Chapter 78: The Etiquette of a Gentleman's Family

  She woke up again at noon, and in the summer, she sat up lazily and yawned. The quilt slipped down, revealing clear purple marks on her chest, shoulders, and arms. For a moment, she was stunned, and the heat wave on her face rolled back like a tumbleweed.

  "Barbarian!" She laughed and cursed lightly, with a few inexplicable proud thoughts in her heart.

  "Ah!" The door creaked softly, and Xia Tian hastily pulled up the quilt, both to ward off the chill and to cover her modesty.

  One person walked in front of the other, both carrying trays. A wave of food aroma wafted over, and Xia Tian subconsciously licked his lips, feeling like he couldn't bear his hunger any longer.

  Xiu Niang slightly stunned, and then a smile that was not too passionate appeared on her face, which had been unchanged for thousands of years. "The princess is awake, let the maids attend to the princess's washing and breakfast." Feng Lai, who was following behind her, also looked towards the bed and frowned slightly, only silently placing the tray on the table before turning around and leaving the room again.

  In the summer, she would pull up her mosquito net, quickly dress herself, run to the table with her hair down and bare feet, pick up some food with chopsticks and put it into her mouth.

  "The princess, this..." Xiu Niang was startled, although she was not satisfied with Xia Tian's rough behavior, but unexpectedly did not scold her at all, instead helped her bring over shoes and socks and personally put them on for her.

  Xià tiān bù hǎo yì si de fàng xià kuài zǐ, dào le shēng "xiè xiè".

  Translation:

  Summer awkwardly put down the chopsticks and said a word of "thank you".

  Feng Lui, who was pushing the door open with a basin of water in her hands, happened to hear Xia Tian speaking and was shocked, opening her mouth wide: "Miss, you can speak!"

  "Phoenix Orchid! When did you come back?"

  Her eyes dimmed slightly, Feng Liu put the water basin on the shelf, and while wetting a towel, she said softly: "Yesterday."

  Xia Tian walked over and took the handkerchief from her, carefully examining Feng Liu's complexion. "You seem to have lost some weight, are you ill? Why does your face look so bad?"

  "Never."

  Looking at Feng Liu who suddenly became cold and distant, Xia Tian was somewhat perplexed. Since crossing over to this place, this girl had accompanied him for the longest time, and it was only natural that he had already considered her as his friend. "What's wrong? You're not happy?"

  Xiu Niang heard this and also looked at Feng Lai, her eyes flashing like lightning, as if they could penetrate people's hearts, and also carried a heavy sense of oppression.

  Feng Lian swallowed hard, hastily knelt down, and said in a trembling voice: "Miss, please forgive me. It's possible that I didn't sleep well last night, so today..."

  "Hey, get up." Xia Tian pulled her up from the ground, "I didn't mean to blame you, if there's really something unhappy, you must tell me, okay?"

  "Hmm." She nodded, her eyes filled with a hint of guilt, a hint of emotion, and a thread of indistinguishable complex feelings.

  "In the summer, he casually wiped his face and sat back at the table to eat. "Is big brother's body all better? I saw him two days ago and felt that he had lost a lot of weight."

  The guilt and emotion in her eyes vanished instantly, Feng Lui lowered her head and responded as if reciting a lesson: "Young Master is unharmed, everything is fine. When he returned, Young Master also asked me to pass on a message to Miss, telling Miss not to worry, taking care of herself is the most important thing."

  Xiu Niang slightly raised an eyebrow, staring at Feng Lai with a thoughtful expression. Xia Tian didn't notice and said, "That's good." Suddenly remembering a very important question, she turned to ask Xiu Niang, "Where is the prince?"

  "Oh, Your Highness has just returned from the palace and should be in Jingmo Pavilion now."

  "What did he come into the palace for?"

  "Today I paid a home visit to the queen."

  Jia Lian's chopsticks paused in mid-air on a summer day as he hesitated to ask, "Have all the concubines in our household gone through the family rituals?"

  Xiu Niang smiled slightly: "Only the main wife of Your Highness is qualified to perform family etiquette, others do not have this qualification. Only after performing family etiquette can one truly be a daughter-in-law of the imperial family."

  Can she really become his wife just by going through the motions of a family ritual?! What about herself? At first, she didn't go through the ritual and didn't mind, but now that they have an intimate relationship, how can she not mind?! The taste is like chewing wax, completely losing her appetite. After thinking for a moment, Xia Tian put down her chopsticks and bowl, "I'm not eating anymore, you all can take it away." She got up and walked towards the door.

  "Your Highness, where are you going?"

  "Go find your mistress."

  Xiu Niang hastily said: "But your hair is still uncombed!"

  "Come back and comb again." Before the words were finished, the person had already run far away.

  Xiu Niang shook her head and went to tidy up the bed. Feng Lai then cleared the bowls and plates from the table.

  "Hah!"

  Phoenix Orchid's head turned around, her eyes moved from Xiuniang's smiling face to the few peach-red spots on the bed sheet in her hand, and she felt a blank mind, her heart didn't know whether it was relieved or suffocated. Big Master, ah, Big Master... Suddenly, a wave of annoyance surged up, she hastily cleaned up the bowls and plates, and rushed out of the door to the kitchen of Moluo Pavilion. Her foot tripped on the threshold of the kitchen, the dishes fell from her hands, and she herself also fell heavily to the ground.

  "Oh no, Miss Feng Lian, what's wrong with you!"

  "Is Miss Feng Lian okay?" Everyone knew she was the princess's personal maid, and who wouldn't want to curry favor? The kitchen maid and the servants rushed forward to support her.

  Tears finally flowed down, she clenched her fists and pounded the ground twice, as if only in this way could she vent the suffocating air in her heart. "Don't care about me, no one is allowed to care about me!"

  The crowd dispersed in a huff, both astonished by her eccentricity and resentful of her ingratitude.

  Prostrate on the ground, she let her tears flow freely, and Feng Lui's head was pressed against the hard ground as she sobbed quietly. The young master's old illness had not been well to begin with, but he still dragged his sickly body to search for the missing young lady until two days ago when Jing Chu brought back the news that she had been found, along with him in a coma. She and the second mistress guarded his bedside all night, but as soon as he woke up, his first words were urging her to return to Ling Wang Fu, to return to the young lady's side, and repeatedly instructing her not to reveal to the young lady that he was still ill.

  Why are there only ladies in his eyes? Why can't he see the heart he has for him? She is not greedy, she knows her identity, if she doesn't even have the qualifications to be a concubine, then as long as she can let her watch him at the closest place to him, it's good. Is this not okay? Not okay?

  Inside Jingmo Xuan, apart from two young eunuchs who were collecting books and inkstones, there was no one else. Seeing that it was summer, the two young eunuchs hastily paid their respects.

  "Your Highness?"

  "In response to the queen's words, Your Highness went to Chun Chi Garden."

  Is that Chun Chi Yuan? Isn't that where Qing Ming lives? Although that person is a bit strange and not very kind to himself, however... thinking of the lonely and sorrowful figure under the moonlight, Xia Tian decided to be magnanimous and not hold it against him. After asking for directions to Chun Chi Yuan, she hurriedly rushed towards there.

  The Chunyi Garden was quiet, with no one guarding the gate or attending to anything inside. Xia Tian looked around in all directions, puzzled, when suddenly he heard a "creak" and someone walked out of the west wing.

  "Zhou Song! What are you doing here?"

  Zhou Song was taken aback and hastily stepped forward. "The princess has come here to..." He recalled the scene he had witnessed last night, his words faltered, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

  He glanced at the ceramic bowl in his hand, which still had a little black soup with a faint medicinal smell left. "Who's sick?"