CH 120

Ming Zhu quietly stayed in her bedroom. When she opened the window for air, she discovered that the two pots of green plants she kept by the window didn’t look good, the original lush green branches and leaves were gradually turning yellow from the roots, they looked like they were about to die.

Ming Zhu pulled out the yellowed roots and watered the plants.

At night, when people were quiet, Ming Zhu then had the mind to think about what had happened this evening.

Zhao Zhi seemingly looked very angry, saying that he was furious wasn’t exaggerating. She thought that he would fly in a rage if he ever found out about it, because what he hated the most was her disobeying him.

But she did not expect that the matter would pass so lightly. He smashed the medicine bottle, and just said the words – “I won’t be forcing you. ”

(TL’s note: Zhao Zhi used a present form when he said: “I’m not forcing you,” Ming Zhu interpreted it as a future form)

When he said those words to her, Zhao Zhi appeared as if he was extremely pained and disappointed, incredibly sad. But she herself felt relieved.

Outside the window, a heavy rain suddenly started to fall, jade pearls plopped as they smashed on the roof.

Rain always came between the end of spring and the beginning of summer.

Ming Zhu sat on the soft couch, listening quietly to the sound of rain outside the window, coming through the windowpane. Her mood plummeted down, following the sound of rain.

A heavy rain fell continuously until the evening of the next day. The sky was cloudy and gloomy all day.

Ming Zhu did not sleep well, she had not slept a few hours before waking up. When she woke up, she sat by the window and drank tea, she was idle with nothing to do so she randomly took out two books from the bookshelf to pass the time.

She opened a folklore novel, on the third chapter, she saw Zhao Zhi’s annotations, the handwriting on the margins looked clean, fresh and beautiful.

He left a commentary at the end of almost every chapter. He finished reading these popular novels even before she did.

The annotations weren’t all critical, he occasionally gave stingy compliments, such as – “this story is not bad.”

Ming Zhu sighed and placed the book back on the bookshelf. It was raining, and the room was a little cold. Ming Zhu was covered with a thick blanket, coal was burning in the delicate small copper basin under the soft couch to keep the room warm.

In late spring, when it was warm one moment and cold the next, it was quite easy to fall sick.

Biying carried a freshly cooked laozao soup, with glutinous rice balls, and put it in front of her, “Miss, drink it while it’s hot.”

The laozao was sweet and glutinous, after boiling it for a moment, it tasted a little sour, the taste was just right.

Ming Zhu would be sleepy every time she ate laozao, it was no different from drinking wine, but she was defenseless towards laozao and wanted to eat it at least every ten days to half a month.

It was still early, so even if she was sleepy, she could still get some rest.

Ming Zhu picked up the bowl and ate one mouthful after the other, her hands and feet all warmed up.

Biying asked, “There’s more in the pot, would you like more?”

Ming Zhu put down the empty bowl and shook her head, “I don’t want to eat anymore, if I eat more, I’ll fall asleep.”

Biying smiled, “It’s true. Laozao is like rice wine, both have strong aftereffects.”

Ming Zhu leaned against the pillow and yawned lazily, blinking her sore eyes, she propped her head up and looked out the window, at the blooming trees whose buds were falling because of the wind, “I wonder when summer will come.”

Biying closed the window for her, “Very soon.”

It was like this for another four or five days. The rainy and overcast weather bit by bit stopped, the sky gradually cleared, the temperature also warmed up, and the sun shone brightly, with a light breeze. In the yard, one could occasionally hear a few cicadas chirping. Early summer was really coming.

Ming Zhu had not seen Zhao Zhi for half a month, and also did not hear any of his news.

She was happy being on her own and she lived how she normally did.

Ming Zhu still didn’t know that Zhao Zhi had gone back to stay in the palace. On that day, he braved the heavy rain to enter the palace, and since then never came back to the residence.

If he had the need for something, he would order a servant to get it.

The crown prince was a busy man, nothing was wrong with that. But being busy like this, if there was nothing amiss, no one would believe it.

Biying didn’t know if she should tell miss Ming Zhu about this, but her intuition told her that the fact that His Highness left with a cold face on that day, must have something to do with miss Ming Zhu.

After hesitating for a few days, Biying still decided to tell Ming Zhu about it, “Miss, His Highness has not returned for some days, do you want to send a message to him?”

Ming Zhu’s hand that was flipping through the pages stopped, she said, “His Highness has his own business to attend to.”

“On the evening of that day, it looked like His Highness was a little angry ……”

“Mmh. It was my bad.” Ming Zhu said, as if it was of no concern to her.

Biying should have known earlier that miss Ming Zhu was a woman who was soft on the outside but tough on the inside, and that her advice would only end up being lightly brushed off.

But what good could come from using an egg to smash a stone?