Chapter 139

Around noon and after Wei Luo finished lunch, she had said she wanted to go to the rear courtyard to walk around. Jin Lu and Bai Lan had wanted to go with her, but she stopped them. She had said, “I’m just going to walk around for a little bit in the rear courtyard. I’ll come back soon. You don’t need to follow. The villa isn’t big. I won’t get lost. I just want to be alone for a while.”

At that time, the snow wasn’t falling as heavy as now. Jin Lu and Bai Lan couldn’t persuade her to change her mind, so they could only obediently agree.

They had originally thought Wei Luo would return soon. Unexpectedly, she still hadn’t come back after an hour. Jin Lu and Bai Lan felt anxious. Seeing that the snowstorm was getting worse, they brought umbrellas with them as they searched the rear courtyard. But, they still couldn’t find Wei Luo and they started sweating despite the cold temperature.

They asked the servants in the rear courtyard and one of the servants said he saw Wei Luo heading towards the backside of the mountain. The servant had originally wanted to call out to stop her, but she had disappeared in a blink of an eye.

It was only at this moment that Jin Lu and Bai Lan realized the seriousness of the situation.

If Wei Luo really went to the backside of the mountain, based on the current weather, it was extremely likely for her to have an accident… Seriously?! Why did she go to the backside of the mountain at this time?

Just as the two of them wanted to tell the steward to send people to the backside of the mountain to look for her, Zhao Jie returned.

Jin Lu and Bai Lan were both kneeling on the ground. Although they knew that they had made a mistake, they were more worried about Wei Luo’s safety.

“Your Highness, please send people to the backside of the mountain to look for the princess consort. It’ll be dark soon. The princess consort might meet danger… Everything is this servant’s fault. This servant failed to watch over the princess consort and is willing to suffer punishment.

Zhao Jie eyebrows were furrowed. He clenched his hand around a rosewood chair’s armrest. “When did Ah Luo leave?”

Jin Lu said, “It’s been two hours.”

It had been that long! Zhao Jie stood up and ordered Zhu Geng to summon the steward and all of the servants in the villa. After the situation was explained, most of the people were sent to look for Wei Luo in the backside of the mountain. When the servants found out that the princess consort was lost, they didn’t dare to view this lightly. Each of them rallied their spirits and methodically set out to the backside of the mountain.

As for Zhao Jie, he said these words one by one, “Lock these two people and the other servant girls that serve the princess consort into the woodshed. If anything happens to the princess consort, they’ll all be flogged to death.”

Jin Lu and Bai Lan’s face paled and their bodies felt weak.

But knowing that they had made a mistake first, they didn’t struggle as they were brought to the woodshed.

Zhao Jie walked out of the inner room. His face looked frosty as he took the umbrella that Zhu Geng handed to him. Although he tried to calm himself down, he couldn’t conceal the anxiousness in his behavior. “This prince will personally go the backside of the mountain to look. If there’s any news, inform this prince immediately.”

Shocked, Zhu Geng blurted out, “Your Highness, how can the respectable you go there? What if something happens? Let this subordinate go instead…”

Zhao Jie didn’t allow Zhu Geng to offer his opinion and interrupted him, “This prince told you to stay here. Do you not understand my words?”

He couldn’t just stand by and do nothing while Wei Luo was out there, much less wait in an empty room. If he waited and received bad news, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.

Zhu Geng paused before giving in to Zhao Jie’s demand, “Understood. This subordinate will obey Your Highness’s order.”

Zhao Jie didn’t respond. He walked towards the rear courtyard. The rear courtyard had a direct path to the backside of the mountain. He had heard from the servants that Wei Luo had left using that path. When Zhao Jie left the villa, the wind and snow was blowing from all directions. His front view was just a blanket of white and it was hard to identify which direction he should go. He took two steps forward and the snow submerged his ankles.

In this type of situation, it wasn’t possible to move quickly. Wei Luo shouldn’t have been able to walk far. Since she hadn’t come back, there were only two possibilities. One was that she had gotten lost nearby. The second possibility was the she had encountered something dangerous…

Zhao Jie didn’t dare to continue thinking about the second possibility. At this moment, he hated her to the point that his teeth felt itchy with the desire to bite her. Why didn’t she stay inside when the weather was like this? Why did she stubbornly run outside? If he found her, he would definitely press her down and give her a thorough beating.

An hour later, all the people that had gone out to look for Wei Luo had come back to the villa. No one had any news of Wei Luo.

Zhao Jie’s expression became increasingly ugly. He flung the cup of hot tea that a servant had brought and the hot liquid splashed onto the ground. “Continue searching! If you can’t find her tonight, then none of you will live to see tomorrow.”

As soon as these words were said, the servants could only search harder in order to keep theirs heads.

Zhao Jie’s clothes were completely soaked. He went inside, changed his clothes, and went back outside. Zhu Geng kneeled down in front of him and earnestly pleaded, “Your Highness, it’ll be dark soon. Please stay in the villa and wait to hear if there’s any news. It might be dangerous to go back out at this time.”

Zhao Jie completely ignored him and calmly walked past him.

At this time, the snowstorm had already stopped. However, the sky gradually got darker and even the afterglow from the setting sun was engulfed by the moonlight. Nightfall appeared quickly in the mountains without any transitional period. It had been daylight only fifteen minutes ago, but now they couldn’t even see their hands if they stretched them out.

There were wolves in the mountainside. Since they hadn’t been able to find Wei Luo yet, everything was pointing towards disaster.

Zhao Jie wasn’t the only one that felt someone was squeezing his heart. The servants in the villa also felt this way. After all, their lives were in the same basket as the princess consort’s right now. In light of Zhao Jie’s violent and tyrannical cruel behavior, no one had any hopes of living to see tomorrow if she wasn’t found tonight.

As the moon rose higher and higher, the people in the villa came back for the second time with their hearts turned to ashes. They all kneeled down outside to wait for Zhao Jie’s punishment.

Zhao Jie stood at the doorway. His malicious expression terrified the servants. His right hand clenched into a fist and he smashed his fist into the doorway. The doorway couldn’t stand the forceful blow and an imprint of his fist was left in the wood. At this time, he didn’t have the strength to rebuke them. He closed his eyes and hoarsely said, “Continue searching.”

The servants looked at each other in dismay, then they stood up and said, “Understood, Your Highness…”

During the past few days, they had already realized that the princess consort was the prince’s most precious person. She was someone that he placed in the innermost part of his heart. Normally, he couldn’t even bear to accidentally wake her up when he left in the morning. If the princess consort died, they didn’t know what would happen to the prince.

Everyone clearly understood that they had already searched the entire mountainside without seeing the princess consort. Something had most likely happened to her.

As long as they could find her, there would at least be a justification.

After tidying up their minds with this thought, just as they prepared to set out once more, they heard a voice coming from the verandah.

“What are you all looking for?”

It felt as if they were hearing a voice from the heavens.

Everyone looked towards that direction and saw Wei Luo wearing a pomegranate red cloak embroidered with a pattern of butterflies and lined with fox fur. She was in perfect condition without the slightest trace of injury and standing in the verandah. Her hair was slightly messy and her gaze was somewhat blank as if she had just woken up.

Wei Luo looked at the servants, then she looked at Zhao Jie, who was standing at the doorway. She thought of the words she had heard on the way here. After pondering over those words, she vaguely understood what had happened.

Zhao Jie only stared at her without saying a word.

When Wei Luo reached his side, he hoarsely asked, “Where did you go?”

Wei Luo lowered her eyes and happened to see the slush on his shoes. He had probably been walking outside for a long time. He had only attended to changing his clothes and hadn’t had time to change his shoes. The upper front parts of his shoes were completely soaked through.

She paused for a moment, then she pointed towards the verandah that was behind them. “It was too drafty in that room, so I went to the room behind here to take a nap. The floor heating in that room was too warm, so I accidentally slept until now.”

Then, she looked at the servants in the courtyard and said, “You can all withdraw.”

The servants felt like criminals that were given a pardon. They were like people that had been on the verge of a precipice and were suddenly pulled up to safety. They felt very grateful towards Wei Luo. Everything was good as long as she was fine.

Wei Luo walked back into their room. Zhao Jie looked at her back figure, then he followed after her.

Wei Luo went around the divider. She sat down in front of the bronze mirror that had a pattern of golden fauna, wiped off the melted snow from her face and hair, then she walked further inside to changed into a light purple robe that was slightly pink.

Jin Lu and Bai Lan weren’t in the room. Those people from before had been looking for her, so it wasn’t difficult for her to imagine the unfavorable situation those two would be in right now. Zhao Jie must have been locked them up. Jin Lu and Bai Lan were her trusted servants. Zhao Jie probably wouldn’t have harmed them for now.

Wei Luo walked towards the bed and leaned over to lift up the quilt. It seemed that she would have to sleep by herself. However, before she lied down, a pair of arms tightly wrapped around her waist. The strength of his arms was so great that it felt like she was being firmly bounded against his very hard chest.

“I looked for you for a long time.” Zhao Jie’s voice was hoarse and his arms were even slightly trembling.

He had really thought she had encountered danger. He didn’t dare to think what his life would be like without her in the future. He never wanted to experience that feeling again.

Wei Luo turned around and pushed him away. She stood on the step that led to the bed and was barely able to see eye to eye with him. She asked him, “Did you think that I had run away from home?”

This time, Zhao Jie was really obedient. He didn’t insist on hugging her, but he looked at her with a burning gaze as if he was looking at a regained treasure. No matter how much he looked, it wouldn’t be enough.

He didn’t need to answer. The answer was a definite yes.

Wei Luo pursed her lips as if she wanted to say something, but she slowly shifted her gaze away after looking at him for a moment. “That’s a different issue. I’m a very reasonable person. Even if I’m angry and quarrel with you in the future, I still wouldn’t run away from home.”

Zhao Jie’s recently changed out of clothes was hanging on a corner of a red sandalwood frame. It was very wet and there was even water dripping from it. She asked, “When did you come back? How long were you searching for me?”

Zhao Jie said, “I came back at 2PM. It wasn’t long, only four hours.”

Wei Luo remembered that when she returned from the rear courtyard, the snowstorm had gotten worse. A glance showed that it wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon, so she had decided to come back instead of continuing to stroll around the courtyard. The servant that had said he had seen her must be wrong.

He has actually searched for her in such a heavy snowstorm? Wasn’t he worried that something would happen to him?

It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t touched by his actions. This was the first time that Wei Luo felt Zhao Jie was utterly foolish. And he had the nerve to frequently call her foolish. She stopped the corners of her lips from curving up and deliberately asked in a serious tone, “Then, do you know what you were wrong about?”

Zhao Jie nodded, “That scholar was an ungrateful person with a corrupt character. He abandoned the person that had helped him. He truly deserves to be hacked into pieces.”

Seeing Wei Luo’s satisfied expression, he took a small step forward. He looked at her as he said, “Ah Luo, my words from yesterday were wrong. I never looked at you that way in the past and I definitely won’t in the future either. Back when we weren’t married yet, it was my fault for not controlling myself. Everything was absolutely my fault. Wouldn’t I be getting a cheap advantage if you injure your body from being too angry with me?”

Wei Luo tilted her head and directly looked at him, “Do you really think that?”

Zhao Jie’s phoenix eyes were dark and deep, “Really.”

Wei Luo attentively watched him for a while. She wanted to see if there were any traces of lies on his face, but she was unsuccessful.

A long time later, she slowly spread her arms open and said, “Okay, you can hug me.”