After they walked through Qian Temple's back gate, there was a small descending path. There were brambles on both sides of the path and only the center of the path was safe for walking. Fortunately, this path was rather flat and wasn't too narrow. The path would be able to accommodate two people if they were walking shoulder to shoulder.
Wei Luo walked closed to Liang Yu Rong the entire way and wouldn't let her come in contact with Wei Chang Yin. Fortunately, Liang Yu Rong didn't have the slightest suspicion and their stroll could be counted as smooth.
About an hour later, their horizon widened. Not far away, there was a grove of trees with blossoming peach flowers. The light pink petals were gorgeous. At first glance, the scene resembled a painted scroll that was painted in thick ink and bright colors. As they approached and entered the peach tree grove, flower petals continuously fluttered down. Blown by the wind, the flower petals spiraled in front of them and they were hit by the fragrance of the flowers.
A flower petal fell onto Wei Luo's head. Chang Hong lifted his hand to pick it off. As he looked at her, he asked, "Ah Luo, are you not feeling well?"
Her face didn't look good. Her lips were pale and it seemed as if she was enduring an enormous pain.
Indeed, Wei Luo really wasn't feeling well. She had overestimated herself. Today was the first day of her period and her body was very weak. She had already climbed such a long mountain path this morning, then she used up a lot of energy to walk down to here. She was exhausted and her stomach hurt dreadfully. She whimpered and had Jin Lu support her with walking to the small pavilion in front of them. "I'm slightly tired... I'm going to sit here to rest for a bit."
But she didn't look like she was only "slightly tired". She sat down on the stone bench inside the pavilion. Her head was drooping and she looked unhappy.
Wei Chang Hong nervously followed her here and asked, "Are you really only slightly tired? You're not feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"
She nodded, closed her eyes, and muttered, "Really... Go look for eldest cousin to play with. I'll be fine after resting here for a bit."
Wei Chang Hong frowned. He wasn't willing to leave. "You're not feeling well. I'll stay here to keep you company."
It would be too shameful to tell him about such a private thing. Wei Luo firmly pushed him out. Wei Chang Hong didn't have any other options. He could only shake his head to show that he didn’t like this idea before leaving.
After she was the only left in the pavilion, Jin Lu attentively asked, "Miss, this servant has brought ginger tea. Do you want to drink a cup of tea to feel warmer? It's chillier on mountains. Or is it hurting because of the cold air?"
Seeing that she didn't object, Jin Lu carried over a food box decorated with red, autumn plum flowers, opened the box, took out the warm tea from inside, poured it into a rose patterned tea cup, and brought it over to her. "It's still warm. Miss, drink it while it's still warm."
At this time, Wei Luo couldn't think of any reasons for her to leave when they had just recently arrived here. As soon as she thought about how she would have to walk uphill if she wanted to go back, she felt that life was meaningless. She took the teacup and slowly sipped the tea until it was finished. In the end, she leaned over the table. One hand covered her stomach and the other hand cushioned her head. She closed her eyes to recuperate until she regained her composure.
During this period, Liang Yu Rong had also come here twice to look at her. Seeing that she was in a poor condition, Liang Yu Rong didn't bother her. No one could help with this type of thing. Early this year, Liang Yu Rong also had her first period. One time, she didn't pay attention to the cold weather and also felt this painful. She really empathized with Wei Luo's pain.
Wei Luo's body gradually became warmer from drinking the ginger tea. Her pain was somewhat alleviated and it didn't hurt as much as when it first started. With her eyes closed, she thought about resting here for a while before leaving. Suddenly, there was a warm hand on her forehead checking her temperature.
That slender hand was strong and healthy. She immediately knew it was a man's hand. She thought it was Chang Hong's hand, so she quietly whimpered and buried her head in the crook of the man's arm. She softly and weakly said, "Chang Hong, don't move... I don't feel well."
The hand paused in mid-air. Shortly after, instead of taking back his hand, he touched and rubbed her ear and said in soothing and sweet tone, "What's wrong? Little one, is your body feeling uncomfortable?"
This voice…
She looked up and saw a pair of eyes that seemed to be smiling. It was really Zhao Jie! She asked in surprise, "Big brother, why did you come here too? When did you get here?"
Zhao Jie very naturally sat down next to her, rested his chin on his hand, and said, "Didn't you say there was a peach tree grove behind the temple and the blossoming peach flowers were beautiful? By chance, this prince wasn't busy and came here to see them."
She honestly blurted out, "Oh, I forgot."
Her condition wasn't good today and her mind wasn't thinking fast. It was normal that she didn’t immediately remember her previous words.
Zhao Jie raised his eyebrows, thought of Wei Luo's wilted and drowsy appearance when he first came here, thoughtfully looked at her, and asked again, "Are you not feeling well?"
Wei Luo pursed her lips. Her tender cheeks became slightly red. She didn't want to tell him. After all, it wasn't easy to speak about this type of truth, so she quickly thought of an excuse, "I was too tired from walking down, so I came here to rest for a while."
Zhao Jie's dark eyes captured the shyness that flashed over her face and thought of the red smear he had seen on her skirt this morning. He could guess what was wrong and only calmly curved his lips. There were many things that women found embarrassing to mention. He wouldn't force her to talk about this issue.
No far away, Liang Yu Rong was pushing Wei Chang Yin's wheelchair and walking underneath the peach trees. The wheelchair rolled over the ground that was sprinkled with flower petals and embedded the flowers into the soil so that even the soil became fragrant. Wei Chang Hong was walking behind them. He wasn't good at conversations, so he didn't say much and only quietly followed them.
Wei Luo looked at them. Just as she was about to say good-bye to Zhao Jie, she heard him say, "Ah Luo, if you're not feeling well, I'll bring you back to Qian Temple."
Wei Luo subconsciously wanted to refuse. How could she leave behind Chang Hong and Liang Yu Rong? They said they would look at the peach blossoms together. How could she go back by herself?
But, in the next moment, Zhu Geng appeared out of nowhere with a jujube red horse. Zhao Jie took the reins from him, then he turned his head towards her and said, "This is the prince's personal horse. You can use him to go up the mountain."
“…”
To be honest, Wei Luo really wanted to accept.
If she weren’t riding a horse, then she would have to walk back up to Qian Temple. It was such a long mountain path. With her current strength, she definitely wouldn't be able to walk back.
While she was sitting there and struggling with this dilemma, before she had time to decide, Zhao Jie came forward and lifted her up onto the horse by holding her by her waist. He held back his smile and said, "This prince will have Zhu Geng tell them. They'll understand."
Wei Luo grabbed the horse's mane, held herself up, pursed her lips, and finally nodded.
Zhao Jie didn't let Jin Lu follow them. He walked in front of the horse and personally held the reins and left the pavilion area with her.
Sitting on this horse, she was able to see the peach tree grove's entire scenery at this height. The fluttering peach flower petals fell on Wei Luo's body. She looked forward to watch Zhao Jie's back. She tilted her head and unwittingly sunk into soul-searching thoughts. His shoulders were broad and his back was straight. He clearly had a noble status and a highborn temperament, but against expectations, he was willing to lead a horse for her.
They walked deeper and deeper. She already couldn't see the pavilion behind them. The peach flowers above her were in full bloom. The fragrance of the flowers assailed her nose with each breath.
She felt that something seemed off and she called out, "Big brother."
Zhao Jie turned around. His voice was magnetically attractive as he said, "Hmm?"
She asked, "Aren't we going back? This path doesn't seem right?”
Zhao Jie smiled and explained, "This is a shortcut. After we leave the peach tree grove, we’ll see a hot spring. That’s where we’ll start walking up the mountain.
She made a noise of comprehension. She was pleasantly surprised from hearing the two words "hot spring". She had soaked in hot baths before, but she had never seen a natural hot spring. She didn't know what it would look like and was immediately full of curiosity.