After Becoming the Hero's Ex-fiancée

Jealousy Rears (2)

Cui Wang couldn’t help closing his eyes, but he could smell the scent from that day again. In the silent spring day, Mingxuan Hall’s brazier was still burning; the scent of the red sandalwood platform couch and the fragrance of the maiden’s hair mingled together, becoming the smell that lingered in his dreams.

That pair of beautiful eyes, burning brilliantly with desire, containing a bashful shyness, fragrant and soft, putting one in a trance and making them feel that the world would never again have such a beauty like this.

“Wan’niang, are you out of your mind? How could the State Preceptor be interested in you? Saying all these… have you no shame!”

Rong Qin was angry.

Zheng Wan silently counted “one”, “two”, “three” inwardly. When she counted to ten, she stood up anxiously, her already pale face becoming as white as a sheet. Her seat scrapped against the ground loudly from the movement, and she said urgently:

“Everyone, please continue. Wan’niang still has something to attend to. I’ll take my leave.”

To everyone in the pavilion, Zheng Wan was simply embarrassed by the State Preceptor’s long silence and randomly came up with an excuse to leave. Rong Qin wanted to stop her, but Rong Yi interrupted and asked her to continue.

“Start again, a new round.”

“Excuse me.”

Cui Wang gave a nod. “There’s something else I have to do.”

He got up, raised his sleeve, and the jade tree disappeared; he left straight away.

Huai Wang stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“No matter how I see it… the State Preceptor seems to have… come here for Lady Zheng?”

“What nonsense, how would the State Preceptor take a fancy to that kind of shameless person?”

Rong Qin retorted resentfully.

————————

As her past acquaintances made all sorts of speculations, Zheng Wan had already hidden her face and ran out of Lijia Pavilion. With a signal from the maidservant who was standing by, she went to the garden behind Lijia Pavilion.

“My lady, do you want to return to the residence?”

Luodai followed her.

“It’s rare for Rong Yi to be happy, let’s wait until the banquet ends before leaving.”

Zheng Wan shook her head. “You and I will rest here.”

She walked slowly around the rockery and along the path, thinking it was fortunate that a good idea had occurred to her at the critical moment, otherwise, the Cui man would have seen through her cover today. But… if he was suspicious of her, why hadn’t he used it before?

Perhaps it was a mistake due to a strange combination of circumstances.

She walked to one corner, and indeed saw the crown prince in a stupor, leaning against a pear tree. Although she had expected it, Zheng Wan was still dazed for a moment, but when she thought about what she had seen in her dream, her heart hardened again.

She would rather not be a coward who would only grumble at the heavens and everyone else, yet sit idly by and watch herself be trampled on and humiliated.

So, she can’t be blamed for making use of him today.

This was all part of her plan—— naturally, the reason she had gotten someone to lure him here was to put his so-called “infatuation” to good use.

Half the flower buds were already in bloom; when the wind blew, there was a strong fragrance that came along with the falling white petals.

Zheng Wan turned around sharply, and the crunch of the dried twigs on the ground woke the crown prince up from his memories.

“Wan’niang! What are you doing here?!” The crown prince’s shock abruptly turned into joy, “You miss me after all, right?”

“The Crown Prince is wrong.”

Zheng Wan turned around again. “Wan’niang merely wanted to see the scenery and entered here by mistake.”

“How dare you say ‘wrong’? Do you still remember that I picked up a kite for you here? Back then, you were only eight years old.” The crown prince looked at her with foolish infatuation. “I’ve always remembered it, even now.”

Zheng Wan looked at the wine bottle fragments scattered all around the ground beside him; a strong odour of alcohol wafted over.

“Crown Prince, you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk! I, I’m just so bitter! I can only look at you and can’t do anything!” The prince attempted to pull her to him, “When I first met you, I buried a jar of Nu’er Hong2 here, waiting for you to grow up quickly and marry me, so that on the wedding night, I could drink this wine with you, but, but that man came! Royal Father said that I cannot marry you! Because you are his former fiancée! Today, I will dig out this wine and drink it, and take today as our wedding day…”

“The Crown Prince is confused.”

Zheng Wan’s expression was mild.

“I’m not confused! I had the palace staff come here once a month to pick pear blossoms; when there were no pear blossoms, I had them pick peach blossoms; the flower paper3 that you’re so fond of, I made every piece personally and sent them to you, but I heard that you used the paper every day to write love letters, and sent every one of them to him, I, I am so heartbroken I could die!”

“Your Imperial Highness!”

The eunuch beside the crown prince tried to hold him back, but was flung off.

“Get, get lost!”

Footnote:

2 Nu’er Hong: 女儿红; a Chinese rice wine. It literally means ‘Daughter Red’. a metaphor of a girl reached her full maturity through 18 years of upbringing. In ancient times, parents would bury a jar of wine when a daughter was born, and when she was married at the age of 18, they would unearth it on her wedding day.

3 Ancient Chinese monarchs use different personal pronouns to refer to themselves; for example, rather than the common 我 wo (I), the crown prince uses 孤 gu. In this sentence, he first says ‘You and gu”, then switches to “no, wo”, to demonstrate his resolve to toss aside his royal status. As an aside, 孤gu means lonely, and kings used this as their personal pronoun because their high status, authority, and strict hierarchy, made them alone at the pinnacle of power. A more common royal personal pronoun in popular media today is 朕zhen, after Qin Shi Huang proclaimed the usage for himself.