Li smiled smugly. "Your face was made flawlessly, and you even disguised the point where your neck joined your face. But the instant you climbed onto the carriage, you lowered your head. That one movement exposed the skin hidden beneath the back of your neck."
Shi Lan was startled by Li's sharp eye. Just then, Liuli came in carrying water, so she did not continue the subject.
In truth, Li had only said half of it. What had truly confirmed for him that the youth before him was a girl was that Shi Lan was far too well-endowed. Though she might have bound her chest to conceal it, the slight movement in front of her chest as she climbed into the carriage had exposed everything.
Still, it was better not to mention the real reason.
What Li had not expected was that Hu Hai's attention to his movements far exceeded his estimates.
It had only been the time it took for an incense stick to burn since he had brought Shi Lan into the palace, yet Hu Hai had already come to visit.
"Young Master, shall this servant send him away?" Liuli asked, carrying the murky water Shi Lan had used to wash her face after removing her disguise.
Shi Lan also looked toward Li at that. Li's gaze flickered as he looked at her, but in the end, he shook his head.
"Although he caught us off guard, if we truly refuse to see him now, it will only make him more suspicious. Better to—"
Before Li could finish, Hu Hai walked straight in.
"Brother, your little brother has come to see you."
The moment he entered, Hu Hai's mismatched eyes fixed on Shi Lan, who was dressed in plain cloth. A deep darkness churned in his gaze, like