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Similar Person (2)
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Upon the banquet, after chatting a little with her mother, Shen Lan Chi went to chat with the noble daughters she was familiar with. Lu Zhi Ning and the others pulled her to chat, saying that Yong Chun will be marrying in early spring, so they must take this time to nicely chat. Ji Fei Xia was now engaged too, so when mentioning Yong Chun’s marriage, she also felt the same way deep down, directly saying, “After marrying, we won’t be able to be as relaxed and carefree as before.”
When Shen Lan Chi was talking with Yong Chun about the Banjaro Kingdom, she suddenly detected someone looking at her. After looking closely, turns out, it was Lu Zi Xiang.
Shen Lan Chi blanked for a moment, then hurriedly hid herself——-Ji Fei Xia was still here, yet Lu Zi Xiang still dared to directly stare at her like this, really broken in the head!
But, that Lu Zi Xiang didn’t know to restrain himself in the slightest. While Ji Fei Xia had her head down silently blushing, he actually raised his wine cup towards Shen Lan Chi. Shen Lan Chi didn’t dare to gesture back. She lifted her dress and headed for the corridor, so as to avoid the second prince’s stare.
Seeing her leave, Lu Zi Xiang wanted to chase after her. But, just as he got up, he immediately got held back by someone. Lu Zi Xiang turned his head, seeing the Liu family’s eldest young master, Liu Yu.
The thin and frail young man with a sickly complexion sat down, his eyes and brows lowered, studying the wine cup in front, saying in a calm voice, “Your Highness, beauty brings disaster. That Shen family young miss is especially troublesome.”
Lu Zi Xiang smilingly nodded, pretending to brush his sleeves as he sat down again.
• • •
Shen Lan Chi exited the palace hall. Upon reaching the corridor, she finally relaxed a breath. Her servant girl Lü Zhu hurriedly followed out after her and helped her put on the light fur coat, saying, “Miss, how come you left so suddenly? It’s cold outside. It’s better to go back inside to warm up.”
“You didn’t see that Lu Zi Xiang wanting to use his eyes to dig out two holes on me?” Shen Lan Chi rubbed her palm, breathing a breath of warm air into her palm. Pausing for a moment, she said, “Go have the Zhennan Wang heir invited over. Just say that I’m here waiting for…..waiting for him to have a rendezvous!”
Lü Zhu long knew that her miss liked the heir, thus felt somewhat uneasy, saying, “If someone were to see, how can that be good?”
“Isn’t that even better?” Shen Lan Chi didn’t care in the slightest, “Although right now, I can’t marry him, but to be able to let the entire capital know that this man is mine, that’s also good.”
Lü Zhu was shocked, but could only obediently go back to invite Lu Qi Yang over.
Very soon, the young heir came out carrying the faint scene to alcohol.
Smelling the scent of alcohol on him, Shen Lan Chi just recalled that day during his birthday, where she got drunk. Without waiting for Lu Qi Yang to walk to her side, she just reached out and used her finger to jab his chest, asking, “You drank again? Are you drunk?”
Lu Qi Yang tugged his sleeve and said, “This young master can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, You’re underestimating your man too much. You, on the other hand, how come just became that drunk after a few sips that day?”
“Was I really that drunk?” Shen Lan Chi said in astonishment, “What all did I do when drunk?”
“You don’t remember?” Lu Qi Yang was surprised, tentatively asking, “Don’t remember the slightest bit?”
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Shen Lan Chi shook her head and said, “Don’t remember the slightest bit. I just remember you secretly kissing me.”
Unknown as to why, Lu Qi Yang showed an upset look, seemingly extremely disappointed. When Shen Lan Chi saw, she curiously asked, “That day, did I do something, or say something? To actually make you reveal such an expression.”
“You….” Lu Qi Yang sighed, having a helpless look, saying, “When you got drunk, you directly clung onto me, even saying something like ‘in this lifetime will only marry Lu Qi Yang’, ‘love Lu Qi Yang to death’, ‘if you dare to not marry me, then I will kill you’ and such bold words, unable to be dragged away, nor able to be held down, awfully tiring to deal with. In the end, I even had you carried back home.”
When Shen Lan Chi heard, she was a little embarrassed.
What all was this…….
What ‘in this lifetime will only marry Lu Qi Yang’……..
But, this was indeed like what she would say, and also what she was thinking inside. Just, that day, she borrowed her drunken state to say it out loud.
Shen Lan Chi turned away, pretending to be aloft, nonchalantly saying, “To be able to carry this young miss back home, that is your honor. Besides, I want to marry you, what’s wrong with that? It’s just that right now is still the state of ‘the Huns having yet to be extinguished, so what is considered home[1]‘. This young miss still has things to do.”
“A young girl like you, why pretend to be like Huo Qu Bing[1]?” Lu Qi Yang held her waist, teasing, “Don’t tarnish the Great General Huo’s reputation.”
Lu Qi Yang’s arm had just embraced her waist, when he heard the sound of snow being stepped on coming from outside the corridor. The two of them both lifted their heads at the same time, seeing a familiar person standing outside——-
Lu Zhao Ye stood in the snow, dressed completely in black. That face that always carried a cold and indifferent look in the past, at this time, had a stunned look.
His gaze slightly flickered, his line of sight tightly locked on Lu Qi Yang’s hand that was pinned on Shen Lan Chi’s waist. A while later, a surge of anger rose in his eyes, saying in an ice-cold voice, “Zhennan Wang heir, what are you doing? The Shen family young miss has no relations with you, yet you actually dare to be frivolous towards her?”
After saying this, his long brows tightly furrowed, his body already uncontrollably leaning forwards, wanting to pull away Lu Qi Yang’s hand.
He couldn’t tolerate this kind of thing.
That Shen Lan Chi was someone that he couldn’t obtain even if begging in front of his imperial father. Lu Qi Yang was just a mere wastrel, so how can he be worthy?
Even if childhood friends, even if growing up together, so what? Not worthy was just not worthy.
Seeing Lu Zhao Ye approach, Shen Lan Chi jumped between the two of them, slowly saying, “Your Highness, me being close with others, that also has nothing to do with your Highness, right? Your Highness at most can go before his Majesty to report, so why pretend to be a noble gentleman in front of me?”
Seeing Shen Lan Chi defend Lu Qi Yang, Lu Zhao Ye just felt his breath turn piercing cold, the icy chills of winter rushing into his organs.
“Speaking for the Zhennan Wang heir in front of this prince, have you considered the consequences?” He suppressed the coldness between his brows and fixedly stared at Shen Lan Chi. His tightly clenched fingers were practically about to pierce into the soft flesh of his palm.
Seeing his dark expression, Shen Lan Chi also lost her smile from before. She coldly sneered and said, “Your Highness, you standing out for me here, did you ever think about my older sister Tong? She’s the one that will marry you in the future, yet you want to get entangled in my affairs here, are you not afraid of embarrassing the imperial family?”
Shen Lan Chi’s every word was like a sword, stabbing upon Lu Zhao Ye’s heart.
Recalling everything that had happened in the past, Lu Zhao Ye surged with anger inside.
It originally shouldn’t be like this!
Shen Lan Chi should be his wife!
Lu Zhao Ye looked at Lu Qi Yang behind her, his heart becoming increasingly cold, saying in a cold voice, “Zhennan Wang heir, you best not have inappropriate thoughts towards Shen Lan Chi. She’s not someone within your reach. A useless person should just have the awareness of a useless person!”
Lu Qi Yang hooked the corner of his lips, saying, “Thanking your Highness for the pointers.”
Lu Zhao Ye got painfully pierced by Shen Lan Chi’s gaze, no longer wanting to stay here. He coldly snorted before he angrily stormed off.
“What a psycho.” Shen Lan Chi lightly snorted, bluntly saying, “Already about to marry my older tang sister, yet still thinking about some useless things all day!”
“He didn’t know to cherish you in the past, and afterwards, regretted it. This is also natural.” Lu Qi Yang retracted his gaze and tightly held her hand, “If you were to discard me now and go find a new lover, I will also go mad like this. Perhaps, I’ll even kill that person.”
When he said these words, the bottom of his eyes had a rare hint of coldness.
Seeing Shen Lan Chi get startled by this look of his, he hurriedly said, “I’m just joking, don’t take it seriously.” A while later, he dragged her outwards, “How about we go over to the imperial canal to set off firecrackers? Haven’t played in so long, somewhat nostalgic.”
As soon as he mentioned this matter, Shen Lan Chi just recalled, when the two of them were young, they indeed did do something like ‘throw firecrackers into the imperial canal during the new year’, this kind of stupid thing. As a result, the explosion caused the Chu Emperor and the palace servants who were passing by to get splashed full of water.
Afterwards, relying on the fact that they were both little brats, and also having the excuse of it being the new year, the two of them thus didn’t get punished by the Chu Emperor. However, although the Chu Emperor spared them, they didn’t get spared at home——Lu Qi Yang got beaten by Zhennan Wang, while Shen Lan Chi got punished to kneel in the ancestral hall.
“How old are you, still playing this kind of game.” Shen Lan Chi muttered, “Watch his Majesty come to this side again.”
“I’ve already checked. His Majesty is drinking with Noble Consort Liu inside, and won’t come out anytime soon.” Lu Qi Yang was full of excitement, saying, “Finally get to play for once, it won’t be a problem. This firecracker has ‘a pitiful small body, its center filled with dust’[2], how interesting.”
His servant boy brought over a firecracker and handed it to his own young master.
In an instant, the firecracker was lit. Lu Qi Yang covered Shen Lan Chi’s ears and had the lit firecracker thrown into the imperial canal.
“Hwaaaa—-”
“His Majesty has arrived——–”
The sound of the water droplets splashing accompanied by the sound of the palace servant’s announcement sounded at the same time.
Shen Lan Chi and Lu Qi Yang who were hiding in the bushes were instantly dumbstruck.
When lifting their heads again, unknown as to when, a row of dim yellow lanterns lit up by the imperial canal. Standing to the side was a row of palace servants, all covered in water droplets.
At the very center was the Chu Emperor whose face originally carried a rosy red, like filled with the radiance of spring. However, at this time, his face was blank, letting the water droplets freely drip down.
“This emperor…….”
Chu Emperor deliberated for a while, not knowing what to say.
“This emperor is the heavenly son mandated by heaven. This is a sign from heaven.”
[1] This expression comes from the ‘Shiji’, also known as the ‘Records of the Grand Historian’. The meaning is roughly there are still important matters to take care of, so there’s no time to think about personal matters, such as settling down.
The quote comes from a renowned general of Western Han, Huo Qu Bing. In his lifetime, he fought against the Huns a total of six times, letting the Huns suffer a major blow each time, thus helping Emperor Wu of Han preserve Western Han. At the time, Emperor Wu built an extravagant manor for him, but he just replied with this quote, meaning that the war with the Huns has yet to end, so how can he settle down.
[2] This is a line from a poem by Li Chun in his youth called ‘Firecracker’. The full poem is ‘A pitiful small body, its center filled with dust. When the holidays come, it lights with a blue flame into the sky, a sound of thunder above thousands of heads.’
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Both brothers are so delusional, the audacity of men is “incredible”. One has already had the arranged marriage broken and is marrying her tong sister while the other one literally can’t tear his eyes away while his fiancée is literally there. The fact LXZ already knows his mother hates Lan Chi and will make trouble but doesn’t care is infuriating.
Ah these two, you gotta love their antics!
so, i know that LZY was relying on the fact that it was an unspoken mutually understood arranged marriage to not care about SLC at all, and since she was going to marry him anyway no matter what (in his opinion) he didn’t cherish her. his obsession makes a little sense to me. “what I thought was mine became someone else’s, and I’m pissy about it”, right? what does LXZ rely on? bc in the past life weren’t his legs abolished (or he was badly injured/disfigured, I forget which)? why is he acting the same way? they’re both acting like being the crown prince and ascending to become emperor is a sure thing, and by that time SLC will totally not have gotten married at all and will be prime imperial concubine choice #1. acting like no one would dare to propose marriage between now and then, or she wouldn’t run away and elope scandalously with some wastrel heir in 2 years.