Your Ninth Royal Highness, Please Change Your Clothes

A lake-blue coat1 draped on her shoulders. Her black hair was adorned by a coral-red crown. The glittering jewels of gold hanging down from her crown2 collided over each other and shimmered with luxury. Her beautiful face was slightly raised up, showing complete arrogance.
　　
When Wen Chan saw her, a face appeared in his mind. It was that of a girl that was completely matured, who was leaning onto him and calling“Your Majesty” in a delicate voice. Zhao Pingshi was the daughter of Zhao Chengbo and his first wife. When it was about the time of Wen Chan’s death in his previous life, he rose her position and made her the only senior concubine in the imperial harem.

But, out of all the harem members, she was the one who annoyed Wen Chan the most.
　　
Now, she is still in her young days but the arrogance and disdain in her mind were undoubtedly spilling out. In his last life, she was pampered in the harem for several years. Only Jiang Huanghou was allowed to control or punish her. When Jiang Huanghou died, Wen Chan made Lu Jiexiang the queen, and Lu Jiexiang used all her abilities to keep Zhao Pingshi suppressed.
　　
While everyone was still lamenting about Zhao Pingshi’s riches and honors, Wen Chan faintly uttered, “Girl, this riddle is mine. If you want to guess, you can shoot one for yourself.”
　　
When Zhao Pingshi heard this, she viciously glared at him and asked, “Why are you not allowing others to say the answer when you can’t guess it by yourself?”
　　
When Ah Fu heard this, his head started to fume with anger. With his hands on his waist, he said, “Who said that our young master cannot guess it. It’s just because you rushed into the answer. I don’t know which family’s young lady you are, with such a sharp mouth. Why don’t you tell stories in a teahouse?
　　
Zhao Pingshi was always spoiled and had a fiery temperament. She was immediately angered by the words of Ah Fu, “ You audacious slave, how dare you speak to me like this. I would like to know which family’s slave are you, to be so disobedient and out of control.3
　　
Both of them took turns fighting with each other, and their voices kept on rising up. The originally lively and noisy scene became even livelier by their fight. As others were afraid of inviting disaster on themselves, they stepped aside and enjoyed the scene from the side.
　　
Zhao Pingshi’s servant girl poured oil on the fire from the side, “Miss, don’t lower yourself by arguing with such an untouchable4, so as to not tarnish your status.”
　　
Ah Fu has been accompanying Wen Chan ever since their childhoods. Even when the people of the palace meet Ah Fu, they will only address him by the title “ Eunuch Fu.” He has never been called an untouchable before. So when he heard her say this, he subconsciously wanted to scold her back. But on remembering that he was standing beside Wen Chan right now, he didn’t try to make a fuss. He just stood there and looked at Wen Chan, feeling wronged.

Wen Chan indifferently said, “Girl, don’t talk nonsense. Are all the families other than your Zhao family untouchables?”
　　
He took off the huge hat that he was wearing and pressed it on Zhao Pingshi’s head, making her go speechless for a second. She swung her hand rudely and said，“Hey vendor, I want your lotus lantern. If you are not going to sell it to me, then I will call my men to smash this stall!”
　　
The vendor’s complexion changed. He didn’t expect that this girl would be so brutal and unreasonable. But he couldn’t dare to go against her either. He could only stand there, frozen.
　　
When Zhao Pinshi saw that he wasn’t reacting, she wanted to flare out at him. But suddenly, a burst of claps sounded. She turned towards the sound, to see a handsome young man, dressed in blue and white clothes, coming out from the crowd while clapping. He laughed, “An energetic girl indeed. If they are not going to sell you their lantern, then you are going to smash their stall. Ingenious, really ingenious.”
　　
Wen Chan’s body turned rigid. It was the second time tonight that he met with Liang Yanbei.
　　
Even though Liang Yanbei’s words carried obvious mockery, Zhao Pingshi didn’t get angry on hearing it. She even became bashful and smoothened her lips into a smile, “Young Master Liang can laugh at me.”

Several youngsters stood next to Liang Yanbei. They were of similar ages as him, and Liang Shuhong was also amongst them. When he caught sight of Wen Chan, a flabbergasted expression surfaced on his face. But it quickly turned serene. With a smile on his face, he walked up to Wen Chan and asked him in a low voice, “Your highness, how come you are also here?”

Although the voice in which he called out “Your highness” wasn’t very loud, it was audible to the people next to them. Zhao Pingshi’s face paled. She gazed at Wen Chan, panicking.

Wen Chan responded in a low voice, “I did not have anything to do. So I thought of coming here to energize myself.”

A yellow-clothed youth beside Liang Yanbei sneered at Zhao Pingshi, “Young lady Zhao, you are indeed really brave to call his Ninth Highness an “untouchable.”

Wen Chan was familiar with most of the youngsters who were standing beside Liang Yanbei this time. The yellow-clothed youth was the second young master of the Xie family, Xie Zhaoxue.

Xia Zhaoxue was a direct descendant of the Xie family. He was brilliant, clever, and a person who was bound to have great prospects. But unfortunately, he was assassinated when he followed Liang Yanbei to go beyond the great wall to fight the enemies. And then his younger brother who was actually very outstanding and born from a concubine, Xie Yudao, became the powerful prime minister of Xiliang.

After Wen Chan buried Xia Zhaoxue, Liang Yanbei placed a stone tablet on the burial and sat alone in front of the tablet for one day and one night.

The past was in the past. Wen Chan lifted his eyes and caught sight of the living Xie Zhaoxue. His every movement was the same as in his memory.

Even though Zhao Pingshi was spoiled and arrogant, she was still aware of the status disparity between an official and the royal family. After hearing that this pretty youth who looked like a girl being called the“Ninth Highness,” her complexion instantly became deathly pale. And then, two knees bent before the eyes of several people and kneeled in front of Wen Chan, “Your Ninth Highness, I said something daring that offended your highness. Please don’t blame me.”
　　
As soon as she knelt down, the maid who was the original person to call him an untouchable was unable to stand still anymore. She immediately crouched down shivering, seemingly terrified.

The bustling crowd who were originally watching the show didn’t expect this person who looks like a little girl to actually be the high and mighty ninth prince, and they momentarily became silent.
　　
Wen Chan knew that Zhao Pingshi was flexible and could change her ways immediately. So he was not surprised on seeing this. He merely said, “I will spare you this time. But that maid of yours doesn’t know how to behave properly, and her words are unpleasant. You have to keep that under control after you go back. And if I see you being this unruly one more time, then I will not let you off so easily.”
　　
Zhao Pingshi repeatedly agreed to his words. The slave understood her mistress’s trick. In the middle of the street, she began to cry loudly, looking frightened, “ Your majesty, your highness, this slave deserves to die. But please forgive this slave.”
　　
If you think that you deserve to die, why are you asking for mercy? Wen Chan has long gotten tired of hearing these words from both of his lives. He found the servant girl’s voice to be extremely annoying and he also lost his interest in the lotus lantern. He turned to leave. Ah Fu, Qinqi, and Shu Hua followed behind him.
　　
“Your Ninth Highness,” Liang called out to him from behind. “Today is so lively. It will be boring if you are going to stroll by yourself. Why don’t we team and stroll together？”
　　　　
On thinking that the thing that he fears will come true, he halted his steps and said with a side glance, “No thanks. I am not used to strolling with…… with strangers.”
　　
The word stranger nearly got stuck in his throat, and it was hard to get out. He said it with a rejecting expression that could reject people who are miles away. Right after he finished his sentence, he left the place without giving Liang Yanbei a chance to urge him to stay.

After leaving, Wen Chan’s mind became a complete mess, and he fell into a daze.
　　
In his previous life, Liang Yanbei went to join the army at the age of seventeen and then practiced martial arts in the capital. And he entered the battlefield at the age of eighteen. Two years later, Liang Yanbei, who was twenty years old now, made the enemy troop retreat back to a thousand miles and returned in triumph. When he returned, being covered in glory, the emperor bestowed him the title of General Zhen Bei. And then, he started teaching at a martial arts school within the capital, and Wen Chan was placed there by the emperor to study because his martial arts skills were so poor.

Actually, in his previous life, Wen Chan only got to meet Liang Yanbei when he[WC] was 18 years old, which means, three years from now [in his current life]. He didn’t expect to be reborn, and that the timeline of their first meeting will actually go back three years before the original one. So, Wen Chan deliberately wanted to hide instead of getting egg on his face by playing clever5.

Wen Chan reached out his hand to rub his ice-cold cheeks, comforting himself in his heart. It’s okay. Liang Yanbei will join the army at the beginning of the spring. So no need to panic.

“Young master, it’s time for us to go to the Donghu Bridge.” Ah Fu whispered a reminder in his ear.

Wen Chan raised his eyes and caught sight of the crowded Donghu Bridge. The bridge was full of people who were releasing lanterns into the sky. They wrote down their wishes on the lantern and then let it fly by lighting it. Now, their wishes can fly up to the sky and reach heaven, letting the gods see their wishes.
　　
The sky was decorated with sky lanterns6, which were sprinkled in the sky like stars and made the sky more beautiful. The sky was filled with sky lanterns as far as the eye could see.
　　
Wen Chan instantly cheered up, and he said to Qinqi, “You go buy us 4 lanterns. One for each of us.”
　　
Qinqi knew that the job of running the errands would be on him. So, he had already prepared the money. After Wen Chan gave out the command, he immediately barged into the crowd. And by taking advantage of his height, he easily bought 4 sky lanterns and returned.　　
Next to the place where sky lanterns were sold, there was a table that was kept to provide people with ink. Ten copper coins were the cost of a brush. Qinqi ran to buy a brush before coming back, handing it over to Wen Chan.
　　
Wen Chan shook his head, “I don’t need it. Just give me my flame stick7.”
　　
Ah Fu was confused, “Young master, are you not going to write down your wish?”

“One’s wishes will remain in the heart, regardless if you write it down or not.” He slowly unfolded the lantern, “Besides, I am too lazy to take a pen and write.”
　　
“But if you don’t write it, the gods won’t be able to see it.” Ah Fu said.

Qinqi shoved the brush at him, “ If the young master says that he won’t want to write it, then he doesn’t need to write it. You write first and stop talking so much.”

Ah Fu’s mouth was still muttering. He reached out to take the brush and started writing earnestly. But just after he wrote a few words, a sudden wave of the crowd reached him and affected his writing, causing his ink to spread all over his lantern. Ah Fu became so angry that he wanted to curse out at them. But the surroundings became more crowded. He got so scared that he couldn’t care about anything else, and he promptly searched for Wen Chan, “Young master! Young master!”
　　
Wen Chan was right behind him. When he heard him shouting, he promptly replied, “I am here.” He wanted to go near Qinqi and Shu Hua. But he was helplessly congested among the people. Wen Chan felt uncomfortable being squeezed in the crowd, so he looked for an open space so that he could take a breather.
　　
Just when he stood close to the end of the bridge, he heard a burst of delicate cries. He turned around to see a luxuriously clothed young girl being squeezed in the crowd. Her glittering head ornaments of great quality were rubbed into a mess.
　　
Jiang Yueying has appeared.

Wen Chan thought that he would not meet her tonight. After all, he had left half an hour earlier. But after a stroll, he still encountered the same situation at the same place.
　　
In his past life, a young master of a rich household went crazy, unexpectedly scattered money on the street, causing thousands of people to crowd together. Jiang Yueying almost fell down from the bridge because of the crowd. It was Wen Chan who was standing at the end of the bridge who reached out his hand to help her up and save her from the fall. And then, due to squeezing the sky lantern in her hands, her hands were damaged. So, Wen Chan kindly gave her his sky lantern.

From his relationship with Jiang Yueying, he had Wen Ruyan, the later crown prince.

When he remembered his past events, he found it both emotional and funny. He then bowed down his head to look at his lantern. He found that it was actually not looking good. When he looked, he found that it was actually damaged in the crowd. He was suddenly dumbstruck. This is not right, ah. In his previous life, his sky lantern was perfectly fine.

1

I found a beautiful blue coat 

23

original idiom: regardless of the law and of natural morality (idiom)

4

a cheap person

5

*to overreach oneself

67