At Qing Xi Palace's Chen Hua Hall, Wei Luo was sitting on a carved wooden couch, holding a colorful teacup lid, and staring at a red coral in a bonsai container in the corner. She had been looking at it for over 15 minutes.
Zhao Liuli couldn't resist stretching her hand and waving it in front of Wei Luo. She said, "Ah Luo, what are you thinking about? You've been weird and absent-minded since you came here. If you're busy with something, you can go back home. You don't have to worry about me."
Wei Luo looked away from the red coral and slowly said, "I'm fine. What did you just say? Her Majesty called you over to say something? What did she say?"
Today, Mister Qi was occupied with something related to his family, so she, Wei Zheng, and Chang Hong didn't have class today. They were allowed to go out to play. After thinking for a moment, she had decided to go to the palace to talk with Zhao Liuli.
Zhao Liuli was naturally happy that Wei Luo was visiting her. She left what she had been doing to come to Chen Hua Hall to see her. But, she gradually realized that something was wrong. From the time that Liuli had arrived at Chen Hua Hall, she noticed that Wei Luo was absent-minded and looked as if there was something she wanted to say, but couldn't. This made Zhao Liuli extremely curious.
Naturally, Zhao Liuli wasn't able to continue their earlier conversation. She asked, "What exactly is bothering you? Why can't you tell me? I tell you everything!"
Wei Luo paused and thought of the reason why she had come here today. In the end, she had Jin Lu bring the item forward to Zhao Liuli's hand. "This... could you give this to older brother Prince Jing for me?"
Zhao Liuli held the red sandalwood box with decorative carvings. At first, she was surprised. Soon after, she looked at her with bright eyes.
Was Ah Luo giving this to her imperial older brother? What was it? She was even happier than her imperial older brother.
"Can I open the box to look?" Zhao Liuli asked.
Thinking that this wasn't something that couldn't be seen by others, Wei Luo nodded and said, "You can look."
Zhao Liuli impatiently opened the box. She took out the jade hairpin, placed it on her hand, and looked at it from every angle as if this was her gift. Finally, she carefully put it back and praised, "It looks really good. My older brother will definitely like it." Actually, she wanted to say that as long as it was something from Ah Luo, her imperial older brother would definitely like it. Then, she thought of something and curiously asked, "Why don't you give this to my older brother yourself?"
Wei Luo drank a mouthful of tea, blew out her cheeks, and said, "I don’t have opportunities to see him."
This was the truth. Zhao Jie had his own residence and had moved out of the palace a long time ago. Even if she came to the palace, it would be unlikely for her to see him. Even if she did see him, she couldn't give him a gift in a public place with numerous people. Other than going to the palace, Wei Luo had to obtain Wei Kun's permission to go to other places. It was really inconvenient. After thinking it over, she could only give Zhao Jie a gift with Zhao Liuli's help.
Hearing this, Zhao Liuli thought her words were reasonable. Looking as if she was an assistant bearing heavy responsibilities, she said, "Don't worry, I'll personally hand this over to him."
Wei Luo was amused by her seriousness. The corner of her mouth curved up.
After saying this, Zhao Liuli continue to impatiently look at Wei Luo while sitting across from her. She was very curious about Wei Luo's relationship with Zhao Jie. Naturally, Zhao Liuli wouldn't dare to ask Zhao Jie about this matter and Zhao Jie wouldn't talk about this topic with her. She had been curious for the past several days. Today, Wei Luo wanted to give Zhao Jie a gift and her heart felt itchy. Finally, she couldn't stop herself from saying, "Ah Luo, will you become my imperial sister-in-law?"
Wei Luo blushed, "..."
Her words were too direct! Wei Luo was too stunned. Even after a long time, she still didn't know what to say!
Imperial sister-in-law? Their birthdays hadn't even been looked at. *
* (T/N: In historical times, before a couple could be married, a matchmaker would have to check if two people were compatible by looking at their birthdays and birth hours.)
After recovering from her surprise, she also felt that her question was too sudden. She curved her eyes and said, "Never mind. I shouldn't ask too much about your relationship with my older brother. I'll wait until you want to tell me."
Wei Luo let out a sigh in relief. Seeing that it wasn't early anymore, she decided it was time to go home. She stood up and dusted off her eight treasure style skirt with precious stone beads. Before she left, she thought of something. Her dazzling, bright eyes turned to look at Zhao Liu and she said, "If older brother Prince Jing comes to my home to propose marriage, I'll be your imperial sister-in-law."
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Soon after Wei Luo left, Zhao Liuli lied down on the couch and was reading a book by herself.
Yang Zhen had found this book for her outside of the palace. It had anecdotal stories about the pugilist world and interesting stories about the common folk. When she was bored, she would take it out to pass the time. Just as she finished reading a page, a palace servant girl came into the room to report, "Princess, His Highness Prince Jing is here."
Zhao Liuli was surprised for a moment and the book fell down onto the couch. She sat up and asked, "Imperial older brother came? Shouldn't he be keeping imperial mother company right now?"
Zhao Jie had come to palace this morning to pay respects to Empress Chen and also stayed to eat lunch with her. Zhao Liuli thought he wouldn't have time to come here, so she hadn't asked Wei Luo to stay longer. Who would have expected that he would be coming here and at such an early time?
Before Yun Zi had time to reply, Zhao Jie walked past the folding screen made of twelve red sandalwood pieces. He was wearing a long brocade robe.
She stood up and called out, "Imperial older brother..."
Zhao Jie's dark eyes looked around the room. Seeing that Wei Luo wasn't here, he realized that she had already returned home. He lowered his eyes. His eyes were like a hopeless abyss. “She left?”
Zhao Liuli nodded and remembered Wei Luo's request. She hastily picked up the red sandalwood box and presented it to him as if it was a valuable treasure. "Ah Luo asked me to give this to you. Imperial older brother, look."
Zhao Jie's eyes slightly moved. He opened the box to look. On top of the red silk, there was an exquisite and lustrous white jade hairpin with a carved hornless dragon. He looked at it for a long time before quietly asking, "Ah Luo gave this to me?"
Zhao Liuli nodded.
He suddenly closed the box, "When did she leave?"
Zhao Liuli said, "Not long ago. She's only been gone for a little bit. She probably just left the palace..."
Before she could finish her words, he had turned around and left Chen Hua Hall without any hesitation.
Zhao Liuli lifted up her skirt to chase after him and called out, "Imperial older brother, Ah Luo also said something else. She said, she would be my..."
Unfortunately, Zhao Jie had left too quickly. He didn’t hear her words.
(T/N: Even if their birthdays and birth hours weren't compatible, I'm sure that Zhao Jie will preemptively bribe or threaten someone into saying otherwise.)