Chongfei Manual

Chapter 115

Wei Luo felt somewhat awkward at the moment. Normally, a mother would prepare her daughter’s wedding dress. Wei Luo didn’t have a mother, so this task had fallen onto Fourth Aunt Qin-shi‘s shoulders. It would also be acceptable if she sewed the dress herself. But, looking at the current situation, it couldn’t be that Zhao Jie was going to hire someone to make her wedding dress? Had he talked about this with her father? Did her father agree?

For a girl’s wedding, the wedding dress was extremely important. The wedding guests would be able to tell if the stitching on the wedding dress was good or not in a single glance. This concerned her future dignity and reputation. She understood that Zhao Jie was being considerate of her. But, wasn’t the scope of his care a little too… extensive. The soles for Wei Luo’s wedding shoes were already half done being stitched. She had lost count the number of times she stabbed her fingers because of this. If it went like this, would those shoe soles not be used?

It was only now that Wei Luo understood why Prince Jing’s residence’s steward wanted her to come here. This inn was next door to the famous Xiu Chun. The clothes from Xiu Chun were famous in the capital. It was a store that had existed for over a hundred years and they usually only sold ready-made clothing. Every year, crowds of prestigious people with splendid family backgrounds would come to pre-order their limited supply of clothing.

However, Xiu Chun would accept only five orders for custom-made clothing for three days at the beginning of each year. After those orders were accepted, they would politely thank the rest of the visitors while declining to meet them and close their doors.

The rest of the time, even if people had money and wanted to order clothing to be specially made, they wouldn’t be able to. Their ready-made clothing was also very extremely expensive. Even so, they were people willing to go to their store to be ripped off by these prices.

The young ladies in the capital all thought it would be glorious to be able to wear clothing from Xiu Chun. Other people would envy to death whoever could obtain one piece of clothing from this place.

It was currently late autumn. There were still several months until the next New Year. Other people had definitely already purchased the fixed amount of five orders. How was Zhao Jie able to get the people from Xiu Chun to agree?

If Wei Luo could wear a wedding dress from Xiu Chun, it would not only increase House Wei’s reputation, it would also show how much importance Prince Jing placed on Wei Luo, which would in turn make people value House Wei and Wei Luo even more. On behalf of Zhao Jie’s meticulousness, Wei Luo wouldn’t bother him about the half finished soles. At worst, she would make them into another pair of embroidered shoes.

When Wei Luo returned to her senses, the woman had already finished taking her measurements and was glancing at her chest as she implicitly asked, “Miss, are you still growing recently?”

Wei Luo’s face subconsciously turned red and she almost reached her hands out to cover her growing chest. This woman didn’t seem like she was asking if she had been growing taller. She was probably asking if her chest was still developing… The measurements for the wedding dress had to be fitted closely. Normally, at this time, a girl wouldn’t grow taller, but her chest would still continue to grow. The wedding dress wouldn’t be comfortable if the chest area was too tight.

Wei Luo’s face was so red that it looked as if blood could drip from it. It was one thing for her to know this herself, but it was embarrassing to say it in a roomful of people. Fortunately, there were no men inside the room. Prince Jing’s steward had already left the room when they started taking measurements. “Recently, they’re still growing…”

At fifteen year old, a girl’s body would be blossoming. First, they had been like small, unopened lotus flowers. Now, they full enough to be held in a hand. Wei Luo almost suspected that it was because of Zhao Jie’s rubbing… After all, before Zhao Jie had started touching them, her little peaches hadn’t developed much.

After thinking too much about this, Wei Luo hurriedly to her senses and controlled her expression.

The woman from Xiu Chun was already accustomed and experienced with making clothes. Hearing her words, she knew what to do. Next year’s October was less than a year away. She would make the wedding dress’s chest area slightly bigger so that there would be sufficient space when the time came. The woman checked the recorded numbers. Seeing that there weren’t any problems, she congratulated Wei Luo on her good fortunes and left.

——–

Suddenly, the group of people that had surrounded Wei Luo had disappeared and Wei Luo was the only one left in the private room.

She didn’t know where the Prince Jing’s steward had gone. Wei Luo’s female servants were waiting for her downstairs. She walked to the doorway to look, then she went back inside the room to put on her veiled hat. Just as her hand touched the veiled hat on the vermillion-lacquered round table with carved lions, a hard body pressed against her back and whispered into her ear, “How about letting me see how much they’ve grown?”

Wei Luo was surprised, but fortunately her reaction was quick. She nimbly moved sideways to avoid him, so Zhao Jie’s hand only touched empty space.

Wei Luo turned around to face him. She felt both shy and indignant as she stared at him and asked, “Why are you here?”

When she asked this question, her eyes glanced at the door for a moment. The door was tightly closed. In addition, she really hadn’t recently heard the sound of the door opening and closing. It couldn’t be that Zhao Jie had been hidden in this room for this entire time, right? She thought of the words she has said to that woman during the measurement and connected them to the nonsensical words that Zhao Jie had just said. Wei Luo immediately understood his meaning. Her small face that blushed with both shame and anger was like the dewdrops that were seen in early spring mornings. It was cute, rosy, and bright.

Zhao Jie’s expression was normal without the slightest shame. He lowered his eyes to look at this small, fuming girl. He pinched her cheek, laughed, and said, “This prince went through so much effort to invite people from Xiu Chun. It’s fine that you don’t appreciate it. Do you also have to be angry?”

Wei Luo hadn’t guarded herself against him pinching her face. It didn’t hurt, but she still intentionally said, “Why didn’t you tell me this in advance? I wasn’t prepared at all.”

Zhao Jie looked at her and asked, “What did you have to prepare for? You just had to bring yourself here.”

Wei Luo asked, “Have you talked about this matter with my daddy?”

Zhao Jie nodded. Otherwise, Wei Kun wouldn’t have agreed to let her go outside.

Wei Luo said, “Oh.” She blinked and in slightly complaining overtone, she said, “They even took measurements to make shoes… I was already half finished with reinforcing my wedding soles by sewing. It’s such a waste.”

Zhao Jie looked at her strangely. His lips slowly curved up into a smile as he asked, “My Ah Luo also knows how to reinforce soles?”

Of course, she knew how. Other than reading books and gardening at home, Wei Luo naturally couldn’t skimp on learning needlework. Da Liang thought highly of women who were clever and dexterous. This meant that not only did a woman need to be intelligent and understand etiquette, her needlework skills couldn’t be too lacking. A woman needed to be talented at needlework in order to be valued by her mother-in-law and sister-in-laws after she married into her husband’s family. However, Wei Luo didn’t like needlework and didn’t practice often. This time, she had to repeatedly ask Fourth Aunt’s advice on how to reinforce soles by sewing.

Wei Luo glanced at him with an expression of “There’s still a lot that you don’t know.”

Her round, almond-shaped eyes were naturally attractive. Even though it looked as if she was rebuking him, she was actually acting spoiled. When her eyes were tilted like that, it was as if her eyes had grown hooks that could take away a person’s heart and soul.

Zhao Jie wrapped his hand around her waist, leaned over, and lightly kissed her. “Then, how about changing the pattern and making me a pair of shoes?”

Wei Luo opened and closed her small mouth. In heart, she thought that he really knew how to take advantage. It wasn’t easy to make shoes. If it weren’t because she wanted to marry him, she wouldn’t even be willing to make her own shoes.

Zhao Jie saw the unwillingness on her face, hugged her more closely, rubbed his chin against her cheek, and asked, “Okay?”

Wei Luo shook her head, “Don’t want to. It takes to much work to make shoes. Besides, the shoes I make don’t look good either.”

Zhao Jie laughed, “No matter how it looks, this prince will wear it every day.”

Wei Luo looked at him in disbelief. He was a prince. Normally, his food, clothes, and other daily items were all very exquisite. Would he still be willing to wear it if she made him a pair of straw sandals? If Empress Chen saw that sight, she would probably think he was crazy.

Wei Luo wouldn’t agree, so he vigorously rubbed against her cheek.

Zhao Jie didn’t sleep last night because of the hidden stockpile of weaponry in Xu Zhou’s southern mountain. Then, because of Wei Luo’s wedding dress, he contacted people from Xiu Chun this morning. He hadn’t closed eyes until now and stubble had appeared on his chin. When it was rubbed against her face, it felt itchy and painful.

Wei Luo’s face was as delicate as a peeled egg. How could she stand her face being rubbed like this? Wei Luo couldn’t win against his strength or successfully avoid his chin. It hurt enough that tears appeared in her eyes. She said, “Fine, I’ll make them for you… Stop rubbing. It really hurts.”

Zhao Jie finally let her go and kissed her cheek once. “Darling is so obedient. In a few days, I’ll have someone bring my shoe pattern to you. You just need to follow the pattern.”

Wei Luo had been forced into giving in by him, so she was slightly unwilling to accept this. She blew out her cheeks, stood on her tiptoes, and bit down hard on his chin.

——–

An hour had passed before they started to leave the private room.

Wei Luo’s face could barely be considered normal. The redness on her face had mostly faded, but her uneasiness could still be seen. In contrast, Zhao Jie, who was standing behind her, had a smiling expression on his face as if he had satisfied his appetite for the young girl. Even though they hadn’t gone to the last step, he had still used his hands and mouth to personally measure the size of her small peaches.

Her completely crystal-like skin was pure white and perfect. When he touched her skin, it was slippery and smooth. The only problem was that it was too fragile and made a person worry about breaking her if he wasn’t careful enough.

At this time, with a blushing face, Wei Luo didn’t even call him “big brother” when she pointed at his nose and said, “Don’t follow me.”

Standing at the doorway, Zhao Jie smiled and obediently nodded.

Wei Luo didn’t want other people to see that she had come out of the same room as Zhao Jie. She took a step out of the room first, looked around, and immediately jerked her foot back into the room.

At the other end, two people had come out of a private room and were walking towards the staircase. Wei Luo had seen them before they saw her.

It was a man and a woman. The man was wearing a moon white muslin robe with sweet flag plant pattern and golden embroidery. He looked to be about forty years old with a scholarly bearing. When he smiled, it felt like a cleansing spring breeze. The middle-aged woman was wearing a top that was embroidered with passion flowers in song style with a round collar, a satin skirt with lotus stem pattern, and a cloak with a red-crowned crane and cloud pattern and a satin collar. In all details, she looked elegant and graceful with a dignified aura. When these two people were standing together, they seemed like a husband and a wife. Even from far away, they gave off a sense of transcending worldliness.

Wei Luo stood in place behind the door. The shyness in her eyes had faded and only indifference was left behind.

Zhao Jie stroked her head. “Why did you come back?”

Wei Luo didn’t say anything. A moment later, she walked out of the room again. The couple had already walked down the stairs and was heading towards the entrance.

The two of them looked intimate and natural as if they were an old couple that had lived together for many years.

Standing behind the railing, Wei Luo quietly looked at their departing figures with an expressionless face.

Zhao Jie noticed that something was wrong, followed her line of sight, and let out a quiet inquisitive sound.

Next to the entrance of the inn, Wei Kun started walking inside. It seemed that he had already known about this place. After he collided into the two people, he blankly looked at them. His gaze landed on the woman for a moment before he immediately stared at the man next to her. After he came to a realization, the pain in his eyes was so apparent that even Wei Luo could see it from the second floor.

Wei Kun had previously ordered people to investigate this palace and knew that she was living here. After hesitating for a long time, he finally couldn’t control himself and came here to look.

Seeing her now, he wished that he hadn’t come.

Wei Kun looked at the woman in front of him and couldn’t say a complete sentence, “You… You came back.”

The woman slightly stiffened. A long time later, she finally nodded.

Wei Kun didn’t know where to put his hands. He had a thousand words that he wanted to say to her, but when the words went to his mouth, he didn’t know which words he should say. Wei Kun’s gaze settled on the man next to her. After hesitating for a long time, he mustered up his courage and asked, “This person is…?”

“He’s my husband, Fu Xing Yun.” The woman’s voice wasn’t loud, but there weren’t many customers in the inn, so Wei Luo could clearly hear her words even from the second floor. The woman paused and continued, “We’re married.”

Wei Kun’s body trembled and his face suddenly became deathly pale. A long time later, he was barely able to change his complexion back to normal. He wanted to squeeze out a smile, but even after pulling at the corners of his mouth, he wasn’t able to.

Wei Kun felt that someone was looking at them from upstairs, so he lifted his head up look and met Wei Luo’s frosty gaze. Surprised, he said, “Ah Luo…”

Hearing these words, the woman also turned her head around in surprise to look upstairs.

Wei Luo secretly clenched her fist.

Wei Luo had seen her face in the painted scroll in Wei Kun’s study. Wei Luo had met her twice. Once it was outside of Yu He and the other time was in Ci Temple’s main hall. Wei Luo recognized her at first sight. This person was her mother, Jiang Miao Lan.