Greetings, Ninth Uncle

Chapter 81.3 GNU Ch 81 Part 3 – Watching the Lanterns (III)

Zhai Yanlin followed his selfish intention and forcefully pushed through the marriage proposal. During this time, he was incredibly proud of himself. He had been thinking, what expression would Cheng Yujin show when she knew that everything was a foregone conclusion? When she finally married into Cai Duke Manor and became his wife, would she lowered her posture and came to beg him?

Simply imagining it excited Zhai Yanlin to no end. Today’s meeting was also specially arranged by him. He wanted to see what Cheng Yujin’s expression would be when she saw him again.

However, the eunuch’s appearance ruthlessly poured a basin of ice water on Zhai Yanlin’s head. Obviously, he was the one who arranged the meeting, but he didn’t dare to show up. But in the end, he only dared to hide in the crowd and peeked from a distance, like a humble street mouse.

Everything was exactly as Zhai Yanlin’s imagination. Cheng Yujin was dazzling and beautiful, making people unable to look away from her. However, he never expected that he wouldn’t even have the qualification to directly see her again.

From his position, Zhai Yanlin saw Cheng Yujin taking her two servant girls to look at the lanterns nearby. She paused in front of a small stall, but didn’t buy anything. Many people were watching her, but she didn’t notice their attention at all. Suddenly, a man rushed out of the crowd and approached her in surprise. After the two talked for a while, Cheng Yujin disappeared.

It was not difficult for Zhai Yanlin to guess. That man must take Cheng Yujin away to watch the lanterns together.

Zhai Yanlin was angry and resentful, and there was also jealousy that he didn’t dare to show. In the end, he could only break the lantern pole in his hand and turned away in anger.

He left as he came: no one knew, and no one cared.

Second Madam Zhai didn’t know that her brother-in-law was watching from a distance just now. Zhai Yanlin’s mood was extremely bad, but she wasn’t actually feeling better either.

It was their Cai Duke Manor who first proposed this marriage, but suddenly, they came to say that it was all misunderstanding, then asked Yichun Marquis Manor to be kindhearted, to pretend that nothing ever happened between the two families.

To hell with being kindhearted. How could Qingfu Junzhu accept such a humiliation?

Second Madam Zhai was very bitter inwardly, but she didn’t dare to offend Cheng family, so she could only lower her posture and said more nice things. Qingfu Junzhu was also bewildered by Zhai family’s attitude. They were coming to cancel the marriage proposal, but Second Madam Zhai’s attitude was very polite, even bordering flattery. But supposed they wanted to maintain a good relationship with the Cheng family, Second Madam Zhai choice of words seemed to say that Zhai family didn’t dare to climb high, as if they were afraid of the consequences if they didn’t express their attitude fast enough.

What was happening here?

Qingfu Junzhu and Second Madam Zhai were busy arguing, and didn’t notice that Cheng Yujin had gone.

Cheng Yujin followed Lin Qingyuan to guess the lantern riddles. As a young talent from a scholarly family, Lin Qingyuan was very good at quoting classics for the riddles. Cheng Yujin gradually relaxed as she listened, revealing a genuine smile.

One of the stalls, in particular, attracted many people. The lanterns in this stall were bigger and more beautiful, obviously were expensive to make. A rope was hanged in front of the stall, full of lanterns, each with a riddle on it. Whoever guessed the riddle right could take a lantern away. However, the owner of the stall naturally wouldn’t let himself suffer a loss. Each riddle was very difficult. If someone wanted a lantern but couldn’t guess the riddle, they could directly buy it.

Cheng Yujin was amazed by the merchant’s business wisdom. She originally just wanted to get away from Qingfu Junzhu and the others, but after looking at so many lantern riddles, she also became interested and read them one by one.

As they walked on the street, Cheng Yujin and Lin Qingyuan chatted happily. Cheng Yujin became more and more relaxed. When Lin Qingyuan told her an allusion, she was so amused that she chuckled, and the corners of her eyes were full of smiles.

Standing in a secluded place, Liu Yi felt that the night wind was getting much colder than usual. He rubbed his arms in silence. Under the pleading gazes of his colleagues, Liu Yi bit the bullet and cautiously stepped forward: “Your Highness, Your Majesty is still waiting….”

Cheng Yuanjing stood silently, arms folded, watching the scene on the other side of the river.

A big stall was built on one side of the river, and many people were encircling to guess the lantern riddles. Liu Yi really wanted to bit off his own tongue. Everything was fine before, until he stupidly let loose his tongue, pointing at the lantern stall and suggesting His Highness to watch the crowd’s liveliness.

Great, now it had truly become ‘lively,’ and Liu Yi suddenly felt that his neck was in danger. Today was the Lantern Festival, and the Emperor had decided to join the fun and personally went to the lantern tower to greet his people. Of course, the so-called ‘greeting his people’ was only a facade, and the Emperor simply wanted to take advantage of a large crowd tonight to secretly meet with Cheng Yuanjing.

Chang Yuanjing took Liu Yi and his other entourage and were on their way to meet the Emperor. Unfortunately, they happened to see something they better not see, all thanks to Liu Yi’s careless remark.

Liu Yi felt his stomach churned. Heaven could be the witness; he really just wanted to please his master. The common people lived in peace and could celebrate the festival with joy, wasn’t it because the ruler did a good job? He never expected that eldest miss Cheng happened to be guessing the riddle at the same stall he pointed at.

Cheng Yuanjing stood still for a while, calming his emotions. He decided to go first and finished the meeting with the Emperor before coming back to settle the debt with Cheng Yujin. There was no expression on his face, but his whole body seemed to emit an icy aura. Liu Yi and the others were relieved at first, but soon began to tremble again. They quietly followed behind Cheng Yuanjing, pretending to be dumb and deaf.

They walked with trepidation, and suddenly heard a commotion from behind. Liu Yi didn’t take it to heart. With so many people during the Lantern Festival, accidents are bound to happen every year. But the commotion became louder and louder, and gradually turned into a panic.

Cheng Yuanjing turned his head and saw that the source of the commotion was in the direction where Cheng Yujin had just been. His heart sank, and he hurried back immediately.

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