Eternal Night - Chapter 42
Rose snorted, straightened her clothes, lifted the bamboo curtain and stepped out, feigning surprise: "Brother Yongye, so you've come to see the army's triumphant return! What a coincidence!"
Yongye didn't turn his head, his gaze fixed on the window, pretending not to hear.
As Qiangwei approached, the guard awkwardly raised his hand to block her: "Princess! Young Master... doesn't like being disturbed!"
Rose immediately found an excuse and shouted, "Who are you to dare block this princess's path! Get out of my way!"
The guard turned his head away in grief and indignation, but remained motionless.
"Do you expect me to beat them down again before you'll even talk back?" Rose said with a smile, not in a hurry.
Yongye withdrew his gaze from the window, unconsciously glancing at the corner of the teahouse. A hint of surprise flashed across his eyes as he muttered to himself, "Actually, there's nothing much to see." With that, he stood up and went downstairs.
The four guards, as if granted a pardon, quickly followed.
"Pfft!" Someone in the corner couldn't help but laugh.
Rose roared in fury: "What are you laughing at?! Try laughing again!"
The person in the corner covered their head and mouth, their body still trembling with laughter. Rose, unable to find an outlet for her anger, wanted to punch them. Ayu came out and pulled her back: "Princess! They... they're gone!"
Rose was startled and glared fiercely at the person in white. She hurried to the window and looked out. Yongye was about to get into the sedan chair. She lightly leaped down with her toes.
The people in the teahouse were startled by the girl and, fearing something might happen to her, peeked out again.
Rose gracefully twirled in the air, her green dress fluttering as she landed like a butterfly beside the sedan chair, blocking Yongye's view: "Brother Yongye!"
Seeing countless heads peering out from upstairs to watch the show, Yongye was furious. He turned aside, his face stern, and said, "Get out of the way, I'm going back to my residence."
Rose climbed into the sedan chair and said with a grin, "Great! I was just about to go to the Prince's mansion to pay my respects to the Princess. Let's go back together."
Seeing the crowd peering into the teahouse, Yongye sighed and said, "Rose, how many times have you asked to ride in my sedan chair this month? There's a difference between men and women..."
Before she could finish speaking, Rose interrupted her: "You can ride a horse back! Oh, you don't have a horse? You can use your lightness skill!" She then stared at Yongye without blinking, her eyes full of smugness.
Yongye was furious. He had always kept his martial arts skills hidden, even avoiding riding a horse, and only traveling by sedan chair, feigning poor health to appease everyone. He had gotten away with this, but then he ran into Qiangwei. He glared at her resentfully, thinking, "Wherever I go, she follows me; her clinginess is probably unmatched in the world."
Seeing him speechless, Rose stepped out of the sedan chair and pointed to the silk shop next to her, saying with a coquettish smile, "Buy me a gift! I won't stop you. Brother Yongye, I know you are weak and don't know martial arts. To protect you, I specially hired a master to teach me! Practicing martial arts is very hard."
The implication was that since you don't know martial arts and your guards wouldn't dare to do anything to me, you'd better obey me and stay within my grasp.
After thinking for a moment, Yongye entered the silk shop with a helpless expression, ignoring Qiangwei and burying himself in looking at the goods.
When Rose saw Yongye pick up a piece of emerald green satin, she pouted and immediately leaned over and said with a smile, "I knew Brother Yongye cared about me. He chose my favorite color."
Yongye was both amused and exasperated. With a stern face, he said, "It's bluish-black and looks utterly moldy. I don't want this one!"
Rose was stunned. Seeing his hand caress another piece of bright red cloth, she rolled her eyes and said, "My skin is as white as snow, and this cloth suits my complexion very well. Brother Yongye has a good eye!"
Yongye withdrew his hand as if burned, muttering to himself, "I saw Wang the other day wearing this color, and it really suited her complexion!"
"Li Yongye, are you doing this on purpose?!" Rose was furious.
A hint of a smile flashed across Yongye's eyes as he casually picked out a garment and said, "Rose looks like a budding rose only when she wears this soft red."
Rose's anger vanished instantly, and she happily took the clothes, saying with a smile, "I'll change and show you!"
Ayu entered the silk shop and saw that Qiangwei was going to change her clothes. Just as she was about to speak, Qiangwei pulled her into the inner room.
Seeing them go inside, Yongye curled his lip in disdain, strode out of the manor, and hurriedly called out, "Hurry! Back to the manor!"
The guards, already quite familiar with the cat-and-mouse game the two played, quickly lifted the sedan chair and left.
Rose changed her clothes and came out, but not seeing Yongye, her eyes immediately welled up with tears. Disheartened, she whispered, "He's grown a whole head of hair again. He...he's still avoiding me..."
“Princess, you always get dumped by the prince like this…” Ayu said with exasperation.
Rose smiled and said, "It wasn't a wasted trip. I finally saw him again. Ah Yu, how many times have I seen him this month?"
"Miss... three times."
Rose perked up again: "It only happened once last month. Let's go! Remember, next time I see him, I'll make him pay for it. This dress is always a gift he bought for me!"
Ayu was already used to Qiangwei's self-deception, and shook her head and sighed.
All of this was observed by the man in white in the teahouse. He raised his head, revealing a handsome face, his eyebrows slightly raised, and a hint of mischief in his eyes besides a smile: "Getting a headache from that princess clinging to you?"
He didn't notice that there was a pair of eyes watching him not far behind him. Feng Yangxi was dressed in black, and his beard under his hood covered half of his face. He slowly sipped his tea, lost in thought.
A storm is brewing
The breath of spring enveloped the entire garden. The Jade Garden was a riot of colors.
Several red fish darted playfully among the water plants in the pond beneath the artificial hill. Yongye knew no one was around, and since he wanted to tease the fish but had no food in his hand, he spat into the pond and watched smugly as the fish rushed towards the ripples to snatch the food.
Beyond the artificial hill lay a grove of trees. Yongye enjoyed brewing tea under the flowering trees, so he planted cherry and peach trees of varying heights. At this time, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and the peach blossoms were budding, their pink and white petals carpeting the ground. Yongye forbade anyone to clean them up, saying that the scenery was naturally beautiful.
After watching the fish for a while, he slowly strolled into the flower grove, moss growing beneath his feet, petals falling like rain. Yongye stood silently for a long time. What had he done in those seven years?
He sleeps during the day and basks in the stars on the roof beams of Prince You's house at night. Or he sneaks in with the wind at night, leaving behind the name of Little Li Flying Dagger, and when he hears Feng Yangxi scattering invitations, he hides in the Prince's mansion, makes a copy, and chuckles to himself.
Occasionally, she would enter the palace to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, play chess with Emperor Yujia, and in the process, she would run into His Highness the Crown Prince, who would mockingly say, "If Yongye were dressed as a woman, Prince Chen would surely be willing to cede ten cities east of Sanyu Pass as a dowry to marry her! That would save the war!"
Yongye simply smiled: "Does Yongye need to change into clothes and dance for His Highness the Crown Prince? How is it now?"
The Crown Prince turned pale. Even if he had a thousand lives, he wouldn't dare let the Prince Duan's heir change into women's clothing and dance for him, unless he didn't want to be the Crown Prince anymore. After all, back then, a single sentence had cost three eunuchs their lives, and incidentally, also caused his elder brother, Prince You, to leave the palace.
Yongye laughed loudly and left in a huff.