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Shen Chuwei said, "There’s no rush for departure tomorrow. I need to prepare more food to take with us for the journey."

Xiao Jinyan watched her as she began to plan the preparations for the food and the longer he spent with her, the more he realized how much she loved to eat.

Shen Chuwei intended to make some snacks to take along.

When she took out a pile of tools and both wheat and glutinous rice flour, Xiao Jinyan was stunned.

"Do you always bring so many things with you every time you go out?"

Shen Chuwei counted and replied, "It’s been a long time since our last trip, which was the autumn hunting from last year. Since I rarely go out, I naturally bring everything for eating along. If I get a craving and there’s nothing to eat, I’ll have trouble sleeping at night."

She looked at Xiao Jinyan innocently, "Your Highness, you don’t understand the pain of being a foodie."

Xiao Jinyan: "..." He truly didn’t understand.

While Shen Chuwei was making the delicacies, Xiao Jinyan would sit nearby and watch her if he had nothing to do, observing as she skillfully kneaded the dough and then used her molds to form beautiful shapes.

In her own words, enjoying fine food wasn’t just about the taste that it brings; it was also about appreciating the visual feast of delicately made food. After all, food should be an ensemble of color, aroma, and taste; missing any element would be inadequate.

Indeed, these pastries were beautifully crafted and appetizing.

He was somewhat astonished, "Are you really a lady of noble birth?"

Shen Chuwei asked with a giggle, "Your Highness, does it really matter whether I’m a lady of noble birth?"

As soon as Xiao Jinyan heard the terms "Your Highness" and "this concubine," his brows furrowed involuntarily, "You should go back to calling me as you did before. I’m not used to this form of address."

"You’ll get used to it if you listen to it often enough."

Back then, it had taken her a long time to get used to it, afraid of making a mistake that would cost her dearly.

Xiao Jinyan glanced at the unfamiliar items on the table and asked her, "Where did you get these strange and curious things from?"

Shen Chuwei looked at the items she had brought from the modern age, which she kept in the space; such things definitely didn’t exist in the ancient times, and this was indeed a bit tricky to explain.

In the past, when she brought out strange and curious items, Xiao Jinyan never questioned her, even if he was quite curious.

Seeing her silence, Xiao Jinyan smiled and asked, "What’s the matter, you don’t wish to tell me?"

Shen Chuwei’s eyes flickered, and she smiled as she raised her head to look at him, "When you remember everything, I’ll tell you."

Xiao Jinyan chuckled softly, "When will that be, after ages?"

"Oh, come on, Your Highness, just try a little harder. You’ve remembered things a few times before. You can do it, and I have many more secrets."

In the last sentence, Shen Chuwei emphasized her words intentionally. She thought if Xiao Jinyan could remember everything, she would tell him that she wasn’t the original person but someone who had traveled from the modern era.

And she had a space—

That was her biggest secret.

Xiao Jinyan quickly caught the crux of the matter, "Why didn’t you say so before? Is it because you didn’t trust me or for some other reason?"

Shen Chuwei was taken aback. Indeed, a smart person’s intelligence remained unaffected by memory loss.

"Of course, it’s due to my own concerns. When Your Highness remembers everything, I’ll open my heart fully, alright?"

What could Xiao Jinyan say? At present, he hadn’t remembered anything, and even Lin Xian’s memories were beginning to get muddled.

"Alright."

Shen Chuwei happily continued making pastries, including some deep-fried ones that could be snacks for the road.

Xiao Jinyan took out a string of beads from his clothing and held it in front of Shen Chuwei, "Whose is this?"

Shen Chuwei leaned in to take a look and felt it seemed familiar.

Xiao Jinyan flipped over one of the beads to show her the inscription, "Who is ’Xiaojiu’?"

Shen Chuwei scrutinized the stone and suddenly remembered, "This stone was given to Your Highness by me, and You turned it into a string of beads."

Xiao Jinyan continued to inquire, "Is Xiaojiu your name?"

Shen Chuwei remembered that Feng Wuyou’s nickname was also Xiaojiu, and her own nickname, Xiaojiu, was because someone in a dream called her that, which she found pleasant to the ear, so she told Xiao Jinyan.

"You used to call me Xiaojiu, but since someone else also goes by Xiaojiu, shall we change it to something else?"

Xiao Jinyan said, "What about it? Xiaojiu is likely a pet name or a nickname, and it’s normal to have the same name as someone else. You can’t change it just because someone else is called that."

Shen Chuwei also felt there was some sense in what Xiao Jinyan said, but somehow, it didn’t feel quite right to her.

At dinner, Xiao Jinyu heard that the Crown Prince and his sister-in-law were leaving the next day, and they were not returning to Daxia but going to Nanzhao Country.

"Crown Prince Brother, what are you going to do in Nanzhao Country?"