The door closed, and the corridor returned to quiet.
Chun Ling crawled up from the floor, clutching her kicked arm with a pained cry, snapping the dazed Lady Zhu out of her trance.
“How could you be so careless?” another maid complained, dissatisfied.
“I… I was just in a hurry,” Chun Ling sobbed.
“It’s all right, just be more careful next time,” Lady Zhu said, taking a step forward.
Chun Ling hurried to follow.
“Miss, did you see how Young Master Qin spoke up for you?” she whispered. “He didn’t let that Young Master Gao criticize you.”
He…
Lady Zhu’s footsteps faltered slightly.
“He wasn’t speaking up for me,” she said. “Don’t talk nonsense.”
He had stepped forward only after hearing Young Master Gao say, “Please put in a good word for me in front of your patron, so the thunder doesn’t strike me down.”
Hadn’t that lady from the Cheng family worked so hard to prove to the world that she could summon lightning? Was it just to show that Prince Ping was not a villain struck down by heaven? In truth, she wanted to prove that summoning lightning was no easy feat – that she didn’t possess the divine power to strike anyone at will.
But Young Master Gao had joked, “So the thunder doesn’t strike me down.” How could Young Master Qin bear to hear her spoken of like that?
He was speaking up for her. He was defending her.
Lady Zhu lowered her head and smiled.
From beginning to end, he hadn’t glanced at her once.
“…Even now, Duke Jin’an has not submitted a request to leave the capital. Even some members of the imperial clan have already set out one after another to seek out efficacious temples and shrines across the land to pray for His Majesty’s well-being…”
Listening to a scholar speak eloquently, Young Master Gao nodded.
“Shi’san, it’s always so pleasant to hear people talk here,” he said, turning with a smile to Qin Hu beside him.
“Pleasant?” Qin Hu glanced at him. “Will you be traveling with Master Gao, or will you be setting out ahead with your family?”
Young Master Gao’s face darkened.
“You don’t sound so pleasant when you speak,” he replied.
Qin Hu ignored him and turned his gaze toward the gathering.
“Since everyone is discussing the two Emperors Sima and how powerful ministers manipulate authority to the detriment of the state, why do they only see the manipulation by ministers and imperial relatives by marriage, yet overlook the chaos caused by imperial clansmen and royal relatives?” he said.
The people present nodded in agreement.
“Emperor Jin’an ascended the throne with the support of the Prince of Kuaiji,” one scholar remarked.
“Given the current situation, the Prince of Kuaiji is no longer content to pull the strings from behind – he also has the opportunity to take the throne himself,” another added with a cold laugh.
Young Master Gao nudged Qin Hu again with his elbow.
“Who are they talking about now?” he asked.
Qin Hu paid him no mind.
“Therefore, since Duke Jin’an refuses to voluntarily request to leave the capital, you and I should jointly submit a petition urging him to depart,” he declared.
Young Master Gao, who had been listening nearby, stroked his chin and smiled faintly.
After a few more drinks and some conversation, the gathering began to disperse.
Young Master Gao called out to Qin Hu.
“Shi’san, come, come. Since we’ve met by chance – and an arranged invitation is no match for a serendipitous encounter – let’s sit down and talk a while longer,” he said with a laugh. “My treat, my treat.”
“Am I so poor that I can’t even afford a meal at Desheng Pavilion?” Qin Hu replied coolly. “Not to mention treating to drinks – I can certainly afford to hire fine performers too.”
Young Master Gao laughed heartily and stepped over the threshold.
“Attendants, call for Linglong. Have her play a fine piece on the pipa to enliven the mood,” he said.
The attendant outside the door looked somewhat flustered.
“Lady Linglong has already been engaged for the occasion,” he said, his voice trembling.
How unlucky – to run into this kind of situation again! the attendant thought, his heart trembling.
“But truly, Lady Linglong has already been engaged. It’s not that she…” he couldn’t help adding.
Before he could finish, Young Master Gao’s expression darkened sharply, and he raised his hand to slap the attendant across the face.
“To hell with your nonsense, you scoundrel!” he cursed.
The attendant, dizzy from the blow, stumbled and fell to the ground. But that wasn’t the end of it – attendants from both sides stepped forward and hauled him up.
“It’s not that she what?” Young Master Gao shouted, glaring with raised eyebrows.
“Strike not the face, and shame not the past” – now sobered by the slap, the attendant finally understood.
After that incident, even though Young Master Gao continued to visit Desheng Pavilion as before – to show that he didn’t mind – he only wanted others to see that he wasn’t bothered, not that he truly didn’t care when people brought it up in front of him.
“Young Master, I was wrong, I was wrong,” the attendant cried out, nearly wetting himself in fear.
The commotion drew the attention of those nearby, and some even peeked out from private rooms to see what was happening.
“Enough, what’s all this noise? Do you want to leave the capital tomorrow?” Qin Hu said with a frown.
Of course, whether this fool left the capital tomorrow or not had nothing to do with him – but the humiliated Young Master Gao, muddled and resentful, would only harbor more hatred toward Cheng Jiao-niang.
See? Just like this – she had done nothing at all, yet in the end, all the blame would be piled onto her. Some would exploit it intentionally, others would vent their anger on her, and still others would jest and mock her…
“Since I’m leaving the capital anyway, what’s wrong with acting arrogantly? When you’re already covered in lice, a few more bites don’t matter,” Young Master Gao retorted coldly.
“Young Master Gao.”
A delicate, pleasant voice rang out.
Everyone turned to look and saw that it was Lady Zhu, who had just returned from her guqin practice.
“Sister Linglong isn’t here, but I wonder if I may humbly offer a performance?” she said with a bow.
Young Master Gao narrowed his eyes.
“Ah, Lady Zhu – I dare not presume to invite you,” he drawled.
Lady Zhu bowed once more, then looked up with a smile.
“Regarding the incident last time – it was me who was at fault,” she said. “I was young and foolish, overstepping my place. I hope you can forgive a petty person’s mistake, Young Master.”
Young Master Gao was clearly taken aback and glanced at her with a hint of suspicion.
Was that Cheng wretch planning some trick through her?
“Since Lady Zhu sincerely admits her fault, please come in,” Qin Hu said, interrupting Young Master Gao’s wild speculations.
Without looking at Qin Hu, Lady Zhu lowered her head and responded with a soft “yes,” then indeed stepped inside first.
“What are you doing?” Young Master Gao asked Qin Hu with a frown. “I have no interest in what others have left behind.”
“Really, such jokes – as if anything here is truly untouched,” Qin Hu said with a scoff. “It’s all just amusement anyway.”
“But she’s from the Cheng family,” Young Master Gao argued.
“If she truly were from the Cheng family, there wouldn’t have been that incident where you were humiliated last time,” Qin Hu replied, glancing at Lady Zhu, who had already seated herself in the hall and was preparing her qin.
What did it have to do with her?
Qin Hu flicked his sleeve and walked in.
The gentle, tinkling notes of the qin echoed through the hall.
“What do you want to say?” Qin Hu asked, sitting opposite Young Master Gao.
Young Master Gao couldn’t help but glance at Lady Zhu.
Really, there’s no need to mind?
Truly, it has nothing to do with her at all?
Although his family, the Gao clan, didn’t care for the condescending attitude of imperial relatives like the Qin family, his father had once remarked that this Qin fellow had a keen eye when it came to judging people and situations.
“What I want to say is: you’ve all been chattering away here for half the day – is the decision to request that fellow’s departure what you’ve settled on?” Young Master Gao said.
Qin Hu glanced at him.
“What other brilliant insights do you have?” he asked.
Young Master Gao smiled.
“I may not have studied much,” he said slowly, “but I do know a common saying: ‘To uproot the weeds, you must remove the roots.'”
The tinkling notes of the qin beside them did not waver in the slightest, remaining as smooth and steady as ever, as if the player had not heard these chilling words at all.
Lady Zhu played with deep concentration, a faint smile still lingering at the corner of her lips. Yet, if one looked closely, tears were glistening in her eyes – though no one would spare her a careful glance.
“Easier said than done,” Qin Hu replied, smiling as he picked up his teacup. “You couldn’t remove him before, and now…”
“Ah, but now there’s someone who can bring the dead back to life to help him,” Young Master Gao said with a laugh.
“What does she have to do with this? Believe it or not, even if you were dying right now and carried to her, she’d still bring you back to life,” Qin Hu remarked.
Young Master Gao chuckled.
Qin Hu stood up.
“Is that really the case?” Young Master Gao asked. “It seems I truly don’t understand much about this Lady Cheng.”
Just then, the melody came to an end, and the room fell into a brief silence.
Young Master Gao looked toward Lady Zhu.
“I almost forgot – Lady Zhu is quite close to the Cheng family. I wonder, do you know much about this Lady Cheng?” he asked with a smile.
Lady Zhu smiled faintly.
“Young Master jokes,” she said. “If we speak of familiarity and understanding, I believe there is no one who knows Lady Cheng better than Young Master Qin.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Qin Hu, who had been walking toward the door, stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.
He had finally looked at her properly – though the glance was icy and filled with disdain, a faint smile still lingered on Lady Zhu’s lips.
“…Young Master Qin’s leg was treated and healed by Lady Cheng, wasn’t it?” Her body felt frozen, yet the words still came out.
As she spoke them, she herself felt like crying.
Why had she said this? Was it to make him look at her, even if just once? Or was it out of resentment – because he had dragged her into this just to defend that girl?
In the past, they said she had deliberately framed the Cheng and Gao families. Now, after she had entered this situation, he had led Young Master Gao to speak such words and discuss such matters.
Once Young Master Gao had spoken of matters of life and death in that way, she would forever be bound to the Gao side – never again free to live as she wished.
How could he do this? How could he be so heartless?
No, there was nothing wrong with what he did. To protect someone he cared about, anything he did was justified – especially when it came to someone like her, a cunning person who had framed the Cheng and Gao families and sowed enmity between them… a vile girl…
“Yes, I understand what it means to repay kindness.”
“But some people only know how to repay kindness with enmity.”
She didn’t know when the door had been closed. Young Master Qin and Young Master Gao had already left, one after the other, but Lady Zhu remained seated motionless before her qin, the echo of Qin Hu’s words lingering in her ears. She sat there for an unknowable length of time, then slumped forward as if drained of all strength, burying her face in her hands and sobbing bitterly.
No matter what he did, how could she have blurted out such words? Yes, she truly was a vile woman.
“Young Master, shall we return or continue on?”
In the corridor, an attendant asked Young Master Gao.
Young Master Gao frowned, lost in thought.
“I wonder how things are going on Father’s side…” he began, but before he could finish, a figure suddenly rushed out from the side.
Attendants immediately shielded Young Master Gao, only to see the person drop to their knees and kowtow.
“It’s you again?” one attendant recognized her and said with a frown. “What do you want?”
Chun Ling raised her head. The swelling and redness on her face hadn’t yet faded, and her eyes shimmered with tears, giving her a pitiable appearance.
“Young Master, I… I can testify,” she said, her voice trembling.
Testify?
“Testify to what?” Young Master Gao asked, frowning.
Chun Ling crawled forward on her knees. An attendant moved to block her, but Young Master Gao raised a hand to stop him.
“I saw it with my own eyes – that Lady Cheng summoned lightning to kill someone,” Chun Ling whispered, lowering her voice.
