Chongfei Manual

Chapter 77

The hairpin was lying on red silk. It was clear that someone had intentionally broken off one of the two butterflies off instead of the butterfly accidentally breaking off.

Zhao Jie’s face sunk, then he asked, “Who broke it?”

Wei Luo paused. Soon after, she shook her head and said she didn’t know. Originally, she had wanted to mention Li Xiang. But, after she thought about it, it wouldn’t be good to rashly accuse her without evidence. What if someone asked her for evidence? Wouldn’t it be too careless to say it was only her instinct? She had to find conclusive evidence first so that Li Xiang wouldn’t have room to refute.

Zhao Jie entered the hall with her, called all of the palace eunuchs and servant girls that had been serving in the back of hall to come forward, and flung the box at them. With a foreboding face, he asked, “What happened with this?”

None of the palace eunuchs and servant girls knew what happened. They looked at each other in dismay. They thought an error had been made with Princess Tianji’s hairpin ceremony. One by one, they threw themselves onto the floor to plead for mercy, “This servant is ignorant.. Your Highness Prince Jing, please investigate…”

His cold face didn’t become even slightly milder. Instead, it became even colder. “You can’t even properly watch over a hairpin. What’s the use in keeping you?”

Hearing this, everyone cried out they were wrongly accused and repeatedly pressed their foreheads against the ground while begging for mercy.

This method of asking wouldn’t work. They couldn’t all be killed to vent Zhao Jie’s anger. If this happened, Zhao Jie wouldn’t find the culprit and Li Xiang would be let off from being punished.

After Wei Luo thought for a moment, she called forward the servant girl that had given her box, “During the short time I was gone, did anyone else touch this box or come to the back of the hall?”

Seeing the opportunity to escape death, the servant girl seriously went through her memory and honestly said, “I didn’t see anyone touching the box… But Prince Ru Yang’s daughter and Duke Zhen’s second daughter had come by here.”

Li Xiang and Gao Qing Yang… Gao Qing Yang didn’t have any enmity with her. She probably wouldn’t deliberate harm her. It was different with Li Xiang. Li Xiang would love if it she made a fool of herself and was punished by Empress Chen.

Unfortunately for Li Xiang, she could have never expected that Zhao Jie would give her an almost identical hairpin.

Thinking about that hairpin, Wei Luo felt somewhat reluctant in her heart. She won’t mention the other factors. Just the appearance of the hairpin was enough for her to like it. It was really beautiful…

If Li Xiang was really the culprit, she definitely couldn’t let her get away with this.

After Wei Luo pondered over this, she decided that she would personally solve this problem. She didn’t want Zhao Jie to interfere. Zhao Jie was a man. The battlefield and officialdom were the areas where he exerted his control. If he became involved in a conflict between women, then it would be too petty. Beside, she had already thought of a method for Li Xiang to pick up the stone that would crush her own feet. Since Li Xiang dared to try to secretly harm her, then she should be prepared to face retaliation.

——–

After the hairpin ceremony was over, Zhao Liuli asked a servant girl where Wei Luo went and hastily came to the back of the hall. She had already taken off the golden butterfly and plum blossom hairpin. As she personally gave it back to Wei Luo, she rebuked, “Ah Luo, did you think I wouldn’t know? This isn’t my hairpin. This is the one my older brother gave you…”

They were standing behind a rosewood screen divider inlayed with natural ivory and speaking with low voices, so they weren’t worried about being overheard.

Wei Luo’s face showed her astonishment.

During the hairpin ceremony, she knew that Liuli had recognized this hairpin. But, she hadn’t expected that Liuli would return it. She had already prepared herself for the loss!

Seeing that Wei Luo wasn’t taking the hairpin, Liuli held her hand and earnestly put the hairpin into her hand. Liuli glanced at Zhao Jie, then in an ambiguous tone, she whispered into Wei Luo’s ear, “I don’t know about anything else, but I know that my older brother had ordered people to make two of these hairpins. One was for me and the one was for you. Yours is much more exquisite than mine. Even though I think my older brother is being bias, I can’t take your things.”

In addition, Wei Luo was her best friend. She wouldn’t bicker with her over this!

After saying this, she stretched out her hand, and asked with a smile, “I returned your hairpin. Where’s mine?”

Wei Luo didn’t hide from her. She took the hairpin out from the box and frankly said, “Someone broke your hairpin… At that time, I didn’t have another way, so I replaced it with that one.”

Startled, Zhao Liuli took the hairpin and looked at it closer. “Why is it missing a butterfly? Was it dropped and got broken off?”

Wei Luo shook her head, “It wasn’t dropped…” After a pause, she slowly said, “If I guessed correctly, someone was deliberately trying to harm me.”

Zhao Liuli widened her eyes, “What?”

Liuli wasn’t stupid. After seriously thinking about it, she quickly understood what had happened. She hurriedly asked, “Ah Luo, who wanted to harm you?”

Wei Luo said, “I have a suspect in mind, but I’m not sure yet if its her.”

After saying this, she leaned closer to Liuli and whispered something. Other than the two of them, no one else knew what she said.

——–

On the other side of the Zhao Yang Hall, after the hairpin ceremony was over, the noble women bid Empress Chen good-bye. One by one, they left Zhao Yang Hall and exited the palace.

Gao Dan Yang hadn’t left yet. She had Gao Qing Yang leave first while she stayed with Empress Chen so they could talk for a while. Gao Qing Yang didn’t have any objections and started leaving the hall. Coincidentally, she was walking behind Li Xiang. One after another, they left Zhao Yang Hall’s main doors. While they were walking in the spacious verandah, Gao Qing Yang looked at the person in front of her and suddenly called out, “Li Xiang.”

Li Xiang didn’t have a very good relationship with her. Hearing her voice, she reluctantly stopped, turned her head, and asked, “Does Duke Zhen’s Second Miss have something to say?”

Li Xiang disliked Gao Qing Yang and Gao Dan Yang. She believed that she was more beautiful than those two, but in all respects, those two stood in limelight more than her. Every time there was a large banquet, everyone would revolve around these two siblings. What was so great about them? Wasn’t it only because Empress Chen was their maternal aunt?

Her mother was the elder princess. Her status was much more noble than theirs!

Gao Qing Yang didn’t say anything until the people around them left. Then, she walked closer to Li Xiang. She smiled as she said, “Of course, there’s something. If I didn’t, why would I talk to you?”

Li Xiang looked at her in askance, “What?”

Gao Qing Yang meaningfully looked at her left hand and said, “You’ve been clenching that hand since the beginning of the hairpin ceremony and haven’t loosen your hand even now. What treasure is hidden inside? How about letting me see?”

Li Xiang pursed her lips. Reluctant to admit a mistake, she said, “What does this have to do with you?

“Of course it has nothing to do with me.” Gao Qing Yang lightly laughed and continued saying, “But it’s probably related to Princess Tianji and Duke Ying’s family’s Fourth Miss. You’ve been holding that butterfly for so long. Doesn’t it feel unbearably painful?”

Li Xiang’s face paled. She looked at her in shock.

How did she know? Did she see something?

She thought her action had been absolutely safe. Who could have imaged that Gao Qing Yang had clearly seen everything? Gao Qing Yang had gone to the back of the hall to look for Empress Chen, but Empress Chen wasn’t there, so she didn’t stay there for long and started walking back. When she was leaving, she saw Li Xiang entering. With a doubtful heart, she stayed at the doorway to carefully pay attention.

From this view, she naturally saw and stored away the memory of Li Xiang’s actions.

Li Xiang had taken out the golden butterfly hairpin from the box. Not long after, she put the hairpin back inside. She didn’t even have to think to know what Li Xiang had done and the reason for it. This hairpin was primarily Wei Luo’s responsibility. If something happened, Wei Luo wouldn’t be able to escape punishment.

What deep hatred did she have towards Wei Luo? Otherwise, why would she do something so vicious?

Gao Qing Yang didn’t have much of an impression of Wei Luo. They had only met once when they were children. It had been Zhao Liuli’s seventh birthday at Xin Yan. She had originally been eating peanuts, but unfortunately, Wei Luo grabbed a bunch of peanuts and there soon wasn’t enough. She had been very angry at the time and started arguing with her. Later, Wei Luo’s younger brother had appeared and the matter had ended.

Now, many years had passed. She had already forgotten the inconsequential things from childhood. She didn’t have any enmity or goodwill towards Wei Luo.

It was only that she couldn’t stand Li Xiang’s behavior.

Li Xiang heard her words, but wouldn’t admit. She smoothed out her expression and flatly denied, “What butterfly? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Gao Qing Yang pursed her lips and faintly smiled. “You really don’t understand? Then, do you dare to open your hand for me to see what’s inside?”

Of course, Li Xiang didn’t dare.

She directly looked at Gao Qing Yang for a moment, then she pursed her lips and flew into a rage from the humiliation, “Why should I let you see? It can’t be that just because you said I took it, it means that I took it. Why do I have to listen to you?!”

She immediately turned around and stormed away.

She walked quickly. Although she looked calm, she was internally completely panicking.

Gao Qing Yang knew. Would she tell Empress Chen? What would happen if Empress Chen knew and found the butterfly on her body? It would be better for her to find a place to throw away this butterfly. Once this was done, everything would be resolved. However, there were eyes everywhere in the palace. She would leave behind a trace no matter where she went.

Maybe she should put it back in the box?

She felt confused as she thought about the hairpin that Wei Luo had recently inserted into Liuli’s hair. She had personally broken that hairpin. How was it possible for Wei Luo to have taken out an intact hairpin?

She thought about it for a long time, but still wasn’t able to figure it out. At this time, two palace servant girls passed by her. As they walked, they quietly talked.

“The hairpin that His Highness Prince Jing gave the princess was so pretty. I heard that it took a month for it to be made…”

“Yeah, even the Her Majesty was very pleased with this hairpin and praised Prince Jing for being so thoughtful.”

Li Xiang subconsciously stopped walking to hear their conversation better.

As the two servant girls walked farther away, one of them said, “That hairpin was placed at the back of the hall. I recently went there to take a look. I didn’t expect that it would look even better up close. There wasn’t the slightest flaw…”

Li Xiang stood in place. She felt incredulous.

How could there be no flaw? She had clearly broken off one of the butterflies and that butterfly was in her hand right now. It couldn’t be that this was her misperception, right?

She couldn’t believe it. She took out the butterfly from her hand to look. It was still there. She wasn’t hallucinating. Since this was true, how come no one could see the truth? How was Wei Luo able to take out an intact hairpin?

She found this hard to believe. She didn’t know if there were problems with other people’s eyes, or if there was something wrong with her eyes. After thinking about it for a long time, she still couldn’t figure it out. In the end, she decided to go to the back of the hall to look.

At this time, there weren’t many people at the back of the hall. There were only a few palace servant girls left to clean up the aftermath from today. Seeing that she had come, the servant girls saluted and didn’t ask much before going back to cleaning.

Li Xiang walked further inside. On the Chinese cedar dressing table outlined in gold, there was a rosewood box with a plum flower design that had contained Zhao Liuli’s hairpin today. They probably didn’t have time to put it away yet. Hairpins and other hair accessories used for the hairpin ceremony today surrounded the box. She looked around the room. Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she walked forward, and opened the box.

After she clearly saw what was inside, her eyes opened wider in astonishment.

Inside the box, it was the golden butterfly hairpin that she had damaged! It wasn’t flawlessly perfect like the palace servant girls had described. Then, what had Wei Luo inserted into Zhao Liuli’s hair? Had she seen wrong?

After her surprise, she suddenly realized there was something wrong. She had fallen into a trap! Just as she was closing the box, she heard a voice from behind her ask, “Li Xiang, what are you doing?”

Flustered and dismayed, she turned around and saw Empress Chen gracefully standing across from her. At her side, there was Zhao Liuli, Wei Luo, and Gao Dan Yang.

Li Xiang’s heart dropped. Her brain quickly tried to think of an excuse she could use to explain.

Before she had time to open her mouth, Zhao Liuli looked at her and asked, “Why were you looking at the box with the hairpin? What are you holding in your hand? Can I see?”

The author has something to say:

Zhao Jie hasn’t written anything on his Weibo for many days. Instead, he made another account to reblog Goddess Ah Luo’s posts.

Wei Luo recently discovered a strange fan. No matter what she posted, he would reblog it and he acted as if he was very familiar with her. But, she didn’t recognize this user id!

For example, she had written this today:

Duke Ying’s family’s Wei Luo: Today, I participated in Liuli’s hairpin ceremony ~()/~. Congratulations, my baby has grown up. You have to always be happy!

A person with the id “I like Ah Luo. I’m a Luo-phile.” reblog her post and wrote below, “My baby, I hope that you also grow up faster. *pictures of roses*”

Wei Luo glanced at the post. Who was this? She didn’t recognize this user id. After reading his post, she added this person to her blacklist.