Make My Face?
At the first quarter of the Hour of Si.
Lu Rongshen put on his bright red wedding robes, mounted a fine horse, and rode out in high spirits to the Yun’an Marquis Residence to fetch his bride.
After receiving the bride into the sedan chair, the whole procession still had to circle once around the imperial city, the sound of gongs and drums carrying through every street and lane.
Only at the end of the Hour of Shen in the afternoon did the procession return once more to the gates of Prince Jing’s residence.
Quite a number of people were already waiting there.
Lu Rongshen had ridden all day long, and when he dismounted, both his legs trembled so badly he nearly fell. It was only because the guard behind him steadied him that he avoided making a fool of himself on his own wedding day.
How dangerous.
Lu Rongshen straightened his chest and walked with composure to the flower sedan. Following the wedding matron’s instructions, he completed the proper steps. At last, amid the crowd’s blessings, he welcomed Bai Qingyu down from the carriage.
Lu Rongshen stared foolishly at Bai Qingyu in his great red wedding robes, smiling without cease. The red veil covered her appearance, yet it could not hide her tall figure.
The surrounding guests and common people had long since grown accustomed to it.
The two walked side by side into the residence, each holding one end of the red silk. As they stepped over the threshold, Lu Rongshen nearly tripped himself again.
This time, it was Bai Qingyu who caught him.
Laughter rose all around them, and everyone looked smilingly at the bridegroom, who had gone red with embarrassment.
By the time they finally entered the main hall, the younger people were all gathered together, and seeing the two standing shoulder to shoulder, their teasing only grew louder.
“Your Highness Prince Jing must not fall down when you bow to Heaven and Earth in a moment.”
“If he falls, let him take both of them down and send them straight into the bridal chamber.”
“Hahahahaha.”
Red-faced, Lu Rongshen glared at the speaker. “If you say one more word, I will have you thrown out.”
“Ai-ya, spare my life, Your Highness Prince Jing. This little one dares not anymore.” The other only grinned, clearly not taking his “threat” to heart.
Lu Rongshen tightened his grip on the red silk. When he turned his head, he suddenly caught sight of the upturned corner of Bai Qingyu’s lips beneath the red veil.
He quietly turned back again and, with his face red and heart pounding like a drum, finished the wedding bows.
When princes and princesses marry, they first bow to Heaven and Earth within their own residences, then go into the palace the next day to offer thanks. Thus, seated in the place of honor at this moment were Bai Yi and Ye Qi.
“Send them into the bridal chamber.” With Han Zheng’s loud cry, a whole crowd surged around the pair and pressed toward the new room.
“None of you are allowed to disturb the bridal chamber.” Lu Rongshen turned back and shouted this at the crowd.
“That is not for you to decide.”
“We still want to watch you drink the nuptial wine.”
“That is right, we still want to see Your Highness lift Prince Consort’s veil.”
Afraid they would bully Bai Qingyu, Lu Rongshen craned his neck everywhere in search of Lu Ronghuai. At last he discovered his Third Brother lingering at the very back, whispering into his Third Sister-in-Law’s ear.
“Third Brother, come help me!”
Hearing his plea, Lu Ronghuai lifted his head and looked over with careless ease. Under Lu Rongshen’s hopeful and expectant gaze, he revealed a smile that plainly said he was powerless to help.
Lu Rongshen: “...”
His Third Brother was certainly doing this on purpose.
Prince Jing and Princess Consort Jing were warmly escorted into the room by the crowd.
The wedding matron’s voice was bright and piercing, and now and then peals of laughter rose from inside at the onlookers’ merriment.
Chu Yuan stood at the doorway and looked inside. Lu Rongshen and Bai Qingyu were so tightly surrounded that not even the corner of a sleeve could be seen.
“Your Highness, are you truly not going in to help Eighth Brother?” Chu Yuan withdrew his gaze with a smile. In the evening radiance, even his pupils seemed plated with a layer of gold.
“Bai Qingyu will not let him be bullied.” Lu Ronghuai played with Chu Yuan’s fingers, and after playing for a while, he lifted his hand and sniffed it, then kissed it twice after sniffing.
The corners of Chu Yuan’s mouth twitched. “Your Highness, just what are you sniffing?”
Like a little dog, he had kept sniffing and rubbing against him at every turn for the past half month.
Without the least sign of anything unusual, Lu Ronghuai set his hand down. “Ah-Yuan smells very sweet. Very pleasant.”
“... Your Highness, look at me.”
Lu Ronghuai lowered his eyes and met Chu Yuan’s pale golden pupils.
Chu Yuan looked steadily into his dark black eyes, his tone earnest. “Is Your Highness hiding something from me?”
Lu Ronghuai’s eyes trembled for an instant, but he quickly concealed it and smiled with ease. “No. Ah-Yuan must be hungry, let us go eat the wedding feast.”
Chu Yuan allowed himself to be led along. From time to time he turned his head to look at Lu Ronghuai, and whenever Lu Ronghuai noticed his gaze, he returned it with tenderness, his expression betraying not the slightest flaw.
Something is not right.
Lowering his head to stare at his own shoes, Chu Yuan knit his little brows and thought so inwardly.
When they returned that night, he would question him properly.
Yet once he got into the carriage, he himself gave in to drowsiness first and fell asleep.
Lu Ronghuai carried him all the way back to Fuju Courtyard. Le Shu brought in a basin of hot water, wrung out a cloth, and handed it to Lu Ronghuai.
When the warm cloth touched his face, Chu Yuan gave an uncomfortable little sound and turned his head away, trying to avoid it.
Lu Ronghuai softened his movements. After wiping his face and hands and feet clean, he covered him with a light quilt.
“You may leave.” Tossing the cloth back into the basin, he dismissed Le Shu, and Le Shu answered and withdrew.
Outside, the sky had already darkened. He lifted the lamp cover, and the room brightened at once.
Lu Ronghuai took his sleeping robes and went to the bath room to wash. He bathed quickly, and merely wrung his wet hair in a perfunctory way.
When he lifted the curtain and looked in, Chu Yuan was sleeping soundly. The right window stood half open, and waves of night wind drifted in, stirring the white gauze curtains like moonlight.
He let the gauze curtain fall and turned toward Chu Yuan’s wardrobe.
With the utmost care, Lu Ronghuai opened the wardrobe and took out all the neatly folded inner garments inside.
These were all the garments Chu Yuan usually wore. Summer was hot, and after becoming pregnant, Chu Yuan perspired easily and bathed often, so many sets of fresh clothing had been prepared.
Moving like a thief, he gathered the clothes into his arms, bent down, and opened a large black-lacquered nanmu chest, stuffing every garment inside.
“Your Highness.” Chu Yuan’s voice came from behind him.
Lu Ronghuai wheeled around in horror as though he had seen a ghost, only to find Chu Yuan standing before the folding screen, his eyes hazy with sleep, his black hair hanging loose before him, his bare toes dazzlingly white.
“Why are you awake?”
“Not wearing shoes again!”
No longer caring that he had been caught, Lu Ronghuai shoved the garments into the chest in a muddled rush, slammed it shut, then hurried over and scooped Chu Yuan up whole.
“It itches.”
Chu Yuan was not yet fully awake, and his voice was soft and sticky. Slowly, he lifted an arm, and his inner sleeve slipped down, revealing a short section of his slender white arm.
Two large red bumps stood on his arm, the skin around them reddened where he had clearly scratched at them himself.
“Do not scratch. If you break the skin, it will bleed.” Kneeling on one knee by the bed, Lu Ronghuai set Chu Yuan back down, then turned and took a jar of ointment from the display cabinet.
This was the mosquito-repelling ointment Jiang Ni had given him, and it worked very well both to drive insects away and to stop the itching.
He scooped out a little of the grass-green ointment and spread it over Chu Yuan’s arm. The itching quickly vanished, Chu Yuan’s brows relaxed, and he drifted back into sleep in a daze.
Staring at his face, Lu Ronghuai quietly let out a breath of relief.
He rose and searched around, killed a large mosquito, shut the window, then took up a palm-leaf fan himself and lay on his side fanning Chu Yuan.
They passed the night in good sleep.
When Chu Yuan woke the next morning, he always felt as though he had forgotten something, but for the moment, he could not recall what it was.
Lu Ronghuai had gone to morning court. With no one fanning him in the early hours, Chu Yuan had once again worked up a sweat all over, so he had Le Shu bring in hot water, wishing to bathe.
“Why are these new?” Sitting in the bath barrel, Chu Yuan looked in confusion at the inner garments Le Shu brought in.
Le Shu said, “His Highness said there were cockroaches in the wardrobe. All the earlier garments were thrown out and replaced with new ones.”
Chu Yuan grew even more puzzled. “Cockroaches?”
Inside and out, Fuju Courtyard was cleaned every day, to the point where not even dust could be seen on the ground. How could there be cockroaches?
Besides, he had opened the wardrobe so many times. How had he never seen even one?
Forget it, perhaps one had run in last night and just happened to be seen by His Highness.
At noon, Lu Ronghuai returned, and behind him came a young man Chu Yuan did not recognize.
“This subordinate, Xian Yue, greets Prince Consort.” The young man walked to Chu Yuan and knelt.
“Please rise quickly.” Chu Yuan looked at him with curiosity.
With a smile, Xian Yue rose as instructed.
Lu Ronghuai walked over and sat at Chu Yuan’s side, taking hold of his hand. “Xian Yue rarely appears before others. He is responsible for gathering information and handling the tasks that must be done in the shadows.”
“I called him here today because I wanted him to see you.”
“See me?”
“Mm. Xian Yue, come over.” Lu Ronghuai beckoned to him.
Xian Yue stepped forward and stopped before Chu Yuan. “Your Highness Prince Consort, forgive the offense.”
He drew a handkerchief from his sleeve and, with his hand separated by the cloth, touched Chu Yuan’s forehead.
“!!!”
Xian Yu and the others all sucked in a breath, never expecting Xian Yue’s courage to be so great.
Chu Yuan also froze for a moment.
Lu Ronghuai stared at Xian Yue’s fingers. From the forehead, Xian Yue’s hand moved to Chu Yuan’s nose bridge. His touch was restrained and proper, swiftly passing across Chu Yuan’s face, and in the blink of an eye arrived at his jaw.
“Done.” Xian Yue withdrew his hand, and as he stepped back, apologized once more.
Xian Yu bumped him with an elbow, joking with familiar ease, “Your nerve has grown rather fat. Have you been secretly practicing courage behind our backs?”
Xian Yue dodged aside. “Indeed, I swallowed three bear hearts and leopard galls.”
“What is this for?” Chu Yuan did not feel offended. With Lu Ronghuai seated beside him, he understood in his heart that without Lu Ronghuai’s permission, Xian Yue would never have dared do such a thing.
“Xian Yue has one special skill. He can change faces. The false skin he makes can pass for the real thing.”
Lu Ronghuai took the damp cloth Xian Yu handed him, caught Chu Yuan by the chin, and wiped his face, going over every place Xian Yue had just touched.
Chu Yuan obediently let him wipe his face. Hearing this, his eyes lit up. “Is Xian Yue going to change my face for me?”
Lu Ronghuai: “... No.”
“Oh.” Chu Yuan’s expression fell at once.
He lowered his head and glanced at his belly. He had thought that if his face could be changed, then once his belly grew larger, he could still go out with peace of mind and no one would recognize him.
“He needs to make a face of Ah-Yuan. By feeling the bones, he can accurately grasp the shape of your face, and the mask he makes will be more lifelike.”
“Make my face?” Chu Yuan lifted a hand to touch his cheek. “Does Your Highness mean for someone to pretend to be me?”
“Mm. Xian Yue’s build is similar to yours, and he rarely appears before others. Later, he will pretend to be you and remain in the prince’s residence.”
“Then where will Your Highness and I go?” Chu Yuan asked.
Lu Ronghuai’s words were brief. “You will go stay at the Nie Residence.”
Chu Yuan sensed at once that something was wrong. “Then what of Your Highness?”
Lu Ronghuai pressed his lips together and lowered his eyes, avoiding Chu Yuan’s gaze. His voice came with some difficulty. “At morning court today, Father Emperor set the date for sending Lingshuang away in marriage.”
“When?”
“The eighteenth day of the eighth month.”
That meant eight days from now.
The room fell silent for a moment.
Chu Yuan bit down on his lower lip. His black jewel-like eyes seemed to hollow slightly, and even his voice trembled. “Your Highness is going to escort the marriage, is that right?”
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Lu dog: That is right, wife.
Yuan-Yuan: ... Then you no longer have a wife.
Lu dog: !!
Second wave of high fever and vomiting today. Is everyone doing well? Come out and leave a bubble, and I will hand out red packets to drive away the ill fortune.
IsitRo: I just hope the author recovered well.
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