Chongfei Manual pt. 1

47.2

Wei Luo took the two water lanterns from Jin Lu, unfold them, gave one to Zhao Jie, and kept one in her own hands. She explained to him, “Use the match to light the lampwick inside, place the lantern on the lake, and make a wish. If the water lantern floats very far away, the wish will come true.”

She didn’t believe in this. This was just a lie to deceived ignorant little girls. She was long past that age. When she had gone outside with Chang Hong yesterday, Wei Zheng had suggested going to release water lanterns, but she didn’t go then. In the end, Wei Zheng had returned with disappointment and her eyes as cold as ice fragments.

Wei Luo hadn’t expected that she would have refused Wei Zheng yesterday and suggest releasing water lanterns herself today. Life really was fickle.

Zhao Jie held the water lantern, took the match from her hand, lighted that lampwick. Surrounded by the cold wind, the lampwick’s faint light was flickering.

After Wei Luo released her own water lantern, she turned her around and saw that he was stilling standing there, so she asked, “Older brother Prince Jing, why aren’t you coming over here?”

He walked forward, crouched down at the edge of the lake, and copied her actions in putting the water lantern into the water. As he was about let go, Wei Luo suddenly stopped him and hurriedly said, “That’s not how you do that. If you place it into the water like that, the lantern will sink into the water in a few moments.”

His lips slightly curved up. His mellow and sweet-sound voice unhurriedly asked, “How should I place it then?”

So, Wei Luo tried teaching him how to place it. Unfortunately, he seemed completely unable to learn. A glance showed that the candle in the lantern was about to be extinguished. She could only step closer and personally hold his hand to teach him. When their two hands were folded together, she gently pushed. The water lantern slowly floated away. “Just like this, gently push it…”

Instead of looking at the lantern, Zhao Jie was looking at their hands. Her hand was small and pale. When it was placed together with his, there was a clear difference. The palm of that small, soft hand carried warmth. The warmth traveled from the back of his hand to his insides and continued spreading until it arrived at his heart. His hand moved slightly and seemed as if it couldn’t resist turning over to hold her hand.

Fortunately, she moved away first and withdrew her hand into her sleeve as if she was completely unaware of what she had just done. She surveyed the surface of the lake. Her line of sight followed the two floating water lanterns. After a while, she turned around to smile and ask him, “Older brother Prince Jing, what did you wish for?”

Zhao Jie held back his smile. The back of his hand still had her residual warmth and made a person want to linger and reflect. He said, “Peace, security, and stability for the entire country.”

Actually, he wasn’t thinking anything when the water lantern was released. Her lovable, pretty small face had been in front of him. Any thought would have been superfluous at that moment. But, those eight words weren’t false. They were his ultimate ambition. If you really wanted to look into those words, a condition should be added – and under his control.

Wei Luo didn’t continue the conversation. If he really wanted to fight for the position of the emperor, it wouldn’t be a problem at all. But, she didn’t know why. In her previous life, Zhao Jie willingly acted as a regent. At that time, he had complete control of the imperial court. Zhao Zhang was only a figurehead that was completely controlled in the palm of Zhao Jie’s hand. He could have easily replaced Zhao Zhang as the emperor. Why didn’t he do it? Or, perhaps he did do it, but she didn’t live to that day?

It wasn’t impossible. Who told her to die so early?

——–

They left the palace. Wei Luo stood in front of the carriage and was preparing to say good-bye to Zhao Jie and return to Duke Ying’s residence.

Zhu Geng walked forward with a jubube red, tall and sturdy horse. Zhao Jie leapt up onto the horse and held the reins. With a smile on his face, he said to her, “Let’s go, this prince will bring you back.”

She reflexively refused, “I can return by myself. Big brother, you have your own matters. You don’t need to take care of me.”

He lowered his head to glance at her for a moment. His gaze landed on the green carriage behind her, “This is the prince’s carriage. Liuli said she invited you to the palace today, so I had people pick you up.”

Wei Luo finally suddenly realized. No wonder she was confused for a moment when she went out today. Zhao Liuli had never been this thoughtful in her actions before. Since this carriage was his, it wouldn’t be polite to keep refusing. She could only say thank you again and lowered her head to enter the carriage.

When she thought about it again, she felt there was still something wrong. Why would he know that she was going to the palace today and especially send people to pick her up?

When she had left Qingxi Palace, he was just standing there at the entrance. A single glance showed that he was waiting for something. Was he waiting for her? Did he wait for her just to give her this squirrel waist accessory? Wei Luo lowered her head and fiddled with that little turquoise squirrel. The more that she looked at, the more it seemed familiar. Had she seen it before?

The carriage slowly traveled through the streets of the capital. The curtain would occasionally be blown up by the wind and it would be possible to see the nearby person.

Zhao Jie was riding the horse next to the carriage and looking forward. His eyes were as deep as the night and his eyebrows looked handsome. His body was tall and straight. He wasn’t thin and weak like those Confucian scholars. Instead, his shoulders were wide and the muscles on his back were strong and had gone through polishing. As she was looking, it seemed that he had notice her spectating sight. He turned around to look at the carriage. His eyes held a faint smiling expression. It seemed as if he knew that she was looking at him, but was very happy that she was peeking at him.

Wei Luo’s face froze. She felt somewhat uneasy. Luckily, the curtain fell down and blocked his line of sight. She sighed in relief.

The carriage soon stopped at the entrance to Duke Ying’s residence. She stepped on the pedal to exit the carriage. Zhao Jie dismounted and walked to her side, “Go home, okay?”

She nodded, took off the overcoat to give back to him, smiled, and showed her two dimples as a result, “Thank you older brother Prince Jing.”

He curved his lips. He had resisted the entire way here, but he couldn’t resist in the end. He raised his hand to stroke the red birthmark between her eyebrows. While he gently stroked it, he asked, “Why didn’t you keep your bangs?”

Last year, the hair that covered her forehead was tied back. Fourth aunt said she had grown up and having bangs would make her seem too childish. After her bangs were gone, the red birthmark between her eyebrows was revealed on her bright and clean forehead. The red birthmark was like a vital finishing touch. Although Zhao Jie thought it looked good, he felt somewhat listless when he thought about other men being able to see it now and not just him.

Wei Luo blinked, “Does it look bad?”

He laughed and said, “Looks good.”

That’s fine then. As long as it looked good, it was fine. Wei Luo saw that he wasn’t leaving and thought that he had other matters. However, after she waited for a while, he still didn’t say anything. So, she stepped closer to the entrance and said, “Older brother Prince Jing, if there’s nothing else, I’m going home…”

He called out her name to stop her, “Ah Luo.”

Wei Luo stopped. She didn’t understand his meaning.

“Did you meet Li Song when you went outside yesterday?”

Wei Luo opened her small mouth in surprise. She didn’t understand why he would know this.

Who would have expected that his next words would leave her even more astonished?

He looked at her with a focused gaze. There was clearly a smile in his eyes, but he gave off a feeling that he was actually very unhappy, “He hugged you.”