Chapter 298 - 298 Lantern

298 Lantern

After coming out of Zhou Ningqian’s room, Lin Suisui saw Lu Ze standing at the entrance of the courtyard. Although the snow had stopped, she could still feel the bone-chilling coldness as she stood in the courtyard.

Ignoring Bai Guo, who handed her a cloak, Lin Suisui hurriedly took two steps forward. In a few steps, she arrived in front of Lu Ze and looked at him unhappily as she said, “It’s so cold. Why are you here?”

“I just returned. I heard that you were here to see Zhou Ningqian, so I came to pick you up.” After Lu Ze reached out and took the cloak that Bai Guo had sent over, he unfolded it and put it on Lin Suisui before answering, “I heard that the people from Marquis Beining’s ministry came today?”

“Yes.” Lin Suisui nodded. As she walked back with Lu Ze, she told Lu Ze everything that had happened.

!!

“Madam Beining is weak and selfish, so no wonder Zhou Ningqian is so disheartened and doesn’t want to return to Marquis Beining’s ministry.”

“By the way, you’ve been so busy recently, so why are you back so early today?” After Lin Suisui walked for a while, she turned to look at Lu Ze, as if she thought of something.

“The fourth prince has already returned to Cloud Mountain City and will be arranged to be in Duke Huai Yang’s ministry.” Lu Ze explained to Lin Suisui in a low voice, “Everything that needs to be arranged has been settled, so I came back early.”

No matter what, he still had to keep up appearances. In addition, he still had some finishing touches to arrange, so he had been very busy these past few days.

Fortunately, things were finished before last night, so he was finally free to accompany her.

No matter how many things had happened recently, the annual lantern festival was still a festive day for Cloud Mountain City.

The vendors and merchants along the street used this festive night to make a killing. Today was a rare day for the young masters and women of the various families to get rid of the red tape and come out to have fun.

Lin Suisui had mentioned to Lu Ze last night that she was participating in the lantern festival tonight.

Lu Ze had expressed that he wanted to accompany her. However, Lin Suisui didn’t think too much about it. After all, Lu Ze had come from the capital like her and wasn’t familiar with the customs of the north. It was already good enough that he could accompany her. She couldn’t be too picky.

However, to Lin Suisui’s surprise, the next night, when she was about to leave after dinner, Lu Ze handed her a double carp lantern.

“I made it in a hurry this time. I’ll make something better for you next time.” Seeing Lin Suisui’s surprised expression, Lu Ze raised his hand to cover his mouth and coughed as he explained a little awkwardly.

“You made it yourself?” After hearing Lu Ze’s explanation, Lin Suisui’s eyes lit up. She didn’t expect to receive such a surprise before she left.

Actually, on closer inspection, this lantern wasn’t perfect, but to Lin Suisui, it was much more to her liking than those beautiful palace lanterns outside.

“Yes.” Lu Ze nodded.

“I like it.” Lin Suisui nodded repeatedly and reached out to tug at Lu Ze’s sleeve. “It’s so beautiful. How can I not like it?!”

Lin Suisui wasn’t being perfunctory. She was telling the truth. She was very careful as she walked in the bustling crowd with the lantern in her hand, for fear that the lamp in her hand would be damaged.

“Don’t worry. If it’s broken, I’ll make a new one for you when I get back.” As Lu Ze protected Lin Suisui by his side, he could sense her nervousness and couldn’t help but advise her with a smile, “Hurry up. Although there won’t a bunch of lanterns here like in the capital, the custom is similar to that of the capital.”

Lin Suisui and Lu Ze didn’t bring many guards with them this time. Even Su Qi, Su Le, and the others were a distance away.

The crowded streets were not suitable for carriages, so almost everyone who came to admire the lights on the streets tonight walked.

The bone-chilling cold in the north was dispelled by the lantern lights and actually made people feel a hint of warmth on the cold streets.

Lin Suisui wasn’t surprised to see Pei Qian at the lantern show. However, she didn’t expect him to accompany the fourth prince here.

“Madam Liu, long time no see.” The fourth prince didn’t even look at Lu Ze, who was beside Lin Suisui. His attention was focused on Lin Suisui.

He nodded slightly at Lin Suisui. Actually, even he was a little puzzled as to why he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with this woman who he had just met.

“I didn’t expect to meet you here. What a coincidence.”

“Your Highness, you must be joking. Cloud Mountain City is not that big and every year, there are only one or two streets where the lantern festival is held. Since everyone is here to admire the lanterns, it’s not strange for us to bump into each other.”

Lin Suisui was very disgusted by the fourth prince’s attention and even regretted drugging him so lightly back then that he had the time to wander around.

“Your Highness, I think we shouldn’t disturb Gu Erlang and Madam Liu. There’s still a lot of fun things up ahead, so why don’t we go over and take a look?”

The fourth prince ignored Pei Qian, but Pei Qian felt that if he didn’t think of a way to drag the fourth prince away, Lu Ze might really kill the person in front of him the next moment.

However, even if Pei Qian was already doing his best to protect him, no one could stop him from causing trouble.

As expected, the fourth prince didn’t respond to Pei Qian’s suggestion at all. Instead, he walked towards Lin Suisui and handed a lotus lantern to her. “This is for you.”

“Thank you for your kindness, but my husband has already given me a lantern, so you should give this one to someone else!”

Then, Lin Suisui retreated behind Lu Ze and bowed to the fourth prince politely.

“Madam Liu, it’s just a lantern. I can give you anything you want!” The fourth prince looked at Lu Ze, who was blocking Lin Suisui, in disdain. “Besides, do you really think he can protect you?”