Chapter 276 The Feast
Mrs. Gu might be tired. She didn’t appear during the dinner. After Ling Li and Su Li had the meal with Qiu Meng, she gave an invitation to Ling Li and said sincerely,
“Son, I know you’ve turned a new leaf for Li. But you can’t just stay at home. I happen to have an invitation here. You can take Li to the feast. Never let her be upset. Do you know?”
Ling Li said nothing but nodded. He listened carelessly to his mother and opened the invitation. He suddenly became serious.
Qiu Meng noticed the change and asked, “What’s wrong with you? Is there any problem with the invitation?”
“Not really.”
Ling Li smiled awkwardly, “You know, I have a relations.h.i.+p with the host…”
He said and raised the invitation. Su Li faintly saw the four words “Dongfang Yuyan”. She looked as if she didn’t know anything.
Then Qiu Meng’s face darkened. She glanced at Su Li and was relieved to see the confusion on her face. She scolded her son, “You have a family now and cannot do anything absurd anymore! Fortunately, Fourth Princess has also been married. She might not mind what happened before. You just go with Su Li.”
“Not mind?”
Ling Li gave a forced smile. He totally didn’t believe it, but didn’t refuse the proposal. He accepted it with a bitter feeling.
After knowing that her son agreed, Qiu Meng left with satisfaction. She thought that she could be proud in front of gossip mongers. As for dealing with the problem in the feast tomorrow, let the younger generation do by themselves.
The dishes were left to the servants. Ling Li and Su Li returned to the East Courtyard with the invitation. He looked calm, with his eyes flas.h.i.+ng with wit. The host of the feast was Fourth Princess, Dongfang Yuyan.
Su Li gently picked up the invitation that Ling Li put on the table and opened it. Her voice was gentle and sweet, “Fourth Princess invites all the couples who have been married for less than a year in Yunjing City to the feast. It seems reasonable enough, but the feast will happen to be held on the day after you and I got married.”
Su Li smiled with disdain and said, “Dongfang Xiao is really extremely suspicious.”
Ling Li nodded approvingly. The purpose of the feast was not as simple as his mother had thought. It was a trial arranged by Dongfang Xiao.
“What happened to you and Dongfang Yuyan?”
There was a moment of silence. Su Li asked suddenly. Ling Li could hardly breathe and felt embarra.s.sed. He didn’t say a word for a long time.
Su Li’s expression did not have the slightest change with his reaction. She just shook her head and sneered, “Well, I am not interested in learning about your love story. Don’t make any mistakes tomorrow.”
Then, Su Li left the study. Her figure soon disappeared into the night.
Ling Li stood by the table and looked out of the window at the thick darkness for a long time. Then he took a breath and calmed down.
Sitting in a wheelchair, Ling Li went to the wing-room, and didn’t see Su Li. He wondered where else could Su Li go now.
At that time, Mammy Li pa.s.sed by with a bucket. She found that Master seemed to be looking for someone. She could not help asking, “Master, are you looking for Mistress? She is taking a bath in the back room. If you go over there in time, you still… ”
In time?
Ling Li looked dull for a while. After seeing Mammy Li’s meaningful smile, he blushed a lot.
“Aha!”
Mammy Li couldn’t help laughing and hurried off with the bucket. Master was still a little bit shy.
Ling Li certainly would not go to the back room, or he would have foreseen the result. He might be beaten out by Su Li. He managed to maintain the current relations.h.i.+p and did not want to let it worse.
After having a quick bath in the other bathroom, Ling Li went back to the wing-room and waited for a long time, and then Su Li came back.
Before seeing her, he had smelled a refres.h.i.+ng scent.
The exquisite face appeared in perfect shape under the moonlight. The white gauze dress was blown up by the wind, and her fair skin was still s.h.i.+ning. She was like a fairy, unworldly. In the next moment, she might float away.
Such a clever and beautiful woman was his wife now.
The thought flashed through Ling Li’s mind. He stared at her for a moment.
Suddenly—
Hum!
The white figure moved quickly before Ling Li. She closed the wooden doors of the inner-room. After hearing the sound of bolting, Ling Li recovered and then got stunned.
Did Su Li close the door?
“Honey, no one will come to the bridal chamber today. From now on, you can have a rest in the guest room. Don’t worry! The hard days won’t last long. When the crisis is over, you can divorce me.”
Su Li’s voice came through the door. She said in a soft tone, as if she thought what she had done was not appropriate. But Ling Li felt that there was a degree of schadenfreude in the voice.
“What a demon!”
Ling Li got angry. He was a man. What’s more, how could he have no response to his beloved woman? It was really painful to just see his woman.
They remained silent all night. It seemed that the day was breaking in a twinkling.
Creaking—
The door opened. Su Li came out of the inner-room, fully dressed. She was ruddy and fresh and seemed to have a good sleep.
The creak woke Ling Li up. He tossed and turned nearly all night and he just fell asleep in his clothes in the morning. He fell off from the cane chair carelessly.
“Ouch…”
Ling Li breathed in. He looked at Su Li’s spurious smile and his mood became bad.
His cultivation reached the inborn hurdle. Even if he didn’t sleep for three days and nights, he wouldn’t feel tired. Only last night… there was too much suffering. He had consumed far more energy so that he was a little tired now.
Just then, Mammy Li opened the door with toiletries. She saw that they had got up early in the morning and seemed to be bickering. She didn’t say a word, casting a meaningful glance at the untidy bed, and went out with a smile.
The maids of the wing-room in the East Courtyard were appointed by Qiu Meng. In order not to expose Ling Li’s physical defect, Su Li had ordered Mammy Li, the insider, to be responsible for the morning wash. It also saved a lot of troubles.
They washed themselves and bound their hair in a harmonious and strange way. After breakfast, they got into a carriage and drove away. On the surface, they only took two guards, Ling Mo and Yun Yi.
After crossing two streets, the carriage with the Ling Family’s mark entered a restricted street, which was only for the royal family. The road was clear. They stopped at last in a large royal yard.
“Master, Mistress, here we are.”
Ling Mo, the driver of the carriage, said. At the same time, Yun Yi opened the curtain and put a board, waiting for Su Li and Ling Li to get out of the carriage.
Su Li pushed the wheelchair out of the carriage. She saw a high red wall with green tiles. A plaque with three vivid characters was hung on the high and huge gate.
Lingfeng House!
She looked relaxed, but was in fact serious. This was already a royal place, only a step away from the Imperial Palace. If their true ident.i.ties were revealed here, they could not escape.
“The house was used as Dongfang Yuyan’s residence outside the Palace. After she got married, it was expanded to its present area. Just the courtyard where the feast is held can hold hundreds of people at the same time.”
Ling Li transmitted his sound to Su Li in silence. His voice was deep. There was no room for carelessness. They must be really careful for each move.
Coming to the feast was already dangerous. No one knew whether Dongfang Xiao would suddenly embarra.s.s them.
Qiu Meng was so simple that she probably wouldn’t have thought of that. Otherwise, she would not put them at risk, even if she were to fall out with the fair ladies.
Just then, a group of palace maids and eunuchs came out of the porter. They saluted Ling Li and Su Li, “We’re here to salute King of the County and Queen of the County!”
Ling Li looked pleased and shouted, “Honey, what are you looking at? It’s almost the time. Let’s go.”
Su Li blinked, as if she had just recovered. She blushed and said, “It’s my first time to come to the royal garden, but I make a fool of myself.”
“Hey, even if you make a fool of yourself, you are still very beautiful. Just want to… ah… eat you out!”
Su Li’s face turned red. She pushed Ling Li into the courtyard.
On hearing this, the palace maids showed nothing but kept disdain in their mind. People with little education like them all knew the phrase “eat someone up”. Third Childe of the Ling Family actually made a mistake.
The first talented woman of Yunjing City married such a vulgar playboy. What a waste of talent! They didn’t know what Emperor was thinking about.
The design of the Lingfeng House was obviously the masterpiece of experts. Every scene was a picture. It was really beautiful, but not wild. From the environment, Su Li got to know that the Princess that she had never met was not too sophisticated to deal with.
Su Li pushed the wheelchair down the gravel path, and the two immediately saw the gathering with lively conversations. There were no less than thirty couples of honored people in the courtyard.
Many people noticed the arrival of Su Li and Ling Li. Seeing the “famous” couple, the reactions varied. But they all started to whisper together.
“She is Princess Li. She is really beautiful. She deserves the t.i.tle of the first beauty of Yunjing City with the perfect eyes, red lips and fair skin.”
“What you told to me could not be revealed to your wife, or she will be angry. It will not be my fault. Ha-ha…”
“What a pity! Such a fairy married a playboy.”
“A playboy? Such a b.u.m! To call him a playboy is to flatter him!”
“…”
Ling Li raised his eyebrows. He heard them all with his practice. But it was really annoying that he had to pretend to hear nothing.
Su Li smiled, with her eyes running down the courtyard. Most of the people there were strangers. Before she compared them with those in the intelligence, she heard a cry of great surprise.