At Yonglu Temple, it rained heavily.

Gu Yunxi leaned against the bed and kept sneezing.

Zhiqi walked into the room with a pot of hot water in her hand. Seeing that Yunxi was sneezing, she hurriedly put the copper pot down and ran to close the window.

She said, "It's raining. It's cold in the mountains. Be careful not to catch a cold."

Gu Yunxi wore a smile.

She replied, "I feel fine now. It's said that if someone's missing you, you'll sneeze. Maybe someone's missing me."

"It must be the Ninth Prince who is missing you," said Zhiqi.

Zhiqi narrowed her eyes with a smile, pouring some water into the basin from the pot and then wetting the towel. She went to the bed to clean Gu Yunxi's hands and face gently. She was busy all the time.

Zhiqi said, "It's good for His Highness to go back earlier. It's raining now, and I hope he doesn't get wet."

Gu Yunxi tilted her head and sighed in frustration. She was blaming herself for saying to him and behaving hastily, which scared Huanan He into running away.

Gu Yunxi said, "I have tried to talk to him carefully. But he still runs away."

Zhiqi put the towel into the basin.

"Don't worry. His Highness just forgets you. If you wanna be in love with him, you can try to sleep with him next time," said Zhiqi.

Gu Yunxi smiled bitterly.

She said, "How to do? I just flirted with him, which annoyed him. Now I'm the concubine of the emperor. If I try to sleep with him, the emperor's uncle, he'll be even angrier with me..."

Zhiqi also had no idea how to do. She straightened up and picked up the basin.

She said, "Well, don't be anxious. It's time to go to sleep."

Gu Yunxi pursed her lips, shaking her head.

"These days, what I did is to eat and sleep. Now, it's time to sleep, but I'm not sleepy. Zhiqi, bring me some tapioca we brought here. I wanna use them to make some dumplings," said Gu Yunxi.

Zhiqi answered, "Okay."

Zhiqi walked out of the room. After a while, she returned with a large paper bag in her arms.

Tapioca could not get wet, so it was wrapped in brown papers layer by layer.

The tapioca was fine and white. If one touched it, he or she would feel slightly cold. It was as soft as frost and as light as a feather.

Hot water and the tapioca were put together, and then the tapioca was made into dumplings.

The dozens of dumplings should be shaped as small pearls, which were boiled and then were put into the cold water. The maker must be patient when doing that.

Zhiqi helped Gu Yunxi make the dumplings while talking to her.

"Your Grace, why do you make such dumplings?" asked Zhiqi.

Gu Yunxi smiled.

"Haws are ripe on the mountains. Yesterday Master Huichan brought us a lot. We can't finish it, so I wanna make honey dumplings with these haws according to the recipe my mother gave to me. My love likes sweets. If he comes here next time, I'll..." Gu Yunxi said.

"Well, you make them for His Highness." Zhiqi answered.

Zhiqi wore a smile.

Gu Yunxi's pimple-ridden cheeks got flushed. She carefully rubbed tapioca dumplings with her slender fingers. She wore a sweet smile.

She said, "It's hard to cook haw jam. It's my first time making it. When I finish it, you can be the first to taste it."

Zhiqi felt interesting, smiling and promising her.

"Well. Okay! I would like to become the first one to try it and judge whether it tastes good or not. Then your love can eat delicious food." Zhiqi said.

Zhiqi was diligent. She went out to boil the dumplings and returned to the room in the rain several times. She did that well.

Gu Yunxi used a knife to cut off the stalks of the haws and scooped the core to get the flesh. Three fourths of the haws were kept.

Then she soaked the flesh into the salt water to preserve them.

After about 15 minutes, she took the haws out of the salt water and put the boiled dumplings into the hollow haws.

Gu Yunxi peeled some loquats and mixed the loquat flesh with haws. She mashed two kinds of fruit pulp, adding a little salt and honey into them and putting them into the hollow haws.

The dumplings were put with orange sweet sauce together. They were like fish eggs and were shiny under the light. The room was filled with a sweet smell of fruits and honey.

When Gu Yunxi finished cooking them, she gave them to Zhiqi.

Zhiqi used a silver spoon to scoop up the sweet dumplings and ate them up. She said they were delicious. After finishing eating, Zhiqi stared at the haw shells that were carved with magnolia leaves.

Gu Yunxi giggled.

She said, "The haws are the containers of the dumplings. But they are edible."

Zhiqi licked her lips and smiled shyly.

"Your Grace, forget it. You carved them with a knife for quite a while. They are so delicate, so I'm not willing to bite. Please reward me with them," said Zhiqi.

Gu Yunxi smiled resignedly.

"If you like them, I give you. But they'll rot after three or four days..." said Gu Yunxi.

Accompanied by the sound of rain, there came repeated knocks on the door.

There came the voice of Lei who was sleepy.

"Who's that? Why are you here at this moment? Why couldn't you knock on the door gently? Bad manners..." He said with a yawn.

"Don't talk nonsense. We come from the Eastern Depot!" Someone shouted.

Gu Yunxi heard the noise clearly in the room. She became silent and looked at Zhiqi.

The door was suddenly kicked open and two guards rushed in. The coir raincoats on their backs were wet with rainwater falling.

Gu Yunxi was gloomy, looking coldly at the two expressionless men.

She asked, "You rushed into my meditation room at night! What do you want to do?"

A man in his dark blue clothes quietly stepped into the room. He patted the clothes to let the rainwater fall, carrying a bamboo basket in one hand. He was very gentle and handsome.

It was Yue Xilou!

Gu Yunxi was shocked, staring at Yue Xilou who was in Kylin-embroidered robe. She thought of Huanan He who used to wear a similar robe.

When she thought about what happened to Huanan He, she felt sad for him.

Yue Xilou smiled gently and bowed slightly. He said to Gu Yunxi softly.

"Greetings, Your Grace. Please don't be angry. The officials of the Eastern Depot were informed secretly that someone will hurt you. So, I together with the guards come here to safeguard you." He said.

As he spoke, he glanced at every corner watchfully and finally looked towards the window that was closed tightly.

He added, "You live at ease. I didn't expect you to cook food on a rainy night when you were sick."

Looking around, he smiled significantly.

"The one who can get the delicious food is very lucky," said he.

Zhiqi knew that he said that significantly, so she rolled her eyes at him and deliberately took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.

She said, "Well. You're right. I'm very lucky to become the maid of Concubine Yun. I have the opportunity to eat something delicious."

Yue Xilou snorted and glared at her.

At this time, Gu Yunxi knew what happened. Her husband, Huanan He, came to Yonglu Temple today, and now the guards came here, too. That could not be a coincidence. She thought they must come here to get Huanan He into trouble.

The emperor must know the whereabouts of Huanan He.

Gu Yunxi picked up her handkerchief and covered her face with it. She was in a bad mood and said to him flatly.

"Lord Yue, do you mean that someone will hurt me? Who's that? I'm safe here. You rush into my room at night! It isn't appropriate for you to do that. If His Majesty knows that, he'll..." said Gu Yunxi.

Yue Xilou replied, "It's His Majesty who asks me to safeguard you!"

Suddenly, Yue Xilou turned his head towards Gu Yunxi and stared at her coldly.

He said to her firmly. He deliberately interrupted her, because he did not want to get pressure from Huanan Xin.

Gu Yunxi was shocked and did not believe it.

After a silence, she sneered at him.

She thought that the Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot was a troublesome man.

Yue Xilou took the opportunity to move closer to the bed.

Zhiqi thought he might hurt Gu Yunxi, so she stood in front of the bed to safeguard Gu Yunxi.

Yue Xilou chuckled, putting the bamboo basket next to Gu Yunxi's pillow and staring at her pimple-ridden face with sharp eyes. Knowing that she was annoyed, he smiled smugly.

He said, "Your Grace, don't get me wrong. His Majesty is very concerned about you. He knows that the nigrum fruit can relieve you from smallpox. So, he asks me to bring them to you while safeguarding you."

"The nigrum fruit?" thought Gu Yunxi.

"The nigrum fruit again!"

That night, that assassin sneaked into the imperial harem for the basket of nigrum fruits.

Gu Yunxi realized that Yue Xilou bringing these nigrum fruits here was to find out whether the assassin stole the fruits for her.

"Maybe when chasing the assassin that night, Yue Xilou had already identified who was the assassin..." thought Gu Yunxi.

Seeing that Gu Yunxi was speechless, Yue Xilou was more arrogant. He stared at her coldly with his sharp eyes, straightened his back, and said to her slowly.

"Well, did you accept other people's nigrum fruits? Now you can't accept these I bring here?" asked he.

Gu Yunxi was a little uneasy, but she blinked gently and sneered at him.

"Lord Yue, are you trying to interrogate me as a prisoner of the Eastern Depot?" asked Gu Yunxi.

Yue Xilou narrowed his eyes and smiled.

Yue Xilou replied, "You're the master, while I'm just a servant. I dare not do so. I just hope that the assassin didn't come here to hurt and disturb you."

Gu Yunxi answered frankly.

"That night I wasn't disturbed. But now I'm disturbed by you," answered Gu Yunxi.

Yue Xilou crossed his arms in front of his body and turned around gently.

"It's my fault. I'll come to His Majesty to ask for forgiveness."

Gu Yunxi was expressionless, taking a look at the basket and rebuking him in a constrained voice.

"Leave the basket. You get out!"

Yue Xilou smiled and said nothing. He made a gesture of going back for other guards and his nice voice faded away.

"I hope you can make good use of these nigrum fruits to cure the pimple as soon as possible. His Majesty is looking forward to seeing you..."

Zhiqi felt relieved and rushed to close the door, isolating the eunuch's graceful voice.

Gu Yunxi fell on the soft quilt slowly taking a breath as if she had finished a battle, feeling exhausted.

"Your Grace, are you okay?" asked Zhiqi.

She quickly took a cup of hot tea and helped Gu Yunxi drink a little.

After a while, Gu Yunxi felt fine, staring at the door coldly and saying something angrily.

"Brother Xian is right. Huanan Xin has sent his men to monitor the Ninth Prince's Mansion. If my husband does anything that will harm him, Huanan Xin will get the news soon. Yue Xilou comes here to find that assassin!"

Zhiqi was frightened and put her hand over her chest.

"Oh, my god! Does His Majesty suspect you?"

Gu Yunxi wiped away the sweat on her forehead and frowned. She felt very sad.

She said, "I'll never see my love."