Chapter 91

Startled awake from her dream, Wei Luo looked at the jade hairpin in his hand. She didn’t return to her senses for a while.

Once she was finally more aware, her mind and body were alarmed. She hadn’t put the jade hairpin away before she fell asleep. And, Jin Lu and Bai Lan wouldn’t move her things without her permission. Now, Chang Hong had discovered the jade hairpin. How should she explain? She lowered her head and rubbed her eyes to hide her guilty conscience. She looked left and right, then she asked him, “Why did you come here? Weren’t you going to look for Mister Xue?”

Chang Hong stood up straight and pursed his thin lips. “The sky has already darkened. I heard from Jin Lu that you had napped for four to six hours and became worried that you were sick, so I came to your room to look.”

When he had entered the room, he saw that the box had been placed on a Chinese cedar table with an eight immortal style. It was the box that Wei Luo had been holding earlier today.

Inside the open box, there was a white jade hairpin with a carved hornless dragon and an ivory pendant with a carved hornless dragon. He didn’t pay attention to the ivory pendant. His attention was focused on the jade hairpin and his expression went through many changes. Ah Luo had bought a jade hairpin. Neither of them could use it. Who was she going to give it to? It was clearly a man’s hairpin. Which man would she be giving this to? Was it her sweetheart?

Who was her sweetheart? Song Hui?

Wei Chang Hong’s heart felt as if a large stone was blocking it. He felt gloomy and troubled. Count Zhong Yi’s son had come here to discuss Ah Luo’s engagement with Song Hui a few days ago. Ah Luo had grown up and would be getting married soon. Once she was married, she would be living in Count Zhong Yi’s residence. They would no longer be able to live in the same courtyard. He knew that this day would come and didn’t say anything even though he felt a sense of loss. But today, after he saw the jade hairpin she had bought for Song Hui, he almost couldn’t remain calm.

Seeing her marriage being arranged by their father and her giving a man a present were two completely different things.

Wei Luo looked at the window. It really was dusk and the courtyard outside was murky and dark. From the verandah, the light from a few octagonal-shaped lanterns penetrated their coverings and hazily lit her vermillion-lacquered table with spiral carvings and inlayed gold. Most of her sleepiness had disappeared. Her blinking dark eyes were like flashing stars. “I’m not sick… I was too tired from going outside today, so I slept a little bit longer.”

Chang Hong knew that she was deliberately changing the topic. He sat down across from her and placed the jade hairpin on the vermillion-lacquered table with spiral carvings and inlayed gold. “Are you going to give this to Song Hui?”

Wei Luo blinked. Confused, she said, “En.”

He didn’t hear the surprise in her voice. He only felt lonely. The relationship between twins was closer than normal siblings. They had been born together and grew up together. Because they looked similar and had the same preferences, sometimes they would think the other person was their other self. Now, his other self was going to get married and he felt as if something was being taken away from him. His heart felt desolate and uneasy, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

Chang Hong silently sat across from her for a long time before opening his mouth to say, “Ah Luo, do you like Song Hui?”

Wei Luo finally realized that he had misunderstood. This jade hairpin wasn’t for Song Hui. She was already at the point where she wanted to cancel the engagement between Song Hui and her. Why would she be giving him something? But, for now, she would continue to let him misunderstand. This way, she wouldn’t have to exert effort to explain herself. With both hands, she held up her cheeks and didn’t say anything.

Chang Hong thought she was tacitly agreeing. He stared at that jade hairpin as if it was Song Hui’s face. One by one, he gouged out these words, “After you marry him, will you still remember me?”

Wei Luo couldn’t resist lifting the corner of her mouth and making fun of him, “Regardless of whom I marry, I won’t forget you. What are you thinking?”

Hearing this, he felt slightly at ease.

His mood didn’t improve until Wei Luo coaxed him for a while.

As for that jade hairpin… It would be the best if she sent it off soon. The longer she kept it, the more likely other people will misunderstand. After she came back from Zi Yu Villa, she would plead with Wei Kun to cancel her engagement with Count Zhong Yi’s family. If Song Hui wouldn’t agree to cancel the engagement on his side, she could only bring it up herself.

She didn’t know that Zhao Jie had already secretly put everything into order for her.

After Song Bai Ye considered this matter for three days, in order to save the hundreds of lives in the residence, he decided to cancel the engagement with Duke Ying’s family. He called Song Hui to his room and started to talk about this matter.

At Qing Xi Palace’s Chen Hua Hall, Wei Luo was sitting on a carved wooden couch, holding a colorful teacup lid, and staring at a red coral in a bonsai container in the corner. She had been looking at it for over 15 minutes.

Zhao Liuli couldn’t resist stretching her hand and waving it in front of Wei Luo. She said, “Ah Luo, what are you thinking about? You’ve been weird and absent-minded since you came here. If you’re busy with something, you can go back home. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Wei Luo looked away from the red coral and slowly said, “I’m fine. What did you just say? Her Majesty called you over to say something? What did she say?”

Today, Mister Qi was occupied with something related to his family, so she, Wei Zheng, and Chang Hong didn’t have class today. They were allowed to go out to play. After thinking for a moment, she had decided to go to the palace to talk with Zhao Liuli.

Zhao Liuli was naturally happy that Wei Luo was visiting her. She left what she had been doing to come to Chen Hua Hall to see her. But, she gradually realized that something was wrong. From the time that Liuli had arrived at Chen Hua Hall, she noticed that Wei Luo was absent-minded and looked as if there was something she wanted to say, but couldn’t. This made Zhao Liuli extremely curious.

Naturally, Zhao Liuli wasn’t able to continue their earlier conversation. She asked, “What exactly is bothering you? Why can’t you tell me? I tell you everything!”

Wei Luo paused and thought of the reason why she had come here today. In the end, she had Jin Lu bring the item forward to Zhao Liuli’s hand. “This… could you give this to older brother Prince Jing for me?”

Zhao Liuli held the red sandalwood box with decorative carvings. At first, she was surprised. Soon after, she looked at her with bright eyes.

Was Ah Luo giving this to her imperial older brother? What was it? She was even happier than her imperial older brother.

“Can I open the box to look?” Zhao Liuli asked.

Thinking that this wasn’t something that couldn’t be seen by others, Wei Luo nodded and said, “You can look.”

Zhao Liuli impatiently opened the box. She took out the jade hairpin, placed it on her hand, and looked at it from every angle as if this was her gift. Finally, she carefully put it back and praised, “It looks really good. My older brother will definitely like it.” Actually, she wanted to say that as long as it was something from Ah Luo, her imperial older brother would definitely like it. Then, she thought of something and curiously asked, “Why don’t you give this to my older brother yourself?”

Wei Luo drank a mouthful of tea, blew out her cheeks, and said, “I don’t have opportunities to see him.”

This was the truth. Zhao Jie had his own residence and had moved out of the palace a long time ago. Even if she came to the palace, it would be unlikely for her to see him. Even if she did see him, she couldn’t give him a gift in a public place with numerous people. Other than going to the palace, Wei Luo had to obtain Wei Kun’s permission to go to other places. It was really inconvenient. After thinking it over, she could only give Zhao Jie a gift with Zhao Liuli’s help.

Hearing this, Zhao Liuli thought her words were reasonable. Looking as if she was an assistant bearing heavy responsibilities, she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll personally hand this over to him.”

Wei Luo was amused by her seriousness. The corner of her mouth curved up.

After saying this, Zhao Liuli continue to impatiently look at Wei Luo while sitting across from her. She was very curious about Wei Luo’s relationship with Zhao Jie. Naturally, Zhao Liuli wouldn’t dare to ask Zhao Jie about this matter and Zhao Jie wouldn’t talk about this topic with her. She had been curious for the past several days. Today, Wei Luo wanted to give Zhao Jie a gift and her heart felt itchy. Finally, she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Ah Luo, will you become my imperial sister-in-law?”

Wei Luo blushed, “…”

Her words were too direct! Wei Luo was too stunned. Even after a long time, she still didn’t know what to say!

Imperial sister-in-law? Their birthdays hadn’t even been looked at. *

* (Note: In historical times, before a couple could be married, a matchmaker would have to check if two people were compatible by looking at their birthdays and birth hours.)

After recovering from her surprise, she also felt that her question was too sudden. She curved her eyes and said, “Never mind. I shouldn’t ask too much about your relationship with my older brother. I’ll wait until you want to tell me.”

Wei Luo let out a sigh in relief. Seeing that it wasn’t early anymore, she decided it was time to go home. She stood up and dusted off her eight treasure style skirt with precious stone beads. Before she left, she thought of something. Her dazzling, bright eyes turned to look at Zhao Liu and she said, “If older brother Prince Jing comes to my home to propose marriage, I’ll be your imperial sister-in-law.”

——-n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Soon after Wei Luo left, Zhao Liuli lied down on the couch and was reading a book by herself.

Yang Zhen had found this book for her outside of the palace. It had anecdotal stories about the pugilist world and interesting stories about the common folk. When she was bored, she would take it out to pass the time. Just as she finished reading a page, a palace servant girl came into the room to report, “Princess, His Highness Prince Jing is here.”

Zhao Liuli was surprised for a moment and the book fell down onto the couch. She sat up and asked, “Imperial older brother came? Shouldn’t he be keeping imperial mother company right now?”

Zhao Jie had come to palace this morning to pay respects to Empress Chen and also stayed to eat lunch with her. Zhao Liuli thought he wouldn’t have time to come here, so she hadn’t asked Wei Luo to stay longer. Who would have expected that he would be coming here and at such an early time?

Before Yun Zi had time to reply, Zhao Jie walked past the folding screen made of twelve red sandalwood pieces. He was wearing a long brocade robe.

She stood up and called out, “Imperial older brother…”

Zhao Jie’s dark eyes looked around the room. Seeing that Wei Luo wasn’t here, he realized that she had already returned home. He lowered his eyes. His eyes were like a hopeless abyss. “She left?”

Zhao Liuli nodded and remembered Wei Luo’s request. She hastily picked up the red sandalwood box and presented it to him as if it was a valuable treasure. “Ah Luo asked me to give this to you. Imperial older brother, look.”

Zhao Jie’s eyes slightly moved. He opened the box to look. On top of the red silk, there was an exquisite and lustrous white jade hairpin with a carved hornless dragon. He looked at it for a long time before quietly asking, “Ah Luo gave this to me?”

Zhao Liuli nodded.

He suddenly closed the box, “When did she leave?”

Zhao Liuli said, “Not long ago. She’s only been gone for a little bit. She probably just left the palace…”

Before she could finish her words, he had turned around and left Chen Hua Hall without any hesitation.

Zhao Liuli lifted up her skirt to chase after him and called out, “Imperial older brother, Ah Luo also said something else. She said, she would be my…”

Unfortunately, Zhao Jie had left too quickly. He didn’t hear her words.

(Note: Even if their birthdays and birth hours weren’t compatible, I’m sure that Zhao Jie will preemptively bribe or threaten someone into saying otherwise.