Chapter 130 (1/2)
Chapter 130 Cascades: Twist
The room was silent, but not awkward. A while pa.s.sed as the two of them stared at each other, before Feng Luodi stood up. “Let's go out and take a walk; it's getting stuffy in here.”
Situ's eyes darkened and he nodded, leading the way out of the room. They strolled along the street right outside of Autumnal Ombre.
Feng Luodi spoke up. “What is the name of the Covert Guard?”
Situ knew who she was talking about immediately. “Duo.”
“Although I have never liked the idea of you having someone to watch over me from the shadows,” Feng Luodi smiled as she looked at the flags in the distance, flying in the wind, “but it was all thanks to Duo that I could retrieve Cascades and return to Chang'an safely. I can only implore you to not punish him for his mistakes.”
Situ walked beside her, his voice emotionless. “I know what to do.”
“Then my heart is at rest.” Things had gone back to the way it was when they'd first met, her words polite and her tone distant, lacking the warmth they once had. There was nothing Situ could do against such a heartless woman. They continued their walk in silence.
“Did you give Qingjia those ideas?” Situ broke the silence.
Feng Luodi nodded. “Just some simple advice. The predicament of Jianqiu will only get more tumultuous in the future; I'll be less worried if the tension between the two of them can become something more.”
What about your predicament? The words almost left the mouth of Situ, but he swallowed them before they did. “Things aren't that simple between them. In the past, the Minister of the Left is in charge of military matters, while the Minister of the Right is to supervise the officials of the court. But after the establishment of the Defender-in-chief, who is now responsible for the military's politics. Moreover, the Emperor only wishes to retain the position of one of the Ministers; the matters of the older generation are troublesome indeed.”
“But as you said, those are matters of the older generation – it has nothing to do with the two of them.” Feng Luodi viewed the situation differently. “I'm sure Master Gan can handle such issues well enough; he wouldn't treat Jianqiu badly.”
“You seem to have quite some confidence in him.” Situ looked around and saw many people pointing at them, gossiping amongst themselves. He sighed inwardly. It was a bad plan to keep the women that the Commandery Princes have gifted to me, in a bid to force Luodi to approach me proactively; all I did was to soil her reputation.
However, Luodi no longer cared for the gossips of the people. She laughed lightly. “If I didn't have enough confidence in him, I wouldn't push Jianqiu towards him. Of course, neither would I do it if Jianqiu did not have any feelings for him .”
Situ grunted in approval. Seeing the crowd around them growing in size, the two headed back to Autumnal Ombre,
Meanwhile, Jianqiu, who was led to an alley beside Autumnal Ombre, was being badgered by Gan Qingjia.
“Why did you reject me? Didn't you already agree to it back at the Villa?” Gan Qingjia felt anxious to a point as if there were a million cats scratching in his heart.
“I didn't agree.” Qi Jianqiu tried to keep a straight face.
“You didn't agree, yes,” Gan Qingjia acknowledged, “but neither did you reject it!”
Qi Jianqiu could not hold it in any longer and turned to him angrily. “I know everything! Father told me that the Villa of Mount Baicha was established by Empress Zhaoren in the past, and that she was the one who had named the Villa! The flowers in the Villa were only planted because of her preference for those flowers!” Her eyes were red. “You lied to me, saying that the Villa was named for me and the flowers are chosen for me! Full of lies! Who knows if your proposal to me has an ulterior motive?”
“Oh Jianqiu, you have wronged me!” Gan Qingjia cursed his future father-in-law in his heart and quickly tried to comfort Qi Jianqiu. “Please listen to my explanation. The Villa was founded by the Empress, yes, but it was not named the ‘Villa of Mount Baicha' at first; the name was changed by me. Yes, Empress Zhaoren had a thing for tea flowers1, but the mansion of the Villa in Chang'an was only built in recent years, the tea flowers planted by my command. I never lied to you!”
“In recent years?” Qi Jianqiu caught on to detail. “But we've only met each other last year, and even then our relations.h.i.+p was strained. What do you mean by ‘in recent years'?”
Gan Qingjia's face fell. “Your name as the Qi Beauty was known throughout Chang'an, but back then you'd disliked those who visited zither parlours with a pa.s.sion, and the conflict between our Fathers were very bad. I never got the chance to get close to you!”
Qi Jianqiu's face relaxed somewhat. “You know that I don't like it, but why did you go to the zither parlour again yesterday? You just promised me, and you forgot about it right away! Your words can never be trusted; you're a slick playboy, and I can't win against your words.”
Gan Qingjia felt wronged again. “I went because of a meeting with several other high-ranking officials!” A plan came to his mind. “What's more, we're not together yet. If you agree to be together with me, I'll tell you everywhere I have to go in the future! You can supervise me yourself, or send someone to do the job; both are fine with me.”
Qi Jianqiu did not want to give it to him easily. “You're too good with words; I don't know if you're speaking the truth or not.”
Gan Qingjia grabbed her hand and put it to his chest. “Can you feel my heart now?”
Qi Jianqiu's face turned bright red, conflict apparent on her face. Just as Gan Qingjia thought that he would return empty-handed today, Qi Jianqiu spoke up. “What about Yiqi? He'd proposed before to me as well; I don't want to hurt him. And you're too mysterious, it makes me scared.”