Chapter 35 Chapter 35 The unfaithful girl who lifts her skirt and doesn't recognize her
"Come back when you have time? Oh, this, this..." Inside the Heng'an Palace, steward Uncle Fu rubbed his hands in embarrassment after hearing Xue Lan's formal message. "The princess really didn't say anything else?"
Xue Lan remained in her saluting position and said respectfully, "I dare not speculate on the princess's intentions."
Perhaps it was the dead of winter, the dining room, where the charcoal fire was burning brightly, was so cold that people were shivering.
"I understand, please withdraw."
Xue Lan responded politely and left as if she had been pardoned.
"Your Highness, those dumplings..." Uncle Fu said bitterly, looking at the dumplings neatly arranged on the bamboo board. "The princess has really gone too far this time!"
The precious little prince whom he had watched grow up, had never touched water before marrying the princess!
Today, since the princess left the house, she has been busy in the kitchen for two hours, and even he couldn't help.
The only thing he was allowed to do was to go to the storehouse and count out some brand new gold coins, one for each dumpling.
He still didn't understand why.
"The princess once told me that when she was young, she loved flatbread, but she couldn't afford to eat it. She felt she wouldn't be able to make a fortune in the coming year, and she felt depressed," Shen Qingchen replied. "This way, she'll be happy."
As an outsider, Uncle Fu now feels like there is something stuck in his throat.
"Ask the kitchen to cook it and share it with the servants." Shen Qingchen's expression was as calm as ever, like an ancient well without ripples, and he didn't even sigh.
Uncle Fu felt distressed and indignant: "The princess really wasted your kindness! How could she do this..."
"Uncle Fu." Shen Qingchen stopped him from complaining. "It's not the princess's fault."
Qiong Qiong didn't know that he would make it by himself and each one would be able to eat a gold coin.
Even if I knew, what would it matter? Would she come back?
Shen Qingchen didn’t have a definite answer in his mind.
He was just confirming that she was not wrong.
Because he loves her, she doesn't love him.
So it was only natural that he treated her well.
And it was only natural that she ignored him.
"Don't harbor any grudges against the princess." Shen Qingchen emphasized again, and after hearing Uncle Fu's response, he left the kitchen.
Returned to Jiang Hexue's dormitory.
She was not there, and there were no burning incense or charcoal basins in the house, and the lights were out. Only the cold moonlight, like frost, leaked into the house through the cracks in the window.
The furnishings in the house seemed to be unchanged. She had bought very few new things. The clothes were made by the Shangyi Bureau at his previous order, and the jewelry was also made by the Shangbao Bureau. She loved beauty so much, but she didn't buy anything new.
It's as if... he doesn't plan to stay long.
As she had thought, they were done with each other and went their separate ways.
After standing quietly for a while, Shen Qingchen opened her dressing box and stared at the Qionghua ring at the bottom.
She doesn't wear it, nor does she throw it away, and she puts it in a corner where it won't gather dust.
Maybe one day when I’m in a good mood I’ll remember it and wear it.
Just like treating him.
When I need him, like last night, he is extremely clingy and affectionate.
There is no need for it now, and I have no idea when I will return. I feel like a heartless girl who lifts her skirt and doesn't recognize me.
Shen Qingchen felt an unbearable pain in his heart.
Anything related to her always makes him anxious, out of control, and unable to stop thinking about others.
If she doesn't have time to go home, how could she have time to see Fu Wang?
-
Jiang Hexue was indeed very busy and had no time to rest.
But I did meet Fu Wang several times.
The first time was when I asked about Qingyuan’s incense card. It was really a coincidence.
The next time she looked at the bracelet, she had forgotten where she had bought the beads, so she simply pulled one out and asked Xuemei to find it.
Another time, he was given a set of perfumed ornaments and asked to wear them even when attending banquets to establish his reputation.
Fu Wang himself couldn't sit still, and he went to Qianxiangfang every few days, under the pretext of helping, but in fact he was there to tease Xiao Qionghua.
In stark contrast to her fear of Shen Qingchen, Xiao Qionghua got along well with him and grew fatter and fatter. She squatted anywhere, looking like a fluffy little snowball.
Jiang Hexue had no time to take care of them. She refined and rubbed incense every day, and her back and waist ached after sitting for a whole day.
A series of Shen Qingchen's bracelets came in every opportunity, and she didn't have much time to think about him.
"Princess Has's consort has been chosen." Fu Wang had been there for a few days, and his greatest achievement was bringing this message. "Guess who it is?"
Jiang Hexue strung the last scented bead on the string and tied a knot before admiring it and saying, "Speak."
"King Jing."
"It's actually him..." Jiang Hexue thought of Shen Zelan's innocent appearance and was lost in thought. "After all, there's no barrier to communication. That's good. It's fate."
"You are speaking a bit like my uncle now." Ruan Yueyi walked out from the inner room at this time, covered in jewels and jade.
"Are you dressing up so carefully to go find your nephew's husband?" Jiang Hexue teased her.
"Today is the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Lantern Festival. Why don't you invite your uncle to go?" Ruan Yueyi asked back.
Jiang Hexue only remembered this matter when she reminded him. When he saw the perfectly strung beads in her hand, he happily stood up and went back home.
-
There was no reason for Shen Qingchen not to take annual leave.
Probably because it was not yet the New Year, he wore a coral red robe, which was rare, and a silver fox fur coat. His black hair was still half-tied up, but he had replaced it with a vermilion headband, and his usual white jade hair crown was replaced with a red jade hairpin.
But his skin is as white as jade, his eyebrows and eyes are dark, and he usually looks clear and cold when he wears moon-white clothes. But now, with the sudden change, the strong contrast makes him look even more beautiful and handsome. When the corners of his light red lips are slightly raised, he is inexplicably charming.
Jiang Hexue sucked in a breath in a listless manner, feeling that after more than ten days of separation, he looked more like a grown-up and more to her liking.
She stared at him without shyness or hiding.
It was not until Shen Qingchen coughed lightly as a reminder that Jiang Hexue withdrew his gaze and left the house together.
The streets are crowded with people and the hawkers' cries are endless.
"Do you usually go to the Lantern Festival?" Jiang Hexue glanced sideways at Shen Qingchen beside him.
He was trying to avoid the crowds without leaving any trace, his handsome features unable to hide his discomfort. Upon hearing this, he paused for a moment and admitted, "Rarely."
"Then take the next one?" Jiang Hexue joked with a smile. "Want to stick with me? Do you miss me?"
"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness Prince Heng'an. May His Royal Highness live a thousand years." Before Shen Qingchen could reply, she was interrupted by a voice of greeting. "May the Princess live a thousand years."
A moment later, the words "no need for formalities" were spoken, and then there were more greetings.
After saying "no need to be polite" five or six times, Shen Qingchen finally got the chance to ask her: "What did you just say?"
"...Let's go buy a mask." Jiang Hexue didn't feel like asking again. Glancing at a street vendor selling masks, she took his hand and walked towards him. "If you keep being so polite, you won't be able to walk a few steps after the Lantern Festival is over."
Shen Qingchen looked at the two fingers she took the initiative to hold up, and the corners of her lips raised slightly.
But after a moment, when his eyes touched the mask in Jiang Hexue's hand, the smile on his lips fell: "Why is it a rabbit?"
"You're born in the Year of the Rabbit." Jiang Hexue smiled and put the mask into his hands. She bent down and picked out another fox mask from the stall, put it on herself, and glanced at him again: "You don't like it?"
Shen Qingchen looked at the rabbit mask in his hand.
Long ears, pink rouge on her cheeks...even Ling Zhao would find her too cute.
He looked at Jiang Hexue, who had put on her fox mask, and asked instead, "You're born in the Year of the Snake, so why didn't you pick a snake?"
The girl's bright face was mostly hidden by the mask, which only made her purple eyes more charming and her red lips more vivid.
She beckoned him to lean over.
Shen Qingchen did as he was told.
"What's the difference between a fox and a snake?" She said with a playful laugh, her warm breath gently caressing his ear. "They both eat rabbits."
"Especially, a pretty and cute little bunny like you, my husband."
The edges of Shen Qingchen's ears were red.
Jiang Hexue watched him put on the rabbit mask with satisfaction, then loosely held his finger again: "Let's go, now we can stroll around in peace."
"There are already so many people here, and it's even harder to identify them with masks on." Shen Qingchen lowered his eyelashes and looked at her. "What if we get separated?"
"We won't get separated." Jiang Hexue shook his hand. "We're holding it like this."
“I always suspect something is wrong.” Shen Qingchen glanced at her fingers and did not give in.
Jiang Hexue understood his implication, but didn't respond. She just smiled and asked, "What do you want?"
Shen Qingchen did not respond.
Jiang Hexue wanted to hear him say it, and refused to give in, deliberately teasing him: "Rabbit husband, how do you think it's safe?"
His wrist was suddenly loosely grasped by him.
He didn't hold her hand tightly, just circled her wrist with his fingers, without his knuckles touching her skin. Only his fingertips lightly touched her wrist bone, and then left immediately.
Jiang Hexue paused and looked into his eyes in a daze.
The moonlight was like water. The young man in front of me leaned forward slightly, his thick eyelashes drooped, and his peach blossom eyes were gentle and sparkling, like the finest amber.
Like the clear and cold young man many years ago.
But for some reason, Jiang Hexue could see an unreal crack in these eyes.
"Why aren't you holding hands anymore?" She suspected it was her own illusion and smiled happily. "Isn't this what you like the most?"
She parted his fingers and inserted her own fingers, pressing the base of her palm against his perfectly, intimately.
Shen Qingchen lowered her eyes and saw the Qionghua ring on her ring finger, and her heart trembled.
He exerted force with his hands to hold her tighter, said "hmm" very softly, and led her forward.
"Young lady, would you like to buy two seven-colored threads? They are all dyed with flower juice, so beautiful!" An old woman on the street came up with a basket and sold them with a smile.
"Is this the custom of the Kyoto Lantern Festival?" Jiang Hexue twisted out an exquisitely woven seven-colored thread and looked at it with interest.
"That's right. Besides..." The old woman glanced at the two of them playfully and said with a smile. "If you and your lover wear this seven-colored thread together, it will ensure a long and lasting bond."
"I want two." It was Shen Qingchen who answered.
He didn't give Jiang Hexue a chance to refuse. He left some change and took her away.
Jiang Hexue tugged at his wrist and asked, "How much did you spend on these two seven-colored threads?"
"I don't always have coppers."
"That coin of yours looks like it's worth at least two coins. Two coins is two hundred copper coins, but a single seven-colored thread is only ten copper coins!" Jiang Hexue lamented. "No matter how much wealth you have, if you squander it like this, it will eventually run out... That's not right."
She paused and said, "You really won't run out of money one day."
She didn't buy too many things after she got married. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but Shen Qingchen had prepared too much. She had no shortage of things, and she had never known that he was such a spendthrift.
"No, this kind of behavior shouldn't be encouraged," she muttered. "The nobles are the role models for the common people, and they must not indulge in extravagance... I don't have any coins, so I'll pay the bill today."
Shen Qingchen hooked the seven-colored thread and asked, "Put it on?"
The seven-colored thread in his hand was like a materialized copper coin of a hundred coins. Jiang Hexue was furious at the sight. "Who would wear it with you?"
There seemed to be a slight ripple in Shen Qingchen's pupils.
But before Jiang Hexue could see it clearly, it was covered by her long, black eyelashes.
"Just wearing it for fun," he whispered after a while. "Don't take it seriously."
"Can I wear it like this?"
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