Двойной бокс-сет

Глава 12

Zhao Dezhao narrowed his eyes. "You know me? Then why did you say you didn't?"

She guessed it with such intelligence! Is that not allowed?

"Get out of here right now—" Wanlan raised her slender arm and pointed towards the door. At the same time, a person leaped in as she slightly raised her gaze. She opened her eyes in surprise and ran past the man in front of her with delight.

"Zehua!"

Zhao Defang, who had just entered the room and hadn't even had a chance to stand properly, quickly steadied her. "Wanlan, what's wrong?"

“There’s a madman.” Wanlan suddenly felt relieved, leaned into his arms, glared at Zhao Dezhao, and whispered.

Zhao Defang was slightly taken aback. He glanced at Zhao Dezhao, who had walked up to them, and lowered his gentle eyes. He moved Wanlan out of his arms and said, "Wanlan, don't be so rude. He is the eldest brother."

Chapter 11, Reuniting with Old Friends at the Full Moon Banquet (2)

She knew the man was Zhao Dezhao, but she didn't want to know him. Wanlan pouted, "He's the rude one, okay? He yelled at me the moment he walked in. Look at my hand, he almost broke it!" As she spoke, she held out her right hand for him to see. What she saw shocked her. The two men beside her gasped in unison, and she herself was startled—

Five bluish finger marks were clearly imprinted on her thin wrist, quite shocking.

Zhao Defang grasped her hand tightly, gently rubbing the bruise with tenderness. "Does it hurt a lot?" he asked, looking up at his shocked older brother. For the first time, he frowned at the man he had admired since childhood.

"Brother, you know that Wanlan's body is prone to bruising. Even a slight bump or bruise can leave a bruise that takes ten days or half a month to heal. How could you be so reckless?"

Zhao Dezhao was somewhat unable to accept it, staring at the bruises on Wanlan's hands for a long time before finally stammering, "She...is she really Wanlan?"

“She is naturally Wanlan,” Zhao Defang said softly, smiling slightly. “She just has amnesia, she doesn’t… she doesn’t mean to disown you, so please don’t blame her.”

Why would Zehua say something like that?

Wanlan stared at him in astonishment. Why was Zhao Defang comforting someone else? Wasn't he the one who needed comforting? His wife's ex-lover appeared in front of him, and he actually went around explaining things to her.

"Amnesia?" Zhao Dezhao stared blankly at Wanlan, who was staring at Zhao Defang, and slowly shook his head. "No, she is not Wanlan." Wanlan would not ignore her like this, and Wanlan would never forget him.

Great, one of the brothers is the smarter one.

Wanlan smiled slightly, turned to look at him, and nodded. "The Prince of Yan is right. I am not Wanlan, or rather, I am not your Wanlan. The current Wanlan is Zhao Defang's wife and the mother of Zhao Defang's son. She has nothing to do with you!"

Upon hearing this, the Zhao brothers, who had been stunned at the same time, both stared at her. One seemed thoughtful, while the other looked excited. Wanlan forced a smile, stepped back from Zhao Defang's side, took a step back, and cautiously said:

"I'm going to check on Yuan Niang! You two brothers have a good chat, just don't disturb my son!" With that, she lifted her skirt and rushed out—she couldn't handle either Zhao Dezhao's probing gaze or Ze Hua's excited look right now, so she'd just let them face each other!

The banquet was held in the main hall of Qinming Pavilion in the front courtyard. About twenty officials of various ranks were invited and sat on both sides of the hall. Zhao Defang and Zhao Dezhao sat at the head table, while Wanlan sat to the side and behind Zhao Defang, holding her son.

At three-quarters past dusk, the banquet officially began with the song "The Moon Is High." The room was filled with people drinking and enjoying the music, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Every now and then, someone would come forward with a wine cup to toast Zhao Defang, inevitably delivering a long, eloquent congratulatory speech that almost made Wanlan drowsy. If it weren't for her considerable concern about the attitude of the two brothers sitting at the same table, she probably would have already retreated to her room.

These two people haven't said a word since they sat down.

Zhao Dezhao was as cold and aloof as ever. He would drink when someone offered him a toast, or he would stare intently at the dancer in the center of the room, like a motionless stone statue. As for Zehua, although she had a smile on her face, it was very forced, which made Zhao Dezhao frown.

Are they alright? What did they talk about after she left? I hope it wasn't because of her... She doesn't want to become the cause of a falling out between brothers.

This is really a headache.

Helplessly rubbing her forehead, she looked down at the sleeping child in her arms, gently moved closer to Zhao Defang, and whispered in his ear, "Zehua, Xu'er is asleep. Shall I take him back to his room first?"

Before she could finish speaking, Zhao Defang glanced back at her briefly, and before he could reply, a cold gaze suddenly shot towards her from his right. Wanlan closed her eyes, turned her head to meet those emotionless eyes, gave him a weak nod, and then looked away.

Zhao Dezhao, who are you looking at?

"You can go down now."

Hearing the gentle voice that always came from the man beside her, Wanlan smiled, ignoring the unfriendly gaze directed at her, and got up to leave through the side door.

Zhao Dezhao, whatever you and Wanlan had in the past, don't even think about getting it back now. I am now Zhao Defang's wife, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you anymore.

Compared to the bustling front yard, the inner garden was unusually quiet.

After leaving her son in her bedroom, Wanlan went out to the neighboring courtyard, wondering why there wasn't a single maidservant in sight—Yuanniang had returned to the palace today, and none of the other maidservants were to be seen either.

When the topic of Yuan Niang's return to the palace came up, Wan Lan's heart stirred slightly. Ze Hua explained that originally, they should have gone to the palace to pay their respects to the Empress before the banquet and let her see Xu'er. However, the Empress issued an edict instructing them to focus on preparing the full-moon celebration before visiting her. Yuan Niang's return to the palace today was to arrange her arrival tomorrow, as Ze Hua was going to take up a post in Guizhou, and she would likely be staying in the palace for quite some time.

The Song Dynasty Imperial Palace—how many people are as fortunate as her to witness the Song Dynasty Imperial Palace from a thousand years ago? But she couldn't be happy. Thinking of Wanlan from the past, and the Empress's tenderness and affection for that Wanlan, how could she feel at ease?

Stepping into the courtyard—where several maids usually lived—Wanlan looked around but saw no one.

"Xuan'er!" Strange, where did this girl go?

These past few days, Xuan'er has been incredibly busy, because she really doesn't know anything and can only watch from the sidelines. Thinking about this, Wanlan smiled helplessly, turned around, and walked back.

Fine, let's just consider it a holiday for Xuan'er.

Turning into the cherry blossom garden, Wanlan naturally looked up at the main house right in front of her. The helpless smile on her lips froze, and she stared in shock at the dark shadow on the window frame—two hands raised above her head, a bundle-shaped shadow in her palm.

What is that dark figure throwing?!

Chapter 12, Reuniting with Old Friends at the Full Moon Banquet (3)

Wanlan's face turned deathly pale. She rushed over and slammed the door open with a bang. Her shocked gaze met that of the pink-clad maid holding her son by the bedside. She cried out, "Su Li! What are you doing?!"

Su Li lowered her brows slightly and looked over. Her slender, almond-shaped eyes were devoid of any warmth at this moment. She stared coldly at Wanlan for a long time before slowly lowering her raised hand and looking down at the peacefully sleeping child in her arms.

“He shouldn’t have been born.” Su Li said, his voice flat and indifferent, as if he were talking about something inanimate.

Seeing that she had put the child down, Wanlan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and carefully took a few steps forward. "Su Li, what's wrong? Xu'er is still sleeping, can you put him down first?" How could she be so careless! When did Su Li sneak into the Cherry Blossom Garden?

"Miss!" Su Li glared at her warily and took a step back. "Don't go any further, otherwise it wouldn't be good if Su Li accidentally dropped the young master."

Wanlan paused, stopping beside the sandalwood screen embroidered with red plum blossoms, and nodded vigorously at her, "I won't move. Calm down, can you tell me what happened first? Let's solve it together, okay?"