Chapter: 071.1 out of 171
Zhao Jie had guessed correctly. Wei Luo knew what happened at Qian Temple.
Not only did she know, she had also decided to maintain a distance from him.
She knew that not only had he kissed her near Qian Temple’s gate, he had also licked her lips! She clearly remembered that day. The hot spring near the peach tree grove had been too comfortable, so she had fallen asleep as she soaked in the hot spring and became drowsier and drowsier. Later, she had a faint impression of Zhao Jie carrying her onto the horse. When they were almost at Qian Temple, she had heard him when called out her name, but she was tired and didn’t want to wake up. Who could have expected that he would lean over and kiss her forehead?
She was too startled and didn’t dare to open her eyes, so she kept her eyes closed and pretended to still be asleep. But, his following action made her even shocked. He actually kissed her mouth!
On the surface, she acted as if she was sleeping so deeply that she couldn’t perceive anything. In her heart, Wei Luo felt as if she were in a perilous position.
Why did Zhao Jie kiss her?
She wasn’t stupid. Having already lived one lifetime, she had more experience than other people and knew what his action meant.
In the past, she had been unwilling to think about this. Zhao Jie treated her very well. He looked at her with single-minded devotion and his hands were always scorching hot when he hugged her. She had chosen to believe in her own lies and ignored his behavior. After all, he was nine years older than her. He had watched her slowly grow up. How could he have these feelings towards her?
But, now, she couldn’t continue ignoring this. He had kissed her when she was sleeping. When he was holding her that day, the scalding heat from his body almost melted her body.
Her big brother liked her. It was the like that a man had towards a woman instead of simple sibling affection.
For now, Wei Luo didn’t know what to think. She deeply respected Zhao Jie and felt grateful towards him. It was probably because he had always taken care of her, protected her, and cleaned up her messes. But, she wasn’t able to suddenly accept his feelings, so she decided to keep a distance between them.
Previously, they had been too close. Zhao Jie was a man. She was an unmarried girl. Men and women should keep their distance from each other. It wasn’t good for them to be so close.
This was the reason why she was avoiding Zhao Jie today.
After Wei Luo came back to Duke Ying’s residence, she was originally going to fourth branch’s courtyard to pay Qin-shi a visit. However, just as she passed through the gate, Bai Lan walked towards her and said, “Miss, Marquis Ping Yuan’s daughter is here.”
Liang Yu Rong often visited here to play with Wei Luo, so this wasn’t uncommon. The servant girls had already become accustomed to her visits, so they would directly bring her to the reception pavilion to wait.
Wei Luo nodded to show that she understood. Hearing that Bai Lan said Liang Yu Rong was at the reception pavilion, she lifted her skirt and went there herself.
Liang Yu Rong was sitting on a rosewood chair and drinking the tea in fascination. The tea was recently delivered in spring and called e mei xue ya. The tea was translucent and had a strongly fragrant spiciness. She looked up and saw that Wei Luo had arrived. She quickly stood up and asked here, “I heard from Bai Lan that you went to the palace. What happened? Was Princess Tianji looking for you?”
(T/N: E mei xue ya is a type of green tea. Below is a picture of the tea.)
Wei Luo shook her head and said, “It was Her Majesty that invited me to the palace.”
Liang Yu Rong froze while she was pouring tea. She knew that Zhao Liuli often invited Wei Luo to the palace. But, did Her Majesty also often see Wei Luo? She curiously asked, “Why did Her Majesty invite you to the palace?”
Wei Luo explained that Princess Tianji would soon reach a marriagable age and had ordered her to be Princess Tianji’s zanzhe for her hairpin ceremony.
As Liang Yu Rong listened, she showed an expression of realization, “So, it was like that.”
This was a good thing. She turned her head as she carefully looked at Wei Luo on both sides. Her expression showed that she was really proud of Wei Luo and felt as if she also shared her honor. In a very pleased tone, she said, “Isn’t this great? There will definitely be many young women attending the ceremony. For Her Majesty to select you instead of them, it must be because she likes your well-behaved deportment. It means you’re the best person out of all the other young women. After Princess Tianji’s hairpin ceremony, your reputation will definitely significantly increase.”
Wei Luo agreed that this was true after thinking about it. But, she wasn’t familiar with the customs related to the hairpin ceremony, so she felt somewhat anxious. It wouldn’t be good if she messed up.
Luckily, Empress Chen had said she would have someone carefully teach her. After hearing those words, her heart felt much more at ease.
After they finished talking about this, Wei Luo picked up the lotus pattern teacup, tilted her head, and asked, “Why were you looking for me today?”
Liang Yu Rong wasn’t a bashful girl. She had a straightforward personality. Normally, she would directly speak her thoughts. But, this time, she blinked and asked in a roundabout way, “Did older brother Chang Yin say anything when you gave him the pastries and candy?”
So, she had come here to ask about this.
Wei Luo’s good mood diminished. She held her cheeks and deliberately stretched out saying, “Well.” Then, she pretended to think and after a long time, she slowly replied, “He didn’t say anything.”
Liang Yu Rong’s face showed her disappointment.
Actually, she was lying to her. When Wei Chang Yin accepted the pastries and candy, his smile was very warm and he joked, “I only gave her candy, but she gave me three bags of pastries and candy in return. This transaction was very profitable.”
But, she wouldn’t tell Liang Yu Rong this. Before Wei Chang Yin’s leg was healed, she didn’t want them to become too involved.
Liang Yu Rong’s large, bright eyes had immediately dimmed. A moment later, she didn’t give up and continued to asked, “Did he say if there were tasty or not? Or, did he say if he liked them or not?”
Wei Luo’s face didn’t redden or twitch as she continued to lie. She seemed sincere as she said, “I left right after delivering the pastries and candy to eldest cousin Chang Yin. I didn’t see if he ate any or not, so I naturally don’t know if he like them.”
Liang Yu Rong’s spirit was deflated. She listlessly sat back in the chair and didn’t say anything else after this setback.
As they were talking, a servant boy hurriedly rushed past them. Behind him, there was an old man with a white beard. The old man was carrying a medicine box. He was probably a doctor. Wei Luo walked out of the reception pavilion and called out to the servant boy, “What happened? Who’s sick?”
Hearing her voice, the servant boy stopped, saluted, and said, “To respond to Fourth Miss, its Banyan Tree Courtyard’s First Young Master. His leg is hurting.”
This wasn’t a big or small thing. After all, so many years had passed. He had long become used to this pain. However, every time his leg ached, it was still difficult to endure the pain.
Hearing that the matter wasn’t good, Liang Yu Rong couldn’t resist asking, “Is his leg illness… serious?”
The servant boy replied, “It’s probably because the weather has been too humid lately, so his illness is slightly serious than usual.”
Seeing that he had been delayed for too long and worried that this would interfere with Wei Chang Yin’s treatment, he hurriedly took his leave with Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong and continued leading the doctor to Banyan Tree Courtyard.
Liang Yu Rong was still worried. She walked forward, grasped Wei Luo’s hand, and said, “Let’s go visit older brother Chang Yin, okay?”
Wei Luo originally didn’t want to let Liang Yu Rong go there. If Liang Yu Rong saw him again, then she wouldn’t be able to break their connection. However, when she thought about it again, if Liang Yu Rong saw the injury on Wei Chang Yin’s leg, then she would clearly see the obstruction between them and wouldn’t continue having thoughts that she shouldn’t have. At the thought of this, Wei Luo nodded and said, “Okay.”
Chapter: 071.2 out of 171
When they arrived at Banyan Tree Courtyard, they saw the doctor treating Wei Chang Yin’s leg.
Hearing that they had come to see Wei Chang Yin, First Madam didn’t stop them. She invited them into the inner room and was barely able to force herself to smile as she said, “Ah Luo… Thank you for kind intentions.”
The smell of medicine was so strong that it seemed to flood the inner room. It assaulted their senses and irritated their noses and mouths.
Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong couldn’t get used to such a strong medicinal smell at first. As soon as they entered, they started choking from the smell. After they finally adapted to the smell and walked behind the lacquered, yellow rosewood divider screen that was carved with stylized clouds and had a landscape painting in the center, they saw Wei Chang Yin stiffly sitting in a chair and soaking his legs in a wooden barrel.
Little by little, the doctor added medicine into the barrel. There was a fire beneath the wooden barrel and white mist came from the water. A glance showed that the water was very hot. Wei Chang Yin’s handsome face was deathly pale and there was sweat on his forehead. He looked very difference from his usually elegant appearance.
Even thought he was in pain, his aura of calm and quietness didn’t change. He only closed his eyes and pressed his lips together without saying a word.
He had probably heard their footsteps. He opened his eyes to look at them and was barely able to force out a smile as he said, “Ah Luo and younger sister Yu Rong have come…”
Liang Yu Rong hadn’t seen such a scene before. Inside her sleeves, she clenched her hands and clutched her silk handkerchief. She felt awful and worried for Wei Chang Yin. She hesitated with answering for a long time before stepping forward and softly asking, “Is older brother Chang Yin in a lot of pain?”
Wei Chang Yin restrained the pain in his eyes and weakly said, “Doesn’t hurt too much.”
How could it not hurt?
His face looked terrible and his clothes were soaked with his sweat. How could it not hurt?
Liang Yu Rong and Wei Luo stood at the side. Originally, they had wanted to see if he was okay. But, now after seeing this sight, they wished they hadn’t come here. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t see the sight of him in so much pain and feel so bad for him.
They stood at the side for a while. They couldn’t help or do anything useful. To not hinder the doctor as he treated Wei Chang Yin, they said good-bye to First Madam and left.
Before leaving, as she was turning around, Liang Yu Rong’s inadvertently saw an open bag of pastries on the square table near Wei Chang Yin’s bed. It was the soy flour pastry with red bean paste that she had bought for him. There were several layers of red beans in the pastry and it was sprinkled with a thin layer of glutinous rice flower. It was sweet and fragrant without being greasy. She had purchased eight pieces of this pastry and now there was only two left.
Did he like them?
Liang Yu Rong froze for a moment and turned her head to look at Wei Chang Yin.
Coincidentally, Wei Chang Yin was also looking at her and their eyes met. He curved his lips into a faint smile. His face was gentle. Even while he was in such a sorry state, he was still calm and composed.
——–
After Wei Luo sent Liang Yu Rong off, a few days peacefully passed
Today was March 15th and the day that Zhao Liuli would be leaving the palace.
Wei Luo woke up early. She sat in front the mirror to apply makeup. Normally, she didn’t like to use too much cosmetics. It was probably because she was young and her skin was at its best. Putting on makeup would only hide her natural skin color. Today, she didn’t apply anything on her skin either. She only darkened her eyebrows with a brush and used a little bit of pink lipstick. Looking into the mirror, her lips were pink and glossy.
She changed into a pink top with a cloud pattern and a moon white crepe skirt with butterflies and flowers. She had Jin Lu arrange her hair into two loops at the top of her head and inserted a golden flower hairpin inlayed with precious stones. Now, everything was sorted out and she was ready to go out. Just as she put on her satin shoes embroidered with plum flowers, she heard a servant girl come inside and say, “Fourth Miss, Princess Tianji has arrived.”
(T/N: Below is a picture of Wei Luo’s hairstyle.)
She nodded. She was ready to go out and and leave Duke Ying’s residence.
In front of the entrance, there was a Eight Treasure carriage with a bluish green cover. Yang Zhen was stand at the side of the carriage and wearing a black robe.
Seeing that she had come out, Yang Zhen nodded at her in greeting.
Wei Luo stepped on the carriage’s pedal to enter the carriage. She lifted up the curtain to look and slightly paused in moving.
Not only was Zhao Liuli in the carriage, Zhao Jie was also inside. He was wearing a light green robe with a python pattern.
Zhao Jie was sitting the furthest inside. Noticing her gaze, he lifted his eyes to look at her. His gaze was deep without any concealment.
After being gaze by him like that, Wei Luo felt fearful and almost turned around to leave the carriage.
Unfortunately, Zhao Liuli was a step faster. In high spirits, she pulled Wei Luo down to sit next to her. Her eyes were as bright as the full moon. “Ah Luo, today, you look prettier than before.”
Wei Luo absent-mindedly nodded, “I put on lipstick.”
Her seating position wasn’t good. Originally, there was a distance between Zhao Liuli and Zhao Jie. Now, she was sitting between them. On her left, there was Zhao Liuli. On her right, there was Zhao Jie. It wasn’t good no matter how she looked at it. Although she wasn’t cramped, having Zhao Jie’s hands near her hands, it was still too intimately close.
The carriage was spacious. If Zhao Jie wanted to move to farther away, he could. But, he acted as if he didn’t notice anything and didn’t move.
Wei Luo tried to endure it, but she finally tilted her head and curved her almond eyes as she asked, “Older brother Prince Jing, could you sit a little closer to the inside?”
He thoughtfully looked at her with his eyebrows raised. Instead of moving, he curved his lips into a smile and said, “Why? Do you feel crowded?”
She nodded and said, “Yes.”
After a long time, he finally moved and sat down on the other side of the carriage, which was directly in front of her.
Wei Luo, “…”
This arrangement was even worse. His legs were long. If he didn’t retract them, they would easily touch her calf. This sense of pressure was even worse then he was sitting next to her. Wei Luo puffed out her cheeks and decided that he was doing this deliberately. She moved her legs closer to Liuli’s side to avoid touching him. She didn’t continue look at him. She turned her head and attentively listened to Zhao Liuli.
Zhao Jie hands were placed on top of each other. His dark eyes looked at the girl in front of him. An imperceptible smile flashed through his eyes. There was a hidden meaning in that smile.
——–
In half a month, it would be Zhao Liuli’s hairpin ceremony. The reason she came out today was to buy an item.
The carriage stopped in front of a jade store. She led Wei Luo down the carriage.
Walking into the store, their eyes were filled with glittering jewels. There were all sorts of jade jewelry that dazzled their eyes. Zhao Liuli walked to the shopkeeper. Her eyes turned and she whispered, “Do you have something that comes in a pair?”
This shopkeeper had been in business for many years. His experience was ample, so he naturally knew what she wanted. Seeing the two refined girls in front of him with noble auras, his insight told him that a large profit was waiting for him. He hurriedly said, “I do. Please wait here for a bit. I’ll bring them out.” Not long after, he came out from the back of the store with a vermillion box carved with blossoming tree peonies. He put the box in front of them and opened it, “This is the store’s collected treasure. Please look.”
On top of the red silk, there was a pair of white jade pendants. These first class jades had a flawlessly exquisite color and luster. However, the shopkeeper wasn’t pointing out this aspect. In order to let them see what was special about these jade pendants, he brought the jade underneath the sunlight. Underneath the sunlight, they saw that there was a concentric knot in each of the jade pieces. This was extremely rare by itself. In addition, the concentric knot in each jade was very similar. Therefore, the shopkeeper named this “concentric knot jade”.
Zhao Liuli liked them at first sight. These two jade pendants could be worn around their neck and hidden in their clothes. No one would find out.
Chapter: 071.3 out of 171
The shopkeeper did his business sincerely. Seeing that she liked the jade, he didn’t try to swindle her. His price was reasonable for this quality of jade. However, the price of a thousand and eight hundred coins would be extremely expensive for an ordinary person. Even if an average person didn’t eat and drink and diligently worked for an entire lifetime, he or she wouldn’t be able to save this much money!
Zhao Liuli didn’t have a concept of money. Besides, when she left the palace today, Mama Qiu had given her a lot of money. She had more than enough to buy these jades. She had the palace servant girl pay for the jades, then she happily took the two pieces of jades into her hand and left the store without even taking the box.
At the store’s entrance, Yang Zhen was standing as straight as a pine tree.
Zhao Liuli looked in the direction of the carriage. She checked that Zhao Jie hadn’t come out before walking over to Yang Zhen. She held up his hand and placed one of the jade into his palms. Her little face smiled, “Today is older brother Yang Zhen’s birthday. This is my gift to you.”
Yang Zhen was surprised for a moment. He hadn’t expected that she would remember.
“There’s another piece that’s mine.” She held the remaining piece in her palm. She stared at him as she said, “Older brother Yang Zhen, you have to wear this every day. I’ll inspect you everyday to check that you’re wearing it.”
His heart moved. There was finally a disturbance in his indifferent and silent eyes. He looked at Zhao Liuli with deep eyes. He tried his best to repress him emotions. If they weren’t outside on a busy street and if Prince Jing wasn’t sitting in the carriage, he wouldn’t be able to resist bringing her close to his chest and hugging her. A long time later, he finally nodded and solemnly said, “Okay.”
Zhao Liuli smiled in satisfaction.
After she sat down in the carriage again, she impatiently had Wei Luo help her put on the jade necklace.
Zhao Jie glanced at them.
She didn’t tell Zhao Jie that this jade was part of a pair or why she wanted to buy it. Zhao Jie didn’t ask her about it either.
——–
After they shopped in the morning, noon soon arrived and it was time to eat lunch.
Zhao Liuli asked Zhao Jie where they would be eating.
After thinking about it, he said, “Let’s go to Yu He.”
Zhao Liuli wasn’t familiar with these restaurants and was fine with any place he wanted to go to.
A little while later, they arrived at Yu He’s entrance and came out of the carriage. Just as Zhao Liuli was going to walk inside the restaurant, Zhao Jie stopped her by saying, “Liuli, there’s a tofu store not far from here. I heard that you recently wanted to eat jellied tofu. The flavor that the store makes is pretty good, but they’re only open until noon.”
(T/N: Below is a picture of jellied tofu. Jellied tofu is similar to dohua (tofu pudding), but it has savory ingredients instead of sweet ones.)
After hearing this, Zhao Liuli was very excited. After thinking about it, she said, “Then I’ll go there with older brother Yang Zhen and come back here after I finish eating the jellied tofu. Second brother and Ah Luo can go inside to request a private room and start ordering food.”
Wei Luo frowned. Didn’t this mean she would be alone with Zhao Jie when they were waiting? She opened her mouth to say she also wanted to go with them, but unfortunately, Zhao Liuli had already left with Yang Zhen. In addition, those two had deep feelings for each other that were as thick and sweet as honey. They finally had a chance to be together without other people around. How could she follow them? Wei Luo looked at their back figures and could only give up. She obediently followed Zhao Jie inside Yu He.
At this time, there weren’t many people inside and there were still private rooms available upstairs.
The waiter led them to a private room on the western side, pushed open the door, and respectively said, “Please enter.”
The spacious private room was fairly neat and faced the street.
Zhao Jie sat down at the round table and ordered various dishes, then he finally looked at Wei Luo and said, “And a bowl of yuanbao wontons.”
One by one, the waiter listed out the ordered items to confirm. Then at the end, he recommended, “Our restaurant has made a new dish. It’s called lovers’ lotus seed congee. It’s most suitable for people like Sir and Miss. Would Sir like to order two bowls?”
Was he treating them as a couple?
Wei Luo discontentedly looked up at the waiter. What kind of eyes did he have?!
Zhao Jie was very cheerful and quietly laughed. He looked at the girl across from him, “Ah Luo, do you want to drink this?”
Wei Luo pursed her lips and without even thinking about it, she refused, “I don’t want it.”
The waiter bumped into the wall, touched his nose, smiled, didn’t think anything of this, turned around, and went to the kitchen to order the food.
After the waiter left, there was only Wei Luo and Zhao Jie in the room.
Normally, they usually had endless words to say when they were together. But, now, she was deliberately ignoring him and the private room was very quiet. However, Zhao Jie didn’t seem to feel uncomfortable. He comfortably sat at the round table carved with lions and his phoenix eyes looked at her for a long time.
He still hasn’t looked enough?
At first, Wei Luo ignored him. If he wanted to look, he could look. She would just ignore him. After a while, she finally couldn’t tolerate it anymore. Her almond eyes stared back at him, “Older brother Prince Jing, don’t look at me.”
In a deep and low voice, Zhao Jie said, “Oh, why can’t I look?”
She thought of the recent words said by the waiter and deliberated her words before saying, “Other people will misunderstand.”
Even though he already knew everything, he still smiled and asked, “What will they misunderstand.”
Wei Luo chose to be silent and didn’t continue speaking.
But, Zhao Jie didn’t intend to let her go. His dark eyes stared at her and he slowly said, “Ah Luo, what will they misunderstand?”
She refused to answer, so he stood up and walked to her. He placed one hand on the round Chinese cedar table, then he slowly leaned over her and said, “Tell me.”
Wei Luo reflexively pushed him away. But his chest was as hard and solid as a mountain. She wasn’t able to push him away. He slowly moved forward and she could only slowly retreat. But, the Chinese cedar kaiguang stool beneath her wasn’t steady, so it gradually started to tilt over. Her body started to fall backwards.
Her eyes widen and she subconsciously grabbed Zhao Jie’s sleeve.
Fortunately, Zhao Jie was able to timely respond. One hand held the back of her head and the other hand tightly held her waist as they both fell to the ground. He closely held and protected her so she didn’t suffer from the slightest injury.
However, their bodies were very close to each other without any distance between them. The two small peaches on Wei Luo’s chest were pressed against his hard chest. They had already felt sore to begin with and after being pressed against him, it hurt so much that her face paled.
Zhao Jie seemed to have also felt something. His hand came out from behind her head and he slightly propped up his upper body. But, he didn’t let go of her. His very hard and long legs were still sticking close to her legs. One leg was even inserted itself between her legs and pushed them open.
The difference between a man and a woman was embodied in the finest detail at this moment. Her body was soft, but his body was hard and powerful.
Wei Luo’s small face was blushing. She wasn’t able to even slightly move underneath his body much less get up, “Let me go…”
Zhao Jie didn’t move. One hand was on her side and the other hand was tightly wrapped around her slender waist. His tall body was covering her as he stared into her eyes.
His eyes held a tide of deep emotions that seemed to drown her.
Why weren’t Liuli and Yang Zhen back yet?
Wei Luo almost wanted to cry.
But, then strange sounds came from the next room. It seemed as if it was a man and a woman calling out together ambiguously and gently. One voice was coarse and the other was soft.
The sound insulation for the private rooms weren’t very good. Wei Luo could clearly hear the sounds from the next room. She even heard the female calling out, “Ah…. Don’t bite there…”
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