Chapter 30 (2/2)

Situ walked out of the door, and stopped when he realised Feng Luodi did not follow. Turning, he laughed when he saw the surprised expression on her face. “Shall we?”

Feng Luodi snapped out of her daze, and quickly got to her feet. As she pa.s.sed Fei, she instructed, “Just wait here for us, and order a few more flasks of wine. General Situ and I will be back soon.”

“Yes, young miss.”

Now it was Situ and Feng Luodi following the servant, sweat beading the man’s forehead. What bad luck, the 7th Prince had planned to embarra.s.s Feng Luodi today! How was I to know that the Duke of Anping would appear as well? I doubt things will go  according to plan today.

In another dining room, the 7th Prince waited impatiently for the arrival of Feng Luodi. His last attempt was foiled by Situ Muye, and he hadn’t managed to exact revenge on her for what happened in Moonglade. For that incident, he has been mocked repeatedly by his various cousins and siblings, and it irritated him to no end. Finally, my plan is coming to fruition!

It was almost noon, and there was still no sight of the servant he’d sent down to ‘welcome’ Feng Luodi. “Is she too scared to come?”

He was about to send another servant down to check, but then heard footsteps echoing down the hallway from behind the door. The door swung open to reveal the servant’s face, features scrunched up in an forced awkward smile.

“What’s up with that expression. She didn’t come?” The prince frowned.

“She did,” the servant gestured behind him, “but she came with someone else.”

Feng Luodi walked in, Situ Muye following behind her.

Now the prince panicked. “Ge-General Situ, why are you here?” He frantically instructed his servants to hide the zither, but it was too late. Wind Crane sat on the zither pedestal in the middle of the room, right behind the prince.

Situ shook his head, and opened his mouth to speak, but Feng Luodi cleared her throat, reminding him of their deal. Just stand in a corner and look pretty.

“I was due for lunch with General Situ, but received an invitation for lunch from you as well. I didn’t want to miss meeting the both of you, so I asked him to come along with me.”

“I-Is that so?” the 7th Prince looked to the servant, who shook his head quickly.

His courage returned somewhat, the prince continued. “Miss Feng, please do not lie to me. I’ve never heard of General Situ being close to any girl before; it is a crime to slander the name of a General.”

“Luodi wouldn’t dare to lie about things like that, your Highness. If you don’t believe me, you can confirm with the General yourself.” Feng Luodi was calm.

The 7th Prince looked at Situ Muye, who had remained silent and expressionless this whole time, fulfilling his end of the deal. Situ Muye nodded a.s.suredly, and the 7th Prince swallowed audibly.

Feng Luodi smiled again. “You wrote in your letter, that you are in possession of Wind Crane, and it seems that it is true. However,” Feng Luodi paused, “wasn’t Wind Cane stolen from Moonglade? Now that it has appeared in your possession, I cannot help but wonder if you bought it by chance after the thief had stolen it, or…”

The prince quickly cut in. “Of course I bought it from a merchant.” He laughed nervously. “I’m sure the thieves had sold it to a merchant; I’d just happened to see the Guqin when I was on the streets. I heard that you, Miss Feng, are very interested in this Guqin, and hence invited you today to consider if I shall gift it to you.”

The prince regained his composure, and smiled unnervingly. ” It goes without saying, but Wind Crane comes at a cost.”

Situ Muye remained silent in the corner, the various crimes and underhanded exploitation the 7th Prince had been up to flas.h.i.+ng through his mind. He had his own private information network, and they kept a close tab on the prince. The prince was delighted with his own plan. Even though Situ Muye is here with her, he won't be able to stop her if she is consciously willing to be humiliated by me. And that is very likely, seeing as how desperate she is to get the Guqin.

Unfortunately for him, Feng Luodi did not fall prey to his scheme. “I believe that Wind Crane belonged to Moonglade before the theft. According to the laws of the Xuan Dynasty, anyone who finds a lost item has to turn it in to the yamen. You are of royal blood – surely you wouldn’t think to violate the rules your family have set?”

The prince was stunned by her words. “Wh-what? Is that true?”

“It is known that Wind Crane is very important to Miss Linglong of Moonglade. You must be very attracted to Miss Linglong, seeing as how our conflict had started because I beat her  in a compet.i.tion. If you'd brought her this Guqin that she dearly loved, surely she would be delighted! Indebted to you, I’m sure that you’ll be warmly welcomed whenever you visit her in the future. Just imagine that, your highness.”

The prince was smiling widely now, his head filled with thoughts of Linglong welcoming him and showering him with affection.

Feng Luodi continued. “All I want is to play a song on it – I can just borrow it for a day from Miss Linglong. You have no reason to lose a chance to please Miss Linglong, just for the sake of embarra.s.sing me, your highness.”

The prince nodded fervently. “You’re right, absolutely right. I shall bring this to her right away!”

Ignoring the advice of his followers, the prince grabbed the Guqin and ran out of Manchun Tang. His followers shook their heads, and quickly chased after him. When everyone  left the room, Feng Luodi let out a heavy sigh of relief. Situ shook his head, but smiled as well. She's pretty smart, being able to understand the inner thoughts of the prince.

Feng Luodi grinned. “The 7th Prince is just like they said, his head only filled with thoughts of women.”

Situ sighed, and led the way back to his dining room. “You really don’t know what you’re dealing with, do you. If he was as useless as you said, he would not have been able to stand out amongst the rest of the princes, given the t.i.tle of a Commandery Prince. Don’t be so rash in the future.”

Feng Luodi widened her eyes. “He was pretending to be foolish?”

Situ smiled, but kept silent.