Chapter 78 Attending the Banquet

  At this time, a gentle footsteps came, and soon after, a woman's voice, surprised and delighted, called out "Eighth Brother?"

  Then, a tall and slender girl with a round face, big eyes, and fair skin that glowed with a healthy light tan, came rushing over like a gust of wind. She hastily ran to the front of Jingling Gongzi, stopped in her tracks, stood still less than half a meter away from him, looked up at him with tears in her eyes, and joyfully called out: "Eighth Brother!"

  This girl was the princess that Wei Luo had met before. She now knew that this was Jin Thirteen, who had married Wen Shi, a great officer of the Three Departments, under the arrangement of Prince Jingyang one year ago.

  A princess like her would generally be married off to a foreign country, becoming one of the wives of some noble or prince. The thirteenth princess of Jin was also famous for her beauty in the world at that time, and her reputation had long been spread far and wide. It is impossible for the Marquis of Jin not to have thought of maximizing her benefits.

  It seems this is also a result of Jingling Gongzi and Jin Hou's chess game.

  The thirteenth princess looked up at her eighth brother with unparalleled joy, her voice choked in her throat for half a day, and still only managed to choke out two words. "Eighth Brother!"

  Jingling was a bit amused, he patted her shoulder with his hand and sat back on the couch, then he shook the empty wine jug at Weiluo.

  Wei Luo hastily stepped forward, standing half a meter away from him, carefully and respectfully holding the jug to pour wine. As the turbid yellow liquid flowed in, Princess Thirteen turned her gaze towards Wei Luo, sizing him up.

  This was the first time they had met in two and a half years, and Princess Thirteen obviously did not recognize Wei Luo. She warily stared at Wei Luo's ink jade-like eyes, turned her head to ask Prince Jingling: "Eighth Brother, who is this?"

  Jingling didn't respond, but rather the inner historian who was holding a pen and recording Wei Luoxin's new identity stepped forward and bowed to answer: "Reporting to the 13th Princess, this young man is the one that the prince just appointed as a third-class food guest and personal attendant."

  "Personal attendant?"

  The thirteen princess's eyes, which were originally round and rolling, stared widely in disbelief as she gazed at Wei Luo. She turned to the Prince of Jingling, her cherry lips moving slightly, but seeing that he had a solemn expression and showed no intention of responding, she swallowed her question again.

  The thirteenth princess carefully sized up Wei Luo again, staring straight at her until she finished pouring the wine and stepped back to stand still with her head lowered. Only then did she withdraw her gaze and turn towards Prince Jing Ling.

  She picked up the wine jug that a maid had just filled for her, covered it with both hands, took a small sip, and asked: "Eighth brother, I heard that Father Duke set up a banquet in the palace to welcome you back and wash away your dust, don't you want to go?"

  The Duke of Jingling slightly raised his head and lazily asked: "How did you know?"

  The thirteenth princess smiled and said, "Little sister heard that the eighth brother returned, and hurried back to Xintian. Just now on the road, she met two envoys, who were overjoyed when they saw little sister, and poured out their grievances, so little sister knew about this matter."

  Jingling Gongzi smiled faintly, and upon seeing this smile, the 13th Princess involuntarily leaned forward, first gazing at his face in a daze for a moment before saying: "Eighth Brother, tonight's banquet?"

  Jingling smiled and slowly got up, saying: "Since the 13th princess has come to persuade me, I should go."

  In an instant, the thirteenth princess fainted with joy, her eyes revealing boundless surprise and delight.

  Weiruo glanced at the cold face of Jingling Gongzi and slightly pursed his lips, thinking to himself: "He's deceiving me again, this guy must have been planning to go all along."

  It's strange to say, she herself deceived with words, and Wei Luo always thought it was justified. But when Jin Ling deceived with words, she felt that he was too cunning and excessive! With his means of identity and momentum, even without deceiving others, he couldn't be stopped, yet he still wanted to deceive. Most importantly, he was always deceiving himself.

  The maids heard that the young master of Jingling was preparing to attend a banquet. Seeing that at this moment, the sun had already sunk below the horizon and lanterns were starting to be hung up, they hesitated: This is such a rush, there's no time for bathing and changing clothes.

  The Duke of Jingling finished speaking and turned to leave, but after taking two steps, he turned his head back to look at the 13th Princess and smiled blandly: "Aren't you going to the banquet? Why are you hesitating?"

  The thirteenth princess stood up elegantly, walking alongside Jingling with a gentle pace. She looked up at him with an expression of utmost reverence and said: "Yes!" As she gazed at Prince Jingling, she thought to herself: In this world, only my eighth brother, the crown prince, would act in such a manner - upon hearing the summons from the lord, he would go if he pleased, or not go if he didn't please. Even when going, he wouldn't bother with bathing and changing clothes.

  A few people walked less than ten steps, and several maidservants rushed over to surround the Prince of Jingling. They helped him put on his outer robe, replaced it with a jade belt inlaid with gold and jade, looking rich and majestic, and fastened a magnificent sword inlaid with gold and jade at his waist.

  After Qu Ling changed into a pair of shoes with two inlaid night pearls on the toe caps, she looked like a completely different person!

  Wei Luo gazed at these maidservants with a hint of suspicion, thinking to herself: They probably guessed that Jingling would still be attending the banquet tonight, and had prepared all this in advance.

  Otherwise, it wouldn't have come so quickly.

  After everything was ready, the young master of Queling had a typical prince's attire.

  When he took a step to leave, Wei Luo hesitated for a moment, quietly tilted his head, and glanced at his face from the side. Seeing him coldly glance back at himself, he quickly quickened his pace and followed behind him.

  As the group of people arrived at the square outside the main courtyard, the charioteer, the sword guest and the food guest were already waiting on one side. This made Wei Luo unable to help but once again admire their speed.

  Everyone got on their horse-drawn carriages, and Wei Luo, as the newly appointed personal attendant, naturally got on Prince Jing's carriage and traveled with him. When she stepped onto the carriage, the 13th Princess, who was already sitting in another luxurious carriage, stuck her head out and stared at Wei Luo for a long time.

  The knight on horseback led the way, the carriage moved forward, and before long they had left the mansion gate and arrived at Xintian Street.

  Poor Wei Luo, it had been two or three years since she last left the manor. Now everything seemed new to her. As she sat quietly on the sedan chair with her upper body straight and her hands placed calmly on her knees, only her eyes sparkled as they peeked through the curtains at the people passing by outside.

  As the last remnants of sunset faded away, a layer of night fog began to appear between heaven and earth. Torches flared up in the streets, and countless lanterns swayed back and forth.

  Looking at the boys and girls walking on the street, laughing and joking with each other, Wei Luo couldn't help but reveal a hint of envy: this reminded her of the time when school was dismissed in the past, when everyone rushed out of the classroom door, wasn't it also so lively?

  All the way, Jingling Gongzi closed his eyes and cultivated his spirit, never paying attention to Wei Luo. Gradually, the carriage entered the main road of Jin Palace. The main road was crowded with horse-drawn carriages, forming a long queue, but all the carriages retreated to both sides after seeing Jingling Gongzi's carriage, respectfully waiting for him to go first.

  So, their carriage can be said to have passed through unimpeded and soon appeared in the Jin Palace. On a slightly later carriage on one side, the thirteenth princess was sticking her head out, frequently waving greetings to everyone, her somewhat high-pitched laughter ringing in their ears.