Time Travel: Pampered by the Aloof Prince
Chapter 288: Has the Princess had any abnormalities lately?

Chapter 288: Chapter 288: Has the Princess had any abnormalities lately?

By June, the temperature in the capital city had started to become sweltering.

Qi Yu was now reluctant to even step outside, spending her days in the coolest corner of the Prince Residence, waving a fan while flipping through storybooks.

In recent days, she had Shen Xiheng collect all the popular storybooks from the market.

Initially, Shen Xiheng was somewhat reluctant, stating righteously, "Why don’t you just have Chunlan buy a few from the bookstore?"

As he spoke, Mr. Shen was holding the fan Shi Zhou had given him, gently waving it not so much to disperse the hot air, but seemingly just to show off.

Seeing his goofy demeanor, Qi Yu couldn’t bear to look and simply averted her gaze, speaking to Shi Zhou, who was sitting nearby and not expressing any opinion, "When getting married, one shouldn’t marry someone stingy like him."

Shi Zhou chuckled and shook her head. These two always started taunting each other at the slightest disagreement, with neither willing to give in.

She was used to it by now.

Thus, she didn’t think much of Qi Yu’s comment.

But Shen Xiheng couldn’t let it go. He snapped his fan shut with a "snap—" no longer displaying it like a peacock’s tail, but standing like a belligerent rooster, pointing at Qi Yu and demanding, "What nonsense are you talking about? Who is being stingy?"

He could endure anything, but accusations of stinginess were intolerable to him.

When had he ever been stingy? Just because Qi Yu liked reading storybooks, he had painfully given away so many precious collectibles he had accumulated over the years.

Of course, he would never admit that it was because Li Mingjue had threatened him, forcibly seizing them from him.

Assuming Qi Yu was unaware of the true circumstances, Shen Xiheng patted his chest without any guilt and declared, "Aren’t all these storybooks you are reading given to you by me?"

Qi Yu slightly raised her eyebrows and set him up based on his words, "Then why not bring a few more, how about it?"

Shen Xiheng stiffened his neck, shook his head, and pointed with a pained expression at the storybooks in her hand, "Those are my treasured collections over many years. How can the common goods in the market compare? Moreover, your Prince keeps bringing this up, accusing me of leading you astray!"

Qi Yu ignored his complaints, only expressing some irritation, "I knew you had good taste, that’s why I had you choose them. Others pick such vulgar stuff; only yours are somewhat interesting."

After speaking, she shook her head and sighed softly, "Well then, never mind, let’s not trouble Mr. Shen any further."

Shen Xiheng, flattered by the compliments, couldn’t suppress the smile at the corner of his lips. He slowly unfolded his fan, used it to hide his grin, and said with some force, "That’s not entirely untrue. In terms of taste, who in the entire capital city can compare with me? Wait, I’ll go gather some currently popular storybooks for you right away!"

With that, he briskly pulled Shi Zhou along, and together they left the Prince Residence and headed toward Ten-mile Street.

Seeing this, a sly flicker passed through Qi Yu’s eyes.

He really was easy to deceive.

However, she had set this trap for Shen Xiheng to help her gather storybooks out of necessity.

After all, wasn’t the Prince’s birthday coming up? Just a few days ago, she had summoned Mr. Li, planning to create a unique and surprising birthday banquet for the Prince.

Mr. Li highly approved of her idea.

But the problem was, while she had a great idea, implementing it was a bit difficult.

Organizing a birthday banquet was easy, but making the worldly-wise Prince feel surprised was not so simple.

That day, she and Mr. Li discussed many methods, all of which sounded feasible, yet none were particularly special.

Forgive her, but in her past life, she was a single soul with zero experience in love, naturally having no opportunity to create romantic surprises on dates.

Moreover, she was as insensitive as reinforced steel, proficient in curing diseases and saving people.

But making surprises was truly a challenging task for her.

At last, she could only look at Li Bo with a dejected face and say, "Allow me to think a bit more."

This thinking, again, took several days.

Li Bo was very concerned about the Prince’s birthday banquet. Knowing that the Princess intended to properly organize a grand celebration for the Prince, he became even more attentive.

He almost came every day to ask, "Has the Princess thought of any good ideas?"

Whenever this happened, Qi Yu could only awkwardly put down the teacup and pastries she was holding and say with a hint of frustration, "I am still thinking."

After saying this, fearing that Li Bo might not believe her, she quickly picked up a script she was engrossed in reading by her side and told Li Bo, "These past few days, I have been flipping through this script, trying to see if there are any good methods."

After hearing this, Li Bo nodded in agreement, sighing, "The Princess is truly painstaking. If the Prince knew, he would certainly be moved."

Qi Yu could only give a smile that was both awkward yet polite.

Whether Li Mingjue would be moved or not, she did not know, but right now, she really dared not make a move!

Only when she had worn out the book with stories of talented scholars and beautiful ladies, and after she had analyzed these stories to Li Bo in a seemingly knowledgeable way, did she manage to bluff him, and he left with a smile.

Only when Li Bo’s figure disappeared from sight did Qi Yu finally secretly let out a breath.

At the moment, she felt like a debtor, and Li Bo seemed like the creditor who had come to collect.

All this, Li Mingjue did not know.

He just thought that Qi Yu had been sighing more frequently lately.

In the beginning, he thought she had encountered some troubles again, but after asking several times, Qi Yu always shook her head, saying it was nothing.

Then, she would close her eyes, appearing as if she were tired and wanted to sleep.

Li Mingjue could not continue to ask.

The next day, he summoned Li Bo again to inquire, "In the past few days, has anyone at the residence offended the Princess?"

Li Bo thought seriously for a moment, then replied, "The Princess only has Chunlan and a few familiar maids around her, all of whom are sensible. They should not have offended the Princess. Moreover, the Princess is not a person who suffers in silence. If someone had offended her, she would have spoken out immediately."

Li Mingjue was noncommittal.

But Qi Yu’s unusual behavior really made him somewhat worried, so he continued to ask, "Has the Princess exhibited any abnormalities recently?"

Li Bo was stunned for a moment, then finally realized, shook his head smiling, and decided to keep this matter a secret for Qi Yu, responding lightly, "Not at all."

Li Mingjue was completely at a loss then.

But since Li Bo had said so, perhaps he was just overthinking it.

Recalling that Qi Yu had recently been complaining about the hot weather, he instructed Li Bo before leaving, "Bring out the ice from the cellar."

Li Bo acknowledged.

Watching the Prince’s figure departing, he smiled contentedly to himself. Ever since the Princess had come, the Prince who used to be indifferent about everything, had changed and become more empathetic.

Qi Yu brooded over this for several days before finally deciding to turn to Shen Xiheng for advice.

Thinking, why not just copy from the script?

But after flipping through a few pages, she suddenly came to her senses; the script was all about romantic affairs.

How... could she copy that?