Hu Xiaotian stared blankly at her, clearly bewildered by her reaction.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Qiqi asked.
Hu Xiaotian said, "How can a young girl laugh with so little restraint?"
Qiqi said, "If I showed restraint, wouldn't you just push your luck? Hu Xiaotian, oh, Hu Xiaotian, you really are shameless."
"You flatter me!" Hu Xiaotian slipped an arm around Qiqi's shoulders. "But something is strange."
They were alone, and Qiqi made no attempt to shake off his arm. "What's strange?" she asked softly.
Hu Xiaotian said, "Do you still remember the secret passages in the Palace Gardens Bureau's Wine Cellar?"
Qiqi nodded. "Of course I remember."
Hu Xiaotian said, "One passage leads to the Library Pavilion, one to the Jade Pool, and one to the Purple Orchid Palace."
Qiqi gritted her teeth. "When you were in charge of the Palace Gardens Bureau, you used those passages to meet Long Xiyue in secret for quite some time, didn't you?"
Seeing that even now she could not put aside her jealousy, Hu Xiaotian could not help laughing. "If we're talking about secret meetings, that would be you and me. Wasn't I the one who accompanied you when you found the Dragon Spirit Wonderland?"
Qiqi shot him a sidelong glare, put aside her jealousy, and returned to the matter at hand. "If I remember correctly, Liu Yuzhang was in charge before you, wasn't he?"
Hu Xiaotian nodded. "Yes, that's right."
Qiqi said, "He ran the Palace Gardens Bureau for so many years. There's no reason he wouldn't have known its secrets."
Hu Xiaotian said, "Liu Yuzhang had already served here for over twenty years before I came to the Palace Gardens Bureau." In fact, he and Qiqi were thinking along the same lines. Liu Yuzhang must have known