Yeah, not at all.
“It seems your intentions aren’t what I thought,” Xiong Xiaoyi scratched his head. “But when you met Huang Jingru the other day, Luo Cuiwei’s brother and Xiahou Ling happened to come and deliver that New Year’s gift; and then today you returned the Luo family’s New Year’s gift exactly as it was. In this situation, wouldn’t anyone think the same way I did before?”
He had just met with someone's arch-enemy, and then immediately returned their New Year's gift...
"No, didn't we also add flowers as a return gift?" Yun Lie's back stiffened, but he forced a calm expression and stubbornly said, "Doesn't that show goodwill and friendliness?"
"Have you forgotten... why Luo Cuiwei used to come here every day in the first place?"
When Xiong Xiaoyi asked the question with a slight hesitation, Yun Lie secretly broke out in a cold sweat, finally realizing how absurd the whole thing was.
In the beginning, Luo Cuiwei made a small deal—"to come every day, pay the money, and get a few fresh purple-backed sunflower leaves for my father to use in medicine"—in exchange for his permission to come to Prince Zhao's residence every day.
Right now, he's sending the whole potted plant to the Luo family. To those who don't know the situation, isn't that just a way of telling them to get rid of him?!
This damned heavens, why did the purple-backed hibiscus have to bloom first!
If a different flower had bloomed today, there wouldn't have been any misunderstanding. How annoying.
“These things are all tangled together, making it hard not to overthink,” Xiong Xiaoyi sighed with some concern. “Luo Cuiwei is probably going to misunderstand.”
Yun Lie was unwilling to show weakness in front of Xiong Xiaoyi. Although he was flustered inside, he remained calm and composed on the surface, saying, "Since it is a misunderstanding, we will explain it to her properly when she comes in a few days."
"What if she gets so angry that she doesn't come?"
Xiong Xiaoyi's assumption made Yun Lie's brow twitch, and his feigned composure almost crumbled. "She wouldn't be so petty..." right?
****
At midnight, Yun Lie, who had returned to his bedchamber for quite some time, was still wide awake.
He didn't even go into the inner hall; he just sat at the table in front, staring at the plate of flower-shaped cakes, his face full of worry, not knowing what to do.
As the candle burned down to half its end, he suddenly remembered that when he was a child living in the inner city, he seemed to have seen his fourth sister hesitating and uneasy about something. In the end, she took a flower and tore off the petals, saying that this was a way of "asking the gods".
On a sudden impulse, he got up and walked to the door of the sleeping quarters, peeking out through the crack in the door like a thief.
After confirming that no one was watching, he bolted the door before returning to his seat at the table.
With trembling hands, he carefully picked up a flower-shaped cake from the plate.
This was delivered on the 29th along with the box of gold ingots from the Luo family.
The Luo family's culinary skills were exquisite. Even a small New Year's cake was made to look lifelike, with delicate and intricate flower petals layered upon each other, vividly appearing under the flickering lamplight.
He imitated what his fourth sister had done in his memory, gently breaking off a petal and casually tossing it into his mouth, silently thinking: She will come.
Another petal: Is she not coming?
Another petal: It will come.
No, they won't come?!
Will come!
Won't……
Yun Lie glared fiercely at the last piece of pastry in his hand, his brows furrowed in anger, muttering resentfully—
"This method is completely ineffective."
Perhaps, a real flower would be more accurate?
Chapter Nineteen
In fact, ordinary families are not very busy during the New Year, as they are busy visiting relatives and friends from the second day of the Lunar New Year.
Especially for large clans with many branches, visiting relatives can take several days; although it's just one meal after another of eating, drinking and having fun, it can be quite tiring when you think about it.
Fortunately, Yun Lie is a prince who has already established his own residence, so he does not have this problem.
If no imperial edict arrives from the inner city, he will have to wait until the fifth day of the first lunar month to pay his respects to his mother.
And his brothers and sisters...
Leaving aside those who lived in the inner city at a young age, the relationship between the five princes who had already left the palace and established their own residences was already delicate. If they were to visit each other, the scene would only be awkward and speechless. It would be better for them to send each other New Year's gifts and do the proper etiquette.
If his maternal grandparents were still alive, he would normally visit them, but since they have passed away many years ago, this custom is omitted.
As for uncles and aunts, if Yun Lie were an ordinary person, he would naturally go to pay his respects and offer New Year's greetings; but since he is Prince Zhao, according to both law and etiquette, this matter must be handled in reverse, and Prince Zhao can only sit in his residence to receive New Year's greetings from others.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Yun Lie, who had tossed and turned all night, got up very early. By the time it was past dawn, he had already bathed, changed his clothes, and tidied himself up neatly.
To match the festive atmosphere of the New Year, he deliberately skipped his usual dark-colored martial robe and solemnly chose a purple-brown silk robe with silver cloud patterns, which somewhat concealed his resolute, fierce, rough and fierce aura.
The top and bottom, with wide sleeves and a cinched waist, were both casual and appropriate for the occasion, yet elegant and dignified, making his sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes appear even more brilliant and beautiful.
At the beginning of the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), when Chief Steward Chen met him face to face in the corridor of the central hall, he saw that he was dressed solemnly, which did not seem to be his usual attire for morning exercise, and he was both puzzled and surprised.
"Your Highness, are you... going out?" The head steward glanced out the corridor to make sure it was still dark.
Yun Lie cleared his throat, maintaining a nonchalant expression: "Hmm."
"Are you going to Princess Jinhui's residence?" the head steward hurriedly asked. "Then I'll go and prepare a gift for Your Highness right away."