Ye Li was back in Prince Ding"s Manor and Mo Xiu Yao was reading in the study. When he heard footsteps, he raised his head and spoke to her: "You are back. Did anything happen to Old Lady Ye?"
Ye Li waved her hands and said, not interested: "What else at this time? Forth sister was back and made a scene. Grandma asked me to comfort her. We don"t get along to begin with. Why will she listen to what I have to say? However, I ran into that prince from Xi Ling and Princess Ling Yun on the street."
Mo Xiu Yao raised his eyebrows towards her. Ye Li thought about it and decided that there was nothing to talk about. She then went inside and changed into a more comfortable dress. When she came out Mo Xiu Yao was still sitting there, reading so she asked Qing Xia to bring out some cloth of light colors.
Qing Shuang had always been sharp and brought the cloth Ye Li asked for shortly afterwards before Ye Li even took a seat, most of which was light color such as moon-white, light-blue and cream color. Besides, she had got Ye Li all kinds of tools considerately. Ye Li got the cloth and looked at the man on her opposite with a frown.
Mo Xiu Yao lifted his head a little curiously and saw her frown. He said with a small smile: "What"s wrong? Do you not like the clothes made in the manor? I"ve heard there are two nice embroidery workshops in the capital. Ask them to send something over later. Don"t bother yourself with that."
Ye Li was speechless. If I get you something from those shops, Lin mama and my wet nurse are going to harp at me to death. Then she looked at the clothes on her and wondered whether she appeared that picky. She gritted her teeth and said: "I want to borrow one of your old clothes."
Mo Xiu Yao raised his eyebrows and looked curiously at Ye Li who tried to remain expressionless. His eyes slowly turned to the cloth on the table and moved before returning to Ye Li with a smile: "They are inside. Get one yourself." Ever since he was sent here to recuperate, Chief Steward Mo had instructed to move all of his clothes in his old room here. However, it seemed that his bride had a good habit of not touching others" stuff, even if this other person was her husband. Therefore, though their things were at the same place, in fact neither had touched the other"s stuff.
Ye Li snorted slightly. She stood up and headed inside before she suddenly stopped. Then she went back inside after grabbing a soft ruler for measurement from the sewing box.
Mo Xiu Yao stared blankly at the simple but elegant fabric for some time and suddenly smiled. A trace of genuine warmth appeared in his originally cold eyes.
Ye Li would either not do something or finish it as soon as possible, so needlework was added to her routine. Two mamas were more than happy about that since they had been worried seeing their miss play with swords after she was married. Though His Highness didn"t say anything about that, they considered it inappropriate for a princess to surround herself with swords. Except for the third son, there hadn"t been a military man in Xu Family for over a hundred years. It must have been him who had led their miss to the wrong direction! Those two mamas who knew nothing about the truth were having secret complaints against Xu Qing Feng, who was about to join the army.
It was the first time that their princess made clothes for His Highness which attracted the attention of mamas and maids. Only by the time that she started did Ye Li find the sorry fact that she didn"t know how to make men"s clothes. Before her mother pa.s.sed away, she had not reached the age of learning needlework. After her mother pa.s.sed away, there was, first of all, no one to teach her, and secondly, no need for that so she had forgotten about it. At last, it was Lin mama who didn"t have a choice and taught her how to do needlework herself.
When she had cut out the outline of the clothes, those maids started to discuss about what patterns she should use and what kind of pouch to match it. Every maid tried to get a word in and talked nonstop. Mo Xiu Yao was the only one that was in the dark. Now he worked in Ye Li"s room instead of his study. Though he was in the outer room, Ye Li who was surrounded by maids inside had a feeling that Mo Xiu Yao could hear what they were talking about. She was angry at them for that and would love to knock those gossipy girls out with a few claps.
"Princess..." Seeing that Ye Li picked up a cloud pattern, ready to match thread, Qing Shuang called out disapprovingly, as if she wanted to come forward and destroy what Ye Li was carrying.
Ye Li looked at her with her brows raised: "Princess, you are giving this as a gift. How could you use such a common pattern?"
Blue veins stood out on Ye Li"s forehead directly. It was just a piece of clothes. Why did those maids have so many opinions on that?
Qing Shuang didn"t mind Ye Li"s unhappy look and put a pile of patterns in front of her in an instant, such as dragon, eagle, tiger, all kinds of complicated flowers and gra.s.s and auspicious patterns. Qing Shuang looked at Ye Li"s gloomy face and fawned on her: "Princess, I"ve asked His Highness for you. He likes this pattern."
Staring at the pattern of a flying eagle, Ye Li really wanted to thread her with a needle.
Noticing the unfriendly look on Ye Li"s face, Qing Shuang hurriedly made a face asking for forgiveness and ran outside quickly. Ye Li stared blankly at the pattern for a good while when she suddenly sighed and took a basket of thread to find a match. Qing Xia was waiting on her by the side: "Qing Shuang is really naughty but she"s considering for you. Don"t get mad at her, princess."
Ye Li lifted her head. Looking at her, she said: "She"s spoiled and mess around all the time."
Qing Yu covered her lips and laughed secretly: "Qing Shuang does have a lot of energy. Princess, how about you punish her to do some needlework?"
Qing Xia covered her lips and said: "Qing Yu, this punishment is really tough on her. But if you will feel better after that, I believe Qing Shuang will be happy to take it, princess." Qing Shuang was a naughty girl. She had hated needlework all along. Usually, asking her to embroider a handkerchief was the same as taking her life.
Ye Li rolled her eyes and had a little smile: "Good. Tell Qing Shuang to embroider a painting of Plum Flowers Extending New Year Greetings in half a month. Otherwise... I can"t guarantee what will happen."
Qing Luan and the others girls blinked their eyes and answered in smiles, mourning for Qing Shuang in secret. Why did she ask His Highness knowing that the princess was embarra.s.sed about it? Qing Shuang asked for it.
"What are you embroidering?" Mo Xiu Yao"s clear voice came from the outer room and those maids hurriedly turned around while bending down to greet him: "Your Highness."
Mo Xiu Yao looked at those three smiling maids and said: "Leave us."
They bent down and left the room to the prince and princess.
Seeing that Mo Xiu Yao come over, Ye Li looked at what she was holding a little awkwardly and said: "Your Highness, do you have so much spare time, strolling around all day long?"
Mo Xiu Yao smiled: "I don"t need to attend court, nor do I have anything to deal with so I do have a lot of spare time. You"ve been busy for the past two days, Ah Li."
Ye Li rolled her eyes at him angrily. Didn"t he see what she was busy with?
His wheelchair stopped by Ye Li"s side. Mo Xiu Yao laughed softly: "Don"t feel embarra.s.sed, Ah Li. Even if you can"t do a good embroidery work, I won"t laugh at you."
Great! Ye Li threaded the needle on the clothes angrily. How dare he criticize her needlework which was even applauded by her second aunt? Tilting her head to look at Mo Xiu Yao, Ye Li faked a smile: "Well, I"m afraid my sorry needlework isn"t to your taste, Your Highness. I"ll ask the workshop to do it so I don"t have to take the trouble."
Mo Xiu Yao had no choice but to smile apologetically: "What I mean is that whatever you do is the best to me."
Ye Li snorted slightly and didn"t bother to answer him. Then she lowered down her head and worked on the clothes. Mo Xiu Yao sat by her side quietly. Looking at Ye Li"s growingly focused face, a smile appeared by her mouth.