Ch47 - We made a promise

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Editor: max

Proofreader: moji

Jian Mei didn’t expect Lu Xingwang to ask this and stammered to reply. “The Domineering President’s Pampered Runaway Little Wife.”

Lu Xingwang frowned. “What is a domineering president?”

This kind of word was very unfamiliar to an alien.

Jian Mei was flabbergasted by this sudden question. His mind blanked out and couldn’t come up with an answer, so he could only use his own understanding to explain. “Ahm…the domineering president is…a very rich man and owns a huge business.”

Lu Xingwang raised his brows. “This kind of person is very unique?”

“Yes and is also very attractive.” Jian Mei could only answer weakly.

Lu Xingwang already mastered how to deduce many things from one case. “You read this novel, do you also like a domineering president?”

Jian Mei never thought of this at all. “No, I’m just reading the novel for fun. But in reality, people who are rich and have successful careers are to be liked by most people anyway.”

Lu Xingwang fell into contemplation but still asked in the end. “How much money do you need to have to be rich?”

Jian Mei was stumped by this question.

At first, he was still sobbing because of the dramatic parts of the plot but now, the sad atmosphere was completely gone. He pursed his lips and mumbled to himself. “I’m not sure.”

Lu Xingwang’s lips curled up into a faint smile. “Hmm.”

Jian Mei was a little embarrassed and angry. “Are you teasing me ah?”

Lu Xingwang saw that he’d regained his vitality and was no longer as sad as before. He said, “What about you? Why do you have such doubts?”

Jian Mei asked. “What?”

“About, why do you think I don’t consider you as my friend?” Lu Xingwang pointed out the problem. “On what basis did you make such an assumption?”

Jian Mei was a child who couldn’t hide his thoughts. He said, “Because…Qingshan said that unless your situation changed, you’ll never make friends and even if it did, you’re just doing it for fun.”

Lu Xingwang raised his brows. “What about my situation?”

Jian Mei couldn’t say it.

Because Zuo Qingshan didn’t tell him all of the details, he just relied on his guesses for a lot of things.

Jian Mei softly said, “I don’t know.”

Lu Xingwang said to him, “If you weren’t sure, why didn’t you just ask me?”

Jian Mei didn’t refute him. He just lay on the bed and whispered to the microphone, “Because… I’m worried I’ll get an answer I don’t want to hear. If I don’t ask then we might still remain friends but if I ask, I’m afraid we won’t be anymore.”

This might be the first time ever during a conversation that this clumsy child had won against His Highness.

Lu Xingwang’s eyes darkened. The young man sitting by the table tapped his fingers lightly on the table— a bad habit which he’d only do when he was faced with a difficulty. At this moment, His Highness was obviously a bit distressed.

“Jian Mei.” Lu Xingwang said, “Some things aren’t as simple as you see on the surface. My situation is more complicated than you can imagine, so…”

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His words might have been a bit clumsy, but those words could soften people’s hearts when they heard them.

Lu Xingwang had never been a person who would easily show his emotions. However, after listening to Jian Mei’s words, he thought for a while and said, “Why do you think so?”

“You don’t need to do anything more for me, you’ve helped me a lot already.”

Jian Mei was stunned when he heard those words. He never expected to get such an acknowledgment and hesitantly said, “Is that true?”

Lu Xingwang said, “Have I ever lied to you before?”

“No.” Jian Mei shook his head. Warmth gradually spread in his heart and his eyes became brighter. He asked, “How did I help you then?”

Lu Xingwang said straight to the point, “You helped me in many ways.”

Some people really don’t need to do anything, they just need to stay the way they were. Just like starlight that illuminated a road for people and the sun that shined a light on all the dark corners. They didn’t need to do anything because they were already shining.

Jian Mei was happy. “Really?”

Lu Xingwang hummed in assent.

“We are… good friends, right?” Jian Mei finally asked.

Lu Xingwang didn’t answer immediately. Due to his personality and status, he took everything around him very seriously. As Zuo Qingshan said, he didn’t have any friends by his side and he didn’t even have any relatives now. Anyone who would stay by his side had been approved by him after careful deliberations.

He was a person who would invest a lot of his time and effort in someone he approved of. He would give up things in order to fulfill his mother’s request and live up to his father’s expectations. There were very few important people in his life and there were almost none left now. Based on his personality, if he knew the whereabouts of his divine power, he might use all means necessary to retrieve it at all costs. He’d never been a soft-hearted person after all.

But Lu Xingwang didn’t do anything this time because he didn’t want to hurt Jian Mei. Even if the price was to hurt Lu Xingwang himself or even face death.

Lu Xingwang hummed in assent and said, “We’re good friends.”

Jian Mei was relieved and smiled. He didn’t know about these things yet, so he said with anticipation, “That’s great, I’m so happy. We’ll be good friends for a lifetime.”

A lifetime?

A lifetime was very long and a lot of things could happen. Would anyone really be willing to make such a promise?

Lu Xingwang had always been a rational person and didn’t believe in such a fickle promise. But at this moment, he replied, “Okay.”

Perhaps many people knew that the risk of a lifetime was too great. They couldn’t reach a lifetime, but they still had hope and wanted to use promises to give each other beautiful dreams. In the first half of his life, Lu Xingwang would have thought that this was ridiculous but now he was deeply invested in it and understood it a bit. In life, if the road ahead was too long and difficult, it’d be good to be able tolive happily with no thoughts for the future.

Half a month later

It was Stan Star’s annual event, Harvest Festival. This was one of the grandest days on Stan Star every year and its importance was comparable to that of China’s Spring Festival. On this day, the emperor would bring his sons to worship the gods and their ancestors. At night it’d be bustling with joy and excitement as they held a feast to celebrate this National Day. The income this year was good so the banquet was particularly lively.

On this day, the ministers could also bring their families inside the palace. The imperial palace was known as a place where divine energy gathered— the very reason why it had always been a utopia in many Stan Star people’s fantasies. Therefore, many women and children had cheerful smiles on their faces in the large square.

Lu Xingwang sat on a chair next to the garden to eat. From time to time, the sound of frolicking could be heard from not far away.

“Mom, mom, that looks really delicious.”

“Slow down so as not to fall.”

“When are we going home today, Mom?”

The scene of a mother with her child and their father leading the whole family looked warm and harmonious.

A child walked nearby and saw a young man wearing a mask and luxurious clothes sitting there. He walked ahead towards the young man and said, “Gege, why are you wearing a mask on your face?”

Lu Xingwang glanced at him and said unenthusiastically, “Because I look ugly.”

“ButGege, you’re very good-looking.” The child looked at Lu Xingwang’s handsome face and smiled. “You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”

Lu Xingwang said, “Really?”

The child nodded and was just about to say something else when he was grabbed by his mother, who came from behind him. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw her child with the rumored third prince from afar. She hurriedly came over, grabbed the child’s wrist, and smiled. “Pardon me, Your Highness. Don’t mind the child, he doesn’t understand anything.”

Lu Xingwang shook his head. “It’s okay.”

The mother dragged her child and left hurriedly. The banquet was still bustling with noise and excitement but the young man wasn’t infected by this at all. The livelier the surroundings were, the lonelier Lu Xingwang felt. He didn’t belong to those flashing fireworks and intimate words. On this day last year, his mother dragged him around to make connections with the cabinet ministers but for this year, he was the only one left alone.

The eldest crown prince’s voice came from nearby. “Third Brother, why are you sitting here? Why don’t we go to the center?”

Lu Xingwang swept a glance at him and saw malice in the crown prince’s eyes. He placed the glass of fruit wine he was holding down and said unenthusiastically, “No, I’m past the age of playing around. Elder brother, you can go if you want to play.”

The crown prince stiffened and the annoying smile on his face quickly disappeared.

“Third Brother, you’re still as reclusive as before.” The crown prince suppressed his anger and walked over. “But it doesn’t matter. Empress mother personally madedanguothis year and emperor father will sleep at Jingyang Palace tonight. It just so happens that mother made a lot, why don’t you come to our Jingyang Palace to eat together later?”

This was Stan Star’s tradition. Eating adanguowith your loved ones in the early morning of this holiday signified a new beginning for the coming year.

In the previous years, even if the emperor didn’t come to their palace, Lu Xingwang could still eat it with Imperial Concubine Lan. But this year, everyone seemed to have a home they could return to while he was all alone. The crown prince took advantage of this and poke people’s sore spots.

Lu Xingwang put down the wine glass. He had no expression on his face and said unenthusiastically, “I’m already full. If you can still eat tonight, you can eat more in my stead then.”

Wasn’t Lu Xingwang implying that he was a good-for-nothing?

The crown prince’s facial expression changed and laughed out in anger. “Third Brother, your body is indeed quite weak since you’re already full with so little. It’s better for you to go back early in the evening and recuperate well.”

“Thank you very much for your concern, Eldest Brother.” Lu Xingwang raised his brows at him. “Overeating is harmful to the body. Take care of your body more, Eldest Brother.”

Lu Wei felt that he’d get ten years of stroke if he continued to talk to Lu Xingwang more. Since he was young, he couldn’t talk back to Lu Xingwang. At this moment, he didn’t want to embarrass himself anymore by doing something stupid and so he left.

After Lu Wei left, Lu Xingwang also stood up to leave. He went to this banquet just for formality and he also felt a little tired so he went back to his palace residence. Today was New Year, so he allowed the highest-ranked palace maidservant, Aruo to return to her home to visit her parents. The other lower-ranked palace maidservants also took this opportunity to go to the banquet to have some fun. Therefore at this time, there were only a few lights on in his palace which made it a little quiet and desolate.

Lu Xingwang stood silently at the entrance of his palace for a while. His gaze was gloomy and the light behind him stretched his silhouette. From where the young man was standing, there was a bright light coming from the square not far away and in front of him was an empty and lonely palace. Perhaps, everything was arranged. He had to get used to being alone, after all, no one would stay with him forever.

Ding-dong.

A message ring tone sounded, attracting Lu Xingwang’s attention.

When he opened the message, he saw it was from Jian Mei. “Are you asleep?”

Lu Xingwang walked to the bed and sat down. He opened a mechanical box and started assembling the gun. This was a mini-game he’d usually play when he was feeling on edge. It took him a while to reply. [No.]

Jian Mei replied: [That’s great, I’ll transfer something to you.]

Lu Xingwang was a little surprised, but he still accepted the request.

After a while, a plate of steaming dumplings appeared on the table. Some of the dumplings were very round and cute looking while some were oddly shaped into some kind of gold ingots, they looked ugly. The dumplings had a light fragrance and looked freshly cooked.

Lu Xingwang asked, [What is this?]

[It’s dumplings.] Jian Mei voice called him, sounding excited. “We’re celebrating New Year’s Eve here. We just made these tonight. Can you tell which one I made?”

Lu Xingwang glanced at the ugly ones and said, “I can probably tell.”

Jian Mei giggled and said, [Oh, some of them have coins inside. If you eat those, you’ll have good fortune next year. So annoying that I didn’t get to eat any of them!”

Lu Xingwang was originally in a bad mood, but when he heard Jian Mei’s description, he unconsciously relaxed a little.

“Oh, that’s right. Wait a minute!” It seemed Jian Mei trotted all the way downstairs and switched the call to video mode. Lu Xingwang saw a very cozy yard in the video and two people standing not far away. One of them saw him coming and complained a bit about why he was so slow, Jian Mei said that they could start now.

Then, a bunch of sparks lit up in the silent night. The fireworks that were originally on the ground soared high into the sky and exploded into gorgeous fireworks.

Jian Mei exclaimed. “Wow!”

The bursting fireworks looked very beautiful but in the end, it was still slightly lacking compared to the fire phoenixes flauntingly flying in the sky around the palace and the beautiful phantom controlled by the illusionist priests.

Jian Mei said to Lu Xingwang, “I secretly took two firecracker sticks.”

Lu Xingwang saw Jian Mei put his phone aside, then he lit a red firecracker stick with a lighter. Soon after, colorful little fireworks lit up in the sparkler stick Jian Mei was holding. He held it and spun it around which looked very splendid in the dark night. The light reflected on the teenager’s fair face. He looked sideways and smiled at the camera. “Does it look good?”

Lu Xingwang didn’t shift his gaze from the screen. He watched for a while before replying. There was faint joy contained in his voice. “It looks good.”

“I think so too!” Jian Mei was very happy. He introduced various firecrackers to Lu Xingwang and also took him to the kitchen to get a few pieces of fried pork skewer. Just like a child always sharing delicious food from home with his friends, secretly stuffing it for Lu Xingwang to eat.

When the clock struck at 12 midnight, more fireworks were set off outside the window.

Jian Mei turned his face to the side and said to the person on the other side of the camera. “Happy New Year!”

He didn’t ask Lu Xingwang why he wasn’t with his family from the start till the end. He also didn’t ask why Lu Xingwang didn’t sleep early today, nor did he ask why Lu Xingwang’s voice sounded a bit down today. He just kept talking to Lu Xingwang, his chitchats drove the loneliness away.

Lu Xingwang said, “Happy New Year.”

“Wow, this is the first New Year we’ve spent together.” Jian Mei stood by the bed, looked at the fireworks outside, and said softly, “Dazhuang-ge, thank you for being with me this year. You’re now my best friend, so will you also be there in the next New Years to come?”

On the other end of the call, His Highness picked up a dumpling.

Cough.

There was a faint sound— he bit into a coin. The one that Jian Mei mentioned about eating would give him good fortune next year.

Lu Xingwang helplessly spitted it out. The liveliness nearby his palace residence gradually subsided as people left. The bustling facade of the palace gradually recovered its usual desolateness. Meanwhile, it was still lively on Jian Mei’s side. Splendid fireworks could be seen through the screen. When the excitement died down, the child remained standing there, staying by his side.

Lu Xingwang hummed in response. Every promise he made to this young man would be blessed by the gods which were now engraved in his life and could never be broken. He said, “If there are no mishaps, I’ll be there.”

Jian Mei smiled. “So it’s a promise?”

“I promise.”

The author has something to say:

The timeline will speed up after this!

I might have to use time skip!!!

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!