Not asking for eternal vows from you, only wishing to spend the seasons together.
Shen Xihe’s heart stirred slightly. She had to admit that Xiao Huayong truly understood how to touch one’s heart. He had evolved from his initial intense directness to the current gentle warmth, knowing she disliked and distrusted those eternal vows, so he adapted to match her preferences.
“Your Highness’s sincerity, I can feel it,” Shen Xihe didn’t avoid it. Her soft, pale hand picked up the golden hairpin, removed a flower pin from her hair and moved to insert the golden one into her bun.
Just as her wrist lifted, a broad palm cut through the candlelight and stopped her.
Shen Xihe paused, then withdrew her hand, giving the golden hairpin to Xiao Huayong. His lips curved up, his eyes filled with tender affection as he gently but firmly inserted the golden hairpin into her black cloud-like hair.
The candlelight flickered, casting their shadows on the wall – her seated figure and his standing behind her, their silhouettes merging in intimate closeness.
After securing the hairpin for Shen Xihe, Xiao Huayong crouched beside her, holding her hand that rested lightly on her lap: “Youyou, thank you for agreeing to marry me.”
His heart, as far as he could remember in twenty years, had never surged like this, causing him to tighten his grip on her hand.
Shen Xihe instinctively tried to withdraw her hand, but neither pulled away completely nor continued struggling. She would have to adapt eventually: “Your Highness, I will be a good wife to you, a good Crown Princess, but I still harbor no romantic feelings for you.”
Xiao Huayong’s excitement and joy were clear in her eyes. She wasn’t trying to dampen his spirits, but some things needed to be said clearly. Otherwise, letting him misunderstand that she had feelings for him, only to later find in their daily interactions that she showed no such affection, might lead him to resent her, thinking she had been ambiguous and misled him.
Gu Qingzhi and Xiao Changqin were exactly like this. Gu Qingzhi had always thought that by maintaining a proper, cold, and distant demeanor, Xiao Changqin would understand she had no romantic feelings for him. But her presumption and unwillingness to speak had allowed Xiao Changqin to develop self-deceptive hopes.
As long as she hadn’t explicitly said it, he would assume she had feelings for him, thus becoming increasingly unclear and obsessed, sometimes unable to distinguish whether his wife truly had affection for him or not, which led him to become crazy and tormented in his suffering.
Although saying it clearly now would disappoint Xiao Huayong and spoil the pleasant atmosphere, not loving was simply not loving. She couldn’t just be ambiguous because the person before her was excellent and she didn’t want to hurt him, leading him to have misconceptions that would cause more pain later.
If Xiao Huayong said he wasn’t disappointed at all, that would be self-deception, but his disappointment vanished in an instant. He remained joyful, gripping her hand tighter: “Youyou, thank you for being so honest. In the future, you must also tell me clearly, including the day when you develop feelings for me – I hope you can tell me frankly then.”
Shen Xihe was silent for a moment before nodding: “I will.”
Perhaps in this lifetime, Shen Xihe would never forget Xiao Huayong’s joy at that moment – like a spring breeze causing flowers to bloom across the city, like fireworks bursting with brilliant light, like falling stars filling the sky with their radiance.
Such a heart-captivating smile infected even Shen Xihe, making her lips curl upward involuntarily.
Her smile was as gentle as her elegant personality, nearly making Xiao Huayong unable to resist pulling her into his embrace. His fingertips twitched, but he still used his powerful self-control to stop himself.
It wasn’t time yet, he couldn’t rush things. What should be his would come one day.
He took Shen Xihe’s hand and led her to the window. Looking out, they saw brilliant lanterns and clustered candlelight, a dazzling sight.
Shen Xihe tried to pull her hand away, but at that moment, exclamations erupted outside. Xiao Huayong pointed out the window: “Look quickly.”
A massive lantern tree rose, instantly illuminated. The lights spread, dimming the bright moon. The enormous lantern tree stood like a lighthouse, towering above all else when viewed from afar.
At the top of the lantern tree was a shadow lamp. Inside the lamp was a candle, and when lit, the lamp face would rotate. The lamp depicted a man and woman who seemed to come alive like shadow puppets as it turned – their meeting, the man falling for the woman, him giving her a golden hairpin, their marriage, their harmonious life together.
From young newlyweds to a happy family of three in middle age, then to support each other in their later years, to holding hands in their twilight years.
Though there were less than ten scenes, they conveyed a lifetime of devotion.
The Lantern Festival traditionally included customs of expressing affection, and this unique way of using shadow lamps to express the beauty of lifelong partnership attracted the attention of the entire city. Everyone discussed with great interest, wondering which young man had gone to such lengths for his lady.
Some sensitive young ladies watched with tears in their eyes, while world-weary middle-aged women looked on with both envy and melancholy.
“Your Highness…” Shen Xihe turned to look at Xiao Huayong.
“This is my plan and hope for our lifetime together. I let the city’s people be witnesses. After our wedding, I will release the news, letting them know this was what I did for you. As the Crown Prince, I am the people’s role model and must keep my promises.”
Xiao Huayong gripped Shen Xihe’s hand more firmly, his ink-black pupils gazing deeply at her: “I make my vow to you before all under heaven as witness, letting them see if their Crown Prince is a man who keeps his word and values his promises like gold.”
If they were already officially betrothed, he would want everyone to know this was done for her, making her the most envied woman in the world. He wanted to give her everything any woman in this world could imagine.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t yet received official imperial approval for their marriage, and such a display would affect her reputation.
He could only wait until after their wedding to release this news.
The patterns on the shadow lamp were drawn by his hand. Though just a few strokes, they captured their essence, but few people had seen them, and from a distance, only the outlines of a man and woman were visible.
Faced with such wholehearted devotion from Xiao Huayong, Shen Xihe didn’t know how to respond.
Was she moved?
Of course.
She was flesh and blood, a living person – how could she not feel a moment of joy and emotion?
But this feeling passed like a shooting star, crossing the night sky, leaving behind brilliant memories, yet impossible to find again in the vast dusk.
“Youyou, no need for words. I only hope my actions don’t become a burden to you,” Xiao Huayong said softly.
“If I say I don’t feel burdened, would that be too… heartless?” Shen Xihe said with a self-deprecating smile.
She truly didn’t feel burdened. She had spoken everything clearly, and if Xiao Huayong still wanted to continue as before, she had no right to interfere or stop him.
“This is the you I know well,” Xiao Huayong shook his head gently, and after a moment of silence, asked softly, “Is there… a trace of joy?”
Songs rose all around, noisy, the bright light illuminating his face to appear even more incomparably handsome.