After Lin Feilu finished speaking, she felt that her metaphor was a bit risky. She faked two coughs before proceeding to stretch out her little hand towards the boy who stood outside her window, “Where is my gift?”
Song Jinglan laughed, “How does the princess know that I am here to give her a gift?”
Lin Feilu, “What else could you be here for, then?” She tilted her head, “Unless there is another spy in my palace?”
He shook his head and smiled. The gentle ray of the moonlight illuminated his eyes as he reached out and took a small wooden sculpture from his embrace, “Happy birthday, princess.”
The gift was none other than a wooden sculpture of herself.
Her nose, eyes, mouth, and even the two side buns on her head were vividly crafted.
She wasn’t aware that he possessed such a skill. Hence, she was stunned by the detailed sculpture of the little wooden work. If this was made in the modern era, his skill would be on par with the professors of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (1).
(T/N: This a seriously renowned school for arts and is considered the most prestigious in China. Think of it as the Harvard of art academies with amazing students and even more skilled lecturers/ professors)
She couldn’t help but to glance at his hands.
The fingers on both of his hands were slender yet strong, evident by the shallow calluses on his fingertips. There were faint scars of a light pink hue that remained from the winter’s frostbite, but overall, most of his wounds were healing nicely.
Realising that she hadn’t commented on his work, Song Jinglan asked in a soft tone, “Do you not like it?”
Lin Feilu patted his arm earnestly, “Be confident in your crafts!”
He laughed and his eyelashes drooped slightly, “As long as you like it, that’s fine. I don’t really have much to offer, so I could only give you some worthless gadgets.”
“Who said so?” Lin Feilu retorted, “This piece of wood was indeed worthless, but now that the figure sculpted is me, it is a priceless treasure! I want to treat it as a family heirloom and pass it on to my descendants for generations!”
Song Jinglan laughed and shook his head, “Wood will decay.”
Lin Feilu thought for a while, “When Your Highness becomes rich in the future, carve me again on a jadeite next time— it’ll last longer.”
He looked into her eyes before he chuckled and nodded, “Okay.”
After Lin Feilu’s birthday, the overall temperature of the weather rose by an exponential margin. The breath of spring was now rather faint as every respective palace was making preparations for the upcoming blazing summer.
Even Emperor Lin was so busy with political affairs recently to the point where he rarely even visited the harem as his thoughts and concerns were focused towards resolving court matters. Peng Man took advantage of the time when the Emperor finished scrutinizing the memorials and stated, “Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has sent a lot of imperial doctors over to the Yiqing Palace; I’m afraid that she has not been in good health.”
Emperor Lin was quite filial. Immediately, he set aside his governmental affairs when he heard of this news and took off to the Yiqing Palace.
When he arrived, he was surprised to find that his foolish son was there as well.
Emperor Lin’s attitude towards Lin Zhanyuan was much better now. Although he still didn’t fancy him all that much, at least he didn’t hate him anymore. Sometimes, when Emperor Lin looked at the child’s innocent eyes that were so full of purity, he felt that it was such a rare sight to see.
However, he didn’t expect the Empress Dowager to adore her silly grandson this much. Lin Zhanyuan played around with Chang Er in the courtyard as the Empress Dowager was seated on a rattan chair. She watched him play around, smiling with a pleasant expression.