Behind the divider screen with the landscape painting, the little girl had finished changing her clothing. Instead of looking excessively grand, the cherry red palace robe with a pink layer beneath seemed to be very complementary with the girl that was wearing it. She had a naturally beautiful appearance and could afford to wear clothes with such grandeur. Empress Chen had originally been worried that this clothing wouldn't be suitable for her. But now, seeing Wei Luo wearing this robe, her heart immediately dropped to her stomach.
Wei Luo was holding a creamy white, pure silk wrap and was currently wrapping it around her arms. She raised head and saw that Empress Chen and Duke Zhen's wife had come here together. She hurriedly saluted and said, "Greetings Your Majesty..."
(T/N: On the third cover of ChongFei Manual, the artist used green with a white flower pattern instead of the creamy white that's described in the novel for the wrap.)
Empress Chen stepped forward to hold her arms, allowed her to stand up from saluting, carefully looked her up and down in satisfaction, then she smilingly said, "You took so long to change your clothes that this empress thought these clothes didn't fit you. From what I see now, I was thinking too much. Doesn't this look quite good?"
The palace clothing had vividly, bright colors and was mired in enchantingly elaborate embroidery. The clothing made the young girl seem even more beautifully bright. She looked like an overly elaborate doll that had been repeatedly polished. She was absolutely exquisite.
Even Duke Zhen's wife couldn't resist looking at her a few extra times and praising, "Wei-shi is truly a beauty."
Wei Luo's face showed her embarrassment. She secretly clutched the golden butterfly hairpin that was hidden in her sleeve. She guiltily said, "I made Your Majesty wait too long. It took me a while to tie the waist accessory...”
Empress Chen wasn't in a hurry. She was only worried that Wei Luo had met something troublesome. Seeing that was she perfectly all right, she felt reassured as she said, "It's fine. You don't need to hurry with changing your clothes. This empress will wait for you outside."
Wei Luo nodded in acceptance. She didn't let out a sigh in relief until Empress Chen and Duke Zhen's wife left. When she had heard their footsteps before, she almost cried out in fear. Fortunately, she had enough time to hastily change her clothes after Zhao Jie left and before Empress Chen came.
She had subconsciously hidden the hairpin that Zhao Jie gave her into her sleeve. She didn't want other people to know. This hairpin was too similar to the one that he had given Zhao Liuli. It wouldn't be difficult for other people to guess that he had also given her this hairpin. She was an unmarried girl. She won't even mention the other issues. Just wearing something a man gave her wouldn't be good for her reputation.
Thinking about this matter with Zhao Jie... She couldn't help thinking about Song Hui.
Regardless of her relationship with Zhao Jie, her engagement with Song Hui should be broken. She didn't like Song Hui and wasn't willing to marry him. It wouldn't be okay to keep dragging this out. After all, from the time she was reborn, she hadn't want to be his wife. After several years of interactions with him, she didn't have any more bias against him. He had sincerely treated her well. Regardless of his reason for getting engaged with Wei Zheng in her previous life, he had concentrated his thoughts and efforts on being her older brother Song Hui in this life. Unfortunately, she still didn't have romantic feelings towards him. No matter how well he treated her, it didn't move her heart.
While letting her imagination run wild, she lifted up the silk wrap and walked out from behind the divider screen.
After being recently reprimanded by Empress Chen, the servant girl outside the divider screen didn't dare to be even slightly negligent. She respectfully led Wei Luo towards the Chinese cedar dressing table outlined in gold to sit down, then she brushed her hair out from her original hairstyle. In a short period of time, she coiled Wei Luo's hair into a shuang huan wang xian hairstyle and inserted golden hairpins with flowers and jade hairpins with stylized cicadas and small birds into her hair. She wasn't finished with Wei Luo until she did the last step of putting on a pair of golden lantern earrings.
(T/N: The hairstyle that the artist used for the third cover isn't shuang huan wang xian, so I included a picture of it below.)
Ch 76 - shuang huan wang xian hairstyle.png
Just as Wei Luo was about stand up, Zhao Liuli's personal servant girl, Yun Zi, came over to say, "Miss Wei, Her Highness is requesting you go to warm room where she is."
Wei Luo tilted her head and asked, "Did she say why?"
Yin Zi shook her head.
She put down the double-edged fine-toothed comb and followed Yun Zi towards the warm room.
Zhao Liuli had recently taken a bath. At the moment, she had a lotus colored gown draped over her and she was sitting on the couch with red eyes. She wouldn't let anyone near her. It seemed as if she was sulking.
After Wei Luo stepped forward and asked, she learned that Liuli was having a disagreement with Yang Zhen. It wasn't a big matter. Today was Liuli's fifteenth birthday and she only had one request. She wanted Yang Zhen to stay at her side. But, that block of wood had disappeared this morning and didn't come back until now. When he came back, he didn't say a single word to her before turning around to do something else.
What could he be busy with? Wasn't his most important task to protect her?
Zhao Liuli puffed out her cheeks as she said, "... so I'm angry."
Wei Luo didn't know whether she should laugh or cry. At this time, the hairpin ceremony would soon start. How could she still have the energy to be angry? She could only try to coax Liuli into obediently changing her clothes, having her hair arranged, and waiting until after the hairpin ceremony to find Yang Zhen. She could be properly angry with him then.
After Wei Luo spent a lot of effort talking and Liuli was finished complaining, Liuli didn't hold onto her small temper. Fortunately, Liuli wasn't an unreasonable little girl. Even though Liuli wasn't happy, she started to earnestly change into her clothes.