Lan Feiyu
Chapter Three
Based on the principle of reciprocity, I was about to reveal my identity when Lan Feiyu said, "I know who you are. I've been taking care of you for a day and a night. Now that you're awake, are you hungry?"
Since she got so direct, I naturally went along with the formalities and nodded in agreement.
Lan Feiyu gave me her first smile: "I'll go get you something to eat, I'll be right back. You just lie there and don't get up."
After taking two steps, she suddenly stopped, turned back to me, and smiled a second time, "If Yu Ji were as dark and ugly as me, she wouldn't have had to be buried alive with that stinky man."
I was stunned for a moment, and by the time I came to my senses, Lan Feiyu had already left.
So I lay in bed and started to think. Lan Feiyu was a bit dark-skinned; I rarely saw such a dark-skinned girl in Beijing, but she wasn't ugly.
She clearly has a pair of very beautiful, large eyes, sparkling with a lively light beneath her long eyelashes. Just now, when I looked into her eyes, I was suddenly reminded of the story of "dotting the eyes of a dragon"—her eyes are the eyes of a dragon.
Ah, no, if it's a woman, shouldn't it be described as a "phoenix"?
That's not right either. Dragons also have male and female counterparts, otherwise where would baby dragons come from?
As I was lost in thought, Lan Feiyu came in first, carrying an earthenware pot, followed by a twelve or thirteen-year-old maid carrying a tray with bowls and spoons on it.
Lan Feiyu instructed the maid to place the tray on the round table inside the room. She also put down the earthenware pot, then whispered some instructions. The maid answered in a way I couldn't understand, bowed to me, and ran away.
"Chicken soup!" I watched as she deftly opened the earthenware pot, ladled the soup into a bowl, and carried it towards me. I sniffed and involuntarily swallowed, my hunger instantly overwhelming me. My stomach rumbled happily, singing a song of anticipation.
I sat up, grimacing from the dizziness, and reached out to take the soup bowl, but Lan Feiyu shook her head: "You'll spill it, I'll feed you."
Her tone and demeanor were as matter-of-fact as if it were her duty. Without hesitation, she sat down on the edge of the bed, took a spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and then put it to my lips.
Even if I were shameless and ill-mannered, I wouldn't dare to speak without thinking. She is the daughter of the king, while I, although I have some connection to the royal family, am strictly speaking still a commoner's daughter. Moreover, we have only just met. This made me feel so flattered that my whole body stiffened.
"Drink up." Lan Feiyu was getting impatient when she saw that I hadn't moved for a while. She almost brought the spoon to my lips. "This is stewed according to your Han Chinese method. Besides chicken, there's only ginger and salt. There's nothing else."
She was so close that a faint fragrance wafted into my nostrils from her, mixed with the aroma of steaming chicken soup. It was so tempting that it made my mouth water. I swallowed hard again and said somewhat awkwardly, "I'll do it myself. You are the old king's daughter; it's not proper for you to do this."
I just didn't want her to think I was a rude and ignorant girl, so I had to maintain my composure.
Lan Feiyu was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter: "A thousand taels of gold? A thousand taels of gold?"
"What else could it be?" I hesitated, unsure if she had received any official title, so I couldn't address her casually. I also hadn't learned how to address the king's daughter here. "Miss?"
"Lan Feiyu," she said decisively, "I'll call her Lan Feiyu."
While we were talking, she seized the opportunity and fed me a spoonful of chicken soup. I swallowed it. Since we had started, there was no need to insist. She continued to feed me, and I kept drinking. Soon, the bowl was empty. Lan Feiyu breathed a sigh of relief and asked me with a slight smile, "So, what is your name? Miss Zhao? Young Lady Zhao?"
Her gaze shifted, and my heart skipped a beat. "Still a little princess? A young noblewoman?"
"No, no," I hurriedly said, "You can't call me that like that, I'm not some emperor's child—"
"You're not?" Lan Feiyu got up to put down the bowl, her tone clearly tinged with surprise. "But that prince clearly said you were his sister..."
I couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. This was a bit hard to explain. To explain it clearly, I had to mention my father, who had been wandering around since I was born. My mother told me that my father had gone into the mountains to cultivate Taoism and seek the path to immortality. Once he had achieved his goal, he would come back to take my mother and me to heaven together.
When I was little, I used to chase after Aunt Fairy and ask her if she could go to heaven with us. Aunt Fairy replied, "Yes, we can. All the dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks in the house can go with us."
So I took it upon myself to add a list of people to the list of those who would be going to heaven, and then I imagined that on that day, my father would come down from heaven, like an army commander, followed by countless auspicious clouds, and we would each ride one of them, and we would all happily become immortals.
Unfortunately, even now that I'm old enough to stop daydreaming like that, I still haven't seen a trace of my father who abandoned my mother and me. I don't even know who he is or what his name is. Whenever I ask, my mother always looks sad, and my aunt sighs a couple of times. Over time, I've stopped asking.
Lan Feiyu brought over another bowl of soup, this time with some small chicken pieces in it. She smiled gently at me and said, "Then may I call you by your name too? Zhao Xi, Xi, it sounds very nice."
My face was burning from those words, yet I felt a surge of pride: "It means sunshine. My uncle named it that, saying he hoped I could be my mother's sunshine, bringing her comfort. But Aunt Xian said it's okay if I'm just a little rainy sometimes; too much sunshine will kill the crops and cause a drought."
These are the words Aunt Fairy said to comfort me when I was crying my eyes out, but I can't say it out loud, it would be embarrassing.
I looked at Lan Feiyu and said happily, "Perfect, you are rain, sunshine and rain take turns, it's a good omen."
Lan Feiyu seemed surprised by my response. She stopped what she was doing, glanced at me, and then chuckled softly. When she laughed, her eyes narrowed slightly, and it seemed as if her eyes could not contain the brilliance within them, almost overflowing. This made her whole face shine, radiant and beautiful, so much so that I couldn't look away.
“That’s true,” Lan Feiyu said after feeding me the chicken soup and handing me the bowl at my request so I could eat the chicken. “Sunshine and rain are both essential. It’s just that most people in this world prefer bright sunshine and dislike gloomy rainy days.”
She lowered her head slightly, then suddenly smiled at me, and I involuntarily stopped chewing.
I was all too familiar with that expression. When I pressed my mother about my father's identity, character, and anecdotes, she clearly looked the same way, hiding her sorrow, enduring her pain, her heart churning inside, while forcing a smile on her face.
“You…you don’t be sad, I like rain!” I almost blurted out, then paused, mustered my courage, “And you’re not ugly, you’re darker than me, but you’re very pretty.”
Lan Feiyu didn't respond. She looked at me, and under her gaze, I vaguely remembered what my older brother had mentioned to me before—the successive deaths of the old king and his son, the struggle between the adopted sons, and so on. As a young girl, she was powerless to take charge of the situation. Perhaps she wasn't worried about trivial matters like "sunny days or rainy days," or beauty or ugliness, but rather about something deeper.
I didn't know what to say or do. I just sat half-upright on the bed, holding an empty bowl, staring blankly at her.
Perhaps she should ask an older brother for help?
Is this feasible?
It concerns matters of state; how could a young girl like me, who has only ever left home and hasn't read many books, possibly get involved? Besides, even if I spoke up, my elder brother, with his heart that's just like the current emperor's, would never listen to me.
Lan Feiyu suddenly laughed again, and said between laughs, "I'm ugly, you're beautiful."
As she spoke, she reached up and plucked the flower from her temple. The flower was still vibrant, a delicate pink that was quite endearing, but it had little fragrance. She gently tucked it into my hair and smiled at me: "A beautiful flower and a beautiful woman complement each other perfectly."
Wow, she can even say "complementary". I stared blankly at her, but I knew in my heart that even if Wang Zhaojun were reincarnated, someone who had been in a coma for almost two days with a high fever would definitely not look good.
But that didn't stop me from feeling overjoyed, my cheeks burning hot.
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