"Bully you?"
In the pavilion.
The eldest princess, dressed in white and as graceful as a startled swan, raised her eyes slightly and glanced at the beautiful face outside the pavilion.
"How did he bully you?"
Outside the pavilion, Jinxiu recalled what happened not long ago. Her face flushed, her brows shone with shame, and she angrily complained: "Prince Lin, he took advantage of me..."
"It's not enough to bully me, you also want me to eat... eat... that...
Having said this, Jinxiu could no longer speak.
No matter how brave she was, she could not say such shameful words.
Pooh!
Obscene!
So obscene!
The Prince of Lin is indeed a filthy bastard.
How could he, he, he have such dirty thoughts?
How can you eat that?
nausea!
So disgusting!
Jinxiu's face was red, her pretty face seemed to be both angry and furious, her cheeks were puffy, and she seemed to be very angry.
"What to eat?"
The eldest princess's voice was heard again from the pavilion.
Jinxiu's face turned even redder. She lowered her head and stammered for a while, gritting her teeth: "It's, it's that... Anyway, he's too mean, he only knows how to bully me... Princess, you have to make the decision for me!"
Jinxiu looked like she was crying and had suffered a great injustice.
The eldest princess said nothing and glanced at Jinxiu outside the pavilion.
She knew the temperament of this little maid beside her best. She said she was bullied by Prince Lin, but what was the truth...
unknown!
"Wow, Princess, you don't love me anymore, you don't make decisions for me... Little Jinxiu is almost being bullied by him, almost being defiled by him..."
Jinxiu looked aggrieved and was about to cry again when a voice came from behind her.
"Miss Jinxiu, you are just a wicked person who is making a complaint first, making things up out of nothing. When did this prince ever bully or defile you?"
As Lin Jiangnian approached the gate of the courtyard behind him, he heard Jinxiu complaining in the courtyard.
To be precise, it is creating something out of nothing!
When did he bully her?
When did he defile her?
"Humph, you just have..."
Jinxiu turned around and glared at Lin Jiangnian, then said angrily, "If you have the guts, tell the princess what you said you were going to do to me."
Lin Jiangnian blinked: "Is this prince going to do anything to Miss Jinxiu?"
"You said it!"
Jinxiu said angrily: "You said, you said you would feed me, eat... Do you have the guts to say it again?"
Lin Jiangnian shook his head and sighed, "This prince saw that the weather was cold, so he wanted to feed Miss Jinxiu a bowl of hot porridge specially made by the mansion. What's wrong with that?"
Jinxiu widened her eyes in disbelief.
Hot porridge?
That’s not what he said when he was at Jiang Mansion!
What hot porridge should I drink?
"You, you're talking nonsense. What hot porridge? It's obviously not that?!"
"no?"
Lin Jiangnian looked at her in confusion: "Miss Jinxiu, did you hear it wrong? How could it not be hot porridge? What did you hear?"
"You're obviously talking about..."
Jinxiu opened her mouth subconsciously, almost blurting out the words, but the next second, she reacted and forced herself to hold back.
Her face flushed with shame, and she was anxious and angry: "You, you..."
"You bully me!"
As she spoke, she turned her head and looked at the eldest princess in the pavilion: "Princess, look, look, this is how he bullies me!"
Lin Jiangnian's gaze also turned towards the pavilion and fell on the figure in white.
Elegant and indifferent!
Just like her name, illusory.
That cold and elegant temperament is not like that of an ordinary person.
She is beautiful, but also cold.
The coldness will make people subconsciously feel that they are unattainable and look up to others.
The eldest princess raised her eyes slightly and glanced at Lin Jiangnian who walked into the courtyard. Her eyes were calm, and then fell on Jinxiu.
"Jinxiu, you go down first."
The voice is clear and ethereal, neither cold nor bland.
"yes."
After hearing the princess' words, Jinxiu nodded, turned around, glared at Lin Jiangnian unwillingly, snorted, and turned away.
Lin Jiangnian looked at Jinxiu quietly, and found it quite a unique feeling when she became angry and arrogant.
After glancing twice, Lin Jiangnian withdrew his gaze and looked into the pavilion, only to see the eldest princess staring at him.
Her eyes were cold and calm, and there was no emotion on her beautiful face.
Lin Jiangnian walked closer, stepped into the pavilion, sat down at the stone table in front of the princess, and glanced at her: "Your Highness, long time no see!"
The voice is relaxed and natural, like an old friend greeting.
The eldest princess said nothing, just stared at him.
"The weather is so cold, isn't the princess afraid of the cold?"
Lin Jiangnian glanced at the clothes Li Piaomiao was wearing. She was wearing a thin white long skirt. Her figure was slim and tall. She was not ordinary, but she was not outstanding either.
With this cold face, her temperament is actually more fairy-like.
However, it was winter now. After several snowfalls, the capital was cold. Although the weather had warmed up considerably in the past few days, this princess was sitting in the courtyard in a thin dress. Was she really not afraid of the cold?
Even if her martial arts skills are very high and her internal strength is strong enough to withstand the cold wind, it shouldn't be wasted like this, right?
"It's not cold."
The eldest princess's answer was concise and to the point.
There was no emotion on her face, and Lin Jiangnian couldn't tell whether she was really not cold or was just pretending to be.
But I didn't care too much.
"I wonder what is the important matter that has brought me here today, Your Highness?"
Lin Jiangnian went straight to the point.
At the same time, he pretended to be ignorant even though he knew the truth.
Li Piaomiao naturally had only one purpose in asking him to come today.
The princess stared into his eyes for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you remember what you said that time?"
"Which time?"
Lin Jiangnian was confused. He had said a lot of things... What was she referring to?
"Last time..."
The eldest princess looked at him calmly, her bare hands resting lightly on the stone table: "You said you wanted to repay the favor."
Lin Jiangnian was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted.
He seemed to have said this?
When he was rescued by the eldest princess in front of him during the battle outside the city, Lin Jiangnian said at the time that the eldest princess had saved his life and he wanted to repay this favor.
at the moment……
Why did Li Piaomiao suddenly bring this up?
The princess glanced at him and asked, "Does this still count?"
Lin Jiangnian remained calm: "The eldest princess saved my life, so it counts."
The princess's eyes were deep and she said calmly, "Then do you know what to do?"
"It's not very clear... Did the Princess make it clear?"
Li Piaomiao had a blank expression on her face: "You are so smart, how could you not guess what I want to say?"
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness, but I really don't understand what Your Highness is trying to say."
Lin Jiangnian shook his head.
“…”
silence.
The eldest princess didn't say anything, and Lin Jiangnian didn't respond either.
He naturally knew what the eldest princess wanted to say, and also knew why the eldest princess suddenly mentioned "repaying a favor" today!
She was anxious!
She wanted to use this to force Lin Jiangnian to make concessions.
However, Lin Jiangnian chose to play dumb.
The eldest princess in front of her was arrogant, and her arrogance made it impossible for her to bow her head. She was also unwilling to admit that Lin Jiangnian's actions had forced her into an extremely passive situation.
How could a girl as proud as her be willing to admit that she was anxious?
Therefore, she was unwilling and unable to say it out loud. She pointed out that when Lin Jiangnian mentioned "repaying a favor" that day, she also wanted Lin Jiangnian to give up and quit while he was ahead.
However, Lin Jiangnian chose to play dumb, which put the princess in a dilemma.
She was silent.
Those slightly cold eyes fell on Lin Jiangnian, looking at him quietly.
Lin Jiangnian also looked at the eldest princess with a somewhat unscrupulous look.
Their eyes met each other's.
There was silence for a long time.
"Do you really have to act dumb?"
The eldest princess suddenly spoke, her tone still calm.
There was no emotion at all, not even a hint of anger.
Lin Jiang smiled young: "What do you mean by that, Princess?"
"Do you really want to marry me?"
The eldest princess stared into his eyes and questioned.
"Since the eldest princess is willing to marry, this prince will naturally marry her."
Lin Jiangnian said, "Why not get a beautiful lady for free?"
Facing Lin Jiangnian's teasing, the eldest princess remained calm, but her eyes, fixed on Lin Jiangnian, seemed to gradually become more sharp.
"Are you serious? Is it Prince Lin?"
Such a light sentence, but like thunder, it instantly exploded in Lin Jiangnian's heart.
However, Lin Jiangnian was no longer the inexperienced man he had been in the Lin Palace. He was horrified, but his face remained expressionless.
"What do you mean, Princess? If I'm not the Crown Prince of Lin, who else could I be?"
Lin Jiangnian asked back with a faint smile on his face.
The eldest princess stared at him calmly, shook her head slightly, and said, "You are not the Prince of Lin!"
His tone was still light, but this time it was very firm, as if he had known about this for a long time and there was no ripple at all.
At this moment, Lin Jiangnian's heart was already in turmoil.
How could she know that he was not the Prince of Lin?
Since arriving at the Prince's Mansion, no one has doubted Lin Jiangnian's identity for a long time, and Lin Jiangnian also believes that he has not revealed any flaws.
Why did this eldest princess, whom she had never met before, know about this?
Are you deliberately deceiving him?
Or is there another reason?
Whatever the reason, Lin Jiangnian remained unusually calm.
It wasn't half a year ago anymore, his identity had long been confirmed. Even if someone still had doubts, he wasn't too panicked.
However, the eldest princess in front of him seemed to see what Lin Jiangnian was thinking and said calmly: "You disguised yourself very well indeed. You two really look alike. There is almost no difference..."
"I guess you've fooled everyone in Prince Lin's Mansion. Even Lin Hengzhong probably didn't notice anything unusual about your entry into the capital."
"...What a clever trick! You were able to replace the dignified Prince Lin with someone else, and deceived everyone with one trick, even fooling the people in the Lin Palace... I have to say, you are quite capable."
"Princess, did you misunderstand something?"
Lin Jiangnian's expression remained calm as he chuckled, "Your explanation is quite interesting. How did Her Royal Highness the Princess know that this prince was a fake?"
The eldest princess stared at him and shook her head: "You disguised yourself very well... At least, I didn't notice it!"
"The real Prince Lin is probably already dead, right? Even if someone were to discover you were impersonating him, they probably wouldn't be able to find any evidence."
"However, you overlooked the most important point."
Having said that, the eldest princess paused and stared at Lin Jiangnian.
Lin Jiangnian also looked at her and said with a smile, "Oh? What did this prince overlook?"
The eldest princess slowly withdrew her gaze and said lightly: "We have met before."
Lin Jiangnian was stunned when he heard this. He stared at the princess in front of him with a slightly fixed gaze.
Have you seen it?
How is that possible?!
According to the information he knew, there was no connection between Prince Lin and the eldest princess.
Although the two were engaged, Linzhou and Zhongzhou were very far apart. The Lin Prince's special status meant he had never been to the capital, and he had hardly ever left Zhongzhou since he was a child.
This has been confirmed from Liu Su, Zhiyuan, and the intelligence from Lin Qingqing's investigation.
The Prince of Lin had no connection with the eldest princess and had never met her.
But why did the eldest princess in front of him suddenly say... that they had met before?
"A few years ago, when I came out of seclusion on the sword path, I traveled to Linzhou."
The princess's eyes were calm. "In Linjiang City, I met the real Prince Lin..."
That year, she came out of the sword path, and her swordsmanship was perfected. She traveled all over the world, passed by Linjiang City, and took the opportunity to meet her nominal fiancé.
At that time, Prince Lin was not aware of the eldest princess's identity, and the two of them just met by chance.
Because of this, when they met again in Beijing a few years later, Lin Jiangnian failed to recognize her, and the eldest princess began to feel suspicious.
After not seeing each other for a few years, it is indeed easy to forget people you met by chance.
but……
Li Piaomiao is different.
She has such a cold temperament!
It was so cold that it almost didn't look like a normal person.
This is why it's so hard for almost everyone who's seen her to forget her. Even if they can't remember her appearance, their aloof and cold demeanor is impossible to completely forget.
But when he saw Lin Jiangnian again, his eyes were filled with unfamiliarity and nothing but calmness. After several attempts, he remained the same.
At that time, the eldest princess gradually had some guesses in her mind.
The Prince of Lin in front of me is probably not the real Prince of Lin!
At least, not the one I saw a few years ago!
However, she had no intention of exposing Lin Jiangnian at first. It didn't matter to her who the Prince of Lin was, and the eldest princess didn't care whether the person before her was real or fake.
Until today, when he was forced to this point by the fake Prince Lin in front of him.
She doesn't want to get married!
I don't want to be forced to take the last step by this guy in front of me.
So she brought up the matter.
The biggest secret of this guy in front of me!
"You are not the Prince of Lin!"
“…”
silence.
Deathly silence.
In the courtyard, even the cold wind seemed to stop suddenly.
Lin Jiangnian stared at the princess in front of him, silent for a long time, and finally sighed deeply: "Princess, you are really smart!"
"You admit it?"
"What should this prince admit?"
Lin Jiangnian shook his head: "This prince is the prince of Lin, how can I be an imposter?"
"As for the fact that Her Royal Highness the Princess met me a few years ago... I guess that's what happened, but I don't have a good memory, so I might have forgotten..."
admit?
impossible!
How could Lin Jiangnian be so stupid as to admit that he was a fake?
Even if his identity had been discovered by Li Piaomiao in front of him, he would never admit a single word!
Lin Jiangnian had anticipated that his identity might be exposed in the future, and had made sufficient preparations in the past six months.
She has no evidence, so what?!
The eldest princess glanced at him and said calmly, "Whether you are real or fake, I am not interested. However, I will never marry you... As long as you promise me this, I will never reveal your identity and let you be the Crown Prince of Lin in peace. How do you do that?"
Lin Jiangnian sneered: "Are you threatening this prince?"
The eldest princess raised her cool and stunning face slightly, staring at him with her eyes, and opened her thin lips slightly: "So what?"
“…”
The foreshadowing of the eldest princess meeting Lin Jiangnian was in her conversation with Zhao Xi in the last chapter of the first volume. I wonder if you still remember it.