Spring Banquet

// You are enough for me

“Tell me,” Lu Jingxing straightened his posture.

Looking around, Huaiyu whispered, “Qingsi has been captured by Jiang Xuanjin.”

Slightly startled, Lu Jingxing frowned, “When did this happen?”

“It should have been in the past couple of days.” Huaiyu anxiously ran her hand through her hair and said, “That girl has a fiery temperament, and being in Jiang Xuanjin’s hands won’t end well. At the moment, I can’t do anything in my current state. I can only try to find out where she is, and then you can find people to help me rescue her.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jingxing understood, “So you’re being so friendly to Jiang Xuanjin because you want to save Qingsi?”

“Otherwise?” She raised an eyebrow, “Would I genuinely care about his illness?!”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head, “I thought you had changed after dying once, but it seems you’re still the same.”

Truly wicked yet adorable.

Squinting his eyes, Li Huaiyu said, “He showed no mercy to me, so I won’t show him any righteousness. If I have the chance, I will kill him without hesitation.”

Without hesitation!

Lu Jingxing breathed a sigh of relief, “I understand. Keep this item with you. When you need me, go to any shop and have someone inform me.”

As he spoke, he reached out and took the keepsake from his waist and handed it to her.

A keepsake, something that anyone with status in the capital carried with them. It had characters engraved on the front and a personal seal or a favorite pattern on the back, symbolizing their identity and serving as a token.

On the back of Lu Jingxing’s keepsake was carved “Jade Mountain, Flying Snow,” a design Li Huaiyu was familiar with. She took it, caressing it for a moment, and smiled, saying, “Good.”

Looking at her, Lu Jingxing suddenly rubbed his chin and said, “With your current status, can I propose a marriage at the Bai Mansion?”

She rolled her eyes at him, not in a good mood, “Give it a rest! There are so many things to do, and you think I have the time for marriage? Besides, do you know how formidable I am now?”

“Hmm?” Lu Jingxing asked with interest, “How formidable are you?”

“The future Madam Jiang, how formidable is that?” Li Huaiyu asked.

Madam Jiang of the Jiang family? Lu Jingxing’s expression darkened, “Then I should really set a date to propose.”

“Don’t be silly.” Huaiyu touched the keepsake and smiled sinisterly, “I planned to use this status to compete with Jiang Xuanjin.”

“If you want revenge, I can help you without you going so far.” Lu Jingxing frowned, “You’ve never lived for yourself before, and now that you’ve finally been given a second chance at life, you still want to entangle yourself in trouble?”

When she was still in Danyang, she wholeheartedly planned for her younger imperial brother, enduring countless criticisms and bearing countless burdens. What was the result? Did it end well?

She had already died once, so why did she want to throw herself into troubled waters with such fervor?

Li Huaiyu laughed twice and looked up at him, “The country is not yet stable, the throne is not secure. Even if I were truly dead, even if I turned into a ghost, I wouldn’t just stand idly by.”

She spoke softly, without any momentum, as if she were casually joking with him on the street.

Her voice was light and devoid of any grandeur, as if she were casually tossing out a few playful remarks while walking birds on the street.

However, when her determined gaze met his, Lu Jingxing’s heart trembled and a sense of sorrow and indignation unexpectedly arose within him.

“Do you still remember who ordered your death?” he asked.

Li Huaiyu nodded with a smile. “By the decree of the Emperor.”

“Then why…” he started to ask.

“He is my own younger brother, and I am his older sister. I know what he was thinking very well,” Li Huaiyu earnestly replied. “He wanted to protect me, but he couldn’t.”

Sima Xu, the Prime Minister of two dynasties, a man of outstanding achievements and great virtue. In a single dynasty, he died by her hands, with all the evidence and witnesses. Even an emperor couldn’t protect her.

“If you want to blame someone, blame our Prince Ziyang,” she said. “This Prince is too cunning.”

She used to think that Jiang Xuanjin was different from the others in the court. Although they couldn’t get along, he sincerely served the new emperor and worked to strengthen the kingdom. He was a rare good minister.

However, when she faced death, she realized that this so-called good minister had a more ruthless heart than those cunning officials in the court. Employing imperial physicians, inviting Sima, organizing palace banquets, he plotted step by step and finally put her in a deadly situation.

It was regrettable that she had never noticed it before!

Her fist clenched until it turned white, then slowly relaxed. Li Huaiyu put on a smile and said to Lu Jingxing, “It’s about time, you should go. If the Imperial Historian happens to see us, it will only lead to more trouble.”

Lu Jingxing raised an eyebrow and gracefully opened his folding fan. He said in a flirtatious manner, “I’ve only just arrived, and now you want me to leave? I can’t bear to part with you.”

If it were any other girl, she would undoubtedly be enchanted by such affectionate words and lose her bearings in all directions. However, Li Huaiyu was not fooled. She held her arms and looked at him, saying, “You don’t want to leave? Alright then, I’ll have someone inform the Imperial Historian, and he can serve you fragrant tea and talk about merchant taxation…”

“After bothering you for so long, I apologize for any inconvenience.” He closed his fan, and Lu Jingxing immediately turned serious, arching his hand. “I take my leave.”

“Hahaha!” Li Huaiyu burst into laughter.

As Lu Jingxing watched her laugh with a smug expression on her face, he couldn’t help but join in with a low chuckle. Then, suddenly, he stepped forward, leaning down.

His handsome face suddenly enlarged, startling Huaiyu. Her laughter got stuck in her throat, and her eyes widened.

His slightly pale lips stopped an inch away from her cheek. Lu Jingxing paused and lifted his eyelids to look at her shocked expression, a hint of cunning flickering in his eyes.

“Why aren’t you still laughing?” he asked.

Her lips twitched, and Li Huaiyu replied, “I’m afraid I’ll accidentally spit on your face.”

“Are you actually not afraid that I’ll kiss you?” Lu Jingxing was surprised.

Rolling her eyes, Li Huaiyu said, “Is there a difference between you kissing me and kissing the back of your own hand?”

They had been friends for so many years. If there were any romantic feelings between them, Lu Jingxing would definitely have pursued her. But there weren’t any. She treated him like a brother, and he treated her the same way. Even several of the attendants in her residence were sent by him.

Li Huaiyu had no ulterior motives towards Lu Jingxing, and he was surely the same.

The person in front of her lowered his eyes, and the jade bone fan “swished” open, covering his eyebrows and eyes.

“How boring,” he said. “I’m leaving.”

“I won’t see you off.”

Waving his hand, Lu Jingxing strode confidently out of the eastern courtyard.

Huaiyu walked out from the corner, smiling as she watched his figure recede.

When she was a princess, no other girls dared to play with her except for the court ladies. They were afraid of being criticized as “vulgar” or “improper.” So for a long time, Li Huaiyu felt frustrated, and at one point, she grabbed Lu Jingxing’s sleeve and acted crazy while drunk.

“No one wants to be friends with me. Am I that pitiful?”

“Friendship is about quality, not quantity.” Lu Jingxing walked with her on the way back to the Feiyun Palace, carrying her on his back and smiling. “Having you is enough for me.”