Chapter 31: Devoted Heart and Soul
“Li.”
Lian Li raised her eyelashes and, upon seeing who it was, looked astonished.
It wasn’t just her; even Duan Shiqing and her friend, standing two steps away, were taken aback.
Jin Yan Ting was actually walking towards Lian Li!
Jin Yan Ting sized Lian Li up, his gaze slightly unfocused. “Don’t remember the way to the backyard?”
Jin Yan Ting had thought Lian Li had poor direction sense and was mildly directionally challenged, as she had failed her driver’s license test a few times.
“I remember,” Lian Li said, gesturing to the champagne glass in her hand. “I’ll put this down first.”
Jin Yan Ting subtly raised a finger. A waiter in the distance, who had been observing Jin Yan Ting’s needs, immediately walked over.
Jin Yan Ting reached out, took Lian Li’s champagne glass, and placed it on the wine tray. He asked, “Anything else?”
“No.”
Lian Li glanced at the people around them, eager to chat with Jin Yan Ting, then turned her gaze back to him. “Then I’ll head to the backyard first.”
Jin Yan Ting gave a slight nod.
Before Lian Li left the hall, she glanced back and saw, amidst the vibrant lights, a beautiful woman with a supple waist and charming, soft eyes, animatedly talking to someone with a frivolous expression.
…She was probably a shrewd woman.
The beauty was still the same, but the man opposite her was no longer Jin Shi Yue.
Lian Li didn’t dwell on it. She stepped onto the white jade stairs, crossed the garden, and arrived at the room where Elder Mei was resting.
In the outer room sat several men and women dressed in fine clothes. They had been chatting animatedly, but fell silent for a moment upon seeing Lian Li enter.
“Li Mei!” Zhong Yang wasn’t Elder Mei’s student, but Zhong Yang’s father was. He had come to the banquet with his father.
Zhong Yang excitedly stood up. “Are you here to see Elder Mei?”
Lian Li wore a sweater paired with an A-line skirt, her hair neatly pinned up with a hairpin. Her attire wasn’t extravagant, but simple and elegant. However, that hairpin… it was an Imperial Green jade hairpin.
One didn’t know whether to call her shabby or extravagant.
Despite its simplicity, her ensemble made her seem approachable and friendly, like a girl next door, yet also conveyed that she was no ordinary person.
Imperial Green jade bracelets were already rare, but hairpins were even rarer.
Lian Li smiled and greeted him back. “Brother Zhong Yang. I’m here to see Grandpa Mei.”
“Seeing Elder Mei? Then hurry along,” Zhong Yang said.
Lian Li replied, “Okay.”
Someone watching her back asked, “Grandpa Mei, is she Elder Mei’s granddaughter? I didn’t hear Elder Mei had a granddaughter?”
Lian Li didn’t hear the answer. She raised her hand and knocked three times. Hearing a “Come in” from inside, she pushed the door open.
The person who said “Come in” was the Dean of Jing University’s School of Mathematical Sciences, Lu Huier.
Jing University’s Mathematics department was known as the ‘madhouse,’ a gathering of brilliant minds and geniuses. Professor Lu Huier was a recipient of the Fields Medal, the highest international award in mathematics, and the first female mathematician to receive this honor.
Lian Li walked in and respectfully greeted them, “Grandpa Mei, Teacher Lu.”
Lu Huier preferred her students to call her Teacher rather than Dean or Professor.
“Little Li is here,” Elder Mei said, looking up at her from his pear blossom wood chair.
In the spacious room, a few people were scattered, sitting and standing. They all possessed powerful auras, commanding respect without anger, and frequently appeared in major news.
Lian Li could vaguely match their names to their faces but didn’t call them out individually. Instead, she gave them a slight bow.
…Being looked at by them was quite intimidating.
Elder Mei’s birthday banquet was held discreetly, which meant those individuals had to travel incognito, reducing their security detail and thus lowering the safety factor.
No wonder those young masters weren’t out playing; they had come here to surround the place, acting as secret special police guards.
Lu Huier handed a pair of scissors to Lian Li and said with a kind smile, “Little Li, you’ve arrived at the perfect time. Come and help Teacher open gifts.”
Lian Li accepted. “Okay.”
Both the givers and receivers of gifts were individuals of sensitive status, so most of the presents were writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone sets, books, and calligraphy and painting works.
Lian Li opened a rectangular brocade box and pulled out a scroll. It was another calligraphy piece.
Lu Huier and she each held one end, unrolling the xuan paper. On it was a poem:
“Your disciples fill the world, why plant more flowers before your hall?”
The handwriting was vigorous and powerful, flowing like dragons and dancing like phoenixes, each stroke perfectly rendered.
Extremely flamboyant, and extremely beautiful.
Lu Huier’s gaze drifted over the characters. After a moment, she chuckled lightly. “Little Li, take this to Elder Mei.”
There had been similar calligraphy pieces before, but Lu Huier hadn’t asked her to take them to Elder Mei. Was this one special?
The meaning of the poem was that Elder Mei had disciples all over the world and didn’t need to plant more trees in front of his hall… it was a normal compliment to a teacher.
Besides the aggressively beautiful handwriting, Lian Li couldn’t discern any other special features.
The calligraphy was spread out on the table. Elder Mei looked at it from left to right, then from right to left, and laughed heartily, scolding, “This brat, he uprooted some of my trees and still dares to write so righteously, ‘Why plant more flowers before your hall’!”
Lu Huier said from the side, “Ah Yue is the youngest among your students, and the one who knows best how to make you happy.”
Elder Mei snorted. “This kid only knows how to act first and report later, to suppress before uplifting.”
He first uprooted the peach trees in his courtyard, then sent him a trained parrot.
Lu Huier smiled faintly.
Elder Mei didn’t accept every gift; there weren’t many gift boxes to open.
Once most of them were opened, Lu Huier helped Elder Mei to the hall.
Tonight’s birthday banquet was not a place for those young masters to indulge freely. Facing elders of high status and power, they had to present themselves with good upbringing.
Lian Li watched Jin Yan Ting clinking glasses with elders and peers. After a moment, she slipped out of a side door of the hall for some air.
A few bored young masters were chatting in a nearby pavilion.
“President Jin truly has good fortune. He has Miss Duan from home, and a young beauty outside.”
“You think the young girl brought by the eldest young master is his kept canary?”
“What else could she be? Young girls have little experience and their values aren’t fully formed. As long as a powerful and experienced man shows them a little favor, they’ll be devoted. A younger sister is good, a sister for the day, a sister for the night~”
The conversation became increasingly explicit, exuding an air of decadence.
Lian Li moved away in disgust, walking along the bluestone path towards the center.
At the center of the courtyard was a lake, surrounded by lush flowers and trees, with willows swaying gently in the evening breeze.
The autumn and winter in the Capital City were dry. Lian Li stood by the lake, tilted her head back, and took a deep breath.
Amidst the cold, there was a hint of plant fragrance, and a hint of… tobacco?
Stone lanterns cast a warm yellow glow, illuminating a row of flower pots placed on the low stone railing, and also a dark figure.
Jin Shi Yue sat alone on a rattan chair, his posture relaxed, his expression indifferent, as if he had little awareness of the world, only weariness.
His long, well-defined fingers held a cigarette, which had burned about a third of the way down. Thin wisps of smoke curled around, and ash dangled precariously.
The faint scent of tobacco permeated the air, mixing with the cold wind and entering Lian Li’s nostrils, making her choke.
“Cough.”
A very, very light sound.
But the man still noticed her.
