Volume 2, Chapter 13: Guests Come to the Cold Courtyard (1/2)

Volume 2, Chapter 13: Guests Come to the Cold Courtyard

— Suiyun</blockquote>

I comfortably stretched my body These past few days, I had received the news that the crown prince had already taken the bait As such, I could temporarily set aside these troubleso’s residence was extreo ad to custo, must hold a banquet with all of officialdom I was not interested in these kinds of events As a result, I asked for the day off fro to stay in the Cold Courtyard and take a look at the several out-of-print books that Li Zhi had giftedof my mood that disliked the hustle and bustle of banquets The Prince of Yong’s outer residence would be chaotic today as there were nu to attend After all, many of them had the qualifications to wander about the residence There was nothing to be concerned about as long as they did not approach any of the restricted areas In order to prevent these individuals frohness specifically dispatched severalanyone entry without perinally believed that there would be no haro hide in the inner residence However, to prevent suspicion,¹ I declined his offer In any case, withthe Cold Courtyard, what did I have to fear?

Xiaoshunzi knew best , he opened the doors and s, releasing the turbid atnited a furnace of sweet fragrance After I had changed into a set of corant tea steeped for me by Xiaoshunzi This was truly the life of the i, I unintentionally raiseda silver knife He had picked up this habit recently after I had forced him to whittle a wooden doll for Roulan After that, he had suddenly beco to do, he would frequently hold a knife and carve I once had asked hi He ood way for hio, he had always felt that hisa wooden doll, he discovered that his martial art techniques’ flow and naturalness had ih I did not understand the link between carving and training ous tasks would help Watching Xiaoshunzi’s skill with the knife i and uninterrupted, I could feel that he was sees were becoly lifelike Therefore, I decided to purchase for him a pile of ordinary pieces of jade for him to practice with As a ht on an to laugh and spoke, “Xiaoshunzi, although you are fond of carving, is there really a need for you to practice daily? Today, His I a feast In the front courtyard, there are juggling, acrobatics, and o take a break and relieve your boredom”

Xiaoshunzi indifferently replied, “There are tooyou here by yourself”

I s too careful This is the residence of the Prince of Yong I am no more than a lowly surrendered subject Who would coo enjoy yourself Don’t forget, you’re only twenty years old Don’t always be like an old man That would be lared atafter all The juggling and acrobatics were extremely attractive for hi me here alone I smiled and stated, “How about this? Call Hu Wei in here and have hiuard ht?”

Xiaoshunzi glanced at the teacup on the desk and replied, “But there has to be somewhere here to attend upon you with tea and water”

I helplessly reht you how to steep tea All right, go enjoy yourself Today, you are not permitted to follow me The Lantern Festival lasts for three days² It’s enough that you guarded hts You are not permitted to spend all of your tio out, so there are unlikely to be any dangers”

At last, Xiaoshunzi nodded his head before he agreed, “Fine, I’ll go Young e everything”

I watched his receding figure, sratification This was the way it should be Why did a kid who had just turned twenty have to always be so hts take the tih when I enty years old, my money had been stolen by this little fellow and I had no choice but to take the examinations, he did not necessarily have toXiaoshunzi off, I continued to be engrossed with these out-of-print books When Hu Wei entered, kneeling and greetingfollowed me for sorossed in reading and forget everything else He thus quietly withdrew outside and did not disturb me At this ot to death in

At the sa also had a load on his mind Today, he had come on his father’s behalf to attend the banquet However, he wasn’t interested in chatting with these old foxes Therefore, after he had pro, he left the banquet chaling and acrobatics perfore, his mind was not into it, entirely consu Zhe

Years ago, he had invited the princess to elope, but had been forcibly rejected At the time, his youthful recklessness caused hiratitude, coveting the honor and glory that ca the Queen of Southern Chu After the princess tearfully departed, watching her still proud figure caused hiret Unfortunately, he did not have the opportunity to apologize Afterwards, he had been heavily criticized by his father before being tossed into the arht with blade and spear to rise to his current position as a fourth-ranked General of Tiger Might It was a pity, but he never had the opportunity to fight and quench the grudge that he harbored against Southern Chu When he learned the news of the princess’s return, he was both happy and sad He had most dearly wished to be able to lead an ar before the princess to beg for her forgiveness But now, he did not have the opportunity anymore

After the princess returned, he had at once asked his mother to enter the palace to pass on his intentions However, all he received was a bowl of cold water in the face Unexpectedly, the princess did not have a shred of affection left for hi hi the last thread of hope, he participated in the exhibition, but only fought to a draith that pretty boy Although he knew that this didn’t represent that he was inferior to Xiahou Yuanfeng, Qin Qing understood that he had co with the princess Furthermore, after the co locked into the family ancestral hall to kneel, because of the dispute that he had gotten into with that surrendered subject fro loathed Southern Chu, also transferring his hate to the people of Southern Chu This person, Jiang Zhe, had an undeserved reputation, having kneeled and surrendered, and yet still argued with the courage of his convictions³ What was the big deal abouthiulations and punished hi could still remember his father’s ashen face and reprimands

“bastard! I don’t blame you for your past er for no reason on someone who doesn’t deserve it However, you unexpectedly insulted a virtuous person in front of everyone If this continues, what future does our Qin fa of aZhe, is not aSouthern Chu to gain an easy victory in Sichuan With a single tune, he took the life of the King of Shu With one essay, he caused all the lofty individuals of Great Yong to feel fear and trepidation⁴ This reat e him just because he is a surrendered subject You must know that if this man’s character were even just a bit narrow-minded, then your life would be lost to his hand”

Although he was unconvinced, he could only bow his head and acknowledge his e It was only yesterday that his father finally released hi, his father stated, “Little flunky, too onfor his father’s fief Re and apologize to hiainst you, I’m afraid that this will be a calamity after all is said and done I ards this ards this hnesses are mediocre individuals It can be clearly seen that this man is difficult to deal with If you cannot obtain his understanding and forgiveness, then even your younger brothers and sisters will likely be ione to the Prince of Yong’s residence filled with resentht it would be sufficient if he randoo, he had learned news that nearly caused hile had had a love affair with that shameless surrendered subject

It was a coincidence that he learned this inforratulations on behalf of his father, Qin Qing raised theZhe nocheerfully agreed, but had stated that Major Jiang was usually ill and weak, and probably would not be able to greet visitors until sishi+,⁵ as he had to first relax He could only helplessly agree, silently cursing the useless scholar and looking with pleasure at the landscape within the Prince of Yong’s residence But before he had gone far, he found a pair of eunuchs whispering behind so, but he heard so that immediately left him dumbfounded

One of the eunuchs proclaile had come to this residence, she had a secret rendezvous with Major Jiang It seemed that the two had a love affair while both were in Southern Chu Were it not for this eunuch attending to Major Jiang under orders, it was likely that this enormous matter wouldn’t have been known The eunuch had stated that Major Jiang had given him a thousand taels of silver and pro had beco to keep this secret⁶

Listening to this point, Qin Qing was so angry that his head spun It was quite a while before he becao forward to question, the two eunuchs had already departed Qin Qing foolishly re repeatedly If the princess h he would feel sad, he would still accept this But if the princess really had a love affair with that feeble scholar, then he would definitely not conciliate with this fact After thinking it over, as the princess was virtuous and tender since youth, it surely must be that surrendered subject who seduced the princess Were it not for the words the Prince of Yong had spoken previously, Qin Qing would probably have i Zhe As a result, during the following period of ti and acrobatics or doing other things, Qin Qing was preoccupied with otherthat the low- andfound one of the i Zhe These i’s instructions, so this particular guard led Qin Qing to the Cold Courtyard

Although Qin Qing was filled with hot anger, he was after all a descendant frouished martial family The entire trip, he was full of curiosity With this Jiang Zhe being the ies and with Chief Clerk shi+ Yu departing for Youzhou to assist the heir, then wouldn’t Jiang Zhe’s position in the Prince of Yong’s residence be second only to the prince? However, as he walked, the path becauest courtyard was exceedingly reuide, “Why does Major Jiang live in such a reuard s is fond of tranquility Therefore, he specially chose to reside at this Cold Courtyard He rarely leaves this courtyard”