Chapter 58
Chapter 58
The Birth of Suspicion (1)
Only huge empty holes were left in the vast crabapple forest; it was a scene of utter devastation.
Zheng Wan covered her mouth; she couldn’t stop her tears, but still, she nodded desperately, afraid that he would really raise his sword to kill the crown prince. Cui Wang let go of her, then turned around to leave. After a few steps, he noticed that she wasn’t following, he turned, his expression exasperated.
“Not coming?”
Only then did Zheng Wan seem to have returned to her senses; she caught up with him, and suddenly burst into laughter.
“What are you laughing at?”
Cui Wang glanced at her; the small palm-sized face was still stained with tears, and her long eyelashes were wet. The corners of her lips were stained with blood, which actually seemed to give her face more colour.
“Cui Wang, are you being jealous?”
Zheng Wan looked at him and said with a grin as she clasped her hands behind her back and walked backwards. Her laughter was clear and lingering, like the water in Spring that has melted from snow in March, clean and light.
“Jealous?”
Cui Wang stopped in his tracks. “What is jealousy?”
Zheng Wan choked; she immediately thought about how this person had only ever lived with a sword in his arms his entire life, and was so cold that he didn’t seem to be alive—how would he understand the problems of regular mortals?
“Never mind, let’s not talk about that.”
Anyway, she had achieved her goal.
Since Cui Wang had done such things to her, naturally, he would not ignore her; she would just take advantage of the favourable situation and go with the flow for now.
Zheng Wan looked around her; from all sides, the walls, bricks, and tiles were all custom-made, and it didn’t seem to be a normal person’s house. “Where are we? Mister Cui, you’ll have to compensate the owner for damaging their crabapple forest.”
Speak of the devil.
A rough servant in a coarse, grey sackcloth knotted at the waist with a rope came through the moon gate in front of them, wailing and crying; he fell to his knees at the sight of Cui Wang. “My lord, some ruffian came out of nowhere, and destroyed all the crabapple trees you just planted yesterday!”
Zheng Wan: ……
She felt as if there was a flock of black crows flying overhead1.
She couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Hmm, I wonder where the little ruffian came from? How dare he spoil the feng shui of the State Preceptor’s residence.”
Only then did the rough servant realise that a beautiful lady was standing next to his master; he only cast her a glance and dared not look more. He thought inwardly that if the capitol’s foremost beauty, Lady Zheng, was only half as beautiful as this lady, she probably wouldn’t end up in a one-sided infatuation. Then, he thought that the State Preceptor probably wasn’t as pure and abstinent as he looked—that mouth… was already bitten through huh.
How intense it must have been.
No one knew about the thoughts this rough servant had as he wailed. Cui Wang walked straight past him.
“Get someone to clean it up.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll have someone come take care of it.”
The rough servant sprawled on the ground, only to hear the ice-cold State Preceptor actually having the patience to accompany the young lady walk outside, and also no longer simply dispensing monosyllables. He didn’t know if it was his delusion, but he actually heard some gentleness in his tone as well.
The rough servant was so frightened by his own imagination that he trembled; after shaking the feeling off with great difficulty, he went to stare blankly at the empty tree pit. Could it be that some deity had passed by, really couldn’t stand the sight of crabapple blossoms, and so, pulled them all out? Otherwise, how could it be so neat and tidy like this?
“Mister Cui——”
Zheng Wan followed Cui Wang out of the moon gate and around a small lake. After only a few steps, she suddenly stopped, “Can Wan’niang come over to your residence tomorrow?”
Cui Wang was silent; when Zheng Wan saw that he did not answer, she reached out to grab his sleeve and even gave it a few tugs.
“Mister Cui~~~”
The voice soared through the air, and was so sweet and sticky that Cui Wang had no choice but to give an “mm” in reply.
“That’s that then.”
Zheng Wan’s eyes curved into crescents again as she said smilingly, “Wan’niang also wants to see crabapple trees tomorrow, okay?”
Only then did Cui Wang draw back his sleeve.
“To Yanchun Gardens.”
The turbulent emotions from just now disappeared like a going of the tide, but a little ripple seemed to remain. Cui Wang looked at her pouting lips, and as if under the control of a spirit, reached his fingertips out to wipe them for her.
Zheng Wan only felt that her lips hurt from his wiping.
Cui Wang’s fingers also seemed to be carved of jade; long and slender, with well-defined bones. However, they were calloused, and not at all comfortable to look at; it felt uncomfortable as they rubbed against her lips, and she couldn’t resist stepping back.
“It hurts.”
Cui Wang restrained her.
“Don’t move.”
There was another dark current in the lowered eyes, and Zheng Wan immediately did not dare move.
Cui Wang was now a gunpowder keg, it was better to not provoke him.
The little lady’s lips were red from wiping, but she remained very obedient and did not say a word. She only looked at him sincerely with those clear eyes of hers, dense with affection. Cui Wang smiled.
“Do not use the peach blossom paper again.”
Footnotes:
1 Most likely an allusion to the crow that flies over a (usually manga) character’s head when they are speechless.