Liu ying peered closer at her face, "I can tell that although you are not pretentious, you have something up your sleeves. You are not an evil person but not exactly righteous either and you're not pretending about it. It is clearly written on your face except not everyone sees. You seem like a person who will make sure to achieve all her goals by hook or by crook. But, all in all, you're a good person. That's why I told you a lot of things I wouldn't tell others" Lingxi smiled, "you are quite good at reading people" "of course. My dad is the minister of justice, I should be able to learn something" "Right but you're almost right except you got one thing wrong – I'm not a good person" "You are" Lingxi thought for a while, "if caring about only my happiness and that of my friends' and family's make me a good person, I guess so" "We really are birds of a feather, you know. We care about exactly the same thing. As I said earlier, why bother about the troubles of life? I live only for myself minding my own business. So, friends?" Liu ying asked lifting her cup. "Friends", Lingxi accepted the toast and drank. Liu ying sighed, "All these eating, drinking, listening and watching the pretentious faces of everyone has wearied me out. How about we go for a stroll? I can show you around the palace" "Is it appropriate for us to wander around the palace?" "What's inappropriate about it? Let's go", she said dragging Lingxi out of the room. "It seems our children get along quite well", Minister Liu, Liu Qin said heartily to Mo Qinshan.
[The Imperial Garden]
"This is the imperial garden. Pretty, right?" Liu ying asked as they looked around. "It is indeed pretty but won't we be punished for sneaking into the imperial garden this late?" "What punishment?" "The imperial garden is a leisure spot for noble ladies like us. Besides, who would dare punish you?" "Is that so?" they heard a voice behind them. They turned. It was Yan Tian. "Your highness", they curtsied. "Miss Liu ying, you are quite bold, aren't you?" "I wouldn't dare", Liu ying answered. "Liu Ying was carried away and spoke out of turn. She didn't mean to offend your highness", Lingxi intervened. "Oh, in that case, she meant to offend the empress, am I right?" he said taking a step closer to them. Lingxi smiled, "your highness is overthinking. She merely meant that as this is a spot for women and the empress only disciplines members of the harem, we need not worry about others punishing us" "You are quite sharp, not bad. However, what she said is simply undermining the power of others and placing Censor Mo in superiority", Yan Tian was bent on dragging Mo Qinshan into this. "No, I wasn't....." Liu Ying wanted to say but Lingxi held her hand to stop her. She smiled again, "your highness, I don't see how this matter involves my father and why you insist on dragging him into this. Moreover, what she said isn't wrong either. Does your highness dare punish me?" she asked, looking him in the eye. Yan Tian had never felt so insulted in his entire life. "You…." "Also, your highness, as the crown prince, left his guests unattended to and decided to trail two unmarried young girls, both of which are daughters of powerful ministers. What are your intentions? If this case is taken to the emperor, I wonder who would get punished. Why don't we find out?"