"Juyuan, do you believe me?" Murong Hui was clearly tempted and asked with a smile.
"I don't know, but I'd like to give it a try. Let's treat it like a game," Xiao Juyuan smiled. "Let's all write some. Isn't tomorrow the night of the full moon?"
In the study, Tuoba Yuanxun held several sheets of paper in his hand, frowning as he looked around. "Senior Brother Pei, don't you think the maids are acting a bit strange today? They're rushing around and seem distracted."
Pei Junwu smiled and said, "Ignore them."
“I’m quite curious,” Yi Chunjun said with a slight smile, “whose names will the junior sisters write?”
"What are you talking about?!" Tuoba Yuanxun asked, dumbfounded.
Yi Chunjun chuckled softly, "It's all Master Tian's fault."
Tuoba Yuanxun laughed heartily when he learned the whole story, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "Don't you all want to know who they wrote about? I want to know too! Leave this to me. After the full moon, I'll dig it all out for them."
The Flower Smile, Chapter 23: Under the Laurel Tree
Yan Minyu wrote the three characters "Yi Chunjun" in large letters on the yellow paper, not afraid of being seen, and boldly wrote her name and birth date.
Murong Hui and Xiao Juyuan were somewhat secretive and even blushed when they wrote it.
Xiao Yuan wasn't particularly interested in who Xiao Juyuan had written down, but she was eager to see the birth date and time she had written. She was hesitating about how to naturally suggest looking at Xiao Juyuan's yellow paper when Xiao Yuan spoke first.
“Let’s all lay them out and see who wrote it,” Xiao Juyuan said with her usual adorable smile. “I especially want to see who Huihui and Xiaoyuan wrote it.”
Murong Hui shook her head shyly, "No, it's enough that we each know it in our hearts."
"I want to see too! I want to see too!" Yan Minyu shouted absentmindedly. "You guys watch mine." She generously showed off her yellow paper, which was unsurprisingly written. The words were crooked, but at least they were all correct and there were no typos.
“I wrote down Brother Wu.” Xiao Juyuan also handed her yellow paper to the center of the table quite frankly. Xiao Yuan trembled slightly. The yellow paper clearly showed Xiao Juyuan’s birth date and time: the sixth day of the eighth month of the Bingchen year.
No wonder she managed to deceive the entire Pei family and her grandmaster; she even found out her birth date. Xiao Juyuan must have been meticulously planning and carefully maneuvering through these past ten years.
The beautifully written name "Pei Junwu" stung her eyes. Hmph, did she not understand Xiao Juyuan's meaning? These three clear characters were the name of her beloved, her husband; she wanted to bring them together. Was he implying she should give up her wishful thinking?
"Xiao Yuan, who did you write?" Murong Hui asked, somewhat shyly taking out her yellow paper, which also contained the name Yi Chunjun, making Yan Minyu feel a little uncomfortable.
Xiao Yuan picked up his pen, realizing that even birthdays had to be faked, and it didn't matter who he wrote it for anyway!
"Pei Junwu, Pei Junwu, Yi Chunjun, hey, hey! Nangong Zhan, another vote for you!" Tuoba Yuanxun shouted to Nangong Zhan, who was sitting leisurely drinking tea to the side, as if reporting his achievements, and waved the crumpled yellow paper in his hand.
Almost all of Pei's maids had arrived outside the flower hall, crowding the area inside and outside the door. They were all looking at the large cardboard sign that Murong Xiao kept drawing tally marks on with a mixture of shyness and excitement.
"Isn't mine yet?" Murong Xiao stomped his foot angrily, his brush splashing ink across the marble floor. The fact that his name on the cardboard only had half a tally mark under it made him feel incredibly embarrassed.
"Don't count on it. Girls don't like lecherous guys. Even I got four more votes than you." Tuoba Yuanxun proudly scorned him. At least there was a complete tally mark under Tuoba Yuanxun's name on the cardboard.
"This is ridiculous." Pei Junwu flipped through the account book and smiled wryly.
"Now... I want to see the young ladies' yellow papers!" Yuan Xun grinned mischievously, rubbing his hands together. Murong Hui glanced at Yi Chunjun sitting next to Pei Junwu, her face turning bright red. The maids became even more excited, bursting into laughter every now and then.
“First it was my senior sister’s.” Yuan Xun roughly unfolded the paper and glanced at it. “No point, I knew it was him. Yi Chunjun got another vote.”
Murong Xiao rolled his eyes as he drew the twelfth "正" (a type of Chinese character) for Yi Chunjun.
"Xiao Juyuan, Pei Junwu."
"Murong Hui, Yi Chunjun."
Tuoba Yuanxun held the last crumpled paper in his hand, glanced at the large cardboard, and said, "Ha, this is really tense. Senior Brother Pei and Senior Brother Yi each have 12 tally marks and 60 votes. Xiao Yuan, you're actually going to make the final decision!"
Pei Junwu and Yi Chunjun both stopped what they were doing and looked up. The hall fell silent; everyone was anxiously awaiting the final result.
Tuoba Yuanxun opened the crumpled paper with wide eyes and exclaimed in exasperation, "Huh?!"
"Murong Xiao?! Xiao Yuan, you actually wrote about him but not me!"
The maids burst into disappointed boos. They had thought that Miss Xiaoyuan would definitely write down one of the young master and the young master Yi, but she actually wrote down such an uncommon name, which made it impossible to determine a winner between the young master and the young master Yi!
"Little Yuan, so you like men like me?" Murong Xiaoxi smiled broadly, finally having a complete "正" (zhèng) under his name.
Pei Junwu held the account book, frowning as he looked at it, not turning a single page for a long time. Yi Chunjun, however, continued to drink his tea with a smile, his knuckles turning white as he held the cup.
The moon was rounder and brighter on the night of the sixteenth than the night before.
Xiao Yuan slowly walked to the laurel tree where she had buried the note, gently stroking its slender trunk. The branches cast messy, swaying shadows on the ground, just like her heart.
A marriage spell… She smiled faintly. Even if it worked, it would be in vain since she and Xiao Juyuan had both written fake names and birth dates!
Another long, dark shadow appeared beside her without her noticing. She wasn't afraid and didn't turn around. There were only two people who could approach her so silently.
He stood behind her for a while, then finally couldn't stand it anymore and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to turn around and face him.
Under the bright, clear moonlight, Pei Junwu's handsome face remained calm, but his eyes... seemed to be blazing with fire.
He looked into her eyes, frowned in annoyance, pressed her against the laurel tree, and deftly removed her mask.
Her stunning beauty under the moonlight made him forget to breathe for a long time.
Should she push him away? Should she run away from his eyes? No… she didn’t want to! She looked back at him, a thousand words welling up in her eyes, turning into nothing more than a hazy mist.
When tears, brighter than the moon, flashed in her eyes, all his reason and morality vanished, leaving only the urge to kiss her and the act of kissing her.
When his lips passionately covered hers, when he stirred her most primal desires… she felt hot. Her heart, frozen by resentment and grievance, thawed, and tears slid down her cheeks, flowing into the space between their lips, bittersweet.
The cool, bitter taste made him shudder slightly, and he pulled away from her soft lips.