The clamoring sounds from the guests toasting, drinking, and laughing in the dooryard kept traveling over here. It made the silence in the verandah all the more prominent.

Wei Luo froze for a moment. Soon after, she followed Chang Hong's line of sight to look at the top of Zhao Jie's head and very quickly realized what had happened. This was the jade hairpin that she had given him. Chang Hong must have recognized it...

What should she do? She didn't dare to go forward. She felt as if they were going to start fighting in the next moment.

Wei Luo originally intended to silently leave, but Wei Chang Mi's little maternal uncle, Qin Ce, turned his head to look at them and drew attention over to them by saying, "Oh, Chang Mi also came here to play?" His line of sight moved upwards and stopped on Wei Luo's face. He pondered for a moment before calling out her name, "This is... Chang Mi's older sister, niece Ah Luo?"

When Qin Ce was a teenager and Wei Luo was a young child, he often went to Duke Ying's residence. Although Wei Luo didn't recognize him, he recognized her.

It was probably because Wei Luo looked very similar to Jiang Miao Lan. Her beautiful face was like apricot blossoms, her cheeks were like peaches, her eyes were exquisitely marvelous, and her lips had the color of cherry blossoms. Before Jiang Miao Lan gave birth to Wei Luo and Wei Chang Hong, Qin Ce had a deep impression of her after meeting her a few times. Later, she had departed without any warning and left behind a son and daughter. Qin Ce had felt very regretful over this matter for a long time. Now, this son and daughter had grown up.

One had grown into a heroic looking young man and was standing right in front of him. The other had grown into a lovely and alluring young woman.

Hearing Qin Ce calling Wei Luo's name, Wei Chang Hong turned towards the sound to look.

Wei Luo resigned herself to the loss and slowly walked until her entire person was within Chang Hong's line of sight. Her voice stumbled twice before she slightly fawningly called out, "Chang Hong, why are you here?"

He looked at her with indignation, grievances, and hurt feelings. He recognized the hairpin on Zhao Jie's head. It was the hairpin that she had bought when she went outside to buy his gift. At the time, he thought she was going to give this to Song Hui. Although he was unhappy, he still grudgingly accepted it. When he had saw that this jade hairpin was with Zhao Jie, he had rushed over here to ask why. Did Ah Luo give this to Zhao Jie? What kind of relationship did they have?

Wei Chang Hong remained silent.

For a moment, he felt as if he was cheated. Wei Chang Hong stopped looking at Wei Luo with pitiful eyes and fiercely glared at Zhao Jie.

He must have coerced Ah Luo. Otherwise, how could Ah Luo like him? Not only was he almost ten years older than Ah Luo, his appearance wasn't as good as Song Hui's. If Ah Luo wasn't even attracted to Song Hui, then there was no way she would be interested in him.

Wei Chang Hong clenched the fist in his sleeves, walked forward, and opened his mouth to say, "You..."

Wei Luo thought he was going to hit Zhao Jie. After all, there was a precedent. Back when Li Song groped her during Spring Lantern Festival, didn't he also walk forward to punch Li Song? Thinking of this, Wei Luo hurriedly walked forward and grabbed Chang Hong's hand. With beseeching eyes, she anxiously said, "... Don't hit him."

After these words were said, Wei Chang Hong's body stiffened. His eyes were sorrowful and distressed.

Conversely, across from them, Zhao Jie curved his thin lips and had a smiling expression as he looked at the young girl. His recent fierceness faded.

Wei Luo didn't know why she had rushed forward. At the time, she had just wanted to stop Zhao Jie from being hit. She hadn't thought about how this would be the same as tacitly agreeing that she had a relationship with Zhao Jie. A trace of regret swept across her face. This was really vexing. Chang Hong inverse her grip on his hand and turned around to lead her away. She could only helplessly follow him. Before she could take more than a step, her other hand was grabbed by Zhao Jie.

Zhao Jie stood in place. His lips were smiling, but his gaze was burning. "Don't go."

He seemed relaxed, but in reality, he was using some force to hold her. It wasn't enough to hurt Wei Luo, but she also wouldn't be able to easily break free.

Sure enough, Wei Luo wasn't able to pull her hand away when she tried.

She annoyedly thought, what were these two people thinking? They weren't at home. This was Marquis An Lin's residence. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone else in the verandah this time. If someone else saw, what would happen to her reputation?

While Wei Luo was worrying about this, Qin Ce smiled as if he was watching a good play. "My study is near here. How about I bring you over there to drink a cup of tea or sit down to talk?"

Wei Chang Hong stopped, but he didn't say anything.

Zhao Jie also declined to comment.

Seeing that no one was refusing, Qin Ce gestured for them to follow him with a smile. "Then, follow this one."

Qin Ce had a good relationship with Zhao Jie. The two of them often talked outside of public gatherings. When Zhao Jie was planning on how to deploy Wu Jiang's troops, Qin Ce would often give him advice and ideas. Qin Ce could be counted as Zhao Jie's trusted advisor.

The group of people arrived at the study. Qin Ce pushed opened the doors, invited them inside, took out a jar from the shelves, sat down at the marble table carved with chrysanthemum flowers, used a silver teaspoon to scoop out tea leaves from the jar, poured them inside the teapot decorated with clouds, and covered the teapot. He didn't sit down for a long time. He had the discernment to bring Wei Chang Mi away. "Prince Jing and Sixth Young master, take your time to talk. I'll bring Mi-er outside to walk around."

Zhao Jie fiddled with the jade ring around his thumb and quietly made a sound of acknowledgement.

Wei Chang Mi wasn't willing to leave. Lying against Qin Ce's shoulder, he said, "I don't want to go. I want to be together with older sister Ah Luo. Little maternal uncle.."

Qin Ce patted his butt, smiled, and said, "Let's go. Little maternal uncle will push you on the swings."

Silly child, your older sister Ah Luo doesn't have time to pay attention to you.

~

The mood in the study wasn't good.

Wei Luo stared at the teapot in front of her. After the tea was ready, she poured it into three black cups that had a bamboo and bird pattern. One cup went to Chang Hong, another cup was left for herself, and just as she was about bring the third cup to Zhao Jie, Chang Hong coldly looked at her. She paused, lowered her head, and slowly said, "I'll drink two cups."

Wei Chang Hong's held his teacup tighter and his veins became more prominent. Wei Luo was worried that if she continued to speak, Wei Chang Hong would start attacking Zhao Jie. She lowered her head and silently drank the tea.

After the tea had slightly cooled down, Wei Chang Hong drank the tea in one gulp without caring about how hot it was. After mulling over the issue, he slowly asked, "Ah Luo, did you give him that jade hairpin?"

Wei Luo sipped her tea and quietly said, "En."

Wei Chang Hong didn't know how describe the feeling in his heart. It felt slightly sour and stuffy. If it was Song Hui, then fine. Although he didn't like Song Hui, he had already come to terms with giving Wei Luo to him. But, Zhao Jie's sudden appearance out of nowhere had crushed his emotional preparation. His body felt unwell as if he had suffered an enormous shock.

Why did it have to be him? He used to think that Zhao Jie's demeanor and identity didn't match, but he reluctantly let that thought go. But now, no matter how he looked at him, Zhao Jie was unpleasing to look at.

When Wei Luo was a child, she had been Zhao Liuli's study companion and had met Zhao Jie several times. But, most of the time she would either see him in the palace or right outside of the place. They very rarely openly met in Duke Ying's residence. So, although Wei Chang Hong knew this person existed, he didn't know about his relationship with Wei Luo.

Wei Luo had also intentionally never mentioned this to him. It was only today that he found out and suspected.

Wei Chang Hong lifted his eyes and viciously looked at Zhao Jie while asking Wei Luo, "When you went out last time, was it to buy a gift for him and on the way you brought a gift for me?"

Wei Luo repeatedly shook her head. That really wasn't true. If this was the reason why he was mad, then she was willing to explain. "Of course not. I went outside to buy you a gift. I only bought the jade hairpin incidentally."

At this moment, Zhao Jie almost stopped smiling.

Wei Chang Hong's expression became slightly better. After thinking, he asked, "Your engagement with Song Hui... Was it canceled because of him?"

Wei Luo shook her head again and honestly said, "That wasn't the reason. I wanted to cancel the engagement with older brother Song Hui a long time ago. Even if there wasn't older brother Prince Jing, I would still do this."

The corner of Zhao Jie's mouth went down. His expression slightly sunk.

Contrarily, Wei Chang Hong's mood was gradually improving. There was a hint of a smile on his lips. He thought that Zhao Jie wasn't that important in Wei Luo's heart. "Then, why did you give him a jade hairpin? What kind of relationship do you have with him? Ah Luo, did he take advantage of your youth and inexperience? Did he threaten you with his status?"

Zhao Jie's eyes were covered in a layer of haze, "..."

He raised his phoenix eyes and looked at Wei Luo as if he was waiting to hear her answer.

Wei Lou froze for a moment. She soon lightly shook her head. "It's not like that. Where did your mind go?" She lowered her long eyelashes and blocked the flow of brilliant light in her eyes. "We mutually like each other."

Zhao Jie stared at her. This was the first time that he heard the young girl say she truly liked him. He had questioned her countless times, but she had always refused to clearly state her affection for him. Now, facing Wei Chang Hong, she had finally said these honest words. He supported his chin and fixed his gaze on the young girl across from him. He was waiting for her to say the other words that he wanted to hear.

Under his gaze, Wei Luo felt even more embarrassed. Burning redness went from her ears to her bright, slender, white jade neck. Her long eyelashes fluttered. Slowly and firmly, she said, "Older brother Prince Jing treats me very well... He protected me since I was a child. No matter what I did, he would fix my mess. I used to think of him as an older brother, but not anymore. Chang Hong, I don't want to marry older brother Song Hui, but I want to marry older brother Prince Jing."

This could be considered a very bold expression of opinion.

After all, Wei Luo's face wasn't thick. Before she finished speaking, her face was completely red. Her gleaming eyes turned, but she wouldn't look at Zhao Jie.

Hearing these words, Wei Chang Hong was silent for a long time.

Contrarily, the smile on Zhao Jie's lips became bigger and bigger. It was a sharp contrast to Chang Hong. He couldn't restrain his emotions. He grabbed the hand that Wei Luo had placed on the table and squeezed her hand. "Dearest..."

Wei Luo slapped his hand away and gave him a seething look. "Don't touch me."

Chang Hong was here and he still dared to act so unrestrained. Did he still want his reputation? If he hadn't worn that jade hairpin outside, how could this current situation have happened? When all was said and done, he had made the error of showing off.

Zhao Jie smiled and took his hand back, "Okay."

Wei Chang Hong naturally didn't miss seeing this. The shock he had received wasn't light. After sitting in a daze for a long time, he stood up and asked Zhao Jie, "When do you plan on proposing marriage?"

Zhao Jie lifted his eyes to look at him. "The day after tomorrow."

Wei Chang Hong slowly nodded and seemed to have made a serious decision. He pulled Wei Luo up from the chair and started walking towards the door. "Then, before the wedding, it would be best if you don't see Wei Luo."

Wei Luo hurriedly put down the teacup before following after him.

Chang Hong walked out of the doorway. Just as she was about to take the first step past the threshold, a hand came out from behind, suddenly wrapped around her waist, and gently held her back.

Surprised, she stiffly let go of Chang Hong's hand. Before she had time to call out, the doors in front of her were closed. The room was isolated from outside.

After Zhao Jie turned around and pressed her against the door, he stared at her small face. Her recent words kept echoing in his mind. Even when Wei Chang Hong told him to not see her, he didn't take it seriously. He leaned over to kiss her lips. "Your little lips are so sweet. Let me taste them to see if you rubbed honey on them."

Wei Luo whimpered and closed her eyes. She couldn't help standing on her tiptoes to meet his kiss.

His hand went inside her clothes and paused when it reached her delicate, silky, jade-like flesh. Soon after, he unhesitatingly went inside her dudou and wantonly rubbed.

Wei Luo couldn't resist closing her eyes. Translucent saliva came out from her lips. Her soft cheeks were red. Zhao Jie finally kissed her enough and let her go. He used his thumb to wipe away the saliva on her lips and hoarsely said, "En, sweeter than honey."

Wei Luo's cheeks were flushed red. She opened her mouth and bit his thumb.

Outside, Chang Hong stood in front of the doors. He clearly heard everything that had happened inside. His face was ashen. He really regretted not punching Zhao Jie's face.