Chapter Fifteen Arrangements

  Without warning, he looked at Baili Zhou and frowned from afar, saying: "What does the prince mean by these words?"

  Baili Zhao smiled faintly: "I just think you're being too cautious!" Yuan Dai didn't respond, only gazing at him intently. Baili Zhao also looked deeply into her eyes: "I've already sent someone back to the palace to inform Empress Dowager, asking her to send a betrothal gift to the Ling family as soon as possible!"

  Yuan Dai nodded slightly after hearing this, but there was no hint of surprise on her face.

  Baili Zhao didn't expect her to have any joyful expression, and simply said: "I'm saying that even if you remove the sickly look from your face, you're just an average-looking person, there's no need to be so secretive!"

  Suddenly hearing this, she couldn't help but be shocked: "You..." She almost asked how he knew, but the words reached her lips and were swallowed back, only to stare deeply at Baili Zhou.

  Baili Zhao let out a light laugh, but suddenly raised his voice and called out: "Wenping!" Wenping, who had been standing far away waiting, had already been anxiously expecting this moment. Without even checking to see who was calling her, she hastily rushed over and stood beside Far Dai, looking around uncertainly at the two of them. Baili Zhao didn't seem to mind, and simply instructed in a light tone: "It's getting late, send Miss back home!"

  Subconsciously, Wenping responded with a sound and reached out to support Yuandai. Yuandai didn't say anything either, stretched her slightly sore legs and stood up, bowed slightly to Baili Zhao, then walked away from the Shuijinglin under Wenping's support.

  As early as when Baili Zhao called out to Wenping, Yue Yao had followed her over. He looked at Baili Zhao with a thoughtful expression. It wasn't until Fangzheng and the others had gone far away that Yue Yao finally spoke up and asked: "Your Highness seems to find her quite interesting?"

  She raised an eyebrow slightly, and suddenly Ba Li Zhao said: "She is extraordinary!" Simple four words, but with a clear tone of admiration.

  Yue Yao let out a rather disdainful snort: "I think she's quite ordinary!" He didn't even try to hide his contempt for Yuan Dai.

  He stared at him and said, "You'd better say it, what's the usual method!"

  Yue Yao said carelessly, "The prince hasn't gone out for a long time, I'm afraid he has already forgotten the looks of those civilian girls on the street! Hmm. Let me think, or just casually pull a civilian girl from the street, dress her up, and make her look even more unusual than she is!"

  Without intending to discuss Ruo Dai's appearance with him, Bai Li said coldly: "I'd rather you go out on the streets and find a commoner who can play 'Mei Hua San Nong' as skillfully as she does!" However, his tone already carried a hint of displeasure.

  Yue Yao snorted coldly for half a day: "A woman without talent is virtuous! If I were the prince, I would never think of marrying her!"

  "A hundred miles of frosty eyes swept him a glance: 'Only a pity, you are not me!'"

  Yue Yao saw the displeasure on his face and didn't dare say anything more, so he quietly passed by. He walked around to Bailing Zhao's back and pushed the wheelchair. Slowly heading towards Pusu Shadow Villa. Bailing Zhao saw him like this and also didn't speak again.

  The western sky, the crescent moon is curved, about to set but has not yet fallen.

  …………

  All the way, Yuandai walked out of the forest. Confirming that Baili Zhao and others were already far away and couldn't hear her conversation with Yuandai, Wenshu finally opened his mouth with a bitter smile: "Miss! You really scared me to death!" As she spoke, she suddenly remembered the flute in her hand that she had borrowed from Du Ruo earlier, and subconsciously turned her head to glance at Yuandai. Her eyes held an inquiring meaning.

  Yuandai, however, seemed to have not understood her meaning and carelessly said: "I'm not afraid of him, what are you afraid of?" Although she was talking to Wenshuang, Yuandai's mind was still on Baili Zhao. She wasn't afraid of him, but she couldn't see through him either.

  But this unclear feeling still made her heart somewhat apprehensive.

  Wen Ping didn't notice Yan Dai's nervousness, but upon hearing the words, he couldn't help but sigh and said in a soft voice: "Miss, that is Prince Rui!"

  Her eyebrows slightly raised, and Yan Dai corrected her: "You should say, it was the wise and kind Prince Rui who had his legs cut off!"

  If he were still the perfect and wise prince from three years ago, not only would he not marry her, but she also wouldn't have considered marrying him. Therefore, Yuande's words were a matter of course, without any surprise or fear.

  Wen Ping heard her say this, but couldn't help shivering with a chill. Although she knew they were already far away from Bai Li Zhao and Yue Yao, she still couldn't resist turning back to take a look. After making sure there was no one behind them, she called out in a voice that wasn't too loud or too soft: "Miss!"

  She felt her anxiety, but in her heart, she was relieved a bit. After smiling, she stopped and looked at the west where the moon was about to set. She fell into thought for a moment before suddenly asking: "Wenping, do you have someone in mind?"

  She didn't expect her to ask this suddenly, and after a moment of stunned silence, she blushed: "I follow Miss every day, can Miss not know if I have someone in mind?" After a long time, she finally replied, but her voice was as thin as a mosquito.

  Yan Dai nodded slightly, thought for a moment and then said: "I reckon that either today or tomorrow, we will return to Pingjing in disguise. At that time, you might as well pay attention to those candidates who are taking the exam, see if there is anyone who meets your expectations?"

  Miss Wen's heart skipped a beat as she heard this, and the next moment she blurted out: "Miss, are you trying to get rid of me?"

  Without directly answering Wen Xuan's question, Yuandai calmly said: "On the day I returned to the Ling manor, I didn't bring Shuangzhen with me either!"

  As for emotional closeness, Yuan Zhen and Yuandai are undoubtedly the closest. Not to mention others, they have been growing up together since childhood, and it's not something that can be achieved by anyone else. However, even so, Yuandai has never taken Yuan Zhen with her into the Ling manor.

  The reason is that, although Yuandai has never mentioned it to her before, Wenshu can still guess a thing or two. Because, after entering the Ling mansion, Yuanzhen became a maid of the Ling mansion and had to follow its rules from then on. And today, when Yuandai was about to marry into the Wang mansion, she suddenly asked this question and mentioned the past, which undoubtedly showed her attitude - she already regarded Wenshu as the same as Yuanzhen.

  "I'm just a humble maid in the Ling household, how could I be worthy of those scholars?" After a long while, Wenping finally blurted out this sentence. She was born into the Ling household as a servant, and the contracts for her entire family's servitude were all in the hands of the Ling household. Even if Farong were to return her contract in the future, she feared that no scholar would be willing to marry a woman who had once been a slave to their relatives.

  After a faint smile, Yuan Dai said: "Heroes don't ask about their origins, you will eventually be worthy of it!" She said, but then she was distracted for a moment, and only then did she say: "Actually, there's no need to rush this matter! You are different from Yuanshen, Yuanshen's contract has been in my hands since long ago, while your family's contracts are all in the Ling Mansion. Let's wait until I get married into the Wang Mansion before we talk about it!"

  As soon as the words came out, Wenping immediately understood. When Miss Ling got married, she not only had to have maidservants accompany her, but also had to bring several households of people to manage the dowry property, and Yu Dai's words meant that she was going to take her whole family with her. Suddenly, Wenping couldn't help but ask a question: "What about Cailian? Will Miss make her accompany you?"

  "Ah!" Yu Dai let out a soft breath and calmly said: "Although I don't like her taking matters into her own hands and being so showy, she has been with me on Miao Feng Mountain for two years after all. How could I bear to make things too difficult for her?" Chai Lian had been with her for over two years now, and this year was already not young either. If Yu Dai didn't let her be a companion in marriage, once she left the Ling family, Chai Lian's best outcome would only be marrying some minor official at most.

  Wen Ping heard this and finally let out a sigh of relief. She had been with Cai Lian for many years, how could she not have any feelings? Now that Yuan Dai was about to marry into the Wang family, Madame Lu would inevitably be angry in her heart, and someone would have to bear the brunt of this anger. If Yuan Dai had left Cai Lian behind without taking her away, it was likely that Cai Lian would be the one to bear the full force of Madame Lu's anger.

  After a faint smile, Yuan Dai said: "Let's go! If we don't return now, we'll really be discovered!"

  At this moment, Wenjing felt a sense of relief in her heart and immediately smiled: "Even if someone finds out, I'm afraid the young lady won't mind either!"

  She raised an eyebrow and gave a faint smile, then continued walking forward without saying yes or no.

  It's a thing that everyone fears, and now the news has spread throughout the other courtyard, saying that Lu Weiyin's high fever is recurring, possibly due to smallpox. As a result, everyone in the other courtyard is on edge, and no one dares to go out unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, Farong and the two of them entered the other courtyard from the corner gate, but they didn't meet anyone along the way.

  Two people walked to the west wing door, Wenping had just stretched out her hand to push open the door, and suddenly bumped into someone, startling both of them. When they looked closely, it was none other than Du Ruo. His frightened eyes calmed down slightly when he saw the bamboo flute in Wenping's hand, and then Du Ruo let out a sigh of relief: "Miss, when did you go out? You scared me to death!"

  Yan Dai heard one smile, also did not explain, only asked: "Is there anyone else who knows we went out?"

  Du Ruo responded loudly: "That's right! I came over at the fifth watch and didn't see anyone else inside the house!"

  These days, the inner house of Yuandai has been mostly Wenping on night duty. Du Ruo and others would go back to their own rooms to sleep at night, and come over again before dawn to prepare for serving Yuandai's ablutions. However, Cuiyi, being very young and with today's cold weather, would always be a bit late in coming over in the morning. This was something that everyone in the house knew about.

  Wave her hand, Far Dai said: "No need to rush, I'm tired and cold now, let me lean for a while!"

  Yu Ruo helped her up, and led Far Dai into the inner room. After helping her take off her cloak, she took a pair of fire tongs and stirred the remaining ashes in the basin, then added several pieces of red charcoal to the brazier, making the fire burn more vigorously.

  When she finished her work and looked up, she saw that Yuandai was actually sleeping on the kang. On the other side, Wenshu was also leaning against the edge of the kang, nodding frequently, obviously very sleepy. Du Ru stepped forward quietly and gently pushed Wenshu, making a gesture to indicate that she should go back to the house to rest first. Wenshu nodded understandingly, looked at Yuandai who had already fallen asleep, and then got up and left the room.

  After Hou left, Du Ruo went over and helped Yuan Dai lie down. He then took a thin quilt to cover her with. Yuan Dai was clearly exhausted, only opening her eyes to glance at Du Ruo when she lay down, before quickly falling asleep.

  Although she didn't achieve her original goal of calming down the uneasy heart caused by Wen Xin's words, at least she felt a bit more calm. As for other things, they could only be taken one step at a time.

  Outside the window, a faint light of dawn seeped in, and daylight was already approaching. Inside the house, the candle shadow still swayed red, casting a reflection on Du Ru's face, but it was half bright and half dark, and her eyes also appeared dull and unclear under such lighting.