"Are you willing to rule over the world, side by side, with me as your companion?"
Instead of feeling joy or shock at being confessed at, Bai Shuyin felt a ton of boulder just landed on her shoulder. Her plan to give back the hairpin seemed to be really difficult after hearing such delicate words from the prince who went as far as ignoring his dignity and went down on one knee.
"This… this is not an order," Looking at her face, the Southern Prince felt bad for putting her in such a position that he carelessly continued. "Just a selfish request made by a silly neighboring prince."
"I… please stand up," She pleaded at him. Her other hand unconsciously grasped his bicep, attempting to pull him up. However, she released her hold when he remained stubbornly still. "Young Master Wu, please don't do this."
The white-haired girl wriggled the hand in Wu Jiangfeng's hold like she was trying to break away. For a second, Wu Jiangfeng considered holding on even tighter but he didn't want to terrify her even more. In the end, he loosened his hands and stood up, much to Bai Shuyin's relief, who immediately used this chance to take the hairpin out.
She weighted it in her palm as if giving it a thought before returning it to him. "That, I would have to reject, Young Master Wu." This time, she was the one who went down to her knees, offering him a kowtow.
Wu Jiangfeng took the item and said nothing. Bai Shuyin pressed her forehead against the back of her hands, she didn't want to see what kind of expression was etched on his face. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited.
"You are too kind, Xiao Bai."
The prince whispered, far too close than she expected that she snapped her head up, only to see the prince had once again kneeled down opposite of her. Curses were close from tumbling out of her mouth as she saw him in that position.
'Can you please not kneel down so easily?!'
If there were any passerbys right this very moment, weird looks would be sent their way as seeing two people kneeling across each other and kowtowing like a fool.
Wu Jiangfeng grinned despite it looking so crestfallen. "I had mustered up the courage to tell you, at least I wouldn't regret never trying my luck." He swished his long red hair behind and plumped his butt down to the ground, sitting cross legged. "In my deepest heart, I knew that we were meant to meet, but never to stay," Said Wu Jiangfeng as if saying that would comfort himself.
Bai Shuyin stared into Wu Jiangfeng's eyes, watching how those eyes glazed over before they disappeared. Following him, she sat herself down across from him. She swallowed hard to get past the lodge in her throat. Why did it feel so wrong to reject him? He didn't even ask what her reason was.
The snow-white hair girl shook her head. In the modern times, the prince wouldn't be able to get any girls if he gave up this easily. But Bai Shuyin was sure, if the prince was born in her world, he wouldn't need to confess and already have girls falling heels over him and crowding him like bees to honey.
He raised the hairpin to the moon, letting the moonlight shine through it as he admired the item in hand. The jade was mesmerizing, an astute little thing. He was entranced by the beauty until his eyes noticed a small but noticeable thin line that started from the tip of the hairpin to the middle.
"Is that a crack I see?" He asked aloud, blinking to see clearly, in case he was hallucinating.
"Ah…" Bai Shuyin scratched her cheek with her index finger. She chuckled nervously. "My little brother stepped on it…"
Wu Jiangfeng raised an elegant brow at that. "Your brother, huh?"
Cerulean eyes flickered at that tone, at that particular comment, but nothing she could identify or even decipher. What was that supposed to mean?
"Once broken, considered sold, so… Is that a silent yes?" The redhead prince asked half-jokingly, trying to twitch his lips into a smile to hide the disappointment in his face.
The corner of her lips turned upwards at his attempt, but Bai Shuyin felt the need to put boundaries rather than giving false hope. "I deeply apologize, Young Master Wu," She said confidently in a resolute tone.
Wu Jiangfeng exhaled in what sounded like a strangled laugh, before leaning back, this time using his arms to support his body. "Oh, well, I tried again," He said, sounding lame and useless.
It didn't take long for the redhead to compose himself and there was a guilty clench in Bai Shuyin's chest.
It was apparent that the prince was unfamiliar with rejections yet he was never demanding or even using the privilege he had.
"I will depart at nightfall tomorrow. Would it be unbecoming of me to request your presence? For the last time?" Bai Shuyin barely heard Wu Jiangfeng's voice when the older man murmured out.
The girl froze for a second. "Tomorrow?" She asked softly.
Wu Jiangfeng stiffened a bit. Bai Shuyin could see how his hand trembled as he traced the outline of the hairpin. Perhaps he thought he might be asking too much. It warmed her heart that this man exceeded her expectations from the novel she read about.
He was such a green flag male lead!
If she didn't have a baby to take care of, she would have accepted his hands early on. However, she believed there must be a reason she had been transmigrated into this body and she decided to have Wang Heiyue as her priority for the time being.
The redhead was starting to pull away, face hot and uncomfortable in the awkward silence that his improper and egomaniacal request had brought. She was sure the older man was going to open his mouth any minute now and waved it off as a joke that Bai Shuyin hurriedly cut into him before he could retract anything.
"I… wouldn't oppose it," She spoke out, tone just barely loud enough for Wu Jiangfeng to hear if the other had been intensively waiting for her response.
When he grinned ear to ear, a little too widely in her opinion, Bai Shuyin knew he heard her loud and clear. She was certain she felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach when she caught sight of his gleeful expression.