Oh… Wei Luo felt a little discouraged.
He exposed the tooth marks, was it to deliberately let her see?
His present visit, could it be he’d come to settle the account with her?
Neither seemed impossible, after all, she had bitten him so heavily last time. His bodyguard had almost caught her to bring her back, and had added that they wanted to pull out her teeth. If she hadn’t cried, it was very possible that she wouldn’t have any incisors right now. If the rumors weren’t false, in accordance with Prince Jing’s vindictive character, it was highly unlikely that he would let her off.
Lying within Wei Kun’s arms, Wei Luo was contemplating. She didn’t want to lose her life right after being reborn, nor did she want to provoke this kind of great person. In the end, she wasn’t a genuine six year old child. She had many thoughts whirling around in her head, and was much warier than others. Prince Jing’s status was respectable. Since she had already offended him, there was no point regretting it belatedly. Apologizing to him now, he wouldn’t necessarily accept it. It would be better to seize the opportunity and do a preventive strike, then maybe she could even find a way out. She lifted up her head from Wei Kun’s embrace, her bright and sparkling big eyes looking at Zhao Jie, blinking with a naïve appearance: “Thank you, big brother Prince Jing.”
Logically speaking, Zhao Jie was a prince, other people were afraid of not being careful enough around him. Since Ah Luo had called him Prince Jing, she shouldn’t have added ‘big brother’. Calling him ‘big brother’ implied a rather close relation. However, her small milky voice was naturally sweet and soft. Coupled with her age, it wouldn’t make people think too deeply about it, only that her ‘big brother’ sounded really sweet and pleasant to hear.
Zhao Jie looked away, and subtly bent his lips.
He clearly remembered her rampant and domineering little manner from that day. Leaving aside the fact that she had bitten him, she had sat in her carriage afterwards, saying he wasn’t tasty. Not tasty? What did she take him for, the eight treasure duck or roasted chicken sold on the streets of Sheng? Her little manner could really make people feel resentful, so different from her current docile and sensible appearance.
Being in front of her elders, she immediately turned honest?
Zhao Jie didn’t speak, neither accepting her gratitude, nor expressing an opinion. He controlled his expression, as he thoughtfully toyed with the ivory folding fan at his waist.
Duke Ying, seeing that the tea cup in his hand was empty, asked for a maidservant to fill up a cup, and let Wei Luo personally carry it over, “These are this year’s spring new Emei snow buds (probably type of tea), compared to other tea, the flavor is several times more fragrant and distinct. There’s still half a catty left in the residence, if Prince likes it, you are welcome to take it all.”
Zhao Jie didn’t refuse, glancing at Wei Luo, “This Prince won’t be polite then.”
After the maidservant poured the good tea, the cup with an inked lid was placed in front of Ah Luo. Ah Luo climbed down from Wei Kun’s body, and took the tea. She carefully walked towards Zhao Jie, and raised her arms, saying shyly: “Big brother, have some tea.”
Her voice was pleasant, bringing out the youthful purity characteristic to young children. In addition, she dragged out the final sounds of her words, making them sound soft and smooth, so sweet it could give someone a toothache.
The little girl lifted her white and tender small face, her pair of almond eyes especially bright, with long and curling thick eyelashes. She exceedingly resembled the porcelain dolls from the Western Regions’ tribute, Zhao Jie had to acknowledge this little girl was pretty. He wasn’t in a hurry to receive the tea, leaning on the ironwood chair’s cloud-patterned armrest as he watched her wordlessly.
This little girl was somewhat interesting, lovable in front of people, but ill-natured when they weren’t looking. If he hadn’t been ruthlessly bitten by her, he would’ve also been deceived by her pure as snow and cute outward appearance at this moment.
Since he wasn’t speaking, Wei Luo once again called out: “Big brother…”
Zhao Jie smiled discreetly, received the cup of tea from her hands, and took a sip. He was just about to speak, when Wei Kun suddenly said from below: “Ah Luo, this person is Prince Jing, not big brother.”
In fact, calling him ‘big brother’ wasn’t entirely out of place, Wei Kun was simply too overcautious. If one were to look closely, Wei Luo truly had the right to call Zhao Jie ‘big brother’. Zhao Jie’s birth mother was Empress Chen, below Empress Chen was Noble Consort Ning, Noble Consort Ning and Count Zhongyi were from the same clan, and Count Zhongyi’s residence was Madam Du’s maternal home… Those were intricate relations, but even if the connection was complicated, it wasn’t impossible to follow.
Having heard the advice, Wei Luo looked at him earnestly. She moved her lips and changed the way she called him: “…Big brother Prince Jing.”
The result was, the ‘big brother’ label still remained.
Others may have thought Ah Luo was being obstinate, but Zhao Jie could see through her little ploy. This was fawning over him. The little miss had a guilty conscience, calling him ‘big brother’ over and over, in hopes that he would disregard the past enmity and cut her some slack. It was really entertaining. He wasn’t fond of children, but this six year old little miss was rather different. He put down the small tea cup without commenting on the way she’d called him, his index finger tapping on the table’s surface, “It was a mere effortless thing, not worth mentioning. Master Wei is speaking too seriously.”
The tea had been respected, the thanks had also been expressed, there was nothing else for Wei Luo to do. As the adults were going to speak, they didn’t let a small child attend. Duke Ying asked Jin Lu to carry her out. Hugging Jin Lu’s neck, she couldn’t help but glance at Zhao Jie as they departed. Zhao Jie’s deep black eyes were also looking at her. She immediately shrank back, only exposing a pair of limpid eyes, the small appearance both funny, and cute.
The person was already gone, but Zhao Jie’s thin lips were still holding in his laughter.
He didn’t bother covering the scar on his wrist. Wei Kun noticed the row of distinct purplish red tooth marks, and was inevitably startled. A moment ago, he had assumed his vision had been blurry. Now looking again, those tooth marks were still there. He asked: “Forgive this lowly official for being too talkative, the scar on the Prince’s wrist… Was it caused by a bite?”
Zhao Jie propped his chin on his hand, with a lazy ‘Yeah’, he added: “I was bitten by a little girl.”
*
Coming out of the front courtyard, Wei Luo returned to Pine courtyard directly.
She left Jin Lu’s embrace, striding with her short legs, as she ransacked everywhere, looking for something. Not this one, not that one, either. Searching for a long time, she couldn’t find it at all.
Jin Lu asked curiously: “What is Miss looking for?”
She used her hand to gesture, bending her head as she thought for quite a while, “When I returned from Huguo Temple, didn’t daddy give me some medicine? It can improve blood circulation to remove the blood clots under the skin and treat a wound.”
When they had left Huguo Temple, Nurse Ye had carried her while running quite a long distance. Unavoidably, she had gotten scratched by several branches. Seeing that, Wei Kun had felt sorry for her for a long time. The next day, he had found that bottle of medicine for her. The medicine’s effect was very good, after applying it, the scabs had fallen off the very next day. She was suddenly looking for it now, Jin Lu was somewhat at a loss: “Didn’t Miss’ injuries get better?”
She shook her head, “It’s not for me, I want to give it to someone.”
Was there another wounded person in the residence?
Could it be for the fifth miss?
It wasn’t actually impossible. Although fifth miss was unruly, she was after all fourth miss’ blood related younger sister. How much enmity could there be between small children? Wei Zheng had sustained injuries today, so Wei Luo giving her that medicine was reasonable. With these thoughts in mind, Jin Lu didn’t hesitate anymore, and went to search through the shelves in the back for a white glazed mosaic porcelain bottle. Handing it to Wei Luo, she said: “Does Miss intend to go to Ginkgo courtyard?”
Wei Luo blinked her eyes, a little perplexed, “Why would I want to go to Ginkgo courtyard?”
Jin Lu gawked, “You took the medicine for wounds, could it be that it’s not for the fifth miss…”
She wrinkled her nose, the small milky voice suddenly unhappy, “It’s definitely not for her. She got injured herself, yet still wanted to blame me. I’m definitely not giving it to her.”
Wei Luo wasn’t saying those words without any basis. According to Wei Zheng’s temper, right now she would certainly be complaining in Madam Du’s bosom. Wei Zheng was not a fool. The fact that Wei Luo had pushed her, even if it hadn’t been on purpose, she would still say it was intentional. However, Wei Luo wasn’t afraid, since anyone with eyes could see Wei Zheng’s unruly behavior. Even if she spoke out, there wouldn’t necessarily be many people who’d believe her.
Jin Lu was instantly confused, catching up to ask: “Whom is Miss giving this to?”
Wei Luo didn’t respond to her, running on the patio, quickly rushing out through the engraved gate. She was afraid that she’d be one step late and Zhao Jie would have left. She didn’t want to offend Zhao Jie. The wound from the bite, she couldn’t compensate for, her sincerity would have to suffice.
Fortunately, she had gone promptly, arriving at the front courtyard just in time to catch up with the people, who were currently walking out.
Zhao Jie was in the center, with Duke Ying to his left, following half a step behind him, while the several uncles and Wei Kun were at the rear.
Wei Luo took advantage while they weren’t paying attention to her to run over, appearing next to Zhao Jie’s legs. Because she was too short, Zhao Jie didn’t catch sight of her for some time. Then again, maybe he had seen her, but pretended he hadn’t. Her small hand pulled his slender big hand and shook it, attracting his notice at last.
Zhao Jie lowered his eyes. Having just run, the little girl’s delicate small face was flushed. Panting slightly, she raised the porcelain bottle in her hands, “Big brother… for you.”