Chapter 230 Lantern Festival
The New Year celebrations will continue until the Lantern Festival.
The court officials began attending court on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, while the Lantern Festival was a day of rest. Qi Minying had already arranged to meet Qi Yuxuan and others to go to the lantern festival several days in advance.
The Qi Kingdom held two grandest lantern festivals each year: one on the Qixi Festival and the other on the Lantern Festival.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there was still snow on the streets that hadn't completely melted, but the streetlights looked warm and inviting, and the people strolled around shoulder to shoulder without feeling too cold.
Qi Yuxuan wore a comfortable jacket and skirt for shopping today. The front-opening satin vest with auspicious patterns was lined with plenty of rabbit fur, making it both warm and lightweight.
The carriage stopped at the entrance to the main street, which was lined with stalls selling lanterns and other miscellaneous goods. The carriage couldn't go in; you had to walk, which was part of the fun of visiting the lantern festival.
After getting off the carriage, she noticed that there were two other people who had come out of the palace with Min-ying.
One was the Crown Prince riding a horse even in the dead of winter, and the other was Bai Mingluan, who was holding Minying's hand intimately as if they were best friends.
Qi Minying saw Qi Yuxuan as soon as she got out of the car. She tried to pull her arm, but it wouldn't budge.
"Princess Chang Le, are you well this Lantern Festival?" Bai Mingluan greeted her with a radiant smile.
Qi Yuxuan raised an eyebrow, noticing Minying's displeasure.
She replied politely, "Happy Lantern Festival, Miss Bai."
Bai Mingluan glanced at the brightly lit street and said:
"Let's go inside now. This place is a bit chilly, like a drafty spot. It wouldn't be good if the Crown Prince and Princess caught a cold."
Qi Yuxuan glanced at the Crown Prince and Qi Minying with a strange look.
Since the brother and sister brought Bai Mingluan out, they must have told her that there were more than just the four of them out at the lantern festival today, right?
However, considering the personalities of the brother and sister—one being taciturn with unnecessary people, and the other hating evil and sometimes too lazy to even put on a show—she could roughly guess what was going on.
Qi Yuxuan: "There is another Miss Zheng on her way. If Miss Bai wishes to go ahead, please do so."
"I see. Then I'll accompany the Crown Prince and Princess inside for a stroll. When the people Princess Chang Le is waiting for arrive, they can join us then?"
After Bai Mingluan finished speaking, she noticed that the Crown Prince and the Princess looked somewhat displeased, and her heart skipped a beat.
The Fourth Prince only mentioned that the two of them were close to Qi Yuxuan, and I've never heard of them having good relationships with others. How come that Miss Zheng has such a high status that she can make the Crown Prince and the Princess wait for her?
She felt a sense of crisis towards the girl named Zheng, whom she had never met before.
Princess Chang Le was already giving her a headache, and now this Miss Zheng? Does she even have a place in the Eastern Palace?
Seeing her like this, Qi Yuxuan knew that she probably didn't know much about the families of other powerful officials and courtiers in the capital, except for the princes, princesses and relatives in the palace. Otherwise, she would have known about Zheng Yanling's relationship with them.
At this moment, neither of them spoke, and she certainly wouldn't explain.
The atmosphere suddenly turned cold.
Wu Jiu was taken by her attendants to a nearby post station to rest. The Crown Prince stood between Qi Minying and Qi Yuxuan, silently looking in another direction along the long street.
Out of the corner of his eye, he met Qi Yuxuan's gaze, who had a mocking expression on her face.
"..."
Qi Yuxuan remained expressionless and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, jokingly said, "Your Highness is so busy with state affairs, yet you still find time to take care of your sisters. You truly go to great lengths."
She was implying something, and how could Qi Jun not understand?
He ignored her gaze as she looked at Qi Minying and Bai Mingluan, turning his head to stare intently at the little girl who was still a head shorter than him, almost unable to resist revealing the meaning of the phoenix-headed jade hairpin.
But when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he hesitated.
The timing and the occasion were both wrong.
If she hadn't secretly drunk his wine and gotten completely drunk that night, he should have confessed his feelings when he gave her the jade hairpin. Now that the hairpin had been given away, he hadn't said a single word. For the first time, Qi Jun felt a tightness in his chest.
Then Qi Yuxuan heard the Crown Prince look into her eyes and say:
"They are all easy to talk to, but who is my sister who gives me the most headaches and worries? Some of them know the answer in their hearts."
Qi Yuxuan: "I..."
The crown prince interrupted her excuse: "If you don't put yourself in danger, I won't have to keep an eye on you all the time."
Qi Yuxuan: "...Understood."
"Brother, what are you whispering with Sister Yuxuan? Why didn't you take me with you? Sister is so biased!"
Qi Minying finally escaped Bai Mingluan's grasp. Turning her head, she found the two whispering behind her back. Enraged, she scrambled between Qi Yuxuan and Qi Jun.
Bai Mingluan was stunned. In this way, she was standing next to the Crown Prince... She shyly leaned closer to the Crown Prince, almost pressing her whole body against him.
"I'm late, but you didn't have to wait too long, did you?"
Zheng Yanling was still dressed as a man in a red dress, and his handsome appearance made the girls passing by blush.
Bai Mingluan stood there stunned. Could this be... Miss Zheng?
The sense of crisis she felt vanished instantly.
A woman who likes to dress as a man is definitely not popular with men, so she doesn't need to worry.
"Hey, who is this?"
Zheng Yanling noticed Bai Mingluan's unfamiliar face from afar. She initially thought she was Minying or Yuxuan's maid, but upon closer inspection, she realized that Bai Mingluan was very rude in trying to get close to the Crown Prince, and thus guessed that she was not a maid.
Min-young didn't want to introduce them, but when she met her elder brother, the Crown Prince, who warned her not to be impolite and at least to pretend, she still awkwardly gave a perfunctory answer:
“This is my maternal cousin, Bai Mingluan.”
Bai Mingluan immediately stepped forward and smiled warmly:
"So this must be Miss Zheng. I've heard so much about you. No wonder Princess Chang Le insisted that we wait for you. You have such an extraordinary demeanor and a cheerful, unrestrained spirit. It's just a pity that I didn't grow up in the capital, otherwise I would have liked to play with a heroine like Miss Zheng since childhood."
Zheng Yanling's polite smile suddenly vanished.
She just doesn't like reading; she's not stupid. She can tell the difference between good and bad advice.
It's one thing for this young lady to praise her, but what's the meaning of belittling Yu Xuan?
Zheng Yanling stood beside Qi Yuxuan, her tone indifferent:
"No, no, Yu Xuan, let's go."
Bai Mingluan was startled; it seemed she had said the wrong thing again.
Seeing that Miss Zheng didn't bow to the Crown Prince, the Princess, and Princess Chang Le, it's clear she must be quite familiar with the three of them. She must have understood what she meant when she said that.
She bit her lip, somewhat at a loss, and followed beside the crown prince.
"Your Highness...Does Miss Zheng have a problem with me...?"
She called out softly.
Qi Jun initially intended to pretend he hadn't heard.
However, the next moment, the woman beside him suddenly reached out to tug at his sleeve.
Qi Jun had practiced martial arts since childhood and easily dodged the attack.
Not only that, he also quickly took two steps and circled around to Zheng Yanling's side.
Bai Mingluan: "..."
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