Chapter 127
Lu Dieqing felt the atmosphere grow quiet.
Ningning had almost been coaxed by her.
Oh, no, after hearing that she had been drinking, Ningning had become a little unhappy, and she had been about to coax her.
But before she could, she had heard that the Third Princess had sent over beautiful dancers and musicians…
Lu Dieqing felt even more guilty.
It was as if she had been a fickle woman who had gone out to seek pleasure today, leaving her beloved at home while she went out to have fun.
And in the end, she had even brought back the beauties from outside, making the other unhappy.
Sob, sob, sob. Lu Dieqing was so aggrieved she was about to cry. She hadn’t, she hadn’t at all.
Seeing Zheng Xuening’s expression grow a little more deep and cold, Lu Dieqing gently pinched the other’s sleeve.
“I didn’t want those dancers. I didn’t ask the Third Princess for them.”
“They were dancing and playing music. I just praised them a little when I was leaving, just to be polite. I didn’t mean anything else.”
“I… how could I think anyone else is beautiful… I…”
She stammered. The more nervous she was, the more anxious she spoke, unable to give a satisfactory explanation.
In the end, Lu Dieqing could only use her eyes to express her sincerity.
She blinked at Zheng Xuening and said in a small voice, “Don’t be wronged and overthink. You have to believe me.”
Her jumbled explanation, on the contrary, made Zheng Xuening laugh.
The atmosphere in the bedchamber of Yunxi Hall suddenly turned from cloudy to sunny.
When Zheng Xuening smiled, she was a devastatingly beautiful woman who could make one’s soul scatter a little.
“You don’t want those dancers and musicians?”
She stroked the girl’s head.
Lu Dieqing nodded vigorously. “Mhm! I don’t want them!”
She said it so firmly.
Zheng Xuening asked again, “But they’ve already been sent over. Why not?”
Lu Dieqing’s head drooped. Her two small hands held Zheng Xuening’s arm together and said in a small voice, “A gentleman loves beauty in a virtuous way. I already have my favorite beauty. Why would I want anyone else?”
Besides, she wasn’t a gentleman. Her heart was only filled with Ningning. She wouldn’t look at anyone else.
The flowers and grass on the roadside were much more beautiful, but could they compare to Ningning? Of course not!
Lu Dieqing almost completely buried herself in Zheng Xuening’s embrace, praising her, coaxing her, a beauty as soft as jade. No one who came could resist such coquettishness.
Zheng Xuening’s cheeks were a little hot. She felt that her heart had been completely stirred into water by Lu Dieqing.
“If you don’t like the dancers and musicians, why would she send them?”
These words were a little sour.
Jealousy makes people lose their usual rationality. Zheng Xuening had never thought before that she would have such a… cough, childish moment.
She was actually a little concerned, even a little angry.
Lu Dieqing pressed her face into her embrace and said in a small voice, “I won’t say it next time. And I didn’t say I liked them, I was just being polite and praised the dancing. I… don’t be angry.”
Lu Dieqing even reached out her small hand to help Zheng Xuening stroke her chest, soothing her emotions a couple of times.
Zheng Xuening grabbed her small hand, her fingers weaving through hers, their ten fingers intertwined.
“I’m not so petty either. Dancers and musicians, if they’re sent, then they’re sent. If you want to watch, then watch a few times, so you don’t have to go out again.”
After saying this, Zheng Xuening herself did not speak again.
Lu Dieqing, on the other hand, pressed her lips together and rested her head on the other’s shoulder, unable to help but smile secretly.
“Ningning, you’re so cute.”
Seeing Ningning jealous, the awkward way she spoke, she couldn’t help but want to laugh.
To be cared for, to be held on the tip of one’s heart and doted on, to see the other’s possessiveness arise, this feeling was really good.
She liked being cared for by Ningning like this.
“I don’t want those dancers. I don’t want them. Let’s have Helian send them back to the Third Princess. I go to the academy to study every day, and I come back to practice carving with you, and I also have to cultivate. Where would I find the time to admire others dancing?”
Lu Dieqing coaxed the Crown Princess in a small voice.
Sure enough, in the girl’s soft, honeyed, sweet voice, the certain someone who had just fallen into a vat of vinegar had returned to her usual expression.
“As you wish.” Her mouth said “as you wish,” but in reality, she had agreed.
So proud.
Lu Dieqing really wanted to pinch her Ningning’s cheeks as well, but considering that Helian was still at the door, she suppressed the thought.
Her Ningning also had face to save. She wouldn’t let others see how she bullied Ningning.
Helian stood at the door, listening to the conversation between the two masters, her eyes on her nose and her nose on her heart, trying her best to hide the smile on her face.
As expected, a jealous fit had just played out right before her eyes.
However, it was a good thing that Miss Lu knew how to act cute and explain, and had a mouth that wouldn’t let a knot of conflict linger overnight. She had explained everything clearly in one go and had soothed the Crown Princess’s anger.
Having been with the Crown Princess for so long, Helian was still very good at telling when the Crown Princess was angry.
The worse her mood, the more silent the Crown Princess would become. That low pressure could be seen from the coldness in her eyes.
Only Miss Lu had the ability to soothe such a Highness.
These two were meant to be together. A perfect match!
Helian, with the two masters’ intentions, quietly withdrew from the bedchamber and sent the waiting dancers and musicians back the way they came.
When the Third Princess learned that the dancers and musicians she had sent had returned, she was stunned for a moment, then she shook her head and smiled.
An old matron at her side asked, “Third Highness, what are you smiling at?”
Only she, as the Third Highness’s half wet-nurse, dared to ask at a time like this.
The Third Princess, Zheng Sixin, looked at the already completely dark sky outside the window.
“I’m smiling at how my elder sister, who in the past would not put anyone in her eyes, and was even cold to our father, now I know that a person who has truly fallen in love will capsize.”
“To think my elder sister would have such a day. I never would have thought…”
Sending these dancers and musicians was originally a probing move.
If they were smoothly accepted, then it would be considered that she had formed a connection, and there would be no loss.
But if they were returned, she had not done anything wrong, and on the contrary, she had found out the Crown Princess’s true intentions for that Lu Dieqing.
After all, protecting a person, in their position, had many meanings.
It could be that she found the person pleasing to the eye and was casually helping her out.
It could also be that she felt that the other was very useful, so she had taken her into her own protection.
But neither of the above possibilities would make a person return beautiful dancers and handsome musicians.
Unless it was the third situation.
The feelings her elder sister had for Lu Dieqing were secret—an affection tinged with strong possessiveness.
Only in this way would she not be able to tolerate even a few dancers and musicians.
Zheng Sixin paced back and forth in her bedchamber, her hand holding her chin, lost in thought.
The old matron was curious and wanted to ask something, but thinking of the distinction between master and servant, she did not say anything more.
She had heard that the Matron Zhang, who had been by the Crown Princess’s side before, had been loyal and had accompanied the Crown Princess for twenty years. That one had been an old servant who had been by her side since the time of the former Empress.
Even in front of the current Son of Heaven, because of the former Empress, she would have a bit of face, at least be remembered.
But such a person had been sent out of the imperial palace by the Crown Princess overnight, saying that she was letting her go home to retire.
Sigh, she had no children. Retiring outside the palace might not be a good thing. It would have been better to stay in the palace and grow old gracefully in the future.
So, she was very careful about the master-servant relationship with the Third Princess.
After all, she was a royal noble. If she gave them an inch, they couldn’t really take a mile.
Matron Li had not understood this principle and had really treated herself as the Crown Princess’s family. In the end, the lifetime of dignity she had accumulated in the palace was gone just like that.
As the old matron thought this, she couldn’t help but sigh at the recent changes in her Third Highness.
In her memory, the Third Princess had always been by the Second Prince’s side, a personality that did not make many decisions.
Whatever the Second Prince wanted to do, the Third Princess, even if she was unwilling, would help him achieve his goal.
But a few days ago, the Second Prince had suddenly been attacked by an assassin, and he was crippled, no good, and had fallen.
The old matron had watched as the Third Princess changed day by day.
It seemed that she could make her own decisions now, and had become more cunning.
This was a good thing, but also not. People were afraid of having too many of their own ideas, but not having the ability to back them up, and instead offending someone they shouldn’t.
The old matron did not want the master she followed to have a bad end in the future. After a long moment of deliberation, she finally reminded Zheng Sixin in a roundabout way.
“Third Highness, we can’t throw an egg against a rock. The Crown Princess is, after all, in that position. If this old servant may say something disrespectful, the Second Prince is already like this. Why does the Third Highness have to be the one to stand out and be the villain?”
The Third Princess, Zheng Sixin, was stunned for a moment and stopped her pacing.
“You think I’m standing up for that good-for-nothing second brother?”
The old matron was startled and quickly looked back outside, her face a little pale.
The Third Princess had really changed. Now, when she mentioned the Second Prince, even her words had become sharp.
“Matron, if you think so, then you are underestimating this Princess. Heh, what happened to my second brother was his own doing.”
“Since I know that what he did was self-destruction, how could I follow in his footsteps? What I’ve done today will not offend my elder sister, you can rest assured.”
She was very open-minded. In the future, even if she couldn’t become the emperor, she could be a carefree, wealthy princess.
She was just testing whether her elder sister could tolerate her now.
…
When Lu Dieqing picked up the dagger again to practice carving, she found that her reactions were much sharper than before.
She asked Zheng Xuening.
The latter smiled at her. “Even at the first layer of the Qi Refining stage, you are already different from a mortal.”
From the moment the two of them had found the forbidden land and had obtained the legacy, they were already different from before.
Lu Dieqing was affirmed and became happy.
The dagger in her hand spun, and she quickly carved out the shape of a palm-sized statue with the Yushan bamboo.
Zheng Xuening watched quietly from the side.
“Ningning, what should I carve you into?”
When it was time to carve the facial features, Lu Dieqing looked back at her beloved.
As she looked, she pouted her red lips.
“One look at your face, and I feel that no jade carving is worthy of you.”
Zheng Xuening slowly approached, her red lips raised.
“It’s okay. You are worthy.”
The great beauty’s whole body was fragrant. When she came closer, the air became sweet.
“Do you want to see me dance? Do you want to see mine?” Zheng Xuening said, word by word, each word full of charm.
Lu Dieqing pressed her lips together, her heart beating fast again.
How could this be!
Every time, she couldn’t resist Ningning’s beauty trap.
Sob, sob, I want to see, I want to see.
