Water chestnut cakes. The ceramic and gold vase. Gifts from Shen Li Gong to the Crown Princess.
I watched as Xiang handed them off to the servants who came early to collect them. The cakes were covered with an auspicious red cloth, while the vase were carried away on a tray. Xiang let out a deep sigh, as though a burden had lifted from her shoulders.
"Now, we just need to wait for the celebrations," she told me brightly. I smiled, thankful that she wasn't ignoring me anymore.
Yi Liang eventually decided to speak to her about the situation in the kitchen. He explained that I was only comforting him, and that he was wary of marrying her because of the kind of father he had.
Xiang had been the one to ask for marriage. She had turned 23 and it was her fifth year in the Palace, the year that older maidens were allowed to marry and leave the Palace.
