Chapter 12 Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao [I don’t know what I’m naming this…]
Chang’an’s tone lifted slightly. “What’s this? Madam Qiu doesn’t fancy these strapping young lads either?”
Qiu Shuzhi said softly, “This humble official has no interest in them.”
Chang’an smiled with relief and spoke happily on Yue Guanyi’s behalf, “In that case, please get in the carriage, Madam Qiu.”
After giving Qiu Qiushuang a few instructions, Qiu Shuzhi boarded the carriage. Chang’an cracked his long whip, and the carriage slowly drove away, carrying Qiu Shuzhi to the mountain estate.
Upon entering the estate, Chang’an arranged for her to wait alone in a side hall. In the quiet room, long silk curtains swayed gently in the breeze, soft and ethereal. A pot of orchids sat beside the table, serene and cold.
She did not know how long she waited in the side hall. The sun gradually set in the west, its warm orange glow slanting in, stretching her shadow into a long, hazy silhouette.
Yue Guanyi had just finished interrogating prisoners and emerged from Zhao Prison covered in blood and grime. His official robes were splattered with blood from the prisoners, the stench of it nauseating.
He was about to return to the palace to change into clean clothes and rid himself of the odor.
Just as he was about to leave, a young attendant hurried over. He furrowed his brows. “What is it?”
The attendant hastily reported, “Lord Chang’an just sent word that Madam Qiu is waiting for you at the mountain estate.”
Yue Guanyi’s eyes instantly widened, and he nearly tripped over the doorstep in his haste.
“Be careful, Your Highness.” The attendant quickly reached out to support him.
Yue Guanyi brushed him aside, his mind buzzing. The news that Qiu Shuzhi was waiting for him at the estate echoed in his head.
Why had she come?
Could it be that she was dissatisfied with the men he had chosen?
Yue Guanyi spoke with anxious urgency, “Quickly, prepare a carriage.”
Even if they rushed to the palace on swift horses, it would still take some time to reach the mountain estate. He feared Qiu Shuzhi would grow impatient waiting, and worried that Chang’an’s clumsy servants would not attend to her properly, making her feel slighted.
He hurried out of the palace, wishing he could wear out his horsewhip to appear before Qiu Shuzhi the very next second.
By the time Yue Guanyi arrived at the mountain estate, the sky had darkened further. Lamps were lit in the estate, their flickering flames casting shadows.
As soon as he entered, he saw Qiu Shuzhi sitting alone in the side hall. The antique furniture cast a cool tone on her. The lantern’s warm glow from outside illuminated her gentle profile. Her long hair cascaded casually over her shoulders, the jet-black tresses contrasting with the creamy white jade of her neck.
The orchids bloomed beside her, as if borrowing her pure radiance. The breeze stirred, the person still, flower shadows swaying all over.
His frantic, wild heartbeat was soothed the instant he saw her. His footsteps unconsciously lightened and slowed, afraid of disturbing her.
“Your Highness.” Yue Guanyi’s shadow slanted across her feet. As she raised her eyes, she saw Yue Guanyi standing outside the door, backlit by the light and shadows. His hair was slightly disheveled, his chest heaving with breath, as if he had rushed over in a hurry.
“I was unaware Madam Qiu was waiting at the mountain estate. Please forgive me.” Yue Guanyi was overcome with remorse, his beautiful jade-like eyes fixed intently on her. Such a respectful attitude was not even accorded to the current Empress or Empress Dowager.
Qiu Shuzhi quickly said, “Your Highness is a pillar of the state, attending to myriad affairs. It is only proper for this humble official to wait for you. Please, take a seat.”
Yue Guanyi lowered his head slightly, his hands and feet tense like a fully drawn bowstring. He sat stiffly beside her, enduring the faint fragrance emanating from her as he struggled to speak. “In the future, if Madam Qiu seeks me again, just have the servants inform me directly. No matter where I am, I will rush over immediately.”
Qiu Shuzhi’s brows twitched in surprise. “Your Highness is burdened with numerous official duties, dealing with countless matters. Even high-ranking court officials must submit a visitation card to see you. This humble official is merely a minor fifth-rank official. Today’s abrupt visit was already improper. How could I presume to trouble you like this in the future?”
Yue Guanyi shook his head firmly, his voice as faint as a silken thread. “You are different from them.”
Those old hands steeped in officialdom, each feeding on the flesh and blood of the Great Qi, extorting from the people, growing fat with greed, their eyes clouded and dim, their hearts filled only with calculations of interest, not a shred of clarity.
But Qiu Shuzhi was different.
Ever since he had escaped from the sunless pleasure house, he had been navigating this dark officialdom. For ten years, he had lain low in this world shrouded in black fog. His only solace was Qiu Shuzhi. He had endured this bleak period by clinging to thoughts of her. Only the spring of Qiu Shuzhi’s appearance had brought long-absent vividness to his life.
“Is there a reason for your visit this time?”
Qiu Shuzhi smiled faintly. “Look at me, I actually forgot about this. I came today to ask you to take back those young gentlemen.”
Yue Guanyi’s expression changed. He asked nervously, “Is Madam Qiu dissatisfied with them? Do you find them ugly in appearance?”
His heart pounded, his breathing slowed. He had sent those men to Qiu Shuzhi’s side, intending to provide her with some amusement, but he hadn’t expected it to backfire.
“I will go find some men of beautiful countenance who are well-versed in poetry for you.” Yue Guanyi said cautiously, the corners of his eyes slightly red from anxiety.
Qiu Shuzhi shook her head in disapproval. “Thank you for your kind intentions, Your Highness, but my courtyard is too small. I have no need for these men.”
Since ancient times, which woman did not have a harem of husbands and concubines? Yet Qiu Shuzhi had not taken a husband ever since coming of age, and did not even have a bed-warming servant boy.
If he could previously deceive himself with the excuse of Qiu Shuzhi’s family falling into hard times, now that Qiu Shuzhi had become a capital official with countless men throughout the city wanting to marry her, yet she still remained chaste, he couldn’t help but have unpleasant speculations.
His thick lashes trembled slightly, the corners of his eyes red to the point of being lush. “Does Madam Qiu already have a man she fancies?”
Qiu Shuzhi was taken aback for a moment. It was this brief moment of surprise that made Yue Guanyi feel as if he had been sentenced to death, his heartbeat abruptly stopping.
After a moment, Qiu Shuzhi laughed in spite of herself. “Your Highness jests. This humble official has no one in her heart. Please allow those men to reunite with their families.”
Yue Guanyi let out a long sigh of relief, like a drowning man being pulled out of the water, his heart resuming its beating after having stopped.
He was relieved that Qiu Shuzhi’s attention had not been stolen by another man, yet he also felt a tinge of regret. How wonderful would it be if she had someone in her heart, and that someone was himself?
He quickly concealed his bitter and obscure thoughts. “Very well.”
“There is one more matter. This humble official would like to seek Your Highness’s guidance.”
“What is it?” Yue Guanyi looked at her.
Qiu Shuzhi placed a medium-sized chest that had been beside her on the table and opened it. Inside, a row of gold ingots was neatly arranged.
“This humble official is unworthy of accepting this. Please take it back, Your Highness.”
Yue Guanyi’s eyes flashed with a hint of surprise. “How did you know it was from me?”
Qiu Shuzhi was no fool. To be able to place a chest of gold in her courtyard in broad daylight without Qiu Qiushuang’s knowledge, and without even leaving a name – this was not something an ordinary official could do.
If it were the young Emperor, there would be no need for secrecy.
As for Jiang Si, she had a penchant for sending men.
And the Empress Dowager, although she had assisted Qiu Shuzhi in entering the Capital Governor’s Office, there was always an invisible thread binding Qiu Shuzhi, constantly keeping her in check. There was even less need for such actions.
After much consideration, the only one who made sense and had the ability to do this was Yue Guanyi.
Qiu Shuzhi was not an idiot. The idol dramas she had watched in her previous life were not for nothing. The way Yue Guanyi behaved around her – flustered, panicked, and eager to please – was clearly the demeanor of a lovestruck, naive young man.
But if one were to say that Yue Guanyi liked her, she found it somewhat absurd and unbelievable. She and Yue Guanyi had never interacted or even met before. How could he suddenly develop feelings for her?
Moreover, what was even more troubling was Yue Guanyi’s identity. A man who could navigate officialdom with ease, thriving among women despite being male – could he really be so love-struck?
She did not believe it.
__________
“Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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