In the novel "Joy of Life," the protagonist wakes up at Li Chengze's residence.

When Lin Wan'er spoke, her smile was appropriate and her tone was calm and composed.

Upon hearing this, Li Chengze tilted his head and asked, "Oh? What did you talk about? Could you tell me a little about it, Second Brother?"

"It's nothing, I just passed by those crabapple trees in the garden while strolling around."

As Lin Wan'er spoke, her eyes turned to Li Chengze, who was walking alongside her.

The latter pondered for a moment, then seemed to suddenly realize something: "Those few crabapple trees... haha."

Li Chengze seemed to suddenly remember something: "I remember once, I was sitting under a tree reading, and you were carried over by the nannies."

As soon as she saw me, she insisted that I pick the crabapples from the tree for her.

The fruit was still green then. You only took one bite, and your face wrinkled from the sourness, and you burst into tears.

In those days, if you saw any crabapples, you'd throw them out the window without hesitation.

Sure enough, no one can stand hearing about the embarrassing things they did when they were young. Lin Wan'er quickly interrupted him: "Hey, second cousin, stop talking."

Li Chengze crossed his arms over his chest, revealing a hint of remembrance:

"Back then, Li Chengqian would always tease you with this."

I haven't left the palace yet, and there aren't many children in the palace. Among those who are close in age, there are only you, me, and His Highness the Crown Prince.

Even Chengping is much younger than you.

As the two chatted, they arrived at the entrance of the "reception room" in the mansion.

In the reception room.

The moment Tao Jingyang entered the room, he found a rather inconspicuous spot.

He randomly picked up a book from the shelf and buried his head in it, seemingly "concentrating" on reading.

I'm preparing to cultivate a persona of someone who is "well-read and naturally elegant."

Actually, nothing else is wrong, it's just that I started reading right after dinner and couldn't help but doze off.

When Li Chengze brought Lin Wan'er into the house, he didn't see Tao Jingyang at first.

He thought Tao Jingyang hadn't arrived yet and was about to ask someone to call her when he heard the sound of turning pages.

"Splash, splash..."

I turned my head and found her hiding next to the bookshelf, reading a book.

Goodness, when have I ever seen her work this hard?

Li Chengze smiled silently to himself, then called out Tao Jingyang's name:

"Miss Jingyang, stop reading all day, you'll hurt your eyes. Look, who's here."

The person who was called seemed to have just noticed someone coming. He immediately put down his book, leaned out, and looked at the person who had come.

"May I ask who this is?" Tao Jingyang asked with a friendly smile.

"This is Lin Wan'er, my cousin. We grew up together in the palace when we were little."

At this moment, Li Chengze suddenly realized that he had never introduced his cousin to Tao Jingyang.

A sudden "buzz" sound went through his head:

Ah, no wonder Jingyang said he wanted to avoid us earlier. Could it be a misunderstanding?

He quickly checked Tao Jingyang's expression, but it was unchanged, and he couldn't discern anything amiss...

So he quickly added another sentence:

"The marriage that His Majesty bestowed upon Fan Xian, besides Fan Xian's other partner, is this cousin Wan'er."

"Greetings, Miss Tao." Lin Wan'er stepped forward and greeted Tao Jingyang first, looking at him with curiosity.

The two had never met before; this was the first time Lin Wan'er had seen her.

Although Lin Wan'er rarely went out, her only close friend was Ye Ling'er.

But she had heard about Tao Jingyang's name and deeds from more than one person before.

Furthermore, there are many rumors circulating, one of which is:

The second prince fell in love at first sight with the amnesiac Miss Tao during their travels, which is why he often accompanied her on trips to "search for her memories."

Another version of the story in Kyoto is:

Tao Jingyang was severely injured and lost his memory because he had risked his life to protect the Second Prince, which is why the Second Prince took such good care of him.

All of this was told to her by Ye Ling'er, but Lin Wan'er didn't believe any of it.

In her view, hearing is believing, seeing is believing.

You can only understand the nature of a person or thing by truly getting to know them.

Furthermore, Tao Jingyang had previously assisted Fan Xian during the assassination attempt on Niulan Street. And this morning, Fan Xian was heard muttering something about "maybe he's been tricked by Li Chengze," and so on.

Lin Wan'er was already curious about this person, and now she wanted to find an opportunity to meet him even more.

Having only glanced at her today, Lin Wan'er has only one conclusion:

[This Miss Tao is different from ordinary people.] Lin Wan'er thought to herself.

And so, the three people who were completely "I"s took their seats in the hall.

The current situation is that no one is able to speak up first.

Li Chengze was waiting for Lin Wan'er to explain her purpose; while Lin Wan'er was also waiting for Li Chengze to ask her why she had come.

Everyone was waiting in a very "tacit" manner, so Tao Jingyang gritted his teeth and made the first "pre-emptive" speech.

"Hello, Miss Lin... uh... how have you been lately?" Tao Jingyang hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter this question to Lin Wan'er.

"Huh? Ah... I'm fine..." Lin Wan'er widened her eyes and replied somewhat haltingly.

Lin Wan'er probably also felt that this abrupt question was a bit awkward.

But Tao Jingyang didn't have time to grip the ground with his toes; his mouth reacted faster than his brain, and his body reacted even faster than his mouth:

"Ah, that's good, not bad at all. Well, you two keep chatting, I have something to attend to, so I'll be going now..."

She escaped quickly, but I don't know what happened; she suddenly had a social anxiety attack today.

"Hey! Don't go, Jingyang."

"Miss Tao, please wait!" Li Chengze and Lin Wan'er said in unison, trying to persuade her to stay.

Before Tao Jingyang could even leave the gate, he saw the guards rushing towards him.

She turned her head and heard the guards report to Li Chengze: Ye Ling'er from the Ye family has come to visit, and she is currently outside the mansion gate.

......

Li Chengze and Tao Jingyang both turned their heads toward Lin Wan'er, who was equally bewildered.

Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Lin Wan'er raised both hands in front of her chest, palms facing outward, and waved them from side to side, saying:

“I did not invite Ling’er to come along.”

Tao and Li exchanged a glance and realized that the other was also taking advantage of the monk's ignorance.

Li Chengze said, "Then, please invite Miss Ye in as well."