As the man and bird left, only a man and a woman remained alone in the tent.
Looking at Ye Jingtang so close to her, Hua Qingzhi immediately grew flustered. She shifted back a little and poured him tea:
"Have you finished your work, Young Master Ye?"
"Yes. They just made me a prince, and we spent half the day celebrating."
"A prince?"
Although Hua Qingzhi already considered Ye Jingtang an uncrowned king, she was still quite surprised that the Southern Dynasty had actually conferred a princely title on someone outside the imperial clan. She asked:
"A prince outside the imperial clan with real authority?"
"Yes."
"Then your status is even higher than Prince Jing's honorary title. I'll have to address you as Your Highness from now on. Congratulations."
Ye Jingtang did not particularly care about such things, but seeing Hua Qingzhi looking so delicate stirred his interest, and he teased:
"Let me hear you call me Your Highness."
"..."
Hua Qingzhi blinked. Rather than softly murmuring, "Please conduct yourself, Your Highness," like a respectable young lady afraid of a prince, she said earnestly:
"Your Highness's power comes from the people of the Western Sea. You must never grow arrogant and willful upon gaining power, or pick up the habits of those bad princes raised in luxury..."
Seeing Hua Qingzhi begin urging a sovereign to be gentle, kind, respectful, and modest, Ye Jingtang shook his head with a smile. He scooped up some medicine and brought it to her lips:
"I was only joking. Here, open up."
This medicine had already left Hua Qingzhi with a lingering dread. With all their traveling lately, she did not even want to mention it unless Green Pearl did. Seeing Ye Jingtang offer her medicine, she hesitated:
"My legs feel much better. After a