Chapter 70 (1/2)

Chapter 70 Abysmal: Pretence

Feng Luodi kept glancing towards Gan Qingjia as the music flowed from her fingertips, silently willing for him to end her misery. If glares could hurt, I would have been dead by now. Qi Jianqiu was expressionless, but she quietly worried for Feng Luodi, seeing how her best friend had sacrificed her own reputation for her sake.

“Who does this Feng Luodi think she is? Is she trying to gain attention by using the limelight of the Beauty of Chang’an?”

“She’s the one who was rejected by the Nanhai Commandery Prince that time!”

“Oh, she’s that woman, huh? How shameful, to be trying to garner attention in this manner.”

The comments that floated around amongst the crowd slowly turned malicious. Jiang Moyin had not spoken to the Heir about his proposal before the gathering, but he knew that Feng Luodi would not approve of his proposal. However, being his advisor, it was inappropriate for him to go against the Heir’s wishes, and he was torn hearing the malicious comments made by the angered crowd.

Situ’s face was dark, his features cold and expressionless. He turned, and looked at Gan Qingjia wordlessly.

Gan Qingjia knew it was not time to be joking around anymore, and quickly turned away. “I know what to do; she has bought us enough time.”

Finally, the music stopped again, and Feng Luodi could not muster the courage within her to start another song. The Heir stood up again, and opened his mouth to declare his admiration for Qi Jianqiu. However, a voice rang through the crowd before him.

“Miss Qi, will you marry me?”

Heads whipped around, and the gaze of the entire crowd zeroed in on Gan Qingjia, the son of the Minister of the Left.

“What is happening? Wasn’t it always said that the two Ministers could never agree with each other? Why will Gan Qingjia want to marry Miss Qi?”

“Don’t worry, Miss Qi will not agree to his proposal. He is nothing but a playboy! Rumour has it that he even has a few concubines at home.”

“Is he here to cause trouble? I’ve heard that he has never been on good terms with Miss Qi.”

Feng Luodi’s eyes widened at Gan Qingjia. That wasn’t what he was supposed to do! This isn’t good, Jianqiu is going to loose her cool. She turned to Qi Jianqiu, and it was just as she expected. The mask of calm on her face was gone, her eyes glaring at Gan Qingjia. How can he do this to me, joking about something as important as my marriage?

The Heir was caught in a wave of awkwardness again, but he quickly regained his composure. The Minister of the Left has always been a loyal follower of mine – how disappointing for him to have such a useless son! He turned to Gan Qingjia. “Qingjia, marriage is an important issue, and not one to be casually toyed with. Concubine Yao is watching the entire gathering today.”

Gan Qingjia did not back down, his lips curving upwards into a smile. “Your Highness, how will you know if true feelings are backing my proposal to Miss Qi?”

The Heir smiled as well, but before he could reply, Qi Jianqiu interrupted him angrily.

“I will never marry you!” She glared at Gan Qingjia.

Now things are awkward.  Feng Luodi wanted to bury her face in her hands. She stared at Gan Qingjia, willing for him to carry out their plan.

Gan Qingjia looked straight at Qi Jianqiu. “My apologies for forgetting, Miss Qi. I just remembered that you already have someone else in your heart. I heard that he was out of Chang’an at the moment, and is unfortunately unable to attend today’s gathering. No wonder you look so upset, Miss Qi.”

Concubine Yao spoke up, surprise evident in her voice. “Oh, is that true? I’m sorry, Qiu’er, I never knew that you’d already had someone in mind before the gathering. If that’s the case, may I appeal to everyone to just treat this as a simple flower appraising gathering?”

Despite their doubts, the crowd could only agree with the concubine’s proposition. The Heir sat down awkwardly, and quietly turned to Jiang Moyin. “Your sworn sister is very close to Miss Qi; is what Gan Qingjia said true?”

Jiang Moyin shook his head. “Luodi never discussed such private matters with me.”

“I see.” The Heir regained his composure and sipped his tea, deep in thought.

On the other side of the garden, Xue Yiqi was surprised as well. He quickly turned to Situ. “Miss Qi already has someone in her heart? I’d never knew, despite us always spending time together.”

Situ did not even look at him. “Pretence.”

Now Xue Yiqi understood. For once, he swallowed his doubts and merely nodded along, quietly observing the reactions of the crowd around them. Situ looked at Gan Qingjia, and shook his head inwardly. This one’s pretending as well.

Meanwhile, Qi Jianqiu was as dumbfounded as the crowd. Desperate for someone to explain the situation to her, she dragged Feng Luodi off the stage and into a room.

“What’s happening? How do I not know that I already have someone in my heart?”

Feng Luodi quickly explained. “This was the only idea I could come up with after thinking for the past three days. If the news that you were already smitten with someone was announced before the young masters could propose to you, they would definitely hold back on their proposal. After all, it wouldn’t reflect well on them if they were to forcefully wed a woman that already had another man in her heart. Meanwhile, your father will not expose the lie immediately, or he’ll be accused of setting the entire gathering up to ridicule the attendees.”

Feng Luodi continued. “My only concern was that Concubine Yao would expose us on the spot, and everything would’ve fallen to pieces.” She smiled awkwardly. “But it wasn’t discussed that Gan Qingjia would propose to you back there, that surprised me as well. Perhaps he thought it lent credibility to his words.”

“No wonder you said you weren’t sure if I would be angry with you.” Qi Jianqiu took some time to digest what she heard, and commented quietly.

Feng Luodi quickly hugged her arm tightly. “Who was the one who’d promised that she wouldn’t get upset no matter what I did?”

Qi Jianqiu smiled at her. “Silly, I’d never get mad at you.” Her expression changed in an instant. “But that Gan Qingjia! How can he say such things so casually? What a playboy!”