When Chang Ke saw this, she immediately showed joy and said, “Now you know what kind of person Chen Luo is. Maybe you don’t find him as handsome anymore, right?”
“No!” Wang Xi said with a heavy heart, “I still find him very handsome. I just regret that he is the son of Eldest Princess and Duke Zhen Guo. He can’t come back to Shu with me. No matter how handsome he is, it has nothing to do with me.” After speaking, she sighed deeply.
Cheng Ke’s eyes were about to pop out, “You still want to bring Chen Luo back? What for?”
“As a bodyguard!” Wang Xi said, sighing deeply again, “I didn’t know who he was before. I just thought it would be great if I could bring him back as my bodyguard.”
She fantasized, “Imagine me walking on the street, and such a bodyguard following behind me. Wouldn’t everyone turn their heads? It would be so interesting!”
At present, Chen Luo, who had eyes reaching the heavens, becoming Wang Xi’s bodyguard, standing behind her, wherever Wang Xi went, he had to follow. He would also be surrounded by the gossiping women on the street. He couldn’t get angry and couldn’t show discontent… Cheng Ke’s imagination was only a flash, but it was enough to make her happy!
She burst into laughter and couldn’t help but daydream, “You can also make him buy food for you. He hates this the most. He thinks we’re using him to show off our good relationship with him. And you can make him carry things for you. He always says we’re too finicky, but sometimes, we are really inconvenienced. Every time we go out, our heads are full of jewelry. Those gold hairpins are so heavy; if we’re not careful, they might slip off somewhere. Except for someone like you, who dares to move them randomly? When we return home, when the maidens count the jewelry, we will definitely be complained about and reported to the elders at home, scolded by the elders…”
Wang Xi asked curiously, “Aren’t the hairpins you wear solid?”
Cheng Ke was shocked, “Are the hairpins you wear hollow?”
“Yes!” Wang Xi said indifferently, “Solid hairpins are too heavy. When I was young, I refused to wear them. When my grandmothers put them on me, I would pull them off. My mother had no choice but to give me hollow hairpins. I’ve always worn hollow hairpins.”
“But hollow hairpins can’t hold gemstones, right?” Cheng Ke said in confusion, “I’ve seen the jewelry you wear; they’re all inlaid with various gemstones.”
Wang Xi smiled and plucked a hairpin inlaid with turquoise from her hair and handed it to Cheng Ke, “Take a look.”
Cheng Ke felt the weight was very light in her hand. Upon closer inspection, she found that the color of the setting claws was lighter than the hairpin body. Unless she looked very closely, she couldn’t tell.
She couldn’t help but exclaim, “The setting claws are gilded!”
Cheng Ke couldn’t help but raise the hairpin and look at it in the sunlight, “Is this turquoise? The color is really beautiful! My second aunt also has a turquoise hairpin. Although it’s bigger than yours, the color is not as good as yours, and the pattern is not as beautiful as yours. Yours looks like cracks in the ice. It must be very rare, right?”
Wang Xi nodded and said with a smile, “Do you like it? Then take it. I have many hairpins like this.”
Cheng Ke quickly shook her head and said, “No merit, no reward. For no reason, why would you give me something? Even if you have a lot of things, they’re still yours. I don’t want them.”
Wang Xi didn’t insist.
Giving gifts was quite fun. Both the giver and the receiver should be happy. If only the giver was happy, it wouldn’t be giving a gift; it would be making enemies.
She was never the kind of person who would give someone a gift and make enemies.
Wang Xi took the hairpin Cheng Ke handed over and smiled as she inserted it back into her hair, saying, “Just let me know when you need it.”
“Okay!” Cheng Ke agreed generously.
Who has so much jewelry?
It’s normal for sisters to borrow jewelry from each other for gatherings.
Wang Xi smiled, nodded approvingly, and raised her head. She saw the sunlight filtering through the treetops like shattered gold.
Thinking that they had been here for a while, she said to Cheng Ke, “I want to watch Chen Luo again. I knew he could dance with a sword, but I didn’t know he could also shoot arrows. I wonder if he will continue practicing swordsmanship here early tomorrow morning…” As she spoke, she raised her telescope and leaned out, peering at Chen Luo.
In the round lens, Chen Luo’s archery skills were impressive. His arrows hit the target dead center.
Of course, the most attractive thing was the person himself. His figure was as straight as a bamboo, and his expression was calm and deep, like a tranquil abyss. He was a handsome man with both looks and temperament.
Wang Xi sighed inwardly, passing the telescope to Cheng Ke. “Take a look too.”
Cheng Ke glanced a few times through the telescope and handed it back to Wang Xi. “I still think the eldest young master Chen is more handsome!”
Wang Xi, thinking about the arrowheads pierced with white feathers, wondered what it would be like if Chen Luo continued shooting.
She leaned back on the wall, watching Chen Luo shoot arrows absentmindedly and asked Cheng Ke, “I remember you once said there was someone else, very handsome too, was it the fourth or fifth prince? Is he really that handsome?”
Before Cheng Ke could reply, Wang Xi, in excitement, patted Cheng Ke’s shoulder hard, exclaiming, “Too amazing!”
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Cheng Ke asked anxiously.
“He actually hit the arrowhead and split the arrow shaft in half,” Wang Xi said, passing the telescope back to Cheng Ke.
“I know some people are very skilled in archery, but being this extraordinary is quite rare! I believe he could probably startle a bird with a single arrow! Not much different from Li Guang, I suppose?”
Cheng Ke, holding the telescope, looked at the scene next door and said after a while, “Young Master Chen’s martial arts are extraordinary. I didn’t expect Chen Luo to be so skilled!”
In the telescope, she saw that he not only split a white feather arrow straight into the center of the target but also shot the previous arrow that had hit the target, causing it to fly out.
“Is Chen Ying also this skilled?” Wang Xi was very curious and asked, “If I’m not mistaken, Chen Ying seems to be in the Imperial Guards, right? Is he usually busy?”
How could she see this person? Cheng Ke sensed Wang Xi’s thoughts and chuckled, “He’s currently serving as a small standard-bearer in the Imperial Guards. He doesn’t have much to do usually. However, when he’s on leave, he either goes out with friends or stays by Duke Zhen Guo’s side. Men and women have different social circles. We don’t see him much now.”
Wang Xi didn’t give up and asked, “Didn’t you say that Third Young Master has a good relationship with him? Doesn’t he come to hang out with Third Young Master?”
Cheng Ke wasn’t a child anymore. Hearing this, she pursed her lips and said, “It’s Third Cousin who hangs out with him, not him coming to hang out with Third Cousin.”
Was it just a matter of fate to meet someone?
Wang Xi sighed disappointedly, then leaned back on the wall again, taking the telescope from Cheng Ke and asked, “Do Chen Ying and Chen Luo look alike?”
Cheng Ke carefully recalled, “I think they look quite similar. Both brothers are about the same height. Young Master Chen is not as fair as Chen Luo, and his face is a bit more square. Chen Ying’s eyebrows are typical straight eyebrows, making him look steadier. Chen Luo’s eyebrows are sharper, with a slightly upward slant. He looks like a difficult person. And their eyes, both have phoenix eyes, but Chen Luo’s eyes are larger and more double-lidded than Chen Ying’s. When he glares at you with displeasure, his gaze is cold and clear, his eyes are sharp and chilly…”
“Hey!” Her words were interrupted by Wang Xi. “Where is he? How come he’s gone again?”
“Ah!” Cheng Ke quickly leaned over to look. In the green bamboo forest, the figure had truly disappeared.
“Is he done practicing?” Cheng Ke murmured, “It can’t be! There should at least be a servant by his side to help him wipe his hands or something. He can’t just leave like this!”
Wang Xi felt the same way.
She raised her telescope and looked around, suddenly noticing a window in the Eldest Princess’s residence, built on an artificial rockery, wide open.
Someone was holding a telescope, observing them. Moreover, that person was dressed in black warrior attire.
Clearly, he was the one who had been practicing archery in the bamboo forest just now!
“Oh no, Chen Luo has spotted us!” Wang Xi whispered, holding her breath, feeling uneasy. Anyone would feel uncomfortable being seen as a street performer and being watched by others.
Wang Xi felt a bit guilty too if she was caught by Chen Luo.
“Really?” Cheng Ke also felt a bit nervous, mainly because she was afraid Chen Luo would find out and report them to her family.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Wang Xi reassured Cheng Ke as willow branches brushed her forehead, a thought occurred to her.
They were standing under the willow tree, partly hidden by its branches.
Given her past experiences of observing from high places, unless he specifically focused on their area, he was unlikely to spot them. Moreover, the telescope in Chen Luo’s hands seemed smaller than the one she held, making it even harder for him to see clearly.
She patted her chest, comforting Cheng Ke, “Don’t worry, don’t worry. If we stay still under the tree now, he won’t notice us.”
Cheng Ke, upon hearing this, didn’t calm down. Instead, she became even more tense, her face turning pale. “Is he standing at the window of Changchun Hall? Is he holding a telescope like yours? Third Cousin told me that he once stood on the second floor of Guanghan Hall on Wansui Mountain and shot an arrow onto the Golden Rooster Bridge. Could he be preparing to shoot an arrow towards us?”
“No, he wouldn’t, right?” Wang Xi was dumbfounded, “Lives are at stake; he wouldn’t recklessly endanger lives!”
“Since when has he cared about others’ lives!” Cheng Ke was almost in tears. “When he was studying in the Inner Palace, he once made a bet with the Fourth Prince. They were betting on who could shoot the bird’s nest on the tree, and he nearly shot Bao Mingyue, who happened to pass by. Bao Mingyue is the Empress’s nephew and the most favored young master in the Qingyun Marquis’s residence. The Bao family barely escaped punishment. What are we compared to them?”
Wang Xi was sweating profusely; she felt like she had made a big mistake this time.
Cheng Ke was desperate, but she didn’t dare to move, afraid of shaking the tree branches and being discovered by Chen Luo. “What if he already noticed you were spying on him? Why else would he suddenly switch to archery practice today? Didn’t you say he was always practicing swordsmanship in the bamboo forest before?”
“No, it can’t be, right?” Wang Xi stammered, thinking of the sharp gaze that Chen Luo had cast towards her through the telescope last time, feeling uncertain for the first time in her life.