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Chapter 74

After returning home, Wei Luo was preoccupied.

She had Jin Lu and Bai Lan prepare hot water, then she took an hour long bath behind the divider screen that was made of twelve red sandalwood pieces and decorated with flowers and birds.

There wasn’t any movement behind the divider screen for a long time. Jin Lu and Bai Lan thought that she had fallen asleep. They looked at each other in dismay and could only go inside to look for her. After they entered, they saw that she was lying on the edge of the tub with her pale lotus-like arms outside of the tub and looking straight ahead. She wasn’t sleeping. She was clearly lost in her thoughts!

Jin Lu went forward and softly called out, “Miss, are you done bathing?”

She suddenly returned to the present and turned her head around to look. Her little face was full of confusion. Her bright eyes looked around the room as her thick eyelashes fluttered like butterflies beating their wings to fly. She had soaked for too long and didn’t notice the water had long become cold until now. She suddenly shivered. She quickly recovered her senses and covered the two small peaches in front of her. “I’m done bathing. Bring my clothes over here. I’m going to put them on.”

Jin Lu thought there was something wrong with Wei Luo. As for what was exactly wrong, she couldn’t figure it out at the moment. She only nodded and said, “Yes.”

Wei Luo stood up from the tub. She was a thirteen-year-old girl and her woman’s physique wasn’t fully developed yet. At the moment, she was still slightly small and slender. However, she was already in her fledgling state. When she grew up more, she would have an exquisite figure. She put on a thin peach pink top and a beautiful silk skirt. Her wet hair was hanging down on her back and dampened a large spot on her top. The material had become transparent and stuck to her flesh that was like white jade and created an outline of a willow waist.

Jin Lu came forward and held up her full wet hair that took two hands to hold, “This servant wants to help Miss dry her hair… If its left like this, Miss might get a cold later.”

Wei Luo’s heart was filled with other thoughts. She didn’t nod or refuse as she sat on a sandalwood stool that was in front of a mirror. She held up her cheek in one hand as she continued to think.

Her mind kept echoing the words that Zhao Jie had said in the carriage. He said that he liked her. She still felt that this was unimaginable.

When did he start liking her? She had met him when she was six years old and had called him big brother. She had always acted like an ignorant and naive little girl in front of him. Why did he like her? It couldn’t be that he had strange inclinations?

Thinking about it, it wasn’t impossible. Otherwise, why did he always treat her so well? When she was a child, he had given her a blood jade and a kitten. He had also easily agreed with bringing her to Long Shou Village. After she had caused such a big mess there, he had been perfectly happy to settle everything for her without first asking for an explanation.

Thinking of this, Wei Luo felt shocked. She suddenly straightened up and bumped into a silver comb on the table.

The silver comb heavily landed on the ground and made a loud sound.

Zhao Jie liked little girls?

Jin Lu was startled by her action. She crouched down to pick up the double-edged comb. Seeing that her appearance continued to look dejected, she couldn’t resist attentively asking, “Miss, what’s wrong? You’ve been ill at ease since you returned. Did something troublesome happen while you were outside?”

Wei Luo pursed her lips. Her confused heart felt as if it was stepping on pins and needles. She wasn’t in the mood to answer Jin Lu’s question.

However, after she thought about it again, she felt that her earlier thought wasn’t correct. Zhao Jie only treated her well. He was cold towards other little girls.

During Zhao Liuli’s seventh birthday, there were so many little girls in attendance, but he didn’t speak to any of them. He even looked slightly impatient on that day and seemed very hard to get along with. Even Liang Yu Rong, who was usually courageous, was secretly scared of him. But, on that day, behind Xin Yan, he had gently asked her if the kitten had injured her and wanted to give her one of the kittens.

When she was a child, she was the only person that he treated nicely. Now that she had grown up, it was still the same.

When he came back from Binzhou, in front of palace servant girls, he had put on the turquoise squirrel waist accessory for her. And on Zhang Xun Mountain’s Jing He Villa, when she had twisted her ankle, he had personally applied medicine for her. Even on Qian Temple’s mountainside, he had personally led a horse for her… There had always been a ball of doubts inside Wei Luo’s heart. She didn’t understand why he only treated her well. Now, she finally understood everything. The clouds had been dispelled and she saw the sun.

After Jin Lu dried Wei Luo’s hair and seeing that her Miss was lost in her thoughts again, she couldn’t resist sighing. What happened to her Miss today? Her entire self seemed off.

——–

Wei Luo didn’t use too much time to consider this matter. It was probably because there was a more important matter.

She still hadn’t forgotten about meeting Zhao Jue and Xiang Xuan at Yu He. She couldn’t let that type of a woman become Liang Yu’s concubine, much less enter Marquis Ping Yuan’s residence. If she remembered the time correctly, Xiang Xuan and Zhao Jue’s affair would soon be exposed. Not much later, Xiang Xuan would fool around with Liang Yu on Marquis Ping Yuan’s birthday banquet and take the opportunity to act out a scene of “illicit sexual relations after getting drunk”. Then, she would threaten Liang Yu into taking responsibility for her.

There was still one more month until Marquis Ping Yuan’s birthday banquet.

Before the birthday banquet, there was still Zhao Liuli’s hairpin ceremony to trouble her.

Empress Chen was very concerned about Zhao Liuli’s hairpin ceremony. After all, it was a very important ceremony and nothing could go wrong. The hairpin ceremony would even be held at Qing Xi Palace. It would be an extremely grand occasion. On that day, not only were the wives of court officials invited, but many daughters of nobles were also invited to attend Zhao Liuli’s coming-of-age ceremony.

During the past several days, Wei Luo went to Qing Xi Palace a few times to learn from Mama Qiu what a zanzhe had to do and to become more familiar with the hairpin ceremony. Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult. She was only responsible for putting up Zhao Liuli’s hair into a bun and inserting the hairpin. Wei Luo had a clever mind and quickly learned her tasks. Seeing that she had remembered all the steps in the hair arrangement after practicing a few times, Empress Chen felt reassured and greatly praise her.

Today was April 12th and Zhao Liuli’s hairpin ceremony.

Before Wei Luo entered the palace, she intentionally went to Marquis Ping Yuan’s residence in order to pick up Liang Yu Rong and to go to palace together in the same carriage.

Inside the carriage, Liang Yu Rong was wearing a short-sleeve lilac top and a white skirt. On her smooth ears, there was a pair of gold and jade earrings that looked like mini lanterns. She looked natural and elegant like a cool breeze underneath a forest tree. She was sitting across from Wei Luo and leaning again a sapphire blue damask silk pillow. She intentionally said in a sour tone, “You looked unwilling to see me the last few times we met. I thought you didn’t like me. Why did you make a special trip to my home to look for me today? Is something wrong?”

As Wei Luo listened, she felt a burst of humor and ridiculousness.

The last few times, she had shown an unwilling face in front of her because she didn’t want to give her a chance to meet her eldest cousin. She hadn’t expected that Yu Rong would be so petty to remember this.

Wei Luo looked at her in annoyance for a moment. She picked up the white porcelain teapot from the small vermillion lacquered table inlayed with gold and carved with spirals, poured a cup of e mei xue ya tea, and delivered it to her, “Tell me, how have I shown that I disliked you? Did I not give you tea or a place to sit?”

She said it wasn’t either and after a long time of being unable to say a reason, she gave up on pursuing this question and curiously asked, “Today is Princess Tianji’s hairpin ceremony. As the zanzhe, why did you come looking for me instead of going to the palace earlier?”

Wei Luo didn’t speak in a roundabout way. She went straight to the point by saying, “It’ll be Uncle Liang’s birthday banquet next month, so I should be preparing a gift. After thinking about it for a while, I still haven’t thought of a good gift, so I wanted to directly ask you. Do you know what he likes?”

So, it was for this reason. Liang Yu Rong disappointedly realized. She couldn’t immediately think of a good gift. Her big eyes turned as she thought and her eyes finally stopped at the teapot. She clapped her hands and said, “Tea would be good. My father enjoys drinking tea the most. The flavor of this tea is pretty good. If you give him this tea, he would definitely be happy.”

Her selection was good. Although it seemed casual, her vision wasn’t the slightest bit poor.

This e mei xue ya tea was one of the highest quality green tea. Emperor Chong Zhen had conferred the title of the capital’s best tea to this tribute tea. This tea was grown on the peaks of mountains and there wasn’t much produced each year. Most of this tea stayed with the emperor and only a little bit was distributed to the court officials. Earlier this year, Duke Ying’s residence only received one and a half kilograms of tealeaves. Duke Ying had kept a quarter of a kilogram for himself and distributed the rest among the other branches. Wei Kun knew that Wei Luo loved to drink this tea and generously gave her his entire share. Wei Zheng had been extremely dissatisfied by this.

Wei Luo had only drank this tea a few times this year and still had most of a quarter of a kilogram of tealeaves left. She was reluctant to give the entire amount to Marquis Ping Yuan.

However, since she was the one who first opened her mouth, even if her heart ached, she could only resign herself to parting with her treasure.

After starting the conversation, Wei Luo asked another question, “I heard that your family also invited Prince Rui and his family? Is that true?”

Liang Yu Rong nodded after thinking about it for a moment. “My father wrote out the invitation cards. I didn’t see them. But, I heard him talking about it a few times with my mother. He seemed to have mentioned Prince Rui.”

Then, she was right.

That day, if Zhao Jue and Xiang Wu were attending, then Xiang Xuan would also naturally be attending.

Wei Luo thought it was necessary to warn Yu Rong, so that Liang Yu wouldn’t repeat the same mistake of provoking this restless woman.

She had Liang Yu Rong come closer to her and whisper into her ear, “A few days ago, I went out with Liuli and met two people…”

She went on to describe the situation that had happened in the private room. Of course, she only tactfully said there was something fishy between those two people and not the words she had heard on the other side of the wall. Even if it was only like this, Liang Yu Rong still understood her meaning.

Her eyes were as wide as possible when she incredulously said, “I’ve seen that Zhao Heir before. He looked so proper. Who could have expected that he would be that type of person….”

While there were examples of two sisters serving one man, it was rare. And, when it happened, it was properly and officially done. What those two were doing was too dirty. Behind the back of his wife, he was fooling around outside with his sister-in-law and it was even a public place… It was unthinkable no matter how one looked at it.

Liang Yu Rong’s face clearly showed how she despised this type of vulgar matter.

Wei Luo nodded in agreement and warned her, “I’m telling you this because I want you to be careful of Xiang Xuan… If she can fool around with her own brother-in-law, then she might also fool around with other men. On Uncle Liang’s birthday banquet, you have to look after your older brother. Don’t let him be tricked by her.” To avoid Liang Yu Rong from overthinking, she explained, “Even if its unlikely, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Liang Yu Rong understood and felt the same way. She nodded, “Don’t worry. I’ll carefully watch over my older brother. I won’t let him have any contact with Xiang Xuan.”

——–

At some point during their conversation, the carriage had passed through the palace gates and stopped at Qing Xi Palace’s entrance.

At this time, many people had already arrived at Qing Xi Palace and were gathered inside Zhao Yang Hall.

The women inside the hall were all in the prime of their youth with beautiful, thick hair. They were all dressed up magnificently with brightly colored ornaments. Just as Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong entered the hall, they saw the three most eye-catching young women.

On one side, there was Gao Dan Yang, and Gao Qing Yang. On the other side, there was Li Xiang.

Gao Dan Yang and Gao Qing Yang were Empress Chen’s relatives and their father was Duke Zhen, so there were naturally many people around them. They were also first class beauties. Today, one was wearing a robe that looked like rippling water and the other was wearing a robe with the color of tender green leaves. There were brightly colored flowers embroidered everywhere on their sleeves. They had bright eyes and white teeth. Combined with their dignified bearing, they were very eye-catching while standing at the center of the crowd. They looked like two moons with a group of stars revolving around them.

On the other side, Li Xiang was wearing an apricot robe embroidered with a pattern of golden peony. On the top of her hair, she had a lantern-shaped hair ornament made with golden wires. On both sides of her hair, she had a pair of gold and jade hairpins with stylized cicada. The overall effect was very bright and sparkling. She looked glamorously beautiful. As Elder Princess Gao Yang’s daughter, she naturally felt this event was beneath her. She had the cold eyes of a bystander and a displeased expression. Her expression didn’t improve until Marquis An Ling’s Fifth Miss hurriedly praised her for dressing beautifully today after seeing that Li Xiang was unhappy.

In addition to them, Wei Luo saw Xiang Wu and Xiang Xuan standing in front of a silver divider screen. At this time, their relationship hadn’t been broken yet. They looked as close as actual sisters.

Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong walked further into the hall. Li Xiang saw her first. Dissatisfied, in sour tone, she deliberately asked, “Why did you also come here? I didn’t hear that Her Majesty invited you. Could you have come here without an invitation card?”

It hadn’t been announced yet that Wei Luo would be Princess Tianji’s zanzhe, so very few people knew.

It was normal that the initiation list didn’t haven’t her name. She was part of the ceremony. She would be putting the hairpin into Liuli’s hair.

Wei Luo looked at her. Before Wei Luo could speak, Mama Qiu, who was wearing an autumn-color satin robe, came out from the warmed partition of the hall, saluted, and properly said, “Fourth Miss, come. Her Majesty wants you to go to the back of the hall to prepare. The princess’s hairpin ceremony will start soon.”

Li Xiang’s face stiffened and immediately sunk.

Wei Luo nodded. Without even looking at Li Xiang, she said good-bye to Liang Yu Rong, then she followed Mama Qiu towards the back of the hall.

After going through a luo di zhao carved with a hundred birds, passing through a scenic verandah, they arrived at the back of the hall. The back of the hall was livelier than the front of the hall. The palace servants were busy preparing the clothes and hairpins that Zhao Liuli would soon be wearing. Every piece had to perfect. They couldn’t have any flaws. Other than the palace servants, Empress Chen and her sister, Duke Zhen’s wife, was also there. Seeing that Wei Luo had come here, they called her forward to their side to say a few words.

Recalling everything that Wei Luo had done, Empress Chen said with gratification, “Good child, you’ve been working hard these past few days.”

Not much later, a red robed servant girl saluted and brought clothing for Wei Luo, “Her Majesty had ordered us to custom make this clothing for Fourth Miss. Please change into this.”

Wei Luo took the clothing. It was a cherry red palace robe with a pink layer beneath. Both the collar and sleeves had finely stitched golden embroidery. The clothing was gorgeous and dignified.

She listened to the servant girl and went behind a divider screen with a landscape painting and ivory carvings. She put the palace robe down on furniture that had curved legs, then she lowered her head to untie the colorful decorative ribbon sash on her waist. As she was about to untie the sash, she suddenly heard the slight sound of footsteps. She stiffened in surprise. Just as she was about to turn around, a pair of hands came out from behind her and pressed down on her hands.

A tall body pressed against hers. It was clearly a man!

In astonishment, Wei Luo opened her eyes wider. As she was about to call out for help, the man was one step faster than her and blocked her mouth. He leaned over and as if he was placating a startled baby animal, he quietly whispered into her ear, “Hush. Don’t move. This prince only wants to say a few words to you.”