In front of her, there was the scent of crabapple flowers. Behind her, there was the expansive warmth from the man hugging her. She had to admit that she did feel something.

  Wei Luo’s ear felt itchy and she shrugged her shoulders. To avoid disturbing Yang Zhen and Zhao Liuli who weren’t far away, her voice was quiet when she asked, “Why are you going to Shanxi?”


  The little girl’s mouth always rejected him, but her heart truly cared for him. Zhao Jie hugged her waist a little tighter, buried his face in her neck to breath in her scent, “There’s a drought there. The extent of the disaster is very serious. Imperial father commanded me there for disaster relief. I have to leave the day after tomorrow.” He paused for a moment, kissed her neck, and continued saying, “Don’t worry. This prince will come back very quickly.”


  Her body had a simple and elegant scent. It wasn’t strong. He could only smell it when he was very close. It didn’t seem like it was from a satchel bag filled with common spices. Instead, the soft and alluring scent seemed like it was coming from her bones. In the end, he couldn’t help sighing, “Little one, what perfume did you put on your body? It smells really good. Why hasn’t this prince smelled it before?”


  Wei Luo’s ears were blushing. Before, he had presented himself as a proper and considerate big brother and had never hugged her this closely. Now, he easily hugged her without even asking for her permission.

  She had learned to make this scent from Han-shi. It was made from blending musk, rose, two types of jasmine, and four other flowers. A bamboo basket filled with these closely packed flowers would only yield enough perfume to fill a small, white porcelain bottle. Wei Luo was reluctant to use this and would only sprinkle a few drops in her bath water every day. Even with only this amount, her body would exude a faint fragrance after bathing. She had started doing this since she was eight years old. After five years, it would be strange if she didn’t smell fragrant.

  Wei Luo broke away from his hands and escaped from his embrace. Her lowered voice still showed her displeasure, “Big brother, say what you want to say, but don’t casually touch me. What if someone else sees?”


  Zhao Jie felt rather regretful that she had suddenly left his arms. Hearing her words, he curved his thin lips into a smile, “If someone sees, then you’ll have to marry me. Wouldn’t that be the best?”


  Wei Luo suddenly stilled.

  Behind the crabapple tree, Zhao Liuli and Yang Zhen probably hadn’t separated yet. The sound of their close relationship intermittently traveled to her ears. Her charming face turned red. Fortunately, it was already late and the moon’s light was dim and hazy. Her expression couldn’t be clearly seen.

  Since she wasn’t answering, he asked her again, “Ah Luo, after this prince returns from Shanxi, will you marry me?”


  She looked up and slowly said, “I have to carefully think about this.”


  Marriage wasn’t a trifling matter. He had suddenly put this forward and she wasn’t the slightest bit prepared. She had originally decided to end her engagement with Song Hui and hadn’t thought about the person she would marry. At the current moment, she was already engaged, but he was in a hurry to marry her. Marriage was such an important matter. Of course, she had to carefully consider.

  However, Wei Luo suddenly remembered that when they were at Jing He Villa, he had stood in front of her and asked her what type of person she wanted to marry. She had said a person that treated her very, very well. He had also asked, “The way this prince treats you very well?”


  At the time, she had thought he was joking and had easily dismissed his words. Now, she realized that wasn’t the case. So, at that time, he already held wicked intentions towards her!

  After having suddenly realized this, she surprisingly didn’t feel angry. Instead, there was an indescribable feeling fermenting in her heart. The feeling rose until it filled her entire heart. She lifted her eyelashes up and directly looked at Zhao Jie’s unfathomable, dark eyes without moving. Then, she suddenly said, “Big brother.”


  Zhao Jie stroked her little head as he gently said, “En, we’ll do what you say. But, I can’t wait too long. When this prince returns for Shanxi, I want your answer.”


  This time she didn’t avoid his touch. She looked straight at him. Her dark, watery, almond eyes were bright and dazzling, “But, I have a condition.”


  Zhao Jie’s hand stopped moving.

  There was still a condition? He promised her that he would give her time to consider. It was already pretty good that he wasn’t asking anything from her in return. This little one actually dared to ask something from him?

  He lowered his head, involuntarily laughed, and said, “Tell me.”


  The little girl looked completely serious. Her big eyes blinked. “Before I finish thinking this through, you can’t kiss me.”


  The smile on Zhao Jie’s face froze. He suddenly didn’t feel like laughing.

  But, that little mouth didn’t understanding his thoughts. She continued, “And you can’t casually touch me either.”


  Wei Luo’s thoughts were very simple. She was an unmarried, innocent virginal girl. How could she continue to be constantly hugged and cuddled by him? If the hugging and cuddling wasn’t bad enough, he kept kissing her without even greeting her first. Right now, no one had seen yet. If someone saw, her reputation would be completely ruined.

  Zhao Jie carefully thought this over. He would be leaving soon and would be gone for two months. He wouldn’t be able to kiss or hug her during this time anyways. After he came back from Shanxi, she would be almost done considering and this condition would have expired. He nodded and scratched her pretty, little nose. “Okay, this prince will promise you this.”


  She retreated a step back and covered her nose. Her eyes stared at him. “Big brother, you just said you wouldn’t casually touch me. How could you go back on your word so quickly?”


  Zhao Jie held his hands up, “…”


  ——–


  This evening, Zhao Jie was very well behaved when he brought Wei Luo back to Duke Ying’s residence. The two of them sat inside the carriage and he could only look at her. He wanted to hug her delicate and soft body, but he wasn’t allowed.

  Contrarily, Wei Luo was in a good mood. After returning home, she went to main room to tell Wei Kun she had returned, then she went to look for Chang Hong to say a few words with him.

  Before she had returned, Wei Kun and Chang Hong had been worried. If they didn’t know she had gone to the palace, they would have definitely sent people to look for her. Now, seeing that she had safely returned, they both set down their worries and had separately asked her why she came back so late.

  Wei Luo was sitting on a round drum-shaped stool. She held her cheeks and without a change in her expression, she answered, “Liuli wasn’t in a good mood, so I stayed for a while to keep her company and also ate dinner at Chen Hua Hall.”


  Wei Chang Hong was sitting behind a vermillion-lacquered table inlayed with gold and decorated with spiral carvings. Zuo Zhuan’s Annals was in front of him. Mister Xue’s lecture today was about this book. This was a book that was normally read by fifteen or sixteen year olds. But, Chang Hong had a clever mind that learned new information quickly. At thirteen, Chang Hong had already studied all thirteen Confucian classics. Right now, he was just reviewing this book again.

  Wei Chang Hong didn’t doubt her words. He stood up, went to the nearby treasure grid shelves, took out an item, and delivered it to her, “After I was finished with my work, while I was outside, I bought these sugar ears and sesame candy. I remembered that you said you wanted to eat these a few days ago. I coincidentally saw them today and bought them.”


  Wei Look accepted the candy and couldn’t help feeling touched that he remembered, “I was only offhandedly saying that…”


  A few days, she had suddenly wanted to eat sweet things and had said she wanted to eat sugar ears and sesame candy. She had already forgotten saying this. Unexpectedly, he had still remembered. Wei Luo put down the oiled packet on the table, opened it, picked up a piece of sugar ear, and ate it. It was sweet, soft, and flaky. She picked up another piece to feed Chang Hong. “It’s really good. Eat one too.”


  Chang Hong opened his mouth, ate it directly from her hand, and chewed on the pastry. Just as he was about to speak, his line of sight stopped on her ear. He stopped moving and stared at her ear.

  Wei Luo felt confused from the look in his eyes. Puzzled, she asked, “What’s wrong? What did you see?”


  His eyes turned. He lifted his hand to touch her small earlobe. Without any expression, he said, “There’s a teeth mark here.” Soon after, he looked up at her, “Ah Luo, who bit you?”


  Wei Luo subconsciously stiffened. She forgot about the sugar ear in her mouth. Of course, she knew who had bitten her. Zhao Jie had bitten her ear a few times in Chen Hua Hall’s back garden. But, she hadn’t cared about it. She had thought it would have faded by now. Unexpectedly, there was still a mark left. But, it hadn’t felt that painful when Zhao Jie had bitten her!

  Wei Luo was internally surprised, but she faked an outwardly calm appearance. She held her ear and lightly said, “Oh. This was from me playing with Liuli… I said a joke about her. She was angry and bit my ear once.”


  At this time, she could only wrong Liuli. She couldn’t confess that it was Zhao Jie… If she told the truth, wouldn’t Chang Hong rush over to Prince Jing’s residence to settle scores?

  Hearing this, Wei Chang Hong’s face immediately looked serious and unhappy, “She bit you just because you were joking? Don’t play with her in the future.”


  Wei Luo couldn’t resist letting out a burst of laughter. His shortcoming was too obvious. It made even her, the person lying, feel a bit embarrassed.

  After Wei Luo fed him a few pieces of sugar ear and said good words about Zhao Liuli, he reluctantly stopped pursuing this matter. Seeing that it wasn’t early, Wei Luo said good-bye, returned to her room, washed up, changed clothes, and prepared to sleep.

  She slept very peacefully that night without any dreams and woke up the next morning in good spirits.

  ——-

  In contrast, Li Xiang hadn’t been well inside Zhao Yang Hall.

  Li Xiang had spent the entire night in Zhao Yang Hall drowsily memorizing a book. She had fallen asleep in the rosewood chair several times, but Mama Qiu had mercilessly woken her up each time. By the next morning, she had finally memorized Nei Xun’s twenty pages. She had recited the entire book in front of Mama Qiu and Empress Chen allowed her to leave the palace.

  Only one day had passed, but she looked significantly withered. Her eyes were bloodshot and there black circles underneath her eyes. Her face was also pale. She looked completely different from yesterday’s beautiful and bright appearance.

  Li Xiang and Elder Princess Gao Yang left the palace together. They went inside the carriage to return home.

  Inside the black, flat-roofed carriage, Li Xiang finally couldn’t resist collapsing in Elder Princess Gao Yang’s arms, “Mother…”


  Elder Princess Gao Yang’s heart couldn’t feel any worse. She took Li Xiang into her arms, gently patted her back, and comforted her with the words, “Xiang-er, be good. Don’t cry… Have a good rest when we get home. Just pretend that yesterday didn’t happen.”


  The person who had disciplined her daughter was the empress, the most respectable and honored woman in the country. So what if she was the elder princess? Her status was still lower than hers. Zhao Xun’s heart was definitely unwilling to accept this. She and Empress Chen had never gotten along and now she had punished her daughter. How could her heart feel okay?

  Although an older sister-in-law was like a mother, she had stretched her hand too far!

  Li Xiang grievously cried and her tears soon soaked through her mother’s clothes. Before she had time to regain her breath, she gasped, “That hairpin… It’s all Wei Luo’s fault…”


  Although Li Xiang had broken the hairpin, she had intended to use it to harm Wei Luo. She hadn’t expected that Wei Luo would turn the table on her! She wasn’t willing to accept this lost, but she didn’t have a way to say these words. She could only shut all of her grievances in her heart and change her words into tears to cry out.

  Elder Princess didn’t clearly hear the second part of her words. Feeling bad that she wasn’t able to help her daughter from suffering, she could only hug her and say, “Precious Xiang-er, when we go back home, mother will buy you many hairpins. Did you like Zhao Liuli’s hairpin? Mother will have people make a hairpin exactly like that one, okay?”


  She shook her head. She sobbed and sniffled as she said, “I don’t want it. What’s so good about Zhao Liuli’s things? It’s only unusual.”


  The carriage quickly arrived and stopped at Prince Ru Yang’s residence. The servant girls quickly came out through the entrance to help them out of the carriage.

  Prince Ru Yang had waited for them an entire night. Seeing them safely coming back, he let out a sigh in relief. Last night, he had heard the news from the palace and knew that Li Xiang had stay there overnight because of Empress Chen, but he didn’t know why.

  Li Xiang wiped her tears. With red eyes, she followed Elder Princess Gao Yang off the carriage.

  Seeing his precious daughter like this, Prince Ru Yang couldn’t resist saying, “Xiang-er, what happened…”


  Before he could finish speaking, Elder Princess Gao Yang glared at him. He immediately closed his mouth and didn’t continue to question. Then, with a smile, he said, “It’s good that you returned. Is Xiang-er tired? Your older brother is waiting in the main hall for you. Daddy has specially prepared an entire table of your favorite foods.”


  The group of people walked to the main hall. When they were almost at the main hall’s doors, Prince Ru Yang shouted, “Song-er, your mother and young sister have returned. Why haven’t you come out?”


  Inside the hall, there was a handsome teenage boy wearing an indigo robe with a feather pattern sitting on a rosewood chair. He didn’t look that different from before. But, a more careful look would show that some of his recalcitrant and arrogance had been lost. There was a shallow birthmark beneath his eye. His dark, deep eyes looked up from the golden hairpin with emeralds.

  He quietly put the hairpin into his sleeve, stood up, and walked out of the hall.