Chapter 15 The hairpin left the Moon Gazing Tower, and a gust of cold wind slipped into her clothes...
As soon as she stepped out of Wangyue Tower, a gust of cold wind blew into her clothes, making Shen Yunrong shiver.
I wonder if the prince has rested yet; I both hope he has rested and hope he hasn't gone to bed yet.
Amidst the confusion, they arrived at Qingfeng Courtyard after a short journey, and Steward Tan was somewhat surprised that she would come so late.
"Steward Tan, the Prince left something behind. I'm bringing it to him. Please tell the Prince about it." Shen Yunrong saw Tan Zhongxin as soon as she entered Qingfeng Courtyard, and there was no time to back out.
"Miss Chen, please wait a moment. His Highness is in his study. This servant will go in and inform His Highness!"
Isn't the study a forbidden area in the Prince's mansion? Shen Yunrong wanted to have Steward Tan return the hairpin to the Prince, but before she could finish speaking, Tan Zhongxin's figure had already flashed past.
"Miss Chen, His Highness requests your presence!" Tan Zhongxin returned quickly and led her to the study in the west courtyard of Qingfeng Courtyard, helping her lift the thick curtain.
Shen Yunrong made up her mind; the hairpin was like a hot potato in her hands, and she had to return it as soon as possible.
The room was heated by underfloor heating, and the warmth enveloped the whole body as soon as you entered. Zhao Linzhang, dressed in a moon-white casual robe, was sitting upright at the table, writing under a bright candlelight.
Seeing her come in, he put down his pen and asked in confusion, "Is Siliang crying?"
Although he knew it probably wasn't her, Zhao Linzhang roughly guessed why she had come.
"Your Highness, this hairpin was mistakenly placed in the box meant for the young master." Shen Yunrong hurriedly took out the hairpin from her bosom, opened the handkerchief, and the dragonfly inside was about to take flight.
Zhao Linzhang glanced at it, his expression unchanged: "It must have been a mistake by the servants. Siliang doesn't need it, so you can take it!"
Even the most plain-looking old women in the Prince's mansion would wear a few pearls on their heads, but she had nothing on her jet-black hair.
"This is too expensive! Even if I worked as a wet nurse in the Prince's mansion for my whole life, I couldn't afford it," Shen Yunrong shook her head. "It's too precious!"
"If you don't like it, just throw it away!"
Shen Yunrong was torn between throwing away the hairpin she held in her palm and putting it away again.
His surprised expression and wide eyes were somewhat similar to Xiao Siliang's. Zhao Linzhang smiled slightly and said, "Take it and use it. Once you enter the Prince's Mansion, you'll be a symbol of the mansion. It's just a hairpin."
Zhao Linzhang's words were true; in his eyes, such a precious hairpin was like pebbles and fallen leaves that could be found anywhere on the ground.
Shen Yunrong clasped her hands together and gripped the hairpin tightly. It was enough for her to buy a small shop and allow her mother and daughter to live comfortably for a few years.
"Thank you for the gift, Your Highness!" She carefully put the hairpin back into her bosom.
Zhao Linzhang then picked up the pen on the table, no longer looking at her fair neck and misty eyes in the candlelight.
"Do you know how to grind ink?"
"Yes!" Shen Yunrong's father used to be a poor scholar. He only had one daughter, and he was depressed for many years. He passed away when she was seven years old.
When her father was in good health, he would teach her to read and write. He treasured a broken inkstone. Only during the New Year, when neighbors came to ask him for calligraphy to write Spring Festival couplets, would he take out that inkstone. Little Shen Yunrong would naturally help him grind the ink. Those were the happiest days of the year for her father.
Long-forgotten memories are slowly evoked by the scent of ink, and I can almost hear my father's voice: "Hold the inkstone vertically and evenly, and grind it at a moderate speed to produce good ink."
Seeing her upright posture, Zhao Linzhang realized she really knew how to grind ink, and couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
"Have you studied calligraphy?" Zhao Linzhang's deep, magnetic voice rang out.
"Your Highness, my father was once a scholar who passed the imperial examination. In his spare time, he taught me to recognize a few characters." Those old memories receded like the tide. After her father's death, their already impoverished life became even more difficult.
"Oh, no wonder. Did you feel unwell after entering the manor?"
Shen Yunrong paused in her composed movements, her eyes filled with doubt. When she met Zhao Linzhang's deep gaze, her hand trembled, and a drop of ink spilled out, staining the rice paper with a circular pattern.
"Your Highness, I didn't mean to!"
This fear and trembling made Zhao Linzhang feel a sense of loss: "Why are you so afraid of me?"
How could she not be afraid? Zhao Linzhang looked so much like the man on the mountain. Even though she knew it couldn't be him, she was still afraid, even if he wasn't the prince.
This was the second time he had asked her this question. Last time she had managed to bluff her way out of it, but this time she told the truth: "It is only right for a servant to be afraid of her master."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Linzhang glanced at her. She was right; a servant fears his master, and a subject fears his emperor.
With the final stroke, Zhao Linzhang's calligraphy was finished. Shen Yunrong mustered her courage to take a look. The two characters "Quiet Mind" on the Xuan paper were written with vigorous strokes, each stroke marked with pauses and breaks, their sharpness restrained yet their momentum imposing.
His handwriting reflects his character, but even a prince as powerful as the emperor has his worries and needs to calm down.
"Everyone outside says that I am a fierce and evil god, with a face like the King of Hell. They even say my name and it will scare children into crying at night!" Zhao Linzhang said, finding it all quite amusing.
Shen Yunrong chuckled. It was true that this was meant to scare toddlers. She had also heard that adults used to frighten children. There was a king who ate crying children, and the people dared not call him by his name. This king was undoubtedly referring to Zhao Linzhang.
Zhao Linzhang looked up and saw her smiling, like a pear blossom just beginning to bloom in the morning, glistening with dew, which stirred his heart.
“Your Highness is handsome and dignified. The common people have never seen Your Highness’s face, otherwise they would definitely think the rumors are absurd,” Shen Yunrong said sincerely, hiding her smile.
Zhao Linzhang was not the gentle and refined type of man. His face was sharply defined, with a high nose bridge and tightly pursed lips that inadvertently revealed his decisiveness and ruthlessness, inspiring awe in others.
If it weren't for hearing him mock himself today, Shen Yunrong would also be afraid of him.
Now it seems that he was also a flesh-and-blood person, with worries just like ordinary people.
This was the first time Shen Yunrong had praised him so much, and Zhao Linzhang was overjoyed: "So it seems that I am not as ugly as you think."
"It's getting late, Your Highness should rest early. This servant must go back to look after the young master." Two drumbeats sounded outside the window, it was already the second watch. She had been out for half an hour without realizing it, and if they continued talking, she couldn't think of any more words to praise the prince.
"Okay, wait a minute!" Zhao Linzhang saw that she was dressed in thin clothes and pointed to his cloak: "Put it on, don't get cold again."
Shen Yunrong was about to refuse when she saw Zhao Linzhang go to get the cloak. It seemed that he would put it on her even if she refused, so she quickly took it with both hands and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."
I put on a cloak, stepped out of the curtain, and found it to be about as warm as inside the house.
Tan Zhongxin kept his eyes straight ahead, his brows lowered, and said, "Miss Chen, please take care!"
As soon as Shen Yunrong arrived at the entrance of Wangyue Tower, she hurriedly took off her cloak, folded it, and held it to her chest, for gossip was a fearsome thing.
The two wet nurses, who were watching over the sleeping Siliang, quickly got up when they saw her return.
"You should go and rest." The young master only sought out Shen Yunrong at night, and the two wet nurses couldn't rest because they were staying here. Shen Yunrong usually told them to go to sleep while she looked after them herself.
Fortunately, the little one has been sleeping through the night recently, so she can also sleep soundly through the night.
She took out the hairpin from her bosom and gently stroked the dragonfly on it. She had never seen such a beautiful hairpin before. She held it up in front of the bronze mirror and tried it on. The woman in the mirror smiled shyly, and the dragonfly seemed to be dancing in her hair.
Zhao Linzhang doesn't seem so scary after all. She should never see that man on the mountain again in this life. Why should she involve the prince for a stranger? He deserves her respect, not fear.
Having received such a valuable gift from him, Shen Yunrong felt she should reciprocate with something in return.
But he was of noble status and had everything he could want in his palace. Thinking of the brocade robe with its shrunk buttons, she put away the hairpin and took out her sewing basket.
Previously, she had only made simple designs such as single-button and long-tailed buttons. The python robe worn by the prince was made in the palace, and the buttons were gourd-shaped. She didn't know if she could wrap such an intricate design.
The candlelight remained lit in the young master's bedroom. The next day, while the young master was still in a good mood after waking up, Shen Yunrong rubbed her red eyes, instructed the two wet nurses to take good care of him, and took the gourd-shaped buttons and cloak she had made overnight to go out.
This cloak, made of soft satin with auspicious beast patterns, must have been the prince's everyday attire in his residence.
Just as Zhao Linzhang was about to leave, he met her at the courtyard gate. Coincidentally, he was wearing the brocade robe with the buttons that were too small that day.
Seeing the cloak in her hand, Zhao Linzhang curled his lips: "Just leave it with Siliang, I'll go and bring it back."
"This servant is afraid that Your Highness might need it."
"You can leave the young lady to me." Steward Tan took the cloak from her hands.
Shen Yunrong hesitated, not daring to hand over the button in her hand.
Zhao Linzhang noticed her unusual expression and asked softly, "Is Siliang still not awake?"
"Young Master is awake. I noticed that the buttons on Your Highness's robe didn't fit properly, so I quickly made a new pair." Having nothing else of value to offer, Shen Yunrong decided to go for it and handed over the buttons held in her palm.
Zhao Linzhang was surprised that she remembered even the smallest detail. This brocade robe was made in the palace, and even a small button was incredibly intricate. Looking at the button in her hand, its color and style were exactly the same as the one on his own.
This took all night to make.
"What did you do last night?"
"Hmm." She had thought that after the prince gave her the frog buttons and asked her to take the brocade robe back with him, she could simply sew them on properly.
Who would have thought it would be such a coincidence? The brocade robe is on the prince, so we can't just ask him to take it off.
"Since we have nothing else to do today, you can sew it up!" As if seeing what Shen Yunrong was thinking, Zhao Linzhang reached out and unfastened the knotted button around his neck as he walked back.
Shen Yunrong was dumbfounded. Was there no need to rush? She could wait until the prince changed his clothes tonight before sewing.
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