R:DSAT Chapter 219: A Page Finished Reading

Translated by Uhei and edited by Cyrrene.

“What are you doing here?” Luo Wei asked in Long Xuan’s direction, unconsciously trying to protect Wei Lan by placing him behind himself, but when he reached out his hand, Wei Lan had already moved in front of him.

“Your flute playing’s not bad.” Long Xuan said.

Using the scant moonlight, Luo Wei saw what seemed to be a smile, “I daren’t accept your praise,” But Luo Wei wasn’t in the mood to joke with Long Xuan: “I was just casually blowing a tune for Wei Lan to hear. Now it’s already late in the night, why is HisYour Highness still in the streets?”

“Aren’t you in the streets too?” Long Xuan said: “And you even have the mood to play the shepherd’s flute.”

“It’s late,” Luo Wei, “Your Highness should return early to rest, I am also going back now.”

“This Yunguan Pass isn’t as safe as your brother said that lost items are not picked up and where people can leave their doors unlocked at night,” Long Xuan saw Luo Wei was leaving, and said: “One of my guards has gone missing, do you know about this?”

“This city has a lot of soldiers on night patrol,” Luo Wei said: “All along the way here I didn’t see any suspicious people. Whether this guard of Your Highness’s has been harmed by others or has run away by himself, Your Highness should check thoroughly. The crime of improper governance, Your Highness had best not casually press onto my eldest brother’s name.”

Long Xuan moved to the side to give them leeway.

“This lowly subject bids their leave,” Luo Wei joined his hands in a greeting and then immediately hopped onto horseback and crossed from Long Xuan’s side, intentionally separating Wei Lan from Long Xuan, not giving the two of them a chance to speak.

Long Xuan watched Luo Wei and Wei Lan walk into the distance, and then looked at the ground. The shepherd’s flute that Luo Wei had just been holding was already thrown to the roadside by him. Long Xuan dismounted his horse, and bent at the hip to pick up that shepherd flute made of blue-green bamboo.

“Your Highness,” The personal guard ran up to Long Xuan’s rear, and yelled a greeting to Long Xuan as he dismounted to kneel on the ground. “Has the person been found?” Long Xuan asked.

“Replying to Your Highness, we subordinates have turned over that entire courtyard, but we haven’t found the person.”

“So it’s like that ah.”

The guard said: “We subordinates discovered a prison cell built underground, with blood stains that haven’t been dry for long, but we didn’t find the prisoner.”

“How did that family’s head explain it?”

“They said it was a servant within the residence that did something wrong, and they’d just finished discipling him.”

“Did you see the servant that had been tortured?”

“Saw him, there is such a servant. When this subordinate went in to see him, there was a physician attending to his wounds.”

“I’ve got it,” Long Xuan said: “Go back, you no longer need to keep watching this family anymore.”

“Yes,” The guard stood up, and asked Long Xuan: “Should this subordinate first escort Your Highness back?”

“Is your martial skill above mine?”

“This subordinate bids leave,” The guard hastily left. Staying there any longer, he feared that he would be another person being given capital punishment tonight.

Long Xuan fiddled with the shepherd flute in his hand, “…played the flute really pleasing to the ear,” Long Xuan mumbled to himself facing the flute: “Just that if it wasn’t played for that shadow guard to hear, then it would be even better.” Tonight he was already thinking of turning in, but after Fu Yun stirred up that racket, he lost all trace of sleepiness, and came out for a casual stroll. Unexpectedly, he‘d heard the sound of the flute drifting from the distance, and when Long Xuan followed the sound of the flute seeking its source he then saw Luo Wei playing the flute for Wei Lan to hear. At this time of the night the cold moonlight only has its reflection in water for company, but these two were all smiles, carefree and worry-less. This was too piercing a sight for his eyes, even that jaunty, uplifting sound of the flute took on a different note in Long Xuan’s ears.

Long Xuan mounted the horse to return to his temporary residence, a shepherd flute lay ditched on the road behind him, broken in two.

On the second day at daybreak, Luo Qi immediately asked Luo Wei as soon as he rose.

“Lan came to leave word already,” Ye Xiu said as she assisted Luo Qi in putting on his robes: “Little Uncle, he wants to sleep a little longer today.”

“Then he’s not even eating breakfast?” Luo Qi said.

Ye Xiu said: “Lan will serve him to eat, there’s no need for you as an older brother to worry about something like this.”

Luo Qi thought of something then, and said to Ye Xiu: “Xiao Wei truly treats Lan with more sincere kinship than others.”

“Lan is the person who serves him closely, wouldn’t he treat him as sincerely as kin compared to most others?” Ye Xiu clasped buttons for Luo Qi, “I’ve long said Lan is a steady person, only with him at Little Uncle’s side, that puts people at ease.”

“I can’t make heads or tails with you,” Luo Qi said.

The wet nurse carried the pair’s little son and walked in.

“Baobao¹ has woken up ah,” Ye Xiu no longer bothered with Luo Qi, and walked over to pick up her son from the wet nurse’s arms and hold him.

“Why’s he crying?” Luo Qi heard his son crying something fierce, and asked the wet nurse, putting the doubts he had about Wei Lan’s relationship with Wei Lan aside for the time being.

Luo Wei slept all the way until the sky was dark, rose to comb and wash, then came to see Luo Qi. Entering the room he first prodded his little nephew sleeping on the bed, and asked Luo Qi: “Big brother, what is this little nephew of mine called ah?”

“Dad picked it for him already,” Luo Qi said. “Didn’t I tell you about this?”

Luo Wei really couldn’t remember Luo Qi saying this to him, “I don’t know ah, what kind of name did Dad pick for him?”

“I I didn’t say?” Luo Qi asked Ye Xiu.

“Something between you brothers, how would I know?” Ye Xiu gave these two brothers an eyeroll each.

“Then take it that I didn’t commit it to memory,” Luo Wei said: “What sort of name did Dad pick for Baobao ah?”

“Dad said he arrived on this world when we were at Black Frost City,” Luo Qi said: “So Dad picked the word ‘Shuang²’ for him.”

“Luo Shuang?” Luo Wei tried reading this name aloud once.

“What do you think of this name?” Luo Qi asked Luo Wei.

But anything to do with snow, Luo Wei didn’t like, so he returned a question to Luo Qi: “Does Big brother like this name?”

“It’s not bad ah,” Luo Qi said: “As long as Dad’s happy with it, a name is just a mark someone calls, I’m not too picky about it.”

“Luo Shuang is just a little girly,” Ye Xiu spoke up at this time: “It seems like this name can also be used for a little girl.”

“Is that so?” Luo Qi asked Luo Wei.

 Luo Wei said: “Black Frost City （乌霜城）, rather than calling him Luo Wu (罗乌), why not call him Luo Shuang (罗霜),” He pinched the fat little child’s cheek, and asked him: “Shuang’er, wouldn’t you say so?”

“Then let him be called Luo Shuang,” Luo Qi said: “Dad has already picked this name out, there’s no use in us talking more about it,; Luo Shuang then Luo Shuang it’ll be.”

“Big brother, I’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning,” Luo Wei pulled a face at little Luo Shuang, and only when he saw Luo Shuang laugh, did he look up and talk to Luo Qi.

“Returning to the capital?” Luo Qi asked, even Ye Xiu paused in the needlework she was currently busying her hands with, looking towards Luo Wei.

“En, I can’t get used to living here at Big brother’s, it’s too cold,” Luo Wei found an excuse.

The Luo Qi husband and wife pair looked at Luo Wei, they’d already put on their spring clothing, while Luo Wei was still dressed from head to toe in winter wear. “Just because of that?” Luo Qi said: “It’s not because there’s still something in the capital you need to attend to, is there?”

“There’s a lot of matters going on in the capital ah, his Third Highness is going to take an official wife, and it’s better to settle Zizhou’s marriage with Fu Wei earlier.”

“Big Uncle can really recognise Zizhou as a son-in-law?” Luo Qi asked. Ning Fei hadn’t talked about this, but the personal troop that followed Ning Fei already told all of this to Luo Qi.

Luo Wei smiled and didn’t answer, what ability did that old master of the Fu family have to stop something he wanted done? And it was even Fu Wei who liked Ning Fei, Luo Wei didn’t think this was something difficult at all.

“Then that’s fine,” Luo Qi wanted to keep Luo Wei with him, but also knew that the weather at Yunguan was cold, Luo Wei wouldn’t be able to take it here. So he didn’t dare to make Luo Wei stay here longer, and said: “Today brother will send you off with a wine banquet, let’s have a good meal together.”

“Alright,” Luo Wei smiled saying: “Big brother should also quickly settle things here, and bring back Sister-in-law and Shuang’er to the capital so you can all see Dad and Mom.”

When Long Xuan received news that Luo Wei was going to return to the capital first thing in the morning tomorrow, he simply told Fu Yun to go pack up the luggage.

“What do you even call this?” Fu Yun complained: “Him that third young master just says he’ll leave, and Your Highness has to follow him to leave, doesn’t he know to discuss with Your Highness first?”

Long Xuan waved his hand to make Fu Yun leave. Luo Wei was in a hurry to return to the capital, and he also was in a hurry to return to the capital; they both had many things to do still. The return of Black Frost City to their territory, to the country, was a very big matter, but to he and Luo Wei, it was just like a page they’d finished reading, and after flipping it, there was no need to look at it again.

At this time, Luo Wei sat together with his eldest brother Luo Qi, eating the home-cooked dishes Ye Xiu made personally. Long Xuan leaned against the window with his eyes closed listening to the music played by a few entertainers in the courtyard, thinking back to the sound of Luo Wei’s flute playing under the moon last night. Both of these two people still didn’t know, what was about to happen when they returned to the capital.

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T/N: Sorry for the delayed update. Happy Chinese New Year!

1.宝宝 – cutesy nickname meaning ‘treasure’.

2. 霜 – ‘Frost’