Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 115: Go Do It

   Ming Yu kept asking who this backer was, but Wei Yingluo clenched her teeth and refused to say. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell her—it was that the matter carried great risk. If it succeeded, both of them would benefit. If it failed…

“Let me bear the consequences alone,” Wei Yingluo thought silently.

“How’s it going?” Three light knocks sounded at the door, then Li Yu poked his head in. “Is the sticky-rice New Year cake ready yet?”

“Almost, almost.” Wei Yingluo quickly replied, temporarily setting the matter aside. Turning to Ming Yu, she said, “Let’s not talk about this for now. It’s getting late—hurry and finish making the sticky-rice cake. Don’t keep His Majesty… don’t keep the consort waiting too long.”

Ming Yu had no choice but to roll up her sleeves, wash her hands, and get to work on the New Year cake.

Wei Yingluo did not stay with her. After lingering for a moment, she quietly slipped out of the room and headed straight into the depths of Yuanmingyuan.

“Draw the bow… release!”

In the temporarily set-up archery range, Hailancha was instructing a group of guards in archery practice.

“Who’s there?” One of the guards, sharp-eyed and quick-handed, suddenly turned his bow and arrow toward a banana tree.

From behind the tree came a faint rustling, and a young woman in green emerged. Her figure was graceful, her features clear and lovely—at first glance, one might almost think the ancient banana tree had cultivated itself into human form after years of growth.

The guard was just about to demand who she was when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Hailancha pressed down firmly, signaling him to lower the bow. “I’ll be right back. Don’t slack off.”

Watching him walk away, the guard quietly asked his nearby comrade, “Who’s that girl? She’s pretty good-looking. Is she Lord Suolun’s sweetheart?”

“What nonsense are you spouting? Lord Suolun’s sweetheart is clearly in Zhongcui Palace…”

Hailancha and Wei Yingluo walked one behind the other, avoiding the crowd until they reached a secluded part of the garden.

Wei Yingluo: “Guard Soulun …”

Hailancha smiled. “Yingluo, just call me Hailancha.”

Wei Yingluo: “The truth is, I came today because there’s something I need to ask for your help with…”

Hailancha answered without the slightest hesitation: “Alright!”

Wei Yingluo was slightly surprised. She looked him up and down. “I haven’t even said what it is yet. You’re willing to agree so readily without knowing what I’m going to ask?”

The reason she had sought out Hailancha was because of Ming Yu.

The two women kept up a steady correspondence, and Ming Yu told Wei Yingluo everything. The person she mentioned most often was none other than the man standing before her now. Although her letters were full of complaints about him—calling him chauvinistic, unromantic, saying that while others sent rouge and handkerchiefs, he sent her a dagger “for self-defense” …

But if she didn’t care about him, why would she mention him so constantly?

That was why Wei Yingluo had come to him for help, hoping that for Ming Yu’s sake, he would lend her a hand.

Yet seeing how readily he agreed, Wei Yingluo couldn’t help but feel a flicker of suspicion. Why would he help her out of the blue, for no reason at all…?

To her surprise, Hailancha laughed heartily. “When Fuheng left, he specially instructed me: no matter what you need, I must help you!”

Of all the possibilities she had calculated, this was the one she hadn’t anticipated. Wei Yingluo froze on the spot.

“Fuheng was my closest brother. The people he trusted, I trust too,” Hailancha said gravely. “So tell me—what exactly is the matter?”

Wei Yingluo looked at him with a complicated expression for a long while. Finally, she stepped closer, stood on tiptoe, covered her lips with her sleeve, and whispered her plan into his ear.

The soft murmur of orioles and swallows, the fragrance of flowers and birdsong—this plan was known only to the two of them, to heaven and earth, and to no third person.

Half an hour later, the two parted ways. Hailancha returned to the archery range, while Wei Yingluo went to the canteen to collect a food box and then made her way to the lakeside.

The lake and sky blended into one color. In the middle of the lake stood a pavilion where several noble ladies were either standing or seated, admiring the scenery and composing poetry.

By the lakeshore, however, Yuan Chunwang had no such leisure. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his feet bare in the water as he bent down to clear debris from the lake. Hearing footsteps behind him, he didn’t even turn his head. “What’s for lunch today?”

“Baby bok choy, polished rice, and a bowl of stir-fried pork with chili.” As she spoke, Wei Yingluo opened the food box and laid out the dishes one by one on the grass beside her.

“Oh, meat today, huh?” Yuan Chunwang turned around but didn’t take the chopsticks she offered. Instead, he lifted his mud-covered hands for her to see and grinned. “Feed me.”

Wei Yingluo rolled her eyes. “Eat it yourself!”

“Ah, wait, let me wash my hands.” Yuan Chunwang walked to the lakeside, plunged both hands into the lake, scrubbed them vigorously up and down, then scooped up water to splash his face. He returned to Wei Yingluo’s side with his entire face dripping wet, took the chopsticks, and began eating heartily.

Wei Yingluo noticed his hair was soaked, with quite a few water droplets falling from the strands and dripping into the food. Unable to hold back, she rolled her eyes again, pulled out a handkerchief, and wiped his face for him.

Yuan Chunwang was usually proud and untamed, yet in front of her he was like a wild beast that had been tamed—obediently letting her clean him. Then he smiled and said, “Normally it’s me bringing food to you. How come the roles are reversed today… Don’t tell me you’ve done something guilty?”

Wei Yingluo’s heart skipped a beat. She put down the handkerchief and said softly, “Brother, all these years, everything you’ve done for me—I’ve kept it all in my heart…”

“I’m so good, yet I’ve never seen you feed me.” Yuan Chunwang remarked.

Wei Yingluo glared at him, then suddenly reached out. “Give it here!”

Yuan Chunwang was stunned. The next second, Wei Yingluo snatched the chopsticks from his hand, fiercely picked up a huge clump of chili peppers, and stuffed them into his mouth.

In truth, Yuan Chunwang wasn’t very good at handling spice. His face immediately turned red from the heat. He was already strikingly handsome, but his eccentric and aloof personality usually made people keep their distance. Now, with this faint blush, the cold detachment around him softened, adding a subtle touch of human warmth.

He stuck out his tongue and lightly licked his chili-reddened lips.

Those lips, bright red and glistening, wore no rouge yet were more alluring and fragrant than any cosmetic in the world. Anyone who saw them couldn’t help but feel the urge to taste them.

The corner of his mouth suddenly curved upward. With a faintly seductive smile, Yuan Chunwang said, “Yingluo.”

“What?” Wei Yingluo had been staring at his lips for a long while. Only when he called her did she snap back to reality.

Yuan Chunwang said nothing, simply gazing at her intently—until Wei Yingluo felt uncomfortable all over and muttered softly, “Is there something on my face?”

She was just about to wipe her face with her sleeve when a hand reached across from the opposite side. Yuan Chunwang’s ice-cold fingers brushed her cheek as he said meaningfully, “Yingluo, no matter what happens in the outside world, we’ll stay in the Yuanmingyuan forever—just you and me. This is what you personally promised me. A million times over… don’t forget.”

The sentence sounded half like a reminder, half like a warning. Wei Yingluo felt a sudden chill run through her; for no apparent reason, a layer of cold sweat broke out on her back.

Yuan Chunwang smiled at her once more, then opened his mouth with an “ah.”

Wei Yingluo looked at him with complicated emotions, picked up a clump of rice, and fed it to him. Yet in her heart she quietly said one sentence: I’m sorry. There are some things I have no choice but to do… because if I don’t, no one else will.

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