Hearing this familiar voice, Wei Luo mentally relaxed. Although she was still suspicious, she wasn't panicking like before.
She knew that Zhao Jie wouldn't hurt her. In addition, this place was Zhao Yang Hall. Empress Chen and Duke Zhen's wife were right outside the divider screen. Even he wouldn't dare to anything to her here. But, why did he appear here? What did he want to say to her? Wei Luo blinked, twisted her head to move his hand away, and turned to look at him. Seeing that it was indeed Zhao Jie, she couldn't help frowning before whispering, "Older brother Prince Jing, why are you here? Is this something that you can't say in normal way?"
While she was saying this, she broke away from him arms and escaped from his embrace. This wasn't some other place. If someone saw them, it wouldn't be good for either of their reputation.
Zhao Jie was wearing a light silk, navy blue robe with a pattern of hornless dragons with a green and purple waist accessory. Standing so straight in front of her, he seemed majestically tall as if his height was seven feet and his demeanor was elegant as red clouds on moonlit night. He didn't stop her from burrowing out of his embrace this time. He was probably apprehensive of this situation too. He had only lightly hugged her for a moment to console himself. He had bitterly missed her the past several days. Now, while looking at her, he curved his lips into a smile and said, "If I tried to speak to you in a normal way, would you pay attention to me?"
Wei Luo choked back her words. She was suddenly speechless.
He was right. She wouldn't have paid attention to him.
During the past several days when she came to Zhao Yang Hall to learn from Mama Qiu the sequence of processes for the hairpin ceremony, Zhao Jie would also occasionally come to Zhao Yang Hall. At those times, she would stand close to Her Majesty's side and treated him politely while maintaining her distance from him. There were many times where he tried to speak privately with her, but she kept pretending to not know. If she wasn't accompanying Empress Chen, she would be at Mama Qiu's side. It went to the point that when he later looked at her, his gaze would be off. As for what was wrong with his gaze… After she thought about it, his gaze was exactly like third elder cousin Wei Chang Xian's hua tiao dog’s gaze when it wasn't allowed to eat meat...
She had avoided him for so many days. Now, she finally couldn’t avoid anymore.
Zhao Jie didn't let the slightest change on her face slip away from his notice. The little girl probably had the same thoughts as him. She tried a few times to stammer out a reply, but she couldn't say anything in the end.
He knew that she was still young. It was okay if she still felt confused and wasn't sure right now. Originally, he hadn't wanted her to know so earlier. It could only be blamed by her waking up too soon that day. Now, she knew the things that shouldn't be known. She avoided him and he could only come closer step by step. Otherwise, she would run far away if he weren’t careful.
Zhao Jie took something out of his sleeve. It was a golden butterfly and plum blossom hairpin. The hairpin was exceptionally exquisite. On the top, there was two vivid and lifelike golden butterflies with fluttering wings. Their wings were decorated with eight tiny rubies. There were plum blossoms tied to the complicated arrangement of silver webbing hanging from the butterflies. A glance would show that it wasn't an ordinary hairpin. Who knew how much money had to be spent to create it?
This hairpin was similar to the hairpin that Zhao Liuli would be wearing for her hairpin ceremony. The only differences was that this one also had sapphires, the plum blossoms' petals were more exquisite, and there was even greenery to set off the flowers. Wei Luo raised her head to look a him, "Why does older brother Prince Jing have this?"
He stepped forward and gently inserted the hairpin to side of her hair bun. The butterfly hairpin was elaborate and exceptionally beautiful. It looked really good against her small, white jade face. "This prince ordered the creation of two hairpins from a place outside the place. One was a gift for Liuli. I kept the other one to give to you."
Wei Luo was inevitably stunned. Let's not mention whether or not it was appropriate for him to give her a hairpin. A glance would show that this hairpin was more exquisite than Liuli's hairpin. Yet, he gave this one to her. Was it really okay for him to be so obvious in bias?
She asked, "Did you only come here to give me a hairpin?"
He raised his eyebrows and held back his laughter, "What else could it be?" After saying this, he saw that the little girl's face was slightly strange and couldn't resist teasing her, "This prince has been looking for an opportunity to give you this hairpin during the past several days. Unfortunately, you kept avoiding me, so I didn't have the chance and could only hide here to wait and come out while you were changing your clothes."
Wei Luo's cheeks were slightly red. Possibly, it was because he had mentioned changing clothes, or perhaps it was because he had said she was avoiding him. She lifted her hand to take out the hairpin, pursed her lips, and said, "Older brother Prince Jing, why did you give me this? I don't want it. You should take it back."
He grasped her slender wrist and leaned over to directly face her eyes and nose with his. "Why don't you want it?"
With the conviction that justice was on her side, she boldly said, "A reward should only be given if it’s deserved."
Zhao Jie silently laughed. He bumped into her nose and said, "How are you undeserving? Haven't you been coming to the palace for Liuli during the past several days? Isn't that work?"
After she thought about it, she was still unwilling to accept, "Still, that's between me and Liuli. The relationship between this and you..."
How was this related to him?
Zhao Jie interrupted her words, "This prince is Liuli's older brother. It's only naturally that I thank you on her behalf."
Fine... she could reluctantly accept his reasoning. She wouldn't continue to bicker with him over this. Wei Luo struggled with his grip on her wrist, "Then let go of me..."
While they were speaking, the palace servant girl, who had been waiting behind the divider screen for a long time and seeing that Wei Luo hadn't come out yet, couldn't resist going towards the divider screen and calling out, "House Wei’s Fourth Miss, are you done changing clothes yet? Her Majesty is waiting for you."
Wei Luo immediately stopped speaking. Her large, almond eyes looked at Zhao Jie. She pursed her pink lips and gestured for him to quickly leave.
However, instead of leaving, he leaned over and touched her lips with his for a moment. He slightly loosened his hold on her wrist. He thought that the little girl's surprised expression that showed she was angry but scared of making a sound was the pinnacle of cuteness. He couldn't resist lowering his head to bite and suck her small lips for a few moments. He seemed like he hadn't fully expressed himself and wished to continue.
Didn't he say that he only wanted to talk to her? Why was he kissing her?
Wei Luo's scrunched up her eyebrows. Just as she was preparing to open her mouth to bite him, he stood up and let go of her.
On the other side of the divider screen, there was the sound of footsteps. It seemed as if there was more than one person. The servant girl's voice started speaking, but it wasn't directed towards Wei Luo, "Greetings to Your Majesty."
Empress Chen had come over here with Duke Zhen's wife. She asked, "Is Ah Luo still not done changing? This empress sees that it’s already been a while.”
The servant girl shook her head, "This servant just asked. House Wei's Fourth Miss didn't reply. She probably hasn't finished changing yet."
From listening to her words, Empress Chen realized that only Wei Luo was inside. She couldn't resist glancing at the servant girl and asking in dissatisfaction, "Why didn't you go inside to help her? Does it look good for you to stay out here?"
Seeing that she was angry, the servant girl hurriedly kneeled down to admit fault, "This servant was negligent. This servant will immediately go inside to help Miss Wei."
Empress Chen waved her hand and said, "Never mind, this empress will personally go there to look."
Then, she started walking towards the other side of the divider screen.