Chapter 278 - Chapter 278: Admiration

Gu Yanfei looked at Wei Jiaoniang in confusion.

Wei Jiaoniang nudged her chin in a certain direction and tried her best to signal her.

Gu Yanfei looked in the direction Wei Jiaoniang was pointing and happened to see a few girls dressed in embroidered clothes walking towards Chu Yi.

‘Your Highness.” They stopped a few feet away and curtsied to Chu Yi, neither close nor far. Their postures were elegant and dignified, as if they had practiced every move countless times.

Chu Yi turned around slightly and looked at them. His left hand was behind his back, and this posture made his figure look even straighter.

His robe fluttered in the cold wind, and a few strands of hair at his temples were ruffled. They caressed his beautifully defined jaw, making him thin and noble.

Chu Yi didn’t say anything. He just raised his right hand, indicating that they should dispense with the formalities.

‘Thank you, Your Highness.” The girls straightened gracefully again.

One of the girls took half a step forward and was about to speak when she heard a woman’s low cry from the direction of the second floor of the pleasure boat. A large red silk flower fell from the second-floor window and landed on the top of Chu Yi’s head.

However, when the north wind blew, the light silk flowers were blown away...

‘My silk flower!” The woman’s voice sounded on the second floor again, but this time it was filled with frustration and indignation.

“Pfft.” Gu Yanfei and Wei Jiaoniang laughed together, their smiles like flowers.

When she looked at Chu Yi again, Gu Yanfei felt that he was really pitiful.

‘I should help him,’ Gu Yanfei thought sympathetically. After all, they weren’t liked by Heaven’s Will, so they should support each other!

After laughing for a while, Gu Yanfei waved her hand and said to Wei Jiaoniang, ‘Then I’ll find someone else to play with.”

Wei Jiaoniang waved back happily.

Behind them, Lu Qin and the others laughed and called Wei Jiaoniang back to continue playing pitch-pot.

Gu Yanfei walked lightly towards Chu Yi. She stood on tiptoe and casually patted his shoulder. In a low voice that only the two of them could hear, she said, “How pitiful. Do you want me to help you?

She leaned close, and when she spoke, her breath was almost in his ear.

Chu Yi’s half-lowered eyelashes fluttered twice, and a rouge-like red appeared on his jade-white earlobe. He nodded and said, “Yes.”

He tilted his head slightly as he nodded. His crow-feather-like black hair fluttered, a few strands covering his ears and a few strands brushing past Gu Yanfei’s cheek.

‘Don’t worry, I’m here!” Gu Yanfei patted Chu Yi’s shoulder again. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at the girls from the aristocratic families who were standing stiffly on the spot. Their gazes were like knives shooting at her.

Poor Chu Yi.

Gu Yanfei couldn’t help but want to laugh again, but she also felt that she seemed to be gloating. She tried her best to hold back her laughter, but her eyes couldn’t help but curve into a happy arc.

‘Let’s go?” Chu Yi raised his hand in invitation. His eyebrows raised. When his gaze met Gu Yanfei’s, there was a hint of liveliness between his handsome brows, as if a painting had suddenly come to life.

Gu Yanfei flicked her sleeves and nodded.

They walked shoulder to shoulder along the guardrail at the edge of the pleasure boat. A few burning eyes were cast on their backs from behind.

The cold wind blew in her face, carrying a few remnant leaves that blew from the shore. It almost blew into Gu Yanfei’s eyes, but Chu Yi raised his hand and grabbed them before she could.

His slender fingers were a stark contrast to the damaged and dull willow leaf.

The wind was stronger. Not only did it make the weeping willows on the shore dance, but even the pleasure boat, which was parked on the shore, swayed slightly. Ripples spread across the lake, and the pleasure boat swayed even more violently.

For a moment, it was impossible to tell if the boat had stirred the water or if the water had shaken the boat.

Chu Yi seemed to be emotional as he said faintly, “Emperor Taizu often said that water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it.’

‘Aristocratic families are just a pool of stagnant water.”

“When Emperor Taizu was still alive, he had the intention to suppress the aristocratic families and support the descendants of the humble class.

However, the Emperor’s grandfather didn’t agree with Emperor Taizu’s political views. During his reign, he supported the aristocratic families with all his might. As a result, the aristocratic families, nobles, and the humble class are now the three most powerful. Among them, the humble class is the weakest.

In the past 20 years, the late Emperor had ruined half of Emperor Taizu’s hard work

Chu Yi casually stuck his left hand out of the guardrail with the broken leaf, then let go of his fingers. The broken leaf blew away with the wind, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Gu Yanfei listened hard without saying a word.

To cultivators, these things in the royal court were too troublesome. Although Gu Yanfei understood, she couldn’t be bothered to think about it.

Chu Yi suddenly stopped. They were alone, and the others were at least 70 to 80 feet away from them. Everyone’s voices were blown away by the cold wind, as if they were in another world.

It was lively on the other side, but quiet and peaceful on the other.

Chu Yi turned around and looked in the direction of Empress Dowager Yuan and Chu You. He said calmly, ‘Now, even my marriage has become a bargaining chip.”

Gu Yanfei had also heard the conversation between the Emperor and Empress Dowager Yuan.

Putting everything else aside, just Empress Dowager Yuan’s style of wanting to buy and sell by force made Gu Yanfei dislike aristocratic families.

‘So...” Gu Yanfei looked up into Chu Yi’s eyes and asked, “What do you think?” This was his own marriage. In the end, it depended on his own thoughts.

Her eyes were clear and black, as clear as a mountain stream.

There was no coyness or embarrassment. She was forthright and calm.

Chu Yi stared deeply at her palm-sized face and sighed in his heart. An indescribable feeling arose...

He thought of her sorry but comfortable appearance outside Danyang City, the confident and ostentatious smile outside the Danyang Manor, the probing attacks in Prince Jing’s Manor... Also, he had given her a jade hairpin at the Tianyin Pavilion. She had been wearing it since then.

His gaze fixed on the white jade plum blossom hairpin in her hair.

The “Plum Blossom Hairpin” he had given her.

They had clearly not known each other for long, but he often had the feeling that they had known each other for a long, long time.

He could trust her, and she trusted him!

As he thought about it, Chu Yi’s eyes softened, as if they were filled with honey. His eyes curved into a charming arc as he thought to himself, ‘There’s no hurry.’

He had always been the most patient person.

Seeing that he had been silent for a long time, Gu Yanfei blinked again. Her long eyelashes curled and curled, fanning across his heart like butterfly wings.

Chu Yi had just opened his mouth when Gu Yanfei suddenly raised her hand and snapped her fingers. “Do you have someone you like?”

Was that why he looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated?

‘Yes, I have a sweetheart.” Chu Yi smiled happily.

His smile came from the bottom of his heart. It was as warm as a breeze and as bright as the morning sun, making his eyes bright and beautiful.

A few plum trees and willow trees on the shore danced. The petals of countless plum blossoms were blown away by the wind, as if a rain of flowers had fallen. Occasionally, a few would land on the ends of their hair and shoulders..