended the throne, he became my Imperial Father's right-hand man, loyal to him beyond compare. Therefore, Lin Fu is certainly on my Imperial Father's side. He came early only because he heard Xiao Mingyu say things like you being an Assassin sent by him; he came early because he wasn't prepared to leave us time to discuss countermeasures."

Nan Xueyin nodded slightly, "So that's how it is."

In truth, Lin Fu's reaction had already been very fast, and his intuition was extremely sharp.

Everything Xiao Mingyu said was true, but it was a pity that Nan Xueyin was not so easily tricked into revealing information.

What's more, long before Lin Fu and the others arrived, Xiao Youlan had already anticipated this matter, thought of a countermeasure early on, and passed the word down.

That is to say, even if Lin Fu had arrived early and asked everyone everywhere, he still wouldn't have been able to ask for anything he wanted.

Once they reached the dining hall, Xiao Youlan walked forward to take his seat.

Nan Xueyin's gaze paused slightly on his waist, her eyes suddenly brightening, "You are wearing this jade pendant!"

The jade pendant she had won playing polo was now hanging quietly at Xiao Youlan's waist.

Xiao Youlan raised his eyebrows, "How come you only see it now? I put it on as soon as I got up this morning."

Nan Xueyin explained: "Just now my mind was on answering questions, so I didn't see it."

She walked around Xiao Youlan twice, her cheeks slightly flushed, "It looks good; you look really good wearing this. It suits you so well."

Xiao Youlan was delighted, "I like it very much too."

Nan Xueyin sat down beside him, her face full of earnestness, and said: "I will definitely give you more good-looking things like this in the future!"

Xiao Youlan's eyes and brows were gentle, "Alright."

Truly good-looking.

While drinking duck soup, Nan Xueyin took several more looks at Xiao Youlan.

Xiao Youlan caught her gaze and, on a whim, asked: "If one day I am not this good-looking, will you still like me and give me things?"

Nan Xueyin swallowed the chewed-up rice grains in her mouth and countered: "What do you mean by 'not this good-looking'?"

"For example, getting old, getting sick. Especially getting old."

The haggardness of illness can be treated and recovered from, but once a person is old and no longer good-looking, it is impossible to return to the past; one can only head blindly toward death.

Nan Xueyin was puzzled, "If you get old, won't I be old too?"

"Xiao Youlan will not be twenty years old forever, but there will always be twenty-year-old handsome youths in this world." That is what Xiao Youlan said.

Nan Xueyin laughed upon hearing this.

Xiao Youlan asked her: "What are you laughing at?"

Nan Xueyin said with a smile: "The way you say that, it's as if I have many twenty-year-old handsome youths around me. I don't even know many youths, let alone ones who like me."

Xiao Youlan's expression was teasing: "Little Xue, are you serious about that?"

Nan Xueyin pondered for a moment.

Lu Yan, Xiao Qingling, Xiao Mingyu, they all seemed to be around twenty years old.

They all seemed to look decent...

Nan Xueyin didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Your Highness, Crown Prince."

Feihong came in from outside.

Without waiting for a reply, he continued: "A youth has come to the Eastern Palace gate; he looks to be about twenty years of age."

Nan Xueyin:...

Speak of the devil!

Xiao Youlan was looking at her gloomily.

Nan Xueyin hurriedly said: "Even if he is a youth, even if he is twenty, that doesn't mean he is here to find me! What if he is some scholar with no path to serve his country, wanting to come to the Eastern Palace to pledge loyalty to the Crown Prince?"

She asked Feihong, "Don't you think so?"

Feihong scratched his head, "People like that do indeed come often, but..."

As soon as the 'but' came out, Nan Xueyin knew something was terribly wrong.

Sure enough, Feihong continued: "The youth outside the gate said his surname is Yu, and having heard that Master Nan and Miss Nan were both at the Eastern Palace, he came specifically. He said he had stayed at the Nan Family for a few days and could be considered an old acquaintance of Miss Nan."

A youth with the surname Yu; Nan Xueyin could only think of one person.

Yu Rang.

For some reason, the current Nan Xueyin felt very guilty.

Yu Rang really was a handsome youth of about twenty, and what was even more terrifying was that he was actually interested in Nan Xueyin...

"How about," Nan Xueyin said, eyeing Xiao Youlan, "we just let him go back? Actually, I'm not very close with him either."

"That wouldn't be very good."

Xiao Youlan wore a smile, "He came all this way specifically to find you and your uncle, so let's have him come in."

He really did issue that order to Feihong.

After Feihong left, Nan Xueyin cleared her throat, "About that..."

There was so much she wanted to say, she truly didn't know where to begin.

"Another one has arrived."

Xiao Youlan spoke slowly.

Nan Xueyin took a deep breath—

Yu Rang was led to the side hall, and an attendant soon served hot tea; he held a cup of tea, waiting while curiously looking around the hall.

Hearing footsteps, Yu Rang immediately turned his head to look.

He had expected to see the Crown Prince or Nan Xueyin, but at first glance, he only saw Nan Jiyun walking over with long, swift strides.

"Why did you run all the way to Fengdu? How is your father? Is your father doing well?"

It would be a lie to say Yu Rang wasn't disappointed, but he still managed to show a polite smile and replied, "My father is doing well, thank you for your concern, Uncle Nan."

Nan Jiyun asked nervously again, "And is the Nan Family doing well too?"

Yu Rang replied, "When I left Fengdu, the Nan Family was doing just fine."

Only then did Nan Jiyun let out a long sigh of relief and nod, "That's good, that's good."

Yu Rang struggled internally for a moment before asking in a low voice, "Uncle Nan, may I ask... is Sister Xueyin here too? Is she... doing well?"

Nan Jiyun looked at him, "You've already come to the Eastern Palace, shouldn't the first thing you ask about be the Crown Prince? Why are you asking about Xueyin instead?"

Yu Rang was stunned for a moment, his earlobes turning red, and he said, "I wanted to ask about the Crown Prince as well."

Nan Jiyun did not expose his little secret and said, "The Crown Prince has some matters to attend to right now, he will be here in a moment."