Green Mountain
Chapter 123 - 90, The Apricot Tree Is Red_3

Chapter 123: 90, The Apricot Tree Is Red_3

She had written another strip of red cloth alone, and brought a ladder to hang it at the highest point of the apricot tree.

Chen Ji saw her clumsily moving the ladder and kindly offered, "Commandery Princess, shall I hang it for you?"

Bai Li hastily responded, "No, I want to hang it myself!"

Not only that, she wrapped the cloth strip around the branch several times, and from the base of the tree, it was completely unclear what was written.

Bai Li slowly descended the ladder and greeted everyone with a smile, "Why don’t you all write something too."

Everyone looked at each other, "Write what?"

Bai Li’s eyes curved into a smile, "Just write your own wishes!"

Liu Quxing announced, "I know what to write!"

But when he picked up the brush and dipped it in ink, he wrote ’May my master enjoy health and longevity.’ She Dengke cursed him as a sycophant and then wrote, ’May my master live forever.’

Liang Gou’er wrote about having wine every day, and Liang Mao’er wished for a few acres of good land.

The Princely Heir hesitated for a moment and, like Bai Li, secretly wrote a strip and wrapped it around the highest part of the apricot tree, not allowing anyone to see.

After climbing down from the ladder, he looked towards Bald, "Little Monk, what is your wish?"

The little monk was slightly embarrassed, "I cannot make casual wishes, as fulfilling great vows is closely related to my cultivation."

"That’s fine; you don’t have to write."

The red cloth strips hung from the branches of the apricot tree, resembling blossoms of red flowers.

The courtyard, occupied by a group of grown men, suddenly acquired a touch of gentle grace.

Bai Li stood in front of the apricot tree with her hands clasped behind her back, her head tilted upward, a smile brimming as she admired her masterpiece.

She turned to look at Chen Ji, "Chen Ji, what do you plan to write? You haven’t written yet."

Chen Ji thought for a moment, picked up a brush, and Bai Li leaned over to peek, only to see that the youth simply wrote ’Togetherness.’

Bai Li muttered softly, "I thought you might write something like ’thousands of gold,’ do you really look forward to reuniting with your family? But those family members of yours..."

Chen Ji just smiled and gave no explanation; his ’Togetherness’ didn’t refer to his family.

Bai Li looked at the red cloth strips on the branches, her expression serene, "Sometimes I envy the lives of ordinary people. I know it might seem ungrateful given my status, but I still wish my home could be warmer, and have more days of togetherness."

Hearing this, Chen Ji tentatively said, "I heard that Lady Consort Yun gives the Commandery Princess a lot of monthly salary, even more than what the Princely Heir has, so why do you say that?"

Bai Li laughed lightly, "Well, as a girl, as long as I grow up well in the eyes of my parents, I don’t need to be too educated, just able to marry according to their wishes. My parents are not so strict with me, they are naturally more indulgent. My mother has always wanted another younger brother; you see, as soon as my father returned to the mansion, she immediately had people clean the entire Anxi Street and even distributed Yanmen dates to all the neighbors."

Chen Ji was taken aback, realizing that distributing Yanmen dates had a symbolic meaning, just not too explicitly so they hadn’t given the neighbors peanuts, longans, and lotus seeds...

He suddenly asked, "Commandery Princess, about that persimmon tree in the Feiyun Garden..."

Bai Li answered with a smile, "My mother originally wanted to chop it down and replace it with a pomegranate tree, but I stopped her. I think persimmons look better than pomegranates."

"So why leave the persimmons on the branches and not pluck them?"

"We need to leave some food for the magpies to survive the winter."

"So, it’s your kindness..."

Chen Ji felt a cold chill spreading from his spine to his neck. The Yanmen dates symbolizing the hope for a son, the pomegranate tree representing fertility, Consort Yun’s aspiration to have a son was almost out in the open.

But having a son, could he inherit Prince Jing’s title? No, there was still a legitimate Princely Heir ahead, unless the Princely Heir died in the inner prison!

At this moment, Chen Ji’s conjecture formed a reasonable chain of logic, Consort Yun hoping for the Princely Heir to die in the inner prison, and whether Bai Li would be implicated, she simply didn’t care...

Or perhaps, Consort Yun’s original intention was to also send Bai Li to the inner prison, thus no one would suspect her anymore.

Chen Ji looked at Bai Li with a complex expression, wanting to warn her but not knowing where to begin.

Ahead was Liu Mingxian, who had personally killed his own grandfather, and behind was Consort Yun, a malicious child consumer. Compared to those two, Chen Ji suddenly felt that his father from the Chen Mansion, who had just sent him to Taiping Medical Hall as an apprentice, seemed somewhat kinder.

Such were the times.

Chen Ji softly said, "Commandery Princess."

"Hmm?"

"Your kindness will be rewarded."

"Is that so? I think so too! Let’s go, I need to wash off the dust when I get back. See you in the morning!"

"See you in the morning, tomorrow we’ll call some helpers from the city to help fix the kiln."

Chen Ji looked up as Bai Li climbed over the courtyard wall and disappeared into the night. He turned back to look at the gentle and graceful apricot tree, remaining silent for a long while.

At one moment, he was tempted to unwrap the red cloth strips at the highest location to see what the Princely Heir and Bai Li had written as their wishes, but felt it improper to pry into others’ privacy and merely chuckled, letting it go.