Ying Lili and Hu Jingguo shockingly looked at Sheng Li. "Why are you getting angry?" Ying Lili asked.
"Don't you know?" Sheng Li questioned her. "Who was the Prince who proposed to you?" Sheng Li was furious.
"His highness is so possessive of the Crown Princess," Hu Jingguo said when Sheng Li realized how he was acting. He rubbed the skin between his brows. "Does his highness like…" Hu Jingguo stopped speaking as she felt the deadly glare of the Crown Prince at him.
"Let's talk about something different," Hu Jingguo asserted and changed the topic. "Crown Princess, do you recall the day when you and I were plucking the mandarins from the commercial land of a big landlord. He almost caught us, but then we were saved because you were the Princess," Hu Jingguo asserted.
"You two used to be thieves!" Sheng Li was astonished to hear that and then looked at Ying Lili. "Your Princess's status saved you there. But you could have asked the mandarins from him instead of taking all this pain," Sheng Li asserted.
"You had never heard about fun, right? I was a kid then, and it was fun. Why are you sulking in that too?" Ying Lili questioned him.
"I am not sulking. I never did things like that after I was punished once by the Empress. You two were lucky not to get beatings," Sheng Li proclaimed.
Ying Lili and Hu Jingguo felt bad hearing that. "You should have put more cockroaches in her food then," Ying Lili stated.
Sheng Li chuckled. "It was not easy. Living in the Palace does not always give the feel of paradise," Sheng Li remarked. Ying Lili and Hu Jingguo were silent now. Seeing that Sheng Li told them to not carry those faces. "That phase has gone and now she cannot control me," Sheng Li pronounced.
"Your highness, I am an outsider to you still in these few days I got closer to you. So, keeping that in mind I want to ask you, did it never come to your mind to run away from such a place? And why did you not tell all about this to his majesty?" Hu Jingguo curiously asked.
"My mother's last words to me was to stay there and become strong. How could I run in that state? I did not want to trouble my father for such petty things," Sheng Li replied to Hu Jingguo.
"Petty things? The torture she gave to you was not petty at all!" Suddenly Ying Lili lost her temper. "She used to beat you, punish you for those things which you never did. You bore all that just to survive there?! What if something would have happened to you?" Ying Lili was infuriated at him. She stood up and left the chamber.
Sheng Li could not understand how to interpret that situation. Ying Lili hardly got angry, but today she lost her temper. "Your highness, you shall go behind the Crown Princess. Forgive me for ruining the atmosphere," Hu Jingguo apologized as he lowered his eyes.
Sheng Li did not say anything and stood up from the floor mattress. He then left from there. 'Where did she go?' Sheng Li drew his brows together and looked around. Sheng Li stopped a servant coming from the front and stopped him.
"Did you see the Crown Princess?" Sheng Li questioned the servant who refused. Sheng Li went to his chamber but did not find her there. He came out of his chamber and then again searched for her when he encountered the daughter of Governor Tzu.
She greeted the Crown Prince. "Did Miss Tzu see the Crown Princess?" Sheng Li questioned her.
"Yes, your highness. The Crown Princess earlier was heading towards the garden." Sheng Li thanked her and walked past her.
"Does she like gardens that much?" Sheng Li murmured and hastened his steps towards the garden. Soon he reached there and searched for Ying Lili there. Half an hour passed, but he did not find Ying Lili there. "What kind of garden is this? Tzu-Yang had lost his mind and constructed this big garden," Sheng Li complained.
"Last time she was here, then where is she this time?" Sheng Li looked around the lake. He walked a few meters and got into the bridge that was constructed over the lake. Crossing the bridge, he went to the other side.
He kept going on the pavement when he saw Ying Lili who was sitting on the swing. Her eyes were lowered as she was looking at the ground.
"So, you are here?" Sheng Li pronounced. Ying Lili lifted her eyes and asked him what he was doing there.
"I came here to search for an angry wildcat," Sheng Li replied. Ying Lili huffed and told Sheng Li to leave her alone. Sheng Li did not listen to her instead, he went to her back and pushed the swing lightly. Ying Lili moved ahead on the swing. She came back when Sheng Li caught both hanging ropes that were tied to the tree branch.
"Why did you get angry? Would you like to tell me?" Sheng Li queried.
Ying Lili did not reply to him when Sheng Li again pushed the swing. When she returned on the swing, Sheng Li sat on the swing such that he was opposite to her. He tilted his head to look at Ying Lili. "I do not like to keep waiting like this," Sheng Li asserted. Ying Lili turned her head towards him.
"Because something could have happened to you. You should not have borne the wrong she did to you instead you should have told your father and he would have mercilessly punished her to death. You would not have suffered like this then," Ying Lili blurted out.
She looked into his eyes and said, "I am getting sick of her. Never in my life, I felt so angry, but whenever I recall how wrong she did to you, my blood starts boiling up. Forgive me for getting so angry," Ying Lili proclaimed and lowered her eyes when she felt Sheng Li's lips on her forehead.
