Lin Chujie gently patted Lin Zhiran, as if to comfort him. "I think we should just let this matter go. There's no need for us to discuss it in the future. For now, you'd better marry the young lady from the Lian family obediently. Although her family background is not a good match for you, it can prevent me from being accused by the emperor of colluding with the powerful and forming cliques for private gain."
Hearing this, Lin Zhiran's tone turned gloomy. "I understand, Father."
...
After that, the two discussed some other matters. Meanwhile, Ji Feiyu, hiding behind the door, couldn't calm down for a long time.
After all this, it turned out that Lin Zhiran had feelings for her, and her being sent to the Cold Palace was related to his father.
At this moment, Ji Feiyu's feelings were extremely complex. Then she recalled the profile of the woman in the painting she had just seen. No wonder she felt the person looked familiar. It was herself!
That profile must have been the one he saw during the garden party when they were chatting about flowers and plants. It seemed that Lin Zhiran also stole glances at her.
Thinking of their first encounter, she couldn't help remembering a long time ago when she had a quarrel with Yong Yaxuan. She went out alone to drink and accidentally saved a scholar from a group of hooligans.
At that time, she hadn't entered the palace yet and didn't know any powerful officials in the court. She just thought the scholar looked rather elegant, so she stepped in bravely and scattered the hooligans. She never thought about getting any reward at that time. When asked for her name, she only said "Ji Feiyu" and then left gracefully. Little did she know that this would plant the seeds of such a fateful relationship.
It seemed that when they first met in the palace, Lin Zhiran didn't recognize Ji Feiyu. After all, her current calm and composed demeanor was far from that of the naive girl back then. Ji Feiyu guessed that he must have connected her name with her face after the emperor revealed her identity.
It was the time when she accidentally rushed into the imperial study room while holding a rabbit.
As everyone knew, the empress of the Great Yong Dynasty was from the Ji family of Junlan. The surname Ji was quite rare in the Great Yong.
No wonder his face had turned ashen at that time. Ji Feiyu thought it was because she had lied to him about the yellow oriole. Now that she thought about it, she realized how wrong she had been.
At this time, Lin Zhiran had seen his father off and was walking back into the room. Ji Feiyu thought that if he knew she had heard what she shouldn't have, it would surely cause trouble. So she simply sat beside the table and pretended to be asleep.
Sure enough, after a while, the footsteps stopped beside her. Lin Zhiran couldn't help calling out, "Miss Lian..."
Ji Feiyu pretended not to hear and continued to "sleep".
He called again, "Miss Lian, wake up..."
Ji Feiyu still didn't "wake up".
It wasn't until the third time that he couldn't help but shake her. Only then did she yawn and open her eyes in a daze. "Huh? What did you say?"
Lin Zhiran looked rather helpless and repeated, "I asked why you fell asleep here?"
Ji Feiyu smiled sheepishly. "I was so worried about the marriage alliance with you last night that I couldn't sleep at all. Just now, the incense in this room made me so sleepy that I dozed off unconsciously. I'm really sorry for my rudeness!"
Lin Zhiran thought for a moment and asked, "So, you didn't hear what we were talking about?"
Ji Feiyu pretended to be stupid. "Huh? What were you talking about?"
" Oh, it's... it's nothing..." Lin Zhiran mumbled and then said to her, "Let's go, Miss Lian. Put on your hat. I'll see you out."
Not long after being safely sent out of the Lin Mansion, Ji Feiyu rushed all the way back to the Lian Mansion.
By this time, Lord Lian had been back for a while. Ji Feiyu was afraid that if she didn't show up soon, it would surely arouse suspicion, especially considering her previous "record".
Sure enough, when she sneaked back into the mansion and was making her way to her room, she saw a group of people shouting and knocking on the door outside. Lord Lian was also there joining in the commotion.
"My dear daughter, please open the door. If you don't open it, I'll have someone break in!"
Hearing this, Ji Feiyu knew something was wrong. She quickly jumped into the room through the back window, closed the window, took off her hat, and got into the quilt.
Just then, the people outside lost their patience and broke in. Apparently, they were afraid she would run away again.
Before they could get closer, Ji Feiyu quickly ruffled her hair, wrapped the quilt tightly around herself, and turned her back.
"Daughter, my dear daughter, what's wrong?" As soon as Lord Lian entered the room, he walked towards her bedside while the others stopped at a distance.
Ji Feiyu ignored him with her back turned. But when he wanted to check if it was really her, she suddenly turned around and shouted, "Father, what are you doing? You're so noisy!"
Seeing Ji Feiyu glaring at him angrily with the quilt tightly wrapped around her, Lord Lian quickly stepped back and then laughed. "My dear daughter, don't be angry with your father. The wedding date has been set. It's in three days!"
Ji Feiyu took a moment to compose herself and frowned at him. "So soon?"
Lord Lian said, "Yes. The sooner it's done, the sooner I can be at ease. I don't know why my eyelids have been twitching these days. I'm afraid something might go wrong!"
Ji Feiyu said indifferently, "What could possibly go wrong?" But in her heart, she was worried that he might have started to suspect her identity.
Thankfully, he didn't say much. He just told a few servants to take good care of her and make sure nothing went wrong, and then he left with the others.
Those idle days passed quickly. Three days almost flew by in a blink of an eye.
Soon, Ji Feiyu was forced to get up early and was dressed up in fine clothes and jewelry. Sure enough, weddings were always so complicated, whether it was a commoner's wedding or the ceremony of crowning an empress.
Ji Feiyu sat in front of the dressing mirror, letting them do their work. She thought that this kind of thing had happened to her more than once.
Every time she had to attend an important occasion, as the empress, she would be fussed over for a long time, and then a very heavy phoenix crown would be placed on her head. Thinking carefully, the weddings of commoners were actually much simpler than the royal ceremonies.
Ji Feiyu never thought she would have the chance to go through a commoner's wedding ceremony. She also had no idea what it would be like when Lin Zhiran came on a tall horse to take her away later.
Strangely enough, after learning that Lin Zhiran had feelings for her, she suddenly didn't know how to face him. It was as if everything was just a dream, full of absurdity and unreality.
While Ji Feiyu was lost in thought, she heard someone say that the wedding sedan had arrived. So she was covered with a wedding veil and led out.
As soon as she stepped out, Ji Feiyu heard the suona being played merrily and the firecrackers exploding outside the door. The cheers of the crowd followed one after another, making her feel a bit of the festive atmosphere.
Ji Feiyu was helped by the bridesmaid and carefully got into the sedan chair. Then she started to calculate when the Flower Butterfly would come to rescue her. Since the marriage alliance hadn't been successfully disrupted and it had come to the wedding, she had no choice but to follow in Miss Lian's footsteps and run away again. Because she was thinking about other things, she didn't notice at all that the sedan carriers were going in the wrong direction, not towards the Grand Tutor's Mansion.
After a while, the joyful music of the silk and bamboo instruments gradually faded away, and the surrounding environment became quiet. She curiously peeked out of the sedan chair and found that the outside looked rather desolate.
Only then did Ji Feiyu realize something was wrong. She quickly called for them to stop. But the sedan carriers outside said, "Don't be impatient, miss. You'll be at your destination soon!"
As soon as they finished speaking, a lewd laugh rang out outside the sedan chair.
Ji Feiyu immediately became alert. She held on to the sedan door and asked sharply, "Who on earth are you?"