Chongfei Manual

The lights in Zhao Yang Hall had been extinguished a while ago. From far away, only the octagonal lanterns in the verandah were lit. The two palace servants that guarded the entrance were half-asleep. Seeing that the emperor had come here, they completely woke up from their drowsiness. Stunned, they said, “Greetings Your Majesty…”

Emperor Chong Zhen waved his hand and looked inside the hall, “Where’s the empress?”

With his head lowered, the palace servant said, “To respond to Your Majesty, Her Majesty has already went to sleep.”

The other servant had sense of discernment and hurriedly said, “This servant will go inside to wake Her Majesty up.”

Emperor Chong Zhen called out to stop him. After a while, he finally said, “No need, this emperor will leave after staying for a bit.” Then, he started walking inside.

The two palace servants looked at each other in dismay. Since His Majesty had come here late at night, why wasn’t he staying here to sleep?

--------

Emperor Chong Zhen stood by the bed and opened the layer upon layer of expensive curtains. He looked at Empress Chen, who was deeply asleep. The lighting in the room was dim. There was only the moonlight that spilled through the window without any lit lamps. He remembered that she used to like to leave a lamp lit when she was sleeping. There had been too much death in the first half of her life. She didn’t feel safe in the dark.

When did she stop needing light to sleep? How many of her changes had he missed?

The emperor sat down at the edge of the bed and stretched his hand out to stroke Empress Chen’s cheek. His voice was deep and low in the night, “Wan Wan, I came too late.”

Empress Chen furrowed her eyebrows. The emperor’s body stiffened. He thought she had awaken, but she only turned around and said in a voice of suffering, “Liuli…”

The emperor’s hand froze in the air.

Liuli. Their Liuli.

The emperor slowly drew his hand back and gripped the bed’s wooden frame so tightly that a piece of the wood was torn off.

--------

Today was Spring Lantern Festival. Prince Jing’s residence’s servants were all filled with joy. They were even happier now than they had been during New Year. This was to be expected. Everyone was given half a day off today and could go home to see their families. Of course, they would be happy.

Wei Luo already didn’t have much interest towards this type of holiday. Coincidentally, Xiu Chun’s people had brought the clothes she had ordered over today, so she spent the afternoon looking at the clothes in her room. After counting, there were a total of eighteen outfits, twelve pairs of shoes, sixteen handkerchiefs, and eighteen circular fans. Moreover, these were only items to be used during spring. Wei Luo looked through these items one by one. None of the styles were repeated and the workmanship was meticulous with complicated decorative designs. Other stores couldn’t produce this degree of fine detail.

(T/N: Below are pictures of circular fans.)

Ch 149 - circular fans.png

Wei Luo stood by the couch and contemplated which dress should be match with which pair of shoes and handkerchief. She was so serious about this that she disregarded Zhao Jie, who was nearby.

“Are you done picking?” Zhao Jie whispered into her ear.

Wei Luo turned her head to look at him. She looked at him from to top bottom, “Are you leaving?” He was dressed so properly, but she didn’t hear him mentioning that he was going out today.

Zhao Jie squeeze her palm, “Today is Spring Lantern Festival. This prince will take you out to walk around. You’ve probably been very bored lately, right?”

When they came back from Tong Zhou, it had been the start of New Year’s celebration and they had been busy for several day. During the past few days, there had been spring rain and Wei Luo could only stay inside. There was finally a clear sky today.

Wei Luo looked at him and leisurely asked, “What did you say?”

Zhao Jie recalled his previous words and quickly realized what the young girl was referring to. He turned her around so that she was facing him and rubbed her little face, “Husband wants to take you outside to walk around.”

Wei Luo didn’t like him referring to himself as “this prince” in front of her. Before, they hadn’t been married yet. But he still continued to use these words after they were married. He was clearly putting on airs.

Wei Luo wouldn’t given Zhao Jie the opportunity to put on airs and requested that he change his speech. He had changed his speech, but sometimes he would forget and inadvertently refer to himself as “this prince”. He wasn’t intentionally putting on airs. It was just difficult to immediately change this habit.

Wei Luo frowned, “I still have things I want to ask you.”

Zhao Jie moved them to the couch and sandwiched her between the couch and him. He hovered above her lips and asked, “What do you want to ask?”

Wei Luo raised her eyes. Her long, curled eyelashes looked like the wings of a butterfly. The butterfly flew away from the water and revealed limpid eyes. She said, “Did you know that Consort Ning had become a ordinary citizen?”

Zhao Jie’s expression didn’t change, only the smile on his lips became lighter. He nodded.

“Were you the one that arranged for Chang-shi to enter the palace?” Wei Luo asked.

Zhao Jie continued to nod.

Wei Luo furrowed her eyebrows. “But, Chang-shi’s confession wouldn’t have been sufficient evidence. Can you find the other two accomplice servant girls as well?”

Zhao Jie’s eyes were slightly mocking. He indifferently said, “After imperial father found out the truth, he’ll definitely send people to look for these two people.” Whenever Emperor Chong Zhen was mentioned, he would always have this expression.

Hearing these words, Wei Luo’s heart became peaceful. No matter what, Consort Ning wouldn’t be able rise up again. As for the fifth prince, Emperor Chong Zhen would probably never put him in an important position. Wei Luo looked at Zhao Jie. Could it be that he’ll become emperor in the future? Then, would she become the empress?

That would truly be a novel experience.

Wei Luo sat astride Zhao Jie’s body and raised her head to stare at him.

Zhao Jie couldn’t help laughing, “What are you looking at?”

Wei Luo closed her eyes and brightly smiled, “I’m looking at my husband.”