Inlaid With Jade - Chapter 108

Chapter 108
Extra 1 (4)
Lin Wan X Zhu Xi

Before Lin Wan entered the palace, Zhu Xi had only met her twice, including the first time at a poetry gathering. The second time they met was on the Qixi Festival, a rare day for an unmarried girl to walk out of her house and visit the night market. The city was lit with fireworks, making the night as bright as day. Singing girls sang, martial artists performed, and vendors beat drums one after another, making the streets and alleys bustling.

Zhu Xi, wearing a mask, sat alone by the lake, looking at a gorgeous flower boat that was continuously singing and dancing in the lake. At this time, he met Lin Wan, who was here to cruise the lake at night with her maid.

Three or four small boats were parked by the lake, which could only accommodate four or five people to tour the lake. Lin Wan arrived at an unlucky time, as the last boat had just been booked, and she could only wait on the shore with her maid.

Zhu Xi had never seen her face at the poetry gathering, and he recognized her by the familiar gold and jade bracelets on her wrists. Perhaps she noticed his gaze, so she tilted her head to look at him. She held a fan in her hand, covering half of her face, revealing only a pair of bright foxy eyes. Zhu Xi wore a half-fox mask. Neither of them showed their faces. When they looked at each other, the atmosphere was awkward. In the end, Lin Wan spoke first, her voice like a nightingale: “Young master, are you here alone to cruise the lake?”

Zhu Xi said, “Hmm,” and lied without changing his expression: “I got separated from my friends.”

Actually, his attendants were hiding in the crowd nearby in disguise to protect him. Not far away, on the flower boat with music flowing, his people were fighting with the a$sa$sins sent by Zhu Ming. His people were everywhere.

However, Lin Wan was young at the time and believed his words. She looked around and saw that he was lame and alone, and felt that his friends were too unreliable to leave him alone on the dangerous lakeside when he couldn’t walk. If he accidentally fell into the lake, he might not be able to get up.

Lin Wan felt pity and asked, “Where does the young master live? Why don’t I send someone to take you back?”

Zhu Xi sat here for a stick of incense, and no one came up to talk to him. Suddenly, he heard Lin Wan want to help him and found it interesting. He couldn’t say his thoughts then and whispered, “No need, my friend should be back soon.”

This sentence was normal for anyone to say, but Zhu Xi had a disability, so it sounded a bit self-comforting, and he knew this.

Sure enough, Lin Wan frowned after hearing it and thought, “In this case, my maid and I will accompany you to wait for a while.”

Zhu Xi raised the corner of his mouth slightly: “Thank you, Miss.”

Although Lin Wan was kind, she was also worried that others would see her staying with a man. Zhu Xi saw her concerns and removed the mask on his face, revealing his picturesque eyebrows.

He handed her the mask: “If you feel uncomfortable, wear my mask.”

Lin Wan looked at him sideways, and when her eyes fell on his handsome and gentle eyebrows, she was slightly stunned. The lanterns by the lake illuminated a hint of red on her earlobe. She thanked him, pinched the fox ears, and took the mask from Zhu Xi.

She felt ashamed and angry: How could he be a young master? He looked almost the same age as her.

That night, Lin Wan was worried, so she stood by the lake where people were coming and going. She accompanied him, a lame man of unknown origin, and waited for half an hour before his “friend” came. After Zhu Xi returned to the palace, he secretly sent someone to the Lin family to give a thank-you gift: a fine guqin.

Later, he exchanged several letters with Lin Wan under a pseudonym and gradually fell in love with her at some point.

At that time, Lin Wan didn’t know Zhu Xi’s ident*ty, but Zhu Xi had already thought of marrying her. But things went differently than planned. When they met again, she had entered the palace and became his father’s concubine.

When they met in the palace, Lin Wan knew that the young master she communicated with was the unparalleled Second Prince.

Wuying Palace.

The wind and snow were fighting outside the door, and the fire in the palace’s stove had gone out. The palace was cold, no different from the outside.

Although Zhu Xi’s legs were disabled, his hands still had the strength of an adult man. His powerful, slender arms held Lin Wan forcefully, and she couldn’t break free. And the harder she struggled, the tighter Zhu Xi held her, almost pressing her firmly on him.

Usually, when the two met, he would sit in a wheelchair and look up at her. He was gentle and non-aggressive as if he were born shorter than her. No matter what she said, he responded meekly and respectfully called her ‘Mother,’ fulfilling his duties as a son and subject, and seemed to have given up his thoughts on her.

But when he held Lin Wan in his arms, he realized he had not given up the thought, only hiding it deeper. His cold lips pressed against her cheek, and she turned away from him: “Do you know what you are doing!”

Zhu Xi actually laughed and said, without disguising, “Of course I know. It is a rebellion and a violation of moral principles.”

Seeing Lin Wan’s hair was loose, he raised his head slightly, looked at her, and asked softly: “Does Mother want to punish me?”

Zhu Xi sat here for an unknown time; his body was as cold as a stone, and even his breath was cold.

Lin Wan was chilled by his body’s coldness and suddenly recalled how she had made friends with him in this wheelchair on that same snowy winter day three years ago. She shook her trembling hands and pretended calm: “I have made a mistake once. Does King Chu want to make a mistake again?”

This sentence made Zhu Xi restrain himself a little. Lin Wan thought he had some concerns, but unexpectedly, after thinking for a long time, he looked into her eyes and asked seriously: “Does Mother want to make the second mistake with me?”