As the two of them walked further into more remote areas, Ying Yuan, worried that Li Jin might be afraid, instinctively reassured him, "Li Jin, don't be afraid. We're almost there after walking a bit further."
"Alright." Li Jin curved his lips upwards and nodded.
For some reason, looking at this Ying Yuan who was clearly younger than him yet worried that he might be afraid, Li Jin felt unusually happy.
I never thought there was such a remote place in the palace. But, where exactly does the Seventh Prince want to take Li Jin?
Shen Ningyu, secretly following behind them, grew increasingly curious.
Zhiqiu, earlier, in order to avoid being discovered by Li Jin and the others while secretly following, had deliberately waited until they had walked some distance before following. He never expected to see Shen Ningyu also secretly following them, and was immediately startled.
Huh? Isn't that Minister Shen's daughter? Why is she also following? Wait, this place is...
"Li Jin, it's here." Looking at the aged, worn-out plaque ahead, Ying Yuan couldn't conceal his happiness.
Tianshu Pavilion.
Li Jin silently read the three characters written on the plaque. Although somewhat blurry, they were still legible.
"Li Jin, come inside with me quickly, there are good things inside." Without waiting for Li Jin's reply, Ying Yuan once again took hold of Li Jin's hand and quickened his pace heading inside.
"That is…"
No sooner had he entered than Li Jin was startled by the passion fruit inside.
He saw a considerable number of passion fruit vines before him, cultivated using a grape trellis method. The fruits, hanging down in shades of green, yellowish-green, deep red, and deep purple, were quite a beautiful sight.
Speaking of which, this was the first time Li Jin had seen passion fruit since Gu Rulan's death.
"Purple fruit," Ying Yuan said, letting go of Li Jin's hand. He stepped onto a nearby stone table, stood on his tiptoes, reached out, and picked the nearest deep purple passion fruit, presenting it to Li Jin like a treasure. "Li Jin, try it. Although the skin of this fruit tastes bad, the inside is sour and sweet, very tasty. Also, those green ones aren't ripe yet, they're still very sour. You must pick ones the color of this one in my hand. If you want to eat more later, make sure you don't pick the wrong ones."
After saying this, Ying Yuan demonstratively went to pick another one and was about to take a bite right in front of Li Jin.
Li Jin's eyes widened, and he immediately spoke to stop him. "Wait."
"What's wrong?"
Ying Yuan stopped instantly, looking at Li Jin in confusion.
Could it be that Li Jin didn't like purple fruit?
Li Jin said helplessly, "Seventh Prince, that's the fruit skin. You need to break it open to eat the inside."
"Huh?... It's not eaten directly?"
Ying Yuan was bewildered.
"Wait a moment." In front of Ying Yuan, Li Jin forcefully split the purple passion fruit into two halves, then handed one half to Ying Yuan. "Here, take it. Just eat the yellow part inside."
Li Jin usually not only regulated his health but also exercised in secret, so splitting open a passion fruit didn't require much effort.
"Ah... okay..."
Ying Yuan subconsciously took the half of the passion fruit Li Jin handed him, then ate it as Li Jin had instructed.
Moments later, the unique fragrance of the passion fruit instantly spread from Ying Yuan's tongue.
Li Jin smiled and asked, "Is it good?"
Ying Yuan nodded dazedly.
"Mm... very... very good... But... how did you know to eat purple fruit like this? Don't tell me you've eaten it before too?"
Ying Yuan did not hide his curiosity at all.
He had discovered this place a year ago and considered it his secret base. He brought Li Jin here specifically to share it with him. Back then, Ying Yuan had been desperately hungry and was looking for something to eat. He didn't find food but instead ran into the Fifth Prince and his companions who deliberately picked on him. Dragging his injured body, Ying Yuan stumbled to this place in a daze and discovered the fruit in the courtyard.
At that time, Ying Yuan was so hungry he felt dizzy. The moment he saw there was food inside, regardless of whether it was poisonous or not, he found a way to pick some and eat it.
From then on, whenever Ying Yuan was extremely hungry, he would secretly come here.
But passion fruit was a seasonal fruit, and the day would come when the fruit was all eaten. Ying Yuan then turned his attention to the wild greens beside the passion fruit vines. However, being young, he didn't know how to make a fire. After picking the wild greens, he just ate them raw.
For Ying Yuan, although raw wild vegetables tasted bad, as long as they could fill his stomach, he wouldn't refuse them. Fortunately, Ying Yuan had a strong constitution, anyone else who had eaten those things raw would likely have fallen ill.
"In the past, when my mother was alive, she once brought some passion fruit for me."
Li Jin had also been very surprised when he first saw Gu Rulan bring back passion fruit. Moreover, Li Jin hadn't forgotten Gu Rulan's shocked reaction when he split open the passion fruit and ate it.
Later, Li Jin found out that Gu Rulan had brought the passion fruit for him to enjoy as a novelty, but he had eaten it instead. No wonder Gu Rulan was startled.
Afterwards, Li Jin had asked Gu Rulan where the passion fruit came from, but she avoided the question and warned him not to eat everything he saw.
After that, fearing Li Jin might eat them again, Gu Rulan never brought passion fruit back again.
It wasn't until Li Jin grew up that he learned passion fruit vines were actually used as ornamental plants. Furthermore, because they were tribute items from the south and not easy to cultivate, even in the imperial palace, they were quite rare.
But this place had so many of them. Looking at the lush condition of these passion fruit vines, one could see how meticulously the owner of this place cared for them. Li Jin could easily guess that the passion fruit Gu Rulan had given him back then probably came from here. What puzzled Li Jin was, if Gu Rulan took passion fruit from here, why did this place still appear so dilapidated?
"So it's called passion fruit."
Ying Yuan silently repeated the name 'passion fruit', as if wanting to firmly remember it.
"'Purple fruit' is a nice name too."
"Huh?"
Suddenly hearing Li Jin say the words 'purple fruit', Ying Yuan's face couldn't help but blush.
"Heir Li, what is that in your hand? Can you give it to me?" Suddenly, a young, girlish voice, both familiar and unfamiliar to Li Jin, sounded from behind him, causing him to stiffen instantly.
Why is Shen Ningyu here?
The moment Shen Ningyu spoke, Li Jin recognized her.
At the same time, Li Jin felt annoyed at having been followed without his knowledge and resolved to intensify his physical training upon returning to avoid making the same mistake again.
"Who are you? Why are you following us?"
Ying Yuan stepped in front of Li Jin, staring warily at Shen Ningyu.
Although Ying Yuan and Shen Ningyu had attended several palace banquets together, Ying Yuan's attention had always been on Li Jin, so he naturally ignored Shen Ningyu, who was always by Shen Qianxue's side.
"Seventh Prince, my aunt is Consort Chun. Now you should know who I am, right?"
Mentioning her aunt Shen Qianxue, Shen Ningyu immediately looked at Ying Yuan with a scornful gaze, like a proud peacock.
Often associating with Shen Qianxue, Shen Ningyu was naturally very familiar with Seventh Prince Ying Yuan, whom Shen Qianxue had frequently mentioned lately. Of course, what Shen Qianxue said wasn't anything good.
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