Chapter 21: Stay

“Leaving?” Wei Chi Li frowned. “She is just a little lady, bringing along a youth, where can she go?”

“Has the princess forgotten that this slave is older than you?”

A nice voice travelled from the door, like the mountain spring water in the morning, cold and light.

Dressed in white, Liu Luo Yi stood coldly at the entrance with a small meal box. A pair of white and tender hand placed on top of it was pleasing to the eyes.

Wei Chi Li suddenly felt her mouth a little dry.

Liu Luo Yi glanced at her then quickly turned her eyes away as she took a few steps forward hastily and stuffed the meal box into her arms and said stiffly: “Hey, eat.”

Not gentle at all. Wei Chi Li thought.

“Heard from Xin Ran that you want to leave?” Wei Chi Li placed the meal box at one side and did not open it.

Liu Luo Yi’s expression was a little unnatural, using her slender fingers to fiddle her waistband and ‘en’ in a low voice.

“Why?” Wei Chi Li was puzzled.

“Will princess keep me here, as a slave?” Liu Luo Yi asked in a low voice.

“How could that be possible?” Wei Chi Li slapped the bed.

Liu Luo Yi nodded understandably, yet her expression was more lonely: “Since princess has left Lu Mansion, then will definitely go back to the Northern Territory. And I am just a slave so I will be a burden if I followed princess.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Chi Li knew that she had misunderstood and explained quickly: “No, what I meant was…..” 

“Princess does not need to say any more, this slave understands and will leave here tomorrow morning.” Liu Luo Yi stood up slowly, gave a polite salute then walked out hastily. Her back was cold and scraggy.

“I said! Cough Cough Cough…..” Maybe it was too hasty or something else, Wei Chi Li said halfway and the rest was stuck in her throat. She sprawled on the edge of the bed and coughed for a while before feeling better.

When she had raised her head, Liu Luo Yi was already gone.

“You said you these young ladies are thinking about what!” Wei Chi Li was frustrated as she turned around and pointed at Xin Ran.

Xin Ran held the meal box, dumbfounded.

She handed the meal box to Wei Chi Li and stuttered: “Princess, eat, eat something.”

“I am not eating, support me down.” Wei Chi Li sighed heavily as she put on her shoes carelessly.

When she had found Liu Luo Yi’s room, she saw Liu Wen Chang carrying a small baggage on his back as he stepped out of the door, frowning.

When he saw Wei Chi Li, he rushed forward and almost kneeled down. Fortunately, with a quick of eye and deft of hand, Wei Chi Li grabbed his back collar and pulled him up.

“What are you, brother and sister doing.” Wei Chi Li held her forehead.

Liu Wen Chang lowered his head with slightly red eyes and said softly: “I plead the princess to keep Ah Jie. She has been weak since young and had suffered so much in Lu Mansion, she is really pitiful. And now we are still slaves and it was an order from the emperor himself, so even if we have the booklet, it is of no use. With her appearance, it is hard to avoid being coveted and I could not protect her now.”

“Princess keeps her here, letting her stay at princess’s side as a servant is fine too, Wen Chang begs you.”

With that said, he bent his knees again. Wei Chi Li once again quickly lifted him up and said impatiently: “When did I say I will not keep her! Say, where is your sister!”

“She went out just now, saying to relieve boredom.”

Wei Chi Li sighed hastily, then ran off. After running a few steps, she returned and poked her head through the door entrance and said: “You also better stay here, I saved the both of you, so how could you say you want to leave!”

Yan country’s territory was vast. And walking from east to west in the capital would have 3 to 4 different kinds of dialects. Wei Chi Li passed through a few alleys and was lost. She stood in the middle of the street and began scratching her head.

“Hey, why are you here?” A clear yet somewhat proud voice sounded from behind.

Wei Chi Li turned around to see that it was Qiu Wen Jin. Dressed in white clothes today but lips were dyed red like cherries, making her looked recklessly obvious.

“Why, capital is opened by your family?” Wei Chi Li does not have the time to talk to her as she turned and asked an uncle passing by, “Have you seen a beautiful woman dressed in white?”

The uncle stroked his beard and thought for a while and pointed to the person behind Wei Chi Li: “Isn’t it her.”

Wei Chi Li turned around to look and happened to meet Qiu Wen Jin’s gaze. She was silent for a moment then turned around and said: “The lady I am finding is much more beautiful than her. Do you have any impression?”

“Wei Chi Li, You!” Qiu Wen Jin placed a hand on her waist and pointed at Wei Chi Li as she shouted.

The uncle thought about it again and said: “There was a lady who had gone over there, how about you go take a look?”

After Wei Chi Li thanked the uncle, she trotted towards the direction he had pointed. Qiu Wu Jin followed her, feeling flustered and exasperated.

“What’s not good looking about this lady! Wei Chi Li, you tell me clearly!”

“Also, there were rumours spreading all over the capital saying that you had divorced, is it true?”

Wei Chi Li was worried about Liu Luo Yi so why would she bothered talking to her as she said casually: “I did not say you are not good-looking. You are good-looking, the most beautiful in the world.”

There were many people coming and going on the crowded streets so it was not easy to find someone. Wei Chi Li became more anxious as she searched around. Liu Luo Yi that unlucky constitution was easy to encounter unlucky things. If something had happened, what should she do.

She had finally decided to save her, it would be too unprofitable if she had lost her.

At this time, Wei Chi Li passed by an alleyway, using the remaining light to have a glimpse of the group of shirtless men encircling someone. She stopped abruptly and looked inside.

Qiu Wu Jin who had followed closely behind bumped her head on to her back.

Just as she was about to say something, Wei Chi Li covered her mouth.

The warm hand pressing lightly on her face made Qiu Wu Jin stiffened her body. Wei Chi Li’s eyes’ expression no longer held the initial immature provocation, instead it was a completely unfamiliar fierceness.

Coexisting with gentleness.

At the next second, the palm on her face had suddenly disappeared. Before Qiu Wu Jin could figure out what had happened in front of her. She saw Wei Chi Li’s figure shooting out like an arrow. A few vague shadows swayed, and the large men groaned as they fell onto the ground.

Wei Chi Li was also surprised at the sudden integration of this body as if it belongs to her completely.

She rushed over to looked at that woman in white but was stunned for a moment.

That was a graceful Da Niang(!).

(!)大娘 Da Niang: northern dialect referring to aunt or sons would refer concubines as Da Niang, or an honorific title for older woman. (I kept to HanYu PinYin for this was because it will be used for later chapter and would be easy to explain.)

She was too anxious just now, so she did not have a closer look. She had only seen a back figure that was like Liu Luo Yi and assumed that she was being bullied.

“Princess?” A familiar voice travelled from behind. Wei Chi Li turned around only to see a confused Liu Luo Yi. She stood there coldly, dressed in white from head to toe yet was shockingly beautiful.

“Help! Someone come! Someone is robbing in the middle of the street, hurry up and come, catch this bold fanatic!” Da Niang suddenly covered her face and screamed.

Wei Chi Li reacted extremely fast as she subconsciously took a few steps back and ran away. When passing by Liu Luo Yi, she grabbed her hand and ran together.

After running for a long while, there was no one behind them anymore. Only then did Wei Chi Li stopped panting but Liu Luo Yi was still panting violently. Her face flushes and was supporting herself on the wall.

“Princess is so poor now that you have to rob in the middle of the street.” Liu Luo Yi panted slightly.

“Because I wanted to find you. Although that Da Niang looks sloppy, her figure was as good as yours. Looks thin but curvaceous and I assumed that you were trapped by those gangsters.” While saying that, Wei Chi Li wiped the sweat off her face, feeling a little remorse, wondering when she had become so reckless.

“Princess, speak cautiously!” Liu Luo Yi’s face was redder, but her eyes flickered.

“Hey, why are you so difficult. It was fine so why did you say you want to leave. Only someone like me who is overly sympathetic would be willing to take care of you. When you go somewhere else and was bullied, no one will help you.” Wei Chi Li wanted to reach out to pat Liu Luo Yi’s shoulder but was avoided by her abruptly.

“I am inessential, so why would I court a rebuff. Princess had save my life; so, I am incredibly grateful.” When Liu Luo Yi raised her head again, her expression was very calm.

Wei Chi Li had never been so helpless before. She was in a terrible fix as she turned around and with a sudden bright idea, she threw a string of silver into a nearby vendor’s hand. Exchanging it for a wooden hairpin carved with lotus.

She has hardly made any friends before, but they were both girls, so, she knew that women may like small things like hairpins. No matter what, keeping the person by her side first before she could consider other things.

To be honest, she was reluctant to part with Liu Luo Yi.

“I wanted to say just now, how could you be a slave. No one should be inferior to others. What’s more you are a proud person, definitely not a woman who should be trapped in the corner of the universe.”

Liu Luo Yi’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

Since she has fallen into the lower class of society, she had almost her believed the fact that she is of a lowly status. The so-called indifference, the so-called arrogance has slowly and carefully disappeared in those anxious day after day.

What was left was only a layer of protection.

She raised her eyes to looked at Wei Chi Li. Her eyes were slightly moist.

Being caught by such a look, Wei Chi Li’s whole body becomes hot. She coughed a few times and took out the hairpin from behind and poked it above Liu Luo Yi’s head, not caring if it looks good or not.

“This hairpin will be considered as an apology. I have said that I will protect you, so I will not break my promise. I want you to stay not because of charity, but because I wanted you to stay by my side.”

Liu Luo Yi reached out to take the hairpin down as she rubbed the pattern on it. She suppressed the urge to cry as she does not want to cry too many times in front of Wei Chi Li.

Wei Chi Li was a little worried whether she had said something wrong. She had never considered her words so carefully before.

“Oh.” Liu Luo Yi said as she held the hairpin tightly in her palm till, she felt the pain.

“I will help you do it properly.” Wei Chi Li took back the hairpin from her hand and took 2 steps forward, inserting it gently into the centre of her jet-black hair.

Liu Luo Yi stared at Wei Chi Li’s placket, her tears have finally flowed down, dripping quietly onto Wei Chi Li’s shoes.

Although she still does not know why Wei Chi Li had changed. Despite it might be a dream created by someone, she wanted to continue to be confused by it.

Wei Chi Li, even if you had lied to me, I would accept it. She thought

[T/L Note]: A little history lesson here. The slaves in ancient china had no freedom, and they had to work hard for their masters. People believed in after-life world, so after their master died, they were killed or buried alive to serve their masters in the underworld. Some people were born slaves, because their mothers were slaves, and other people were sold into slavery to pay debts. Or reduced to slave status as punishment. Slaves were sexually abused, castrated, beaten, and subjected to trafficking etc. FYI not all servants and pageboys are slaves but all slaves are servants.

Different dynasties has different caste systems, although this novel is set in the fictional world, the idea of the caste system is the same. Which is why others treated FL pretty badly and why her status were lower than the servants in the mansions. It is also why she was so touched by MC’s action. And yes, slaves do not own anything and could only dress plainly with no accessories.

Anyway, the hairpin that MC had given, looks something like this.

Once again, to show my appreciation for the continuing support…. DOUBLE RELEASE!!!!! o(^▽^)o