Huan Changming knew he was tempted, and continued to fan the flames, "A smile is all it takes to get you out of the palace to see the sky lanterns, Lu Pianpian, you've really made a good deal."
“I don’t sell smiles,” Lu Pianpian retorted. “If His Majesty the Prince wants to see smiles, there are plenty of beautiful women in the brothels and entertainment districts of the capital who will offer them to His Majesty. If all else fails, there are people in the palace. As long as His Majesty the Prince gives the order, who wouldn’t dare to smile?”
Having spent so much time with Huan Changming, he hadn't learned anything else from him, but he had certainly mastered the sarcastic and insulting tone of Huan Changming.
Huan Changming didn't argue with him. He looked up at the sky for a moment, a triumphant smile appearing on his lips. "Lu Pianpian, the snow has stopped."
After saying that, he dusted off his shoulders and made a gesture as if he was about to leave, saying, "I should go back and review the memorials."
He turned and walked away with a flourish, but his eyes kept glancing back. When he was almost at the corner, there was still no movement behind him, and he frowned in dissatisfaction.
"etc."
Huan Changming deliberately turned around impatiently, "What is it?"
Lu Pianpian gave him a forced smile, "Hehe."
A note from the author:
Huan Changming: ? (Implying something about me)
Lu Pianpian: Hehe
Chapter 47
The capital was bustling with activity, teeming with people. Groups of children, carrying lanterns, ran towards the city's designated lantern release area, their footsteps echoing through the snow-covered streets.
As night falls, the highest pavilion in the city offers a panoramic view of the entire city.
Lu Pianpian climbed the last step and arrived at the railing. The wind blew in his face, ruffling his sleeves and hair. Although there was no snow, the wind was still bone-chillingly cold.
Huan Changming walked behind him and heard Lu Pianpian ask him, "Where's the lamp?"
Lighting sky lanterns on the Winter Solstice to pray for blessings from heaven is a tradition of the Li people. Although Huan Changming is from Li, his special status means he has never lived a normal life since birth, so he knows nothing about the customs of the Winter Solstice.
Lu Pianpian's question left him speechless. After a moment of silence, he said, "Wait a little longer."
The two of them waited on the rooftop for the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn. The entire capital was brightly lit with candles, but there was still no sign of the sky lantern.
Lu Pianpian glanced at Huan Changming, whose expression was unusually tense, as if he was also unsure what had happened to the sky lanterns tonight.
"Never mind." Lu Pianpian suddenly felt bored. "I'm leaving."
"Wait!" Huan Changming stopped Lu Pianpian. "Wait here for me. I'll go ask someone."
Lu Pianpian opened her mouth to speak, but he immediately said, "Don't worry, I will definitely let you see the sky lantern tonight."
He had made up his mind. He turned around and strode down the steps. Lu Pianpian watched his back from above, her eyes filled with indescribable emotions.
Huan Changming ran out of the pavilion and onto the street. After looking around for a while, he stopped a child who was running past him carrying a sky lantern. "Wait a minute, I have something to ask you."
The child was very wary and pouted upon hearing this, "My mom said I can't talk to strangers..."
Huan Changming took off a jade pendant he always carried and threw it into the child's arms. "I'm asking you, why haven't we released the sky lanterns yet?"
"Are you stupid? How come you don't even know when to release sky lanterns!"
Being verbally abused to his face by a mere child, Huan Changming really wanted to tear his mouth apart. "I'll tell you, when will the lanterns be lit!"
"Oh dear! They're about to set them off!" the child exclaimed, pointing to the sky. "Look, everyone else is already setting them off! Don't let me miss my chance to release a lantern and make a wish!"
Huan Changming looked in the direction the child was pointing and, sure enough, saw sky lanterns flying upwards one after another. Lu Pianpian, standing on the pavilion, must have already seen them.
He returned to the attic, wanting to go back to Lu Pianpian's side and watch the sky lanterns with her.
High up in the attic, the cold wind howled, but Lu Pianpian's figure was nowhere to be seen.
Lu Pianpian walked down the street, following the flow of people.
Passersby were carrying lanterns with written messages in their hands. Lu Pianpian caught a glimpse of a couple of lines: "I wish to hold your hand and grow old with you."
The person who lit the lamp was a girl. She had no one to help her and tried to light the tinderbox for a long time but couldn't. She still looked anxious.
"Girl, let me help you." Lu Pianpian reached out her hand.
The girl quickly handed him the tinderbox, saying, "Thank you for your help!"
Lu Pianpian picked up a tinderbox and used her hand to block the wind. Sure enough, a small flame appeared in the tinderbox. The girl quickly lifted the sky lantern, and Lu Pianpian helped her light the candle inside. The sky lantern slowly floated up and flew away from her hand.
The girl clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and made a sincere wish.
Lu Pianpian didn't make a sound to disturb them, and walked against the crowd onto the stone bridge.
He looked up and saw that the night sky was filled with many sky lanterns, like stars adorning the night, converging into a long river, illuminating the entire capital with the power of starlight.
A passerby murmured, "May the night pass, and the starlight shine ever brighter..."
"Lu Pianpian!"
Lu Pianpian turned around and saw Huan Changming standing under the stone bridge, his hair a little messy, with the starlight shining brightly in the night sky behind him. His deep face was made exceptionally soft by the firelight.
But his expression was ferocious.
He ran towards Lu Pianpian, panting, "Who gave you permission to run away!"
Lu Pianpian stood still, but he grabbed her arm. "I told you to wait for me in the attic. Do you know what will happen if you run away? Do you know how long I've been looking for you? Do you know..."
“Huan Changming.” Lu Pianpian looked at him calmly. “You have found me.”
There's no point in saying any more of this.
Huan Changming was taken aback, then gripped Lu Pianpian's arm even tighter. "What exactly do you want to do? Were you trying to run away just now?!"
Lu Pianpian pursed her lips, looking as if she didn't want to answer. "Does it matter?"
"Not important? How many times have I told you not to run away! Have you not taken my words to heart at all?"
Huan Changming spoke in a strong tone and at a loud volume, attracting the attention of passersby who kept glancing at them and whispering among themselves.
"Don't say anymore." Lu Pianpian sighed. "I didn't want to leave. I just wanted to stay in the attic and see what it was like."
Huan Changming looked at him with disbelief, but Lu Pianpian was too lazy to explain. "Believe it or not."
Huan Changming was silent for a moment, then said with a hint of warning, "Lu Pianpian, you'd better think the same thing you say, otherwise I'll..."
"And what would you do?" Lu Pianpian didn't even blink. "Kill me?"
Huan Changming had said he wanted to kill her far too many times, and Lu Pianpian was tired of hearing it.
"You're not afraid of death... I'll break your legs!" Huan Changming said viciously, "I'll turn you into a cripple, and let's see where you can run then!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Pianpian stared at Huan Changming for a long while before changing the subject, "I'm leaving."
"Where are you going? Didn't you want to see the sky lanterns?"
"I've already seen it."
When Lu Pianpian arrived, Huan Changming grabbed his arm and walked behind him. Seeing that the pedestrians were all holding sky lanterns filled with wishes, he couldn't help but ask, "Lu Pianpian, don't you want to release a sky lantern?"
Lu Pianpian shook her head, and Huan Changming then asked, "Don't you have any wishes at all?"
Lu Pianpian stopped in her tracks, turned around to look at him, and silently told him with her eyes what his wish was, which Huan Changming knew perfectly well.
Huan Changming pretended not to know anything, pulled him to a nearby stall and bought two sky lanterns, then borrowed a pen and inkstone, giving one of the sky lanterns to Lu Pianpian, "Write it down."
Lu Pianpian had no intention of releasing a sky lantern to make a wish, but Huan Changming suddenly became interested tonight for some reason, and had the air of making him write even if Lu Pianpian didn't want to.
Lu Pianpian had no choice but to take the sky lantern and write a line of words. After she finished writing, she saw Huan Changming standing on the opposite side of the street writing the sky lantern, keeping a distance, as if he was afraid that Lu Pianpian would see him.
Lu Pianpian naturally guessed that Huan Changming was writing some bad idea that harmed others for his own benefit.
Lu Pianpian borrowed a tinderbox from a vendor, lit her sky lantern, and released it into the sky. Huan Changming, who had just finished writing, saw that Lu Pianpian's sky lantern had already flown away, and hurriedly grabbed a tinderbox from someone next to him and lit his own sky lantern.
"What's wrong with you? Why did you steal my tinderbox...?"
Huan Changming took off a thumb ring from his thumb and threw it back to the other person, "Shut up."
Their sky lanterns flew higher and higher until they became tiny dots. Only then did Lu Pianpian lower her head and follow the gaze that was fixed on her.
Huan Changming kept staring at her, his deep blue eyes seemingly hiding an undercurrent of emotion that, if it were just a little more intense, would overflow and completely overwhelm Lu Pianpian.
Lu Pianpian indifferently looked away.
"Pianpian, guess what wish Huan Changming wrote on the sky lantern?" Xiaoshu suddenly asked.
Lu Pianpian replied, "I don't know, and I don't want to know."
With all the sky lanterns released, the winter solstice festival in this foreign land is considered over.
Before the curfew, Huan Changming brought Lu Pianpian back to the Li Palace.
As the two walked back to the palace, Huan Changming seemed to be in a good mood. When they arrived, he asked, "Lu Pianpian, were you happy today?"
Lu Pianpian hummed in response, her tone revealing neither joy nor anger, which Huan Changming took as her happiness.
Huan Changming said to Lu Pianpian, "As long as you follow my wishes and don't harbor any thoughts of disobeying me, I guarantee you'll be as happy as you are today every day..."
Lu Pianpian turned around and went back into the hall, seemingly not wanting to say another word to Huan Changming.
Huan Changming wasn't annoyed. As long as Lu Pianpian didn't do anything to disobey him, he could tolerate her little temper.
A palace servant, carrying a box, approached Huan Changming with humble eyes. "Your Majesty, we had people following it all the way here, and we just found it. However, some parts were still burned in the fire..."
Huan Changming opened the box, and inside lay a sky lantern that was half burned.
He picked up the sky lantern, held it to his eyes, turned it over and over, and finally found a line of words written on the lantern by the person who released it.
This is Lu Pianpian's handwriting, which reads: May my beloved be safe and well.
The short line of text clearly indicates that it was written by Lu Pianpian.
Huan Changming stared at those words for a moment, then suddenly tore the broken sky lantern to shreds and threw it into a nearby lantern, where it was burned to ashes by the flames.
The palace servants, thinking that Huan Changming was angry because their sky lantern was incomplete, pleaded, "Your Majesty, please forgive us..."
Huan Changming stared at the male figure cast through the window of the hall.
If Lu Pianpian only wishes for the safety and well-being of his loved ones, he should pray to him instead, and it will come sooner.
All those gods and Buddhas are utter nonsense. Huan Changming is the only true god or Buddha who can control Lu Pianpian's destiny!