The spring breeze was gentle in the boudoir of Miss Wei Linxia, daughter of Grand Tutor Huo Guowei. Two girls sat across a raised-head desk. One girl, with double braids, spoke enthusiastically: “…Sister Chenbi, you didn’t see it, that coral ornament was so beautiful, I’ve even dreamed about it.”
Sister Chenbi had an oval face with hanging curls and a parted hairstyle, her hair ends tied and resting over her shoulders. Though she appeared two years older, they were actually the same age, only six months apart.
Wei Linxia listened with a slight smile, her mind preoccupied with a book hidden beneath the desk. She had concealed it when Li Weiheng burst in, fearing her father would discover it wasn’t suitable for a girl to read.
“Sister Chenbi, I heard a prince from the capital is coming to our Huo State to apprentice with Uncle Wei. Young Master Zhaohuan is already disobedient. What if another disobedient prince arrives?” Li Weiheng said.
“He hasn’t even arrived yet; why worry unnecessarily,” Wei Linxia replied, more interested in the wandering prince in her book and the masters he might encounter.
Because Wei Linxia was usually taciturn, Li Weiheng continued excitedly imagining the important person from the capital. “Sister Chenbi, what do you think this prince will be like?”
Wei Linxia thought for a moment, picturing the prince from her book: “Probably very handsome, full of noble air, with grand ambitions, disdainful of power.”
“Yes, I bet he’ll be elegant and refined. Look how handsome Prince Zhao Huan is – the prince should be even more handsome,” Li Weiheng said.
Wei Linxia nodded. Who knows? Prince Xi Zhaoting was handsome, but his brothers could be quite ordinary.
At dinnertime, Wei Linxia met the Thirteenth Prince and was surprised he chose to stay at the Wei residence rather than the royal palace. She noticed he was frail, with a pale complexion, always sitting in a wheelchair. Apart from his refined young face, he was far from the noble prince described in books, though he had a slight resemblance and an aloof aura.
With a prince present, the dinner table was silent. Wei Linxia chewed on green vegetables and suddenly thought of the silkworms she had raised before, who also ate in a similar manner.
