CH 73

When Ruyi tidied up the jewellery box, she found Junzhu was in distress.

Junzhu’s face was still gloomy when Ruyi came with longyan and lotus seed porridge.

“Junzhu, what happened to you?” Ruyi saw her out of sort, it was very unusual for her not to speak out what was in her mind. Junzhu was not someone who kept things to herself, she rarely mulled things by herself for so long.

T/N – Just to note Ruyi sometimes used ‘you’ with Ban Hua instead of ‘nubi’, like Du Jiu also sometimes used regular ‘I’ to talk to Rong Xia.

“Nothing.” Ban Hua slumped listlessly on the table, not in the mood for the porridge. She had asked the figurine maker to make Rong Xia’s figurine ugly to tease him, but she had wrapped the wrong one and the figurine in the oil paper packet was her own likeness.

To think of it, she felt it was……. well she still wanted her face.

“Really no problem?” Ruyi saw the food in front of Junzhu untouched, and she still said no problem?

“Right, isn’t it the Second Prince’s and Xie Wanyu’s wedding tomorrow?” Ban Hua suddenly remembered their wedding should be about soon.

“It is tomorrow.” Ruyi replied, “Madam said we are in mourning so we are not attending.”

“There is no point in going anyway,” Ban Hua rested her cheek on one hand, “It’s all just you give me a meeting gift and I give you a return gift. This kind of functions is not interesting.”

After a few spoons of porridge, Ban Hua shook her head, “I’ll lie down a bit. Call me at dinner time.”

Ruyi helped Ban Hua to the bed. When Junzhu had fallen asleep not long after, she put the curtain down and tiptoed outside. She had two maids wait by at the inside door so whenever Junzhu woke up there would always be people to serve her.

The two little maids happily complied, it was an honour to be able to serve by Junzhu’s side.

Ruyi was just out of the door with the barely eaten lotus seed porridge when she met Chang-momo who had just returned from the Palace, Ruyi quickly bent her knees as a salutation.

“Where is Junzhu?” Chang-momo saw the room was quiet and Ruyi was carrying something outside, she guessed Junzhu was taking a nap. Guessing so, she lowered her voice and said, “His Majesty let me bring Junzhu some things. As Junzhu is sleeping, I will take it to Furen’s place.”

At the beginning Ruyi was worried that being the Grand Princess’ close person, Chang-momo would be strict towards Junzhu. The first few days after Chang-momo arrived, Ruyi was constantly on tenterhook, afraid of making mistakes and bringing troubles to Junzhu.

Fortunately Chang-momo turned out to be an easy-going person, she also never used her status as the Grand Princess’s close attendant to be haughty by leaning on seniority. She had not only taught the maids some things, she was also very kind to Junzhu, like…… an ordinary grandmother indulging her grandchildren.

“Is Junzhu having poor appetite, only this little was eaten?” Chang-momo had known of Ban Hua’s habit of some little meals in the afternoon and of her smaller appetite, but eating just this much today, she couldn’t help worrying whether she was unwell.

Ruyi shook her head, “When nubi helped Junzhu to bed, Junzhu didn’t have temperature or feeling discomfort anywhere. Perhaps Junzhu was just sleepy.” Ruyi subsconsciously didn’t tell Chang-momo that Junzhu wasn’t looking right before then.

As Junzhu’s closest maid, she couldn’t tell everything to everyone, even if it was Chang-momo.

Ban Hua vaguely heard some conversation in the courtyard but she was too sleepy. It was as if something was pulling her, urging her to doze off.

—

In the haze, she was flying through layers and layers of fog, then she landed on top the highest roof of the Palace.

In the grand square at the front, a hundred officials were bowing to a man in black dragon robe with golden rims who was sitting on the dragon throne. The string of pearls on his imperial crown obscured the man’s face, Ban Hua wanted to move closer to look but found that she couldn’t move.

So she sat down on the roof. She was on this side, and that man over there on the other side.

“Rise!”

Ban Hua was familiar with this voice, she had heard it for many years.

Wang De, the chief eunuch of the Great Moon Palace.

She tilted her head in confusion. A new emperor had ascended, but the previous emperor’s trusted person was still in service, this new emperor was quite unusual.

The man on the dragon throne suddenly raised his head. Ban Hua found herself lost, absorbed in the whirlpool of that pair of pitch-dark eyes.

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Abruptly, the scene around her changed again. She was standing in a eerie and ghastly prison, the walls were mottled by dirty marks, it was unclear if those were simply dirts…. or blood.

A painful scream came from behind, Ban Hua turned in a fright. That black-clad man was standing in front of a cell. Ban Hua knew the prisoner, he was that person whose brain didn’t grow along with his height, it was the Second Prince.

His mouth was opened wide spewing curses, but Ban Hua couldn’t hear a word of it. She walked forward a few steps, but as she was about to reach the black-clad man, she was stopped from moving, as if something was dragging her feet preventing her from getting closer.

The Second Prince was inside a cage, crouching inside like a stray dog.

“Your Highness the Malevolent Prince, please retire well in there.” Wang De was smiling widely at the Second Prince inside the cage, “The view here is charming, Your Highness will soon be used to it.”

Only then Ban Hua noticed, Wang De’s left hand had lost 3 fingers. It was very odd.

The Malevolent Prince.

Is this the title bestowed by the new emperor to the Second Prince?

The black-clad man turned around, Ban Hua’s sight went dark, her body was plunged into an endless abyss. When she opened her eyes, her whole body was full of sweat, and she saw was the lotus pattern on the bed canopy.

What a strange dream.

Ban Hua put on an outer clothing then walked over to the table. After a long contemplation, she still could only sighed helplessly.

Why couldn’t she dream properly, why couldn’t they let her see who the black-clad man was? If this was fishing, the bait was on the hook but the fish wasn’t allowed to bite. It was crazy. Ban Hua was unhappy, and the origin of the unhappiness was peculiar.

—

When Ruyi came in, she saw Ban Hua was pouting, sulking in front of the table. Ruyi couldn’t resist, “Junzhu, still in bad mood after a nap?”

“The more I sleep, the angrier I am.” Ban Hua slapped the table, she made the teapot on the table jumped up. “This is playing people like fools. Next time I meet someone who likes to wear black, I’ll just punch him first!”

Ru Yi: ?????

“Sis!” Ben Heng’s voice was heard from outside. He was not sure if Ban Hua had gotten up so he didn’t come in. “Count Rong sent me another present, do you want to have a look.”

He was merely a bridge anyway, whatever good things passed over his head had nothing to do with him.

Ban Hua remembered the wrongly sent figurine, she became angrier at once.

Twisting her lips, she humphed, “I won’t look.”

Ruyi helped her to change clothes, combed Ban Hua’s the long hair so it draped smoothly on the back, then opened the door.

“Shizi, please come in.” Ruyi gave Ban Heng a signal with her eyes, telling him Junzhu was in a bad mood.

Ban Heng’s foot that was lifted to enter was taken back, but then he saw his sister sitting dejectedly by the table, he hardened his scalp and entered. “Sis, what happened to you, are you unhappy?”

Ban Hua was crouching on the table, she lifted her eyelids to look at Ban Heng, listlessly said, “I had another dream.”

Hearing the word ‘dream’, Ban Heng became extremely nervous. His face strained, breathlessly asked, “Did you…. did you see the face?”

Ban Hua shook her head.

Ban Heng was instantly deflated, he whispered, “God is playing with us.”

Giving hints without allowing them to know clearly made them more tangled than if they knew nothing at all. It was like watching a play, when the mood peaked at the most interesting part, the troupe suddenly peeled off their costume and heartlessly said they didn’t want to sing anymore?

Ruyi saw the siblings were going to have a secretive talk so she tactfully withdrew outside the room.

She turned to see the siblings whispering to each other, Ruyi couldn’t help shaking her head and laughed. Junzhu and Shizi were really close.

“Sis, let it go.” Ban Heng said, “The dreams are useless anyway, better not waste our brains thinking of them. Use the time to look at beautiful people and to bully people we don’t like. Let the good days pass one day by one day. Isn’t it only dreams, we should just do whatever we like.”

“No, it actually still has some use.” Ban Hua smiled in satisfaction, “When I know Jiang Luo who always dislikes me will have bad ending, I feel very good.”

Ban Heng was instantly thrilled, “How will he end up?”

“Locked up in a cage in the prison, got a title Malevolent Prince.” Ban Hua lamented, “The prison is dark and scary. Based on his personality, he will go mad soon.”

As someone else’s ending would be more tragic than theirs, their Ban family didn’t look too miserable anymore.

Ban Heng laughed, “Someone like him, should live a harder life.”

Chatting about Jiang Luo’s downfall, the siblings’ mood lifted up. Only when it was approaching dinner time that Ban Heng remembered that Rong Xia’s gift wasn’t given to his sister yet.

He let the maid waiting outside to bring it in, then he handed it to Ban Hua. “Here, I haven’t opened the box. I don’t know what’s inside.”

Ban Hua opened it. In the box was a peacock ornament made of gemstones. Each of the gemstone on it’s tail was a careful selection, they shone beautifully with extreme brilliance even without candlelight.

“Ohh,” Ban Heng looked at it in awe, “This Count Rong, at the very least he is generous.”

Since the time they knew each other, Rong Xia’s gifts to his sister were either gemstones or jade, all of the gifts were rare good things. There was a very good saying, ‘a man who is willing to spend money on a woman doesn’t necessarily love her, but a man who is unwilling to spend money on a woman definitely doesn’t love her’.

Ban Heng felt it was reasonable. He was quite relieved that Count Rong was generous, at least his sister wouldn’t live a hard life after marrying him.

Count Rong was always dressed in a simple elegance, but he did not demand his sister to do the same. There was not a piece of anything he sent that was not beautitully flashy, as if the gifts were specially chosen to fit her.

Ban Hua touched the blue gemstone on the peacock’s tail, she was quite fond of this thing.

“Junzhu,” Ruyi came in a hurry, her face didn’t look very good, “Yan family’s Second Gongzi insists on seeing you. He has been waiting outside the gates for almost a shichen.”