Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Combing the hair

Feng Yin stopped talking and only hummed. He caught a glimpse of the wedding invitation on the table and became curious and interested.

“This is…?” Feng Yin raised his eyebrows, stepped forward and grabbed the wedding invitation.

“As what His Majesty is seeing, it is a wedding invitation from Master Qingheng.”

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I waved at Xiao Xing who was standing outside the door. He immediately understood and brought a basin of hot water into the room.

“It’s actually a wedding invitation from the Master, why didn’t he invite me?” After flipping through the wedding invitation, the smile that had always been on the corner of his mouth dropped. 

This scene reminded me of a sentence my father said to me when I was a child. In the eyes of the elders, the younger generation is a child who does not grow up at all.

Although I don’t care how old Feng Yin is, the generation is still there. In my eyes, Feng Yin is not much different from when he was still a child, and the small actions of his childhood have not been completely erased.

“Don’t be annoyed, Your Majesty, I’m afraid that the servants in Master Qingheng’s Mansion made a careless omission. Anyway, the wedding invitation should be sent to the palace anytime today. Maybe His Majesty will be able to see it when he returns to the Imperial Palace.” Will Qingheng deliver it himself? After all, it was His Majesty he was going to invite.

I smiled and started to wash up. In any case, the word “courtesy” was completely lost in front of Feng Yin, and I am not afraid of losing another one again.

Feng Yin’s face was relieved. He put down the wedding invitation, sat down on the wooden stool beside him, poured a cup of tea to moisten his throat, and smiled. “Mm, as Ziqing said.”

After washing up, I sat in front of the bronze mirror and asked Xiao Xing to help me take care of my hair. I wondered if the waist-length hair was just too long, and when should Xiao Xing be able to cut it.

As I was still pondering about it, I noticed  Xiao Xing retreated silently. I was confused, then a sound of teacup touching the table top came from the back of my head followed by footsteps that were neither light nor heavy.

What does this Feng Yin want to do?

His jade white hand picked up the wooden comb that Xiao Xing just put down, and then his hands caressed my hair slowly.

Feng Yin’s action made my back stiff and my whole body shivered. I was stunned for a long time before I regained my senses. This, this… this is the most precious person! The Emperor! How can he do such a thing? If news spread that the current Emperor would comb the hair of such a treacherous minister, it would be an absolute disgrace! I don’t know how the common people who love to talk about imperial affairs will pass it on. It’s okay if the only one implicated was me, but I absolutely cannot let Feng Yin be ruined.

I was about to turn around, Feng Yin seemed to have sensed what I was thinking, and applied some force on his hands, pressing them hard on my shoulder, preventing my movement.

“Your Majesty… this kind of thing should be done by a servant, or this subordinate can just do it himself. Your Majesty, the dragon’s body is precious!” I said, my voice shaking.

“Ziqing’s words are too serious. This trivial matter can’t hurt the dragon’s body. Besides,” Feng Yin rested his chin on my shoulder, “There is no one around, Ziqing has no need to worry.”  The slight breath that I felt as he still combed my hair earlier made my ears itch, and now it’s even more so that he’s breathing right next to my ear. Goosebumps rose all over my body. Feng Yin looked at the two people reflected in the mirror, his brows and eyes crooked with a smile, and he seemed very happy. His words seemed to see through my mind and made me all the more uncomfortable. 

How do you know there was no one? There are so many people inside this mansion, and my mother likes to put a spy around me the most. Maybe there were now people listening in some corner!

Such presumptuous words, it’s better to just say it in your heart.

I relaxed my body and tried my best to put on a smile in adherence to his words. I sat upright in front of the mirror while worrying about the outcome of my hair being fiddled by Feng Yin, who had never tried it ever since he was a child.

Looking at his very serious face in the mirror, I closed my eyes. As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.

It was estimated that half an hour had passed, and Fengyin finally got my hair to his satisfaction. At this moment, the sun outside the window was hanging high in the sky. At this hour, the shadow of a standing pole might not be visible anymore. 

I decided to grab the paper fan that was lying aside idly to fan myself, yet I accidentally caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. I was speechless— a piece of jade ornament tied my long hair yet it was not tied up as high as the usual. It even looked somewhat askew. Strands of hair on each side of the face were left behind, draped over the chest and golden threads were hung in front of the forehead preventing the strands of hair from covering the eyes or face.

This… is very unfamiliar. I looked like someone not from here.

“Ziqing…” Feng Yin called out with a bit of hesitation. I turned my head to face him, he smiled, something flashed in his phoenix eyes yet I didn’t see it clearly. I only noticed his red lips opened and heard him utter these two words, “It’s beautiful.”

Uh…I didn’t hear anything, just pretend to not hear anything.

Shaking the folding fan in my hand, I changed the subject, “Your Majesty, has the recent problem in court been resolved already?”

After I said that, I just remembered that I once said that unless in court, we won’t mention things regarding the affairs of the country. It seems that…I broke my own words. How could I forget such a thing? It’s very upsetting.

Feng Yin’s expression didn’t change much after hearing this. He walked over to the table leisurely, poured a cup of tea and took two sips, his face becoming solemn. “To tell Ziqing the truth, the affairs of the court are very difficult. Although the civil strife has been reluctantly quelled, other countries have invaded our borders, and all the high ranking military officials are guarding one side. It is already difficult to send some support. Relying on General Xu alone, I’m afraid the border will be breached in a few days.”

“This…” It is really tricky. Our borders lie between ours and the neighboring countries. If a nearby general is sent to lead an army for support, there is no guarantee that others will not take advantage of the opportunity to launch an attack. There might just be a danger of overthrowing the country. This is bad.

“If His Majesty doesn’t mind, I would like to ask His Majesty’s approval to let me lead the army to go there.” I respectfully knelt down and sincerely asked.

Feng Yin’s movement of poking the floating leaves stopped. The brilliance in his eyes faded a little, and he put the teacup back on the table with a ‘clack’, “Let’s discuss this matter later. Since we are in Uncle’s mansion, then we don’t have to talk about the affairs of the court.” He then changed the conversation, “I suddenly felt bored. Imperial Uncle, have a drink with me.”

“Okay.” I replied quickly, since he said that we will discuss it later, then we will surely discuss it later.

Coincidentally, I was hungry too. I turned around and ordered Xiao Xing to prepare drinks and meals, who was standing outside the door. Xiao Xing responded in a low voice. As he looked up, he was stunned. He opened his mouth wide as if he saw something extraordinary. I glared at him furiously in return until he stepped down and went away.

Feng Yin and I stayed in the room, chatting about some things. After a while, Xing Xing and some servants arrived and put the food and drink on the table, then respectfully retreated.

Feng Yin noticed the wine. Without saying a word, he lifted the lid and filled a cup for himself and me. He raised his hand and drank it all in one go.

No matter where he was, he’d always be interested in drinking. I, on the other hand, only took a sip, grabbed the chopsticks and started to fill my stomach that I had neglected in the morning.

Some time had passed and my stomach was already full. There were a lot of empty wine jars on the table, but the cup of wine that Feng Yin poured for me remained untouched except for that little sip I took earlier.