When lunch was half over, Wei Luo rubbed her nose and sneezed.

She had recently been sweating and came over here without changing clothes. Qin-shi was worried that she was getting sick and caringly asked, "Are you cold? How about you go back to change clothes? Otherwise, you might feel too cold later."

Wei Luo wasn't uncomfortable anywhere. But, she didn't want to eat lunch with Li Song, so she took the advantage of the situation for her benefit and agreed. She bid everyone farewell and walked away from the receiving room.

She walked in the verandah with Jin Lu at her side. Jin Lu long-windedly said, "Miss, isn't Prince Ru Yang's heir slightly too arrogant... When you greeted him before, he didn't even say a single word. This servant saw that Fifth Master's face didn't look good. I heard that Prince Ru Yang's heir used to be very overbearing. No one in the capital dares to offend him. I don't know if Fifth Miss's days will be good after marrying him..."

Wei Luo didn’t respond.

She didn't have any interest towards these two people or cared if Wei Zheng was living well or not. She only felt that a marriage predestined by fate was too wonderful. These two people were actually paired up together. Wei Zheng selected this path. Li Song wasn't a good person to provoke. She would have to experience the various joys and sorrows of life by herself.

No one would be able to help her.

Please read from the original source at fuyuneko dot org. It's very discouraging to see people reading stolen translations from aggregator sites after I spent hours translating.

After Wei Luo tucked the hair that was hanging down behind her ear, she unhurriedly asked, "When did you start to like prattling about gossip?"

Jin Lu immediately shut up. She knew that she had said too much and obediently followed Wei Luo without saying another word.

After they walked to end of the verandah and passed through a moon gate, the path to the inner part of the residence was in front of them. Just as Wei Luo was about to walk forward, something was suddenly thrown over here! It stably pierced the soil near her embroidered shoes and blocked her path. She lowered her head to look. It was a golden hairpin with emeralds. It looked slightly familiar.

Next to her, Jin Lu asked in surprise, "What is this? Who threw this?"

Wei Luo looked at it for a while, then she turned around to look behind her.

She saw Li Song standing not far away in the verandah without any expression. Wearing a brocaded robe, he looked pale and slender. Clearly, he had the appearance of a cool, young aristocrat. But against expectation, his eyebrows were low and his expression was indifferent. He gave off a feeling of a person who wasn't amendable to reason. Even when Wei Luo was looking at him, he didn't say a single word.

Jin Lu wanted to bend over to pick up the hairpin, but Wei Luo held onto her shoulder and wouldn't let her move.

She already recognized this hairpin. After she had used this hairpin to injure him, she hadn’t taken it back. She hadn't expected that he would keep it until now.

Why did he come over here instead of staying in the receiving room to eat lunch?

Li Song looked at Wei Luo without moving. Just when Wei Luo thought he was going to open his mouth to speak, he turned around and left.

Not long after, he disappeared from Wei Luo's line of sight.

Jin Lu was very confused by this scene. She looked in the direction that Li Song had left, then she looked at Wei Luo. "Miss, was this the hairpin that you had lost? Why was it with House Li's heir?"

Wei Luo didn't answer her. She turned around and walked through the moon gate.

Jin Lu continued to persistently ask, "Miss, do you still want this hairpin..."

She quietly said, "No, throw it away."

--------

House Wei's Fifth Miss was married, but the Fourth Miss didn't have an engagement. Many of women in the capital were overtly and secretly inquired about Wei Luo's marriage plans. After all, Wei Luo's reputation was very good and her appearance was exceptional. In the past, she had been engaged with Song Hui before she was born, so other people didn't dare to look as if they were considering. Now, the engagement was gone. The eyes of young men that were of marriageable age were all looking at Wei Luo.

Today was Qin-shi's father, Marquis An Lin's seventieth birthday. Duke Ying's entire family had been invited.

Of course, Wei Luo and Wei Chong Hong were attending.

Wei Luo was sitting together with Qin-shi. As soon as a madam saw her, her hopeful and desirous gaze would intentionally or unintentionally fall on Wei Luo's body to the point that Wei Luo felt uncomfortable. Wei Luo understood their meaning. Qin-shi had asked her if there was someone that she liked, but she shook her head to say no.

There was someone that she liked. That person was anxiously waiting for her to agree, so that he could come to her home to propose marriage.

Wei Luo found an excuse to leave and led Wei Chang Mi to the pavilion at the back of the residence to play.

Wei Chang Mi had come here a few times before and could be counted as familiar with this place. Without any adults around to control him, he seemed to be scattering happiness as he held Wei Luo's hand and ran forward. "Older sister Ah Luo, there's a swing up front. Little maternal uncle specially made it for me. He said that I can play with it every time I come here!"

The little maternal uncle that he mentioned was Marquis An Lin's young son, Qin Ce. He was twenty-four years old this year. Qing Ce was mischievous as a child. As he grew up, he gradually curbed his playful temperament and started to attentively study the art of war. With some reservations, he could be considered accomplished.

Wei Luo followed behind Wei Chang Mi. Seeing that he was running so quickly, she frowned and reminded him. "Wei Chang Mi, don't run so fast. Be careful, you might fall..."

Wei Chang Mi listened to her words and stopped running. Step by step, he swiftly walked forward.

Laughter escaped from Wei Luo for a moment. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

After they passed a long corridor, the space in front of them suddenly opened. There was lush, thick banyan tree with a swing tied to it in the courtyard. If they continued walking forward on this path, they would reach the dooryard. The dooryard was where the men would be gathered for Marquis An Lin's birthday today.

(T/N: During these gatherings, women and men would usually be separated into two different places in the residence.)

Wei Chang Mi pulled Wei Luo forward as he rushed towards the swing. He suddenly stopped after seeing someone in the front and said in surprised, "Little maternal uncle!"

Wei Luo also stopped and lifted her eyes to look.

There were two people standing in the verandah in front of them. One was wearing a moon white robe with a persimmon stem pattern. He looked slightly familiar and somewhat resembled Qin-shi. He was probably the little maternal uncle that Wei Chang Mi had mentioned. The other person was wearing a dark green robe with a python pattern. The side of his face was handsome and his figure was tall and straight. Standing there, he had an indescribable essence that was as incomparable as jade...

Why was Zhao Jie here?

Zhao Jie hadn't seen her. His deep phoenix eyes were looking towards the front. She didn't know why he was looking so competitive or who he was looking at.

Wei Chang Mi pulled Wei Luo over there until they were a few steps away from Zhao Jie. She finally had a clear view of that person.

Wei Luo's heart dropped for a moment. This person had eaten breakfast and left the residence with her today... Wei Chang Mi impatiently called out, "Yi, is older brother Chang Hong also here?”

Wei Chang Hong was right across Zhao Jie. He was one head shorter than Zhao Jie, but he didn't seem like he was retreating at all. His thin lips were flattened into a line and his face was taut. Without blinking, he looked at the white jade hairpin on Zhao Jie's head and the hand inside his sleeve involuntarily clenched into a fist.