Inside a home whose address he did not even know.
Ren Ye industriously laid out all eight dishes, four cold and four hot, on the dining table. He also made a point of pouring two glasses of red wine and preparing a large three-tier cake.
Cooking was out of the question. The dishes and cake had all been delivered. Prince Huai had merely plated them exquisitely and, while he was at it, cooked his wife a bowl of longevity noodles with a poached egg.
"Hehe, everything's ready. Let's dig in." Ren Ye took off his apron and walked toward the table with a smile.
"Thank you, honey. You're so good to me!" His "wife" had just showered. Her hair was wet, and her pretty face was rosy, like a red apple.
Looking at the table full of food, her pretty face beamed with happiness as she said brightly, "Then I'm going to make a wish!"
"Wait!"
Ren Ye bent down and sat opposite her, a wickedly confident smile curling his lips. "There's still something important we haven't done."
"Hehe, what is it?"
"How could a birthday not have a birthday present?" Ren Ye turned his right hand beneath the table, summoning a small brocade box before bringing it onto the tabletop with great excitement. "Ta-da! Look what this is!"
The woman froze.
Click!
Ren Ye opened the brocade box, revealing a hairpin inside.
This hairpin was a little trinket among the many gifts the Third Prince of the Southern Border had given him. Ai Fei had looked through them once and passed it over, and then Lian'er had gone through them again to pick out payment for her work, but she had passed it over too. Now it came in handy.
The woman looked at the exquisite classical hairpin, and