Lin Zhanyuan resembled a bird that flew out of its cage for the first time, yearning and timidly advancing towards this free and vast world outside. His command of words were too little to properly express his feelings, so all he could do was drag LIn Feilu along while repeating the same words,”I like it here! I like it here!”
Lin Feilu looked at his excited and eager expression. For the first time, she thought about the future of her silly brother.
He would grow up one day and it would be impossible for him to stay by mother’s side all the time. When a Prince becomes an adult, they are expected to move out of the palace and construct their own feudal mansion outside the palace. At that time, even if Emperor Lin were to bestow upon him the establishment of a mansion, how could he possibly live alone?
Lin Nianzhi was only 12 years old this year. However, when Lin Feilu and Lin Zhanyuan were playing together in the Empress Dowager’s palace a while back, they heard the Empress Dowager having a discussion with Liuzhi.
It was about finding an appropriate husband for Lin Nianzhi.
When women of the ancient times turned 15 years old, they were expected to marry. So, not only was Lin Zhanyuan’s future troubling her thoughts, Lin Feilu’s own future was quite worrying as well.
What could she do to avoid being wedded off into early marriage?
Lin Feilu suddenly felt that no matter how good she was, unless she became the Empress Reagent(1) herself, she would never be able to make her own decisions in her life.
(T/N: Empress Reagents are extremely rare. They can rule the country on their own— basically the same as a normal Emperor but ruled by a woman. In the actual history of China, only Empress Wu Zetian was given the honour)
Do I really want to fight the battles to become an Empress Reagent?
That’s going to be a little bit difficult…
Lin Feilu was letting her thoughts run wild when Lin Zhanyuan suddenly pulled her hand and said anxiously, “The birdies! The birdies have fallen!”
After dinner, the two went out for a walk on a quiet road. The trees on both sides of the road were quite old and their trunks were straight and tall. The canopy of leaves acted like a big umbrella that covered the sky above. At the base of the tree, two birds laid on the ground as they twittered frantically.
Lin Feilu looked up and saw that there was a bird’s nest on the tree branch that was slightly inclined— the two little birds probably fell from the bird’s nest.
They were not very good at flying. However, it was fortunate that they were not hurt as she could see them jumping around. Lin Zhanyuan squatted in front of the birds and stretched out his small finger, wanting to touch them but not daring to. Then, he turned his head and said to his sister, “Help the little birdies!”
This tree was sturdy and straight. There were no branches near the trunk and the closest branches were the ones above ten meters. Lin Feilu calculated the distance and found it to be a bit difficult.
Lin Zhanyuan tugged at her sleeves and said, “Fly, sister!”
He had seen Lin Feilu practice Qinggong in the Mingyue Palace as she scaled up and down the wall. Facing her brother’s trusting eyes, Lin Feilu’s heart swelled with pride again. She had no problem scaling the wall, so doing the same with a tree should not be difficult for her.
So after a moment of adjustment, she grabbed the two birds and started to leap up the tree with a boost of air.
Lin Zhanyuan also excitedly applauded her from below.
Lin Feilu lived up to his expectations this time as she scaled up the tree steadily. Then, she placed the two birds back into the bird’s nest and even thoughtfully fixed the nest.
Lin Zhanyuan raised his head and cheered from below, “My little sister is the best!”