299 Shopping With the Artis (1/2)
Yujia had promised to attend the special gathering for Miss Jing's birthday, and it wasn't like she could politely decline. Thus, she brought an ink painting she had been working on the other day, mounted on silk, as a birthday gift, then went on over to the location of the gathering.
The gathering began fairly well. All the other young ladies presented their presents, and when it came for Yujia's turn to gift Jing Juan her painting, Jing Juan looked at it with admiration and great joy.
”To receive a painting from the great Artist Yang herself— I am truly lucky,” she said with a bright smile. ”This is the best present I've received yet.”
Yujia returned her gratitude with a warm smile.
She had to admit that she was jealous. However, it wasn't like she could hold a grudge against an innocent person like Jing Juan, especially when the other girl was being so nice. The smile she gave Jing Juan was genuine.
Rong Tianyu, who had presented her gift before Yujia, quickly spoke up after Jing Juan's words. She declared, ”The best present? So my jewelry set wasn't good? I got your favorite colors though— the purple jewels were hard to find and very expensive, alright?”
Jing Juan giggled, replying, ”Alright alright, I take my words back. I love all the presents equally.”
”Good. That sounds better,” Tianyu relented with a scoff.
The party went on, with just snacks and chattering as usual. In fact, other than the gifts, the gathering didn't seem all too special.
The ladies were discussing Luo Xiya's engagement when Yujia saw the perfect opportunity to play her role as an unwilling wingman. She slipped into the conversation, asking, ”Sister Jing Juan, do you happen to have an engagement in place?”
Jing Juan shook her head.
”Ah, then do you have someone in mind?” Yujia put on a tight smile, ready to get into full-on extremely-polite-interrogation mode.
With a laugh, the girl replied, ”No. What about you? Does Sister Yujia have anyone in mind?”
Xiya chimed in, ”With all your fellow disciples from respectable families, I'm sure there's someone right, Sister Yujia?”
”What about my brother?” Rong Tianyu suddenly blurted. ”He's a disciple too!”
Yujia shuddered at the idea of the persistent Rong Yuan. In comparison to her brother, Tianyu was a thousand times better.
Giving an awkward laugh, Yujia answered, ”I haven't really paid attention to any romantic things. Besides, many of them are married already.”
”What about Young Master Yu?” Zhou Luowei brought up. Her husband, Bo Zhiyuan, was Yu Zixu's closest friend. There was no doubt that she would think of Zixu, when the topic moved to Lingxin disciples, and Yujia was glad that it only took a little bit of prodding from her to get the topic on Yu Zixu.
”We are just friends,” Yujia admitted.
”But…” Yujia continued, ”what do you all think about him?”
Zhou Luowei, Sima Qianzi, and Luo Xiya did not seem to have much input, given that they were either married or engaged. That left Rong Tianyu and Jing Juan left, which was definitely the direction Yujia wanted to steer the conversation in.
Jing Juan replied briefly, ”He's alright, I guess. Does Sister Yujia really have no feelings?” she teased.
Yujia responded with a calm smile, the one she learned from Zixu. She shook her head.
”Nope. I have no feelings.”
…
At the end of the gathering, Yujia had some new intel on Jing Juan. She debated if she should report this information back to Zixu, then thought back to how a while back, the pesky Rong Yuan had tried to get intel on Yujia by using Zixu. Though Zixu never told Rong Yuan anything, Yujia still felt very creeped out by the fact that someone was trying to bribe information on her.
Zixu wasn't bribing Yujia, but when she thought back to it in the perspective of Jing Juan, she wondered if Jing Juan would find what Yujia was doing as creepy.
Part of Yuija's inner voice argued that finding out the interests of another person for a friend was a normal favor. Yet then again, she thought back to how she was creeped out by Rong Yuan and wondered if this sort of mindset would apply in this situation. Similar to how Yujia had zero interest in Rong Yuan, Jing Juan also seemed quite disinterested in Yu Zixu, after all.
She really didn't know for sure.
And so, upon the next time that she saw Zixu, two days later, at Lingxin Pavilion, she told him, ”I don't think that I can give you any specific information on Miss Jing.”
Zixu paused, then gave a curt nod. ”Alright. Not a problem.” He smiled. ”I'll just ask you to give your input on what you think is good, then. Surely, that is fine?”
Originally, Yujia thought that by telling that to Zixu, he would stop coming to her for advice, but it seemed like he twisted her intentions in a way that she could not refuse. Damn it. She didn't think it through.
Giving a reluctant nod, Yujia ended up agreeing.
”Great.” Seeing her agreement, Zixu's smile grew a little brighter. ”Then, do you want to go shopping in the marketplace with me? I want to pick out a few gifts.”
…