Princess Too Young, Prince Too Old Chapter 3: Young Prince Iii

Proofread by Claire.KK

He even couldn't believe it was true. Feeling great pain and sorrow in his heart, Lu Zhishan got too shameful to take a second look at his aunt. He could only gazed at the small girl beside his feet.

The small girl was not afraid to the stranger in front her at all. The noise in the room didn't make her feel scared either. She touched Lu Zhishan's boots with one hand and used the other to catch the true-love knot on his waist. She was a small girl but she was not weak at all. Lu Zhishan took a few steps backwards but she just kept grasping the knot tightly. Lu Zhishan was afraid that she would fall down and get hurt, so he stopped moving until a servant came to take their little princess away. The little girl suddenly burst into tears, which attracted all people's attention. Lu Minglan cast a glance at the young man's face. She got stunned as soon as she saw him. Then tears came out from her eyes. She quickly lowered her head and took her little daughter from the servant.

That night Lu Zhishan met Lu Minglan in her sleeping chamber.

Lu Zhishan looked around the sleeping chamber. It was even smaller than those servants' room in his mansion. But now in the small room lived his aunt and her kids. It looked really crowded. For a long time he remained silent and finally he found a stool to sit down.

Lu Minglan took half a tank tea and made a cup of tea for Lu Zhishan with a big cup. Her eyes looked wet, and Lu Zhishan was not so sure whether it was really caused by the steam of the hot water. Lu Minglan rubbed her hands embarra.s.sedly and brought the tea to him saying, "There was only old tea left. I brought it here from Dali. My prince, please don't mind it."

Lu Zhishan took the cup of tea. The smelly smell of the tea was so pungent but he still gulped down half of the tea. The teleaves make his throat painful. He then put the cup on the table with great strength.

He knew that the group of people who were sent to present gifts carried twenty bottles of Biluochun, one of the most famous tea of their country, dozens of silk fabrics as well as scores of teacup sets. What was more, there were also precious pearl and gemstone jewelry, and cosmetics which were specially prepared for his aunt. During the day time the king and the first lady enjoyed the finest tea which was picked before the pure brightness with the superior blue-and-white porcelain cups. All those cups came from their imperial kiln but as the true member of Lu family, his aunt had no chance to use them at all. She was even cheris.h.i.+ng the tea that she brought here four years ago and using such rough tea cups.

Sorrow filled Lu Zhishan's eyes and he even felt like coa.r.s.e sand was rolling in his heart. He gritted his teeth for fear that he would express his feeling and forget himself in front of Lu Minglan.

"How are your father, your grandmother and your brothers? Are they all right?" asked Lu Minglan as carefully as she could. With these words, tears began to appear in Lu Minglan's dark eyes. "Though I'm in Northern Di now, I can't stop missing our own country. I kowtow to the south every morning and dusk," she added.

Lu Zhishan didn't respond her immediately. After a while, he then uttered in a low voice, "Why do you concern about them so much. You know clearly there were so many servants who were waiting to serve them. They enjoyed delicious meals every day. How could they live bad lives?"

Lu Minglan was left speechless by those words. She had no idea what Lu Zhishan really meant. "Dali is my homeland so I will definitely miss it. I was raised up by empress dowager. Both emperor and empress dowager treated me so well..."

"Treating you well?" Lu Zhishan burst into laughing. He looked at the table on which oil stains could be seen. Then he averted his eyes to the candlelight which was covered with white smoke and the messy felts on the ground. Then he felt more uncomfortable in his throat.

Lu Minglan fell into silence for a while and then uttered, "Prince, you are so n.o.ble. You really shouldn't take the risk to come here yourself. Fortunately, no one know your true ident.i.ty. Otherwise, even I'm killed, I will not be able to afford..."