C41.2
Wei Wanyu had been waiting for an opportunity, but with Zhao Heng staying in the palace every day, she had no chance to get her out.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival and attending Third Princess's wedding ceremony, Ruo Zhen was about to set off back to the Yuezhi. With only a little over a month left, if she didn't figure out a way to get Zhao Heng out of the palace soon, it would be too late.
But Zhao Heng rarely left the palace, making it difficult for Wei Wanyu to find an opportunity. Until one day, she heard that Third Princess was going to leave the palace to pray at the Daxiangguo Temple, and suddenly, Wei Wanyu's heart leapt with joy. It was a common practice for women to pray at temples before getting married, and she saw this as the perfect opportunity to abduct Zhao Heng and send her in her place to marry into the Yue Tribe!
Wei Wanyu's heart pounded with excitement as she immersed herself in her grand plan. Once she made up her mind, she went to discuss the matter with Ruo Zhen.
In the palace, Ruo Zhen was drunk and enjoying himself with his companions. When he saw Wei Wanyu standing at the door with a serious expression, he felt a sense of unease. Whenever he saw her now, it felt like she was holding a grudge against him as if he owed her something.
He used to think of her as a friend, as someone he planned to marry, but she had cried and thrown a tantrum, refusing to marry him in the end, and now she was still acting aloof.
Clearly, she had been spoiled at home.
He wasn't going to cater to her whims.
"Why are you here again?" Ruo Zhen frowned. "Stop coming to me, or I might start thinking you still have feelings for me!"
"Don't delude yourself," Wei Wanyu felt a surge of irritation but she needed his help in this abduction scheme. She had to suppress her anger and said in a calm voice, "Have them leave first, I have something to discuss with you."
Ruo Zhen nodded and gestured for the beauties beside him to step out.
Once the door closed behind them, he furrowed his brows. "Speak quickly, tell me what you want so I can continue drinking without any delays."
Wei Wanyu couldn't stand this alcoholic womanizer for a moment longer. She spoke rapidly, "I have a plan to bring Zhao Heng out."
Ruo Zhen gave her a deep look, suddenly remembering that tomorrow was their fifteenth day together, as agreed with Zhao Heng. Knowing that Wei Wanyu's mind was not the most reliable, he had little hope in her. But he still turned his head, looking at her calmly, "Oh? What plan do you have in mind?"
*
Early in the morning, as soon as Zhao Heng woke up, Li Nanxi dashed into the Chengming Hall. Seeing her emerging from her chamber, she immediately ran towards her and nearly knocked her over in his excitement.
"Sister Aheng, the firefly lanterns are so beautiful!" The little girl's face was filled with joy.
Zhao Heng looked into the pure and innocent eyes of the little girl and smiled as she gently rubbed her chubby cheeks. "I knew you would like them."
Lin Mama was preparing breakfast and upon seeing Li Nanxi, she smiled with narrowed eyes. "Has Eight Princess had her breakfast yet?"
Li Nanxi's eyes lit up as she stared at the jade fruit in Lin Mama's hands. She had recently started teething, and her mother advised her to avoid too many sweet treats to ensure good dental health. Unable to tear her eyes away from the sweet treats, she shook her head.
Zhao Heng took her to have breakfast together.
Finally getting to taste the jade fruit she had been craving, Li Nanxi was overjoyed. Just as she was about to reach for the fourth piece, Zhao Heng stopped her chopsticks, looking at her tenderly as she said, "Little Eight is teething, eating too much sugar could cause cavities."
Li Nanxi sighed softly, echoing her mother's words. Then, she remembered something and turned to Zhao Heng, her face lit up with excitement. "Third Sister is going to the Daxiangguo Temple to pray in a few days! Mother wants us to go with her."
Will you go too?" she asked Zhao Heng, eagerly hugging her and burying her round face into her arms. "It was Sister Wei who reminded Mother, otherwise, she would have forgotten about you. I almost forgot!"
Wei Wanyu?
The smile on Zhao Heng's lips turned slightly colder.
After breakfast, Zhao Heng took Li Nanxi to the learning hall.
They were studying astronomy that morning, understanding the movements of the stars and the passage of day and night, finding it both fascinating and enjoyable.
As the lessons ended, Zhao Heng walked out of the learning hall to find Lian Zhou waiting for her. She looked at Lian Zhou, who nodded subtly and whispered, "The message has been delivered, and everything is prepared."
"Let's go," Zhao Heng said, leafing through a few scrolls as she walked towards the Fengming Terrace. After a long walk, she arrived at the foot of the terrace, and as she looked up at the high steps, she brought her hands, tucked in her sleeves, to shield her eyes from the bright sun, feeling a slight tremor in her hands.
Despite her fears, she couldn't afford to show her weakness openly. People like Ruo Zhen would only take advantage of it. Showing fear would only unsettle Lian Zhou.
"Let's go." Zhao Heng lifted her skirts and stepped onto the stairs, approaching the Fengming Terrace shrouded in ancient trees.
Pushing open the worn wooden door, she found that Lian Zhou had already cleaned the room, albeit a bit old but tidy. On the table, there was a large red lacquer food box containing several plates of snacks and a pot of wine.
She lifted the lid of the food box and asked softly, "Are you sure everything is ready?"
Lian Zhou nodded. "Yes, I personally packed it."
Zhao Heng smiled and said, "Wait outside for now, I'll call you in when I'm ready."
Lian Zhou looked at her with concern, and Zhaoheng nodded before she walked out.
It didn't take long for the sound of Ruo Zhen's footsteps to be heard from outside, indicating his arrival.
Receiving Zhao Heng's letter in the morning, he was so overjoyed that he didn't care about anything else and rushed to the palace under the scorching sun for the appointment. When he arrived at the foot of the Fengming Terrace, he was sweating profusely. Wiping his sweat at the base of the terrace, he adjusted his appearance before briskly walking up the steps of the Fengming Terrace.
Xie Tinghuan felt quite wronged. Ever since the incident where she followed Wang Ruoyu to witness the commotion surrounding Zhao Heng, which angered her aunt into expelling her from the palace. Lately, the family had been busy arranging marriage proposals for her, with all those unsuitable suitors...
She didn't even want to take a second look.
The thought of spending a lifetime with a mediocre and foolish man made her feel as if she had swallowed a toad. After crying for several nights, she decided she had to go to the palace and seek help from her aunt, no matter what. Even if she couldn't marry the Crown Prince as his main wife, she would settle for being a concubine or even a maid to the Crown Prince.
If the Prince could accept someone as lowly as Zhao Heng, couldn't he accept a girl from the loyal and courageous Marquis House?
Afraid of the heat, Xie Tinghuan deliberately took a detour through the Ningtian Gate to enter the palace, making her way towards her aunt's residence from the side of the Fengming Terrace.
Feeling overheated, she faintly saw a figure ahead heading towards the Fengming Terrace.
In an instant, she recognized that person as Ruo Zhen, the unmarried fiancee of Wei Wanyu.
Wei Wanyu had been pestering the Crown Prince for years, which had made Xie Tinghuan seethe with envy. However, when she witnessed the Prince of the Yuezhi at a palace banquet, she was thrilled, as Wei Wanyu, who had always been so strong-willed, was now marrying such a brute of a man!
But why was Ruo Zhen going to the Fengming Terrace now?
Could it be that his lust was acting up again?
Meeting with palace maids in private.
Xie Tinghuan found a strange sense of satisfaction in this, knowing Ruo Zhen's weakness for pleasure and wine, such behavior wasn't surprising. She loved seeing Wei Wanyu falter and wouldnât miss out on this juicy gossip.
Lifting her skirts, she stealthily followed behind Ruo Zhen, curious to see who he was meeting in secret. When she reached the steps of the Fengming Terrace, she hesitated to peek and quietly crouched behind a stone step to observe.
To her surprise, she saw one of Zhao Heng's palace maids bowing respectfully to Ruo Zhen at the door before he entered with a contented smile!
Xie Tinghuan shuddered in fear, taking two steps back, her heart pounding wildly. Ruo Zhen had no prior acquaintance with Zhao Heng, so their meeting was clearly not for official matters!
They were having an affair! Otherwise, why would they meet in such a secluded and quiet place?
She stole another glance and saw the palace maid standing guard at the door after ushering Ruo Zhen inside.
What charm did Ruo Zhen possess? It not only made Wei Wanyu, who had feelings for the Crown Prince for years, turn to him, but also managed to engage in illicit activities with the Crown Prince's own Zhao Heng.
Xie Tinghuan was not in the mood to delve into these thoughts at the moment. Her mind was set on confronting Zhao Heng and exposing his true colors to the Crown Prince without delay.
As she was about to leave, she hesitated. Zhao Heng had two companions, while she was alone. Rushing in to expose their affair might backfire on her. She smirked, glanced at the closed door, squinted her eyes, and casually said, "You're doomed, jinx."
*
As Ruo Zhen entered the room and saw Zhao Heng seated at the table, for a moment, he thought he was looking at a fairy from the Heavenly Mountains.
After a brief moment of bewilderment, he walked in and said, "You've been waiting long, haven't you."
Zhao Heng, startled, raised her eyes and gracefully bowed to him, saying, "Your Highness, you've arrived."
In their previous encounters, she had been fierce and harsh like a wolf cub, but this time she appeared gentle like a lamb. This stark contrast pleased him greatly, knowing that even the wildest wolf cub would become docile in his hands.
"Have you finally come to your senses?" Ruo Zhen sat down casually by the table, gesturing towards Zhaoheng.
Zhao Heng looked up at Ruo Zhen and then quickly cast her eyes down, "In the Central Plains, there is a saying, it is better to fight for life than to die. I... don't want to die."
Ruo Zhen's gaze deepened as he looked at Zhao Heng steadily, placing his hand on the table and lightly tapping the surface with his fingertips, "It's best if you've figured it out. I will ask the Emperor to grant you a new status, once you're in the Yuezhi, you will be the Prince Consort."
Zhao Heng lowered her head, delicately arranging the snacks and wine on the table. She filled a cup with wine and tremblingly handed the jade cup to Ruo Zhen, "I was ignorant before. This cup of wine is my apology to you. If Your Highness can forgive my previous ignorance, please drink this cup of wine."
Ruo Zhen assessed her from her dark hair to her graceful face and her well-proportioned figure, finally focusing on the wine cup she held in her snow-white fingers.
Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Zhao Heng's wrist, wanting her to sit on his lap. Startled, Zhao Heng's hand shook, spilling some wine. She turned away, trying to free herself from Ruo Zhen's grasp.
Ruo Zhen, with great interest, said, "I don't blame you, of course I don't blame you."
He leaned towards Zhao Heng, "Time waits for no one. We can drink the wine next time. Let's focus on more important matters..."
Zhao Heng's body trembled slightly. She held the wine cup, lowered her eyes in submission, "Your Highness, are you refusing my apology wine because you cannot let go of past grudges and live with me peacefully, or are you afraid... I'll poison the wine?"
Ruo Zhen burst out laughing and looked at her with narrowed eyes, "Do you dare to poison it?"
"I dare not." Zhao Heng spoke softly, "You are a distinguished guest from the Eastern Fence Country. If something were to happen during our private meeting, I would not have enough lives to compensate you."
Ruo Zhen laughed, "If I were to die at your hands, I would willingly do so."
Zhao Heng smiled and looked into his eyes, "So, Your Highness does not sincerely wish to take me back to the Yuezhi. That's why you do not want to drink my apology wine."
"I never drink outside wine," Ruo Zhen said, smiling slyly and gazing at the cup of wine as if he could see through everything. "If you want to apologize, wait until I have asked permission from His Majesty the Emperor to marry you, and then we can drink in our bridal chamber together."
"After all this talk, Your Highness is still afraid I'll poison the wine. I never expected the prestigious Prince of the Yuezhi to fear a powerless woman like me," Zhao Heng lightly chuckled, then lifted the wine cup to her lips and took a sip, leaving the remaining half on the table. "I have sincerely offered myself to Your Highness, this wine is my way of showing remorse. If you cannot trust my sincerity, then there is nothing more to say."
With that, she turned to leave.
Ruo Zhen grabbed her wrist, pulling her back, "Calling you a wild donkey, aren't you just that."
"Is one cup of wine worth your anger?" His sharp gaze fell on the half-filled cup of wine Zhao Heng had left behind, squinting as he picked up the cup and finished the wine with a playful grin, "Don't be mad, I'll drink it, I'll drink it right away."
Zhao Heng turned to look at him, her cheeks slightly flushed from the wine, exuding a charming allure.
She snatched her hand back in annoyance before leisurely sitting back on the chair. Picking up a pastry and savouring it slowly, she found that the sweets prepared by Lian Zhou were too sugary, making it a bit cloying to eat on an empty stomach.
"Alright, don't be angry. I was just joking with you." Ruo Zhen looked at her with a playful smile.
Zhao Heng threw the half-eaten pastry at Ruo Zhen's face, "Is it funny? I don't find it amusing at all."
Her angry expression had a unique charm, and Ruo Zhen's interest was piqued. He didn't even blame her for her rudeness. He picked up the pastry covered in Zhao Heng's fragrance, ate it, and jokingly said, "Don't be angry. I didn't mean to offend you. I apologize, please forgive me this time."
Zhao Heng raised her eyes and watched him swallow the pastry, a slight smile forming on her lips, "Is that so?"
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Authors notes:
Ruo Zhen: You old dog, brace yourself for my knockout punch.
Promise you they slept peacefully~ Oh yeah~