The Dried Pears are Missing

Xiaoyi cried out. If he had to make another trip, his legs would fail him.

Jiang Danhe was confused. He picked up Xiaoyi and wiped his sweat. “What’s wrong?”

When Xiaoyi heard this, a bunch of sorrow welled up within him. He had so much to tell Jiang Danhe, but now was not the time. He lowered his head and rummaged through his bag. “That’s not important. This is more important.”

As he spoke, he handed the envelope to Jiang Danhe.

Jiang Danhe looked at the envelope and had a hunch that it was a letter from Xiaoguo. However, another feeling quickly replaced this thought. “Could Xiaoyi have forgotten to send the letter out?”

Overall, the latter scenario was more likely.

Xiaoyi stared at Jiang Danhe’s hand. The moment he took the letter, Xiaoyi exclaimed in joy. He had completed the mission perfectly and successfully again!

“Mission accomplished! I’ve delivered the letter.”

As he spoke, he got up and sat on a chair, drinking water by himself.

Jiang Danhe’s heart skipped a beat. Did Xiaoguo really write these two letters to him?

At the thought of this, he could no longer sit still. He quickly got up to bid farewell. After getting Shao Zhan’s approval, he got up and left. However, he returned halfway. There was something that Xiaoyi had not told him yet.

When he returned to the Imperial Study, he realized that Xiaoyi had already left and returned to his residence. Jiang Danhe quickly took his leave and went to look for Xiaoyi again.

Shao Zhan put down his book and looked at the door. He shook his head. “What were they doing?”

Jiang Danhe quickly found Xiaoyi’s residence and realized that the little guy had changed out of his clothes and was eating leisurely in the house.

The little guy was a little puzzled when he saw Jiang Danhe. He didn’t understand why he was here. Hadn’t his mission been completed?

“Your Highness, can you remember her expression when she received the letter?”

Jiang Danhe felt a little embarrassed when he said this. He felt like his little secret had been exposed.

“Oh… Yes, yes, yes. I remember, I remember!” Xiaoyi picked up the pear slices in his hand and pretended like they were letters. He recreated what he had seen that day.

Jiang Danhe looked at the prince seriously, but he couldn’t tell what the emotions were. However, since he was happy, he categorized those expressions as looks of joy.

After seeing everything, he heaved a sigh of relief. He had been on tenterhooks for the past few days because of the letter he had written to Xiaoguo. It seemed that the book that Li Shouji had given him was quite helpful.

In the past, he was always troubled because he didn’t know how to express his feelings to Xiaoguo. As a self-proclaimed considerate subordinate, Li Shouji was more concerned about Jiang Danhe’s troubles than he was about his own. Therefore, he skipped his meal and made use of the time to find this book in his library—”300 Lines of Love”.

At first, Jiang Danhe didn’t think it was dubious. After reading a few lines, he threw it aside. The main reason was that the content was too disgusting. He deeply suspected that the person who wrote this book was mentally unstable. He felt disgusted writing those words. He couldn’t imagine if someone had to read it.

However, on second thought, Li Shouji mentioned that all women liked this kind of words. The young women and young ladies in the capital were so affected by those words that they lost sleep over it. His heart skipped a beat when he heard this. What if Xiaoguo liked them too? He decided to choose a few lines that weren’t too disgusting to him and copy them down. In that way, if Xiaoguo were to lose sleep at night, she would only have to suffer 15 minutes of insomnia over him.

Thinking of this, Jiang Danhe smiled. It seemed that the book really helped.

Xiaoyi ate the dried pear in his hand and looked at the man in front of him, who was smiling and immersed in his memories. “Why was he so happy to be despised?”

“What are you…”

Jiang Danhe narrowed his eyes at the bag of dried fruits on the table.

Xiaoyi looked at the dried pears in his hand and looked at Jiang Danhe. What was wrong with dried pears?

The corners of Jiang Danhe’s mouth curled up. “Dried pears? Nice.”

“…” (⊙o⊙) Xiaoyi??

—-

“Boohoohoo…”

“Crown Prince, Crown Prince, don’t cry, don’t cry…”

Xiaoyi lay on the bed, his legs kicking against the bed as he cried. Before Zhixia tried to console him, he was still okay. After she did, he started to feel even more sorry for himself. His cries were earth-shattering.

“Crown Prince? Xiaoyi, stop crying. What’s wrong?”

Zhixia was confused. He was quite happy just now. How did he end up like this after she stepped out for a short while?

“My dried pears…”

Xiaoyi pointed at the table and cried so hard that he was gasping for air.

“Dried pears?” Zhixia frowned and looked at the table. “Oh, dried pears. Aren’t they here?”

Zhixia quickly picked up the dried pears on the table. After searching for a long time, she only found a few pieces. Xiaoyi had gone through the pack so quickly. When she saw it earlier, there was still a full bag. Even if it was delicious, he shouldn’t eat them so quickly. However, she was upset to see him crying like this, so she quickly brought the dried pears to his mouth. “Come and eat.”

“No, no, there are only a few pieces left!”

Xiaoyi snatched the dried pear from her hands and held it in his arms like a baby. “No, no! Boohoo…”

Zhixia didn’t understand. Who could he blame for eating so much?

—-

“Hey, why are you back?”

Li Shouji was holding a chicken thigh in his hand and his lips were glistening with oil. He was surprised to see Jiang Danhe return so suddenly. The man had gone to the palace to protect the emperor and had not returned for a long time. Why was he suddenly back today? Was he not needed anymore?

“Yes.” Jiang Danhe was thinking about the letter, so he had no time to pay attention to Li Shouji. He only gave a simple reply and returned to his room.

Li Shouji watched him leave. His eyes were sharp and he immediately saw a small bag in his hand. “Hey, what is that?”

“Stay out of it.”

With that, the door closed.

“Something is up.”

Li Shouji said three words calmly. He looked carefully at the closed door and did not forget to eat the drumstick in his hand.

Jiang Danhe put down the bag in his hand and sat down on a chair. He carefully opened the envelope and took out the letter. He was worried about damaging the envelope or letter. After reading it, he had to preserve it. This was Xiaoguo’s first letter to him.

Before unfolding the letter with anticipation, he took a deep breath. When he was ready, he unfolded the paper.

“…Jiang Danhe.”

To be honest, he had fantasized about how Xiaoguo would start her letters—maybe in those sappy or elegant tones. He didn’t expect her to be so direct. She started with three boring words—Jiang Danhe.

For some reason, he suddenly had a bad feeling…

“I received your letter. After much consideration, I decided to write back to you. We’ve been well. We’ve also received the charcoal you gave us. Thanks to you, Zhuang Zhuang and I had a bountiful and warm winter…”

When he came to this part of the letter, Jiang Danhe’s heart calmed down. How could he have a bad feeling about those warm words? Hence, he continued reading with this warm feeling in his heart. As he read, he reached out and picked up a piece of dried pear. He ate it in one bite. It was really delicious.

“I’ve received the money too. I’ve already put it away. Don’t worry. And Zhuang Zhuang received your gift on his birthday. He was so happy…”

Jiang Danhe read every word carefully, it felt as if Xiaoguo was whispering those words in his ears.

“How have you been? How’s your health? How do you feel?”

As the last three questions concluded the letter, Jiang Danhe followed his usual train of thoughts and felt very touched. He thought to himself that Xiaoguo must be worried about him! She was definitely worried about him!

After finishing the dried pear in his hand, he reached out for another piece. Although Xiaoguo’s letter consisted only of greetings and the descriptions of the situation at home, Jiang Danhe could feel her indescribable love and longing for him.

Jiang Danhe was filled with emotions. Just as he was about to put down the letter, he realized that there was another piece of paper in the envelope. Jiang Danhe was delighted. Does it contain other words that were too intimate to be read openly?

He blushed and looked around. After making sure that the surroundings were safe, he took out the letter and unfolded it.