The Beauties of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 116

But my brother is in danger...

Wanlan reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her lips close to his ear and whispering, "In the tenth month of the fourth year of the Taiping Xingguo era, Prince Zhao Dezhao of Wugong committed suicide in the Tea and Wine Pavilion."

"Wanlan!"

Zhao Defang was shocked and pulled her away from her, staring at her incredulously, "What nonsense are you spouting!"

Suicide?

How could my elder brother possibly commit suicide!

He is a true strongman. Princess Deqing's death only caused him to fall into silence for a while, but he still pulled through. What else could possibly make my elder brother do something so impossible?

There must be something wrong with this!

"Wanlan, you've got it wrong, haven't you?"

Wanlan gave a bitter smile and shook her head. "I wish I didn't remember it, but it's so clearly etched in my mind, but—"

She stared at him intently and said, "Zehua, these are just historical records. I've said before that how historical records are written depends on what the highest arbitrator demands. Take your father's death, for example. The historical records clearly point all the finger at your uncle, but you and I know better than anyone whether your father's death was really caused by your uncle."

"Are you telling me... my brother won't commit suicide?"

Wanlan paused, then said, "I don't know either..."

"Whether it's suicide or homicide..." Zhao Defang looked at her blankly, "Is my brother doomed?"

Wanlan turned her eyes away, unable to bear looking at him. "I...don't know."

"When you asked me to return to the capital in Jiangling, it was to save my elder brother. You have a way to do that, don't you?"

Facing his hopeful gaze, Wanlan trembled slightly, rose and stepped out of his embrace, and said softly, "Zehua, aren't you afraid... that I might change some things and cause us to be completely separated, perhaps never to see each other again in any lifetime?"

Zhao Defang was startled. He closed his eyes, stood up, and pulled her back into his arms. "We'll talk about this later. It's late, let's rest."

The two went into the inner room together. Wanlan seemed preoccupied, her eyes downcast as she pondered something. When they reached the bedside, Zhao Defang began to remove her outer garment. She suddenly looked up and grasped his busy hand, hesitatingly saying, "Zehua... if the historical Zhao Dezhao had to die, then... we just need to make him disappear from this world, so that he can never appear again and disrupt the course of history, right?"

Zhao Defang spoke with some difficulty, "Wanlan, do you want your elder brother to die?"

He didn't have to die!

Wanlan explained urgently, "If we can make it disappear, she won't have to die!"

He was stunned. "What do you mean?" Disappearance and death... what's the difference?

"We can send him away, to a world that no one can reach!"

Zhao Defang, who vaguely knew what she was going to say, was stunned for a long time before slowly uttering, "You...you have another way to go to that world?"

Wanlan frowned. "No, but we should try anyway. You don't want anything to happen to your older brother, do you? Remember your waist tag? Maybe it can help us!"

"Even if it works, we don't know how to use it."

Wanlan nestled thoughtfully into his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist. Her eyes, full of laughter, gazed at the candlelight in the distance, and she gave a strange laugh. "Perhaps... someone knows!"

Chapter 103, A Light Rain Sprinkles on the Courtyard (1)

The next day, the morning rain passed quickly, lasting only a moment. The leaves were green and the grass was lush, and the glistening raindrops, like the morning dew of early summer, clung tightly to the verdant landscape, so touching that one couldn't bear to make a loud noise and disturb them.

Wanlan had just finished breakfast and was sitting on the couch in the outer room of Tingyuxuan, painting with Weixu. Little Weixian, who was lying on the couch next to her, was kicking his chubby little legs and watching his mother and brother, giggling incessantly.

Upon learning that her son enjoyed painting, Wanlan enthusiastically fetched brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones and began painting with him.

Wanlan, who rarely used a brush to write characters, broke the bamboo brush in her hand with a "snap" after a moment of difficulty. She then dipped the broken bamboo tip in ink and began to smear ink on the paper.

"Mom! I've finished drawing!"

Wei Xu was the first to put down his pen and cheer, picking up the Xuan paper on the table and handing it over, "Mother, look!"

Wanlan leaned closer with a smile, but then frowned, looking at the lines drawn with a fine pen on the paper. She really didn't know what he had drawn. "Xu'er, this is..."

"Mom, the stream makes these ripples when it flows, doesn't it?"

Wanlan suddenly realized that her son was actually drawing abstract art! "Yes, Xu'er is so clever!"

"What is Mother painting now?"

As Wei Xu asked, he picked up the broken pen from the table. "Why did Mother break the pen? Will it make it easier to draw this way?"

Wanlan felt a pang of shame and handed him her paper. "A broken pen is easier for sketching. Xu'er, look, doesn't the teacup I drew look like it?"

Forgive her for telling a little lie, she has never practiced calligraphy, let alone painted with a brush.

"Sketching? What is sketching?"

"Uh! Like Mom, who uses a single color to represent all the shapes of a teacup."

This is terrible. She's not an art student, so why is she all kids?

Wei Xu seemed to understand but not quite, and was about to ask another question when Xuan'er entered the room at that moment, and Wan Lan breathed a sigh of relief.

"What is it, Xuan'er?"

"Master Ding requests an audience with Madam."

Wanlan was taken aback at first, not thinking about who this "Master Ding" was. However, the next moment her eyes widened as she remembered the Taoist she had met in front of Xuande Tower yesterday.

She suddenly stood up.