Chapter 123:
Upon arriving at Flowing Water Pavilion, the inside was already filled with nonstop laughter and chatter.
Xie Wanning went to the ladies’ side, found her familiar sisters to chat with, and Pei Yuqing, not suited to follow, went to the men’s side.
Thanks to that letter, having glimpsed such a secret, this time encountering several noble ladies she often bumped into in the past, Xie Wanning felt nothing but discomfort in her heart.
Several of them were victims seduced and violated by the Second Prince.
Even after being taken advantage of, to keep the matter from being exposed, they had to be controlled by him, only regaining their freedom once the Second Prince grew tired of them.
Xie Wanning felt distraught and lost all interest in socializing, so she simply made an excuse to leave the gathering.
Earlier on the way over, she had spotted a cluster of blood plums blooming vibrantly from afar and wanted to go admire them.
When leaving, she glanced toward the men’s side, where they seemed to be chatting animatedly. Pei Yuqing held a teacup, listening casually with an air of leisurely understatement. Xie Wanning thought for a moment, decided not to disturb him, and walked out alone.
In the deep courtyard, dots of red plums were well tended by the gardeners, uncovered by the accumulated snow, standing out strikingly red amid the pristine white snowscape.
The so-called Pride red plums were probably like this.
Xie Wanning’s heart filled with even greater delight. Unable to resist, she bent down to sniff them closely. The cool, faint fragrance entered her nose, and the corners of her lips curved up slightly. After a thought, she reached out, broke off a few plum branches, planning to take them back and arrange them in a jade bottle to admire for several more days.
When she returned along the original path holding the plum branches, as she descended the bridge, she saw a man in green robes standing on the corridor not far outside Flowing Water Pavilion.
Looking closely, who else could it be but Cousin Ji?
Xie Wanning was slightly stunned. In this icy, snowy world, why had this person come out alone? Thinking this, her steps did not stop, and she stepped onto the corridor stairs.
Cousin Ji had obviously seen her too. His gaze turned her way, and he only cupped his hands in salute once she drew near.
He looked at the few plum branches in her hands and smiled. “Cousin, you have such refined tastes.”
“…” This form of address made Xie Wanning pause for a moment, then she smiled too. “I came out to admire the flowers. Why is Cousin here alone?”
“Came out for some air,” Cousin Ji said. “Too many people inside, it’s noisy and gives me a headache.”
His tone sounded quite intimate, and Xie Wanning hesitated again.
This was her own aunt’s legitimate son, her cousin, the new Top Scholar, a pillar of the nation, and she knew that after the new year in early spring, he would embark on the road to death…
She wanted to save him, but for the moment, she didn’t know how to tell him that disaster loomed.
While she was hesitating, the person before her spoke first.
“You… want to inquire about Duan Cheng’s character?” he said.
Xie Wanning’s eyes lit up. “Is Cousin acquainted with Duan Cheng?”
After saying this, she remembered that this person and Duan Cheng were fellow examinees from the same year, two of the top three personally named by His Majesty in the Golden Hall.
It would be strange if they weren’t acquainted.
Sure enough, Cousin Ji smiled and said, “What do you want to know? Ask away, and I’ll see if I can clarify for you.”
“…Him,” Xie Wanning paused, unsure what to ask at first, then simply said, “Give me a general idea of what kind of person he is.”
“Legitimate son of the Liangzhou Duan Clan. Lost his father in childhood, his mother in his youth. Passed the child scholar exam at twelve, became a scholar at fifteen, topped the recommended scholars at nineteen, and at twenty was personally selected by His Majesty as Third Scholar,” Cousin Ji said. “He has a steadfast character, excels in both civil and martial arts, and is an exceptionally outstanding man.”
Xie Wanning listened quietly, easily hearing the admiration for Duan Cheng in his words.
She wasn’t surprised at all. After all, Xie Ruyu’s marriage engagement with Duan Cheng was personally decided by her second uncle for his daughter, so naturally he wouldn’t choose a decorative pillow for her.
It was just that what men and women cared about was absolutely different…
Xie Wanning thought for a moment, then asked again, “He’s already twenty. Has he ever had an engagement? Is his side still clean?”
Xie Ruyu’s personality was even stronger than hers; she absolutely wouldn’t tolerate sand in her eyes.
It was just a pity that the dream scenes flashed by like a galloping horse, and most of the retained memories were entanglements with Lu Ziyan. As for others, there were few impressions left.
She didn’t know if her cousin was satisfied with this marriage engagement.
Hearing her question, Cousin Ji’s brows finally furrowed, his gaze falling on her face.
Discussing others’ private affairs behind their backs was not the act of a gentleman.
He hesitated for a while before slowly saying, “I heard that when Madam Duan was alive, she had taken a liking to a young lady for her son, but before the engagement was set, she passed away. The young lady’s family didn’t want to delay their daughter for three years, so the matter came to nothing.”
Losing a mother required observing heavy mourning for three years.
This was perhaps also why it took from passing scholar at fifteen to topping recommended scholars at nineteen.
But…
Xie Wanning felt displeased in her heart. He had nearly had a fiancée; she didn’t know if it was his mother’s choice or if Duan Cheng himself had interest.
If it was the latter, missing out due to such twists, his heart would surely feel somewhat imperfect.
She already understood human nature well: what one couldn’t obtain was often the most unforgettable.
She herself was like this. In her past life, the cooler Lu Ziyan was toward her, the more she was bewitched into wanting to marry him.
If she hadn’t gotten her wish but instead followed her parents’ wishes to break the engagement and marry another man, no matter how good he was, she would still harbor resentment for the rest of her life.
Now she could let it go only because she had tried it once and no longer felt unwilling.
For many things, one wouldn’t be content without trying them personally.
Therefore, she absolutely didn’t want her cousin to marry a man who had another woman in his heart.
Xie Wanning’s expression turned somewhat unsightly.
Cousin Ji took in her expression and finally couldn’t resist asking, “Cousin has never met Duan Cheng. Why do you care so much about his affairs?”
“…” Xie Wanning paused, casually coming up with a reason. “I’ve read a few poems he wrote and got curious about the life experiences of their author.”
“Is that so?” Cousin Ji said curiously. “I’ve read quite a few of Brother Duan’s poetry collections too. Which one does Cousin like most?”
…
Xie Wanning choked, lifting her eyes to see if he was deliberately trying to expose her, but saw sincere earnestness in his eyes, as if he really wanted to discuss poetry with her.
She said irritably, “I can’t recall any off the top of my head.”
Compared to Duan Cheng, she actually remembered a few of his poems.
After all, in her past life, after this person died, His Majesty, loving talent, broke down sobbing in the grand hall, shocking the capital. His posthumous works were widely circulated at the time, and she had followed the trend and bought a few to read.
Thinking this way, Xie Wanning also felt a love for talent and truly couldn’t bear for him to die.
Perhaps inspiration struck in urgency, a sudden flash lit her mind, and she looked up, saying, “Cousin has told me so much. To not reciprocate would be rude, so let me help you too.”
Hearing this, Cousin Ji was stunned and said, “Help me with what?”
“I can do fortune telling!” Xie Wanning bluffed solemnly. “I’ve read a few books on palm reading and done it for several people—very accurate. Want me to read yours?”
Her gaze went straight to his left hand.
This kind of “help” truly stunned Cousin Ji. After hesitating for several breaths, he actually extended his hand from his long sleeve.
His hand was very fair, fingers long, joints distinct, nails neatly trimmed, with a small protrusion at the wrist bone hidden by the sleeve.
…These were the hands that wrote those splendid compositions.
Xie Wanning thought to herself, but said, “Turn it over. Fortune telling looks at your palm lines.”
Cousin Ji glanced at her and turned his hand over as instructed.
Xie Wanning knew nothing about palm reading, but she still pretended to study it for a while, her face showing a contemplative expression.
Soon, it turned into a look of distress.
It looked quite convincing.
Cousin Ji’s lips moved. “What did you see?”
“Ahem…” Xie Wanning coughed lightly twice, holding her chin up primly. “Of course I saw something. Put your hand away.”
Cousin Ji withdrew his hand, chuckled lightly, and said, “Do tell.”
“…” Xie Wanning felt a bit guilty from his laugh, as if he were watching a charlatan perform tricks.
Someone this young mingling in officialdom probably had more than eight hundred schemes and wouldn’t believe she knew palm reading.
But she wasn’t planning to deceive him—she was telling the truth!
Thinking this, Xie Wanning instantly lost her guilt.
“I see your official career is promising, bright future ahead. It won’t be long…” She paused, then said, “Probably next spring, His Majesty will entrust you with heavy responsibility, sending you far from the capital to the south. With your abilities, handling the task won’t be difficult, and promotion and titles will follow.”
Cousin Ji listened quietly, a faint smile brewing in his eyes. About to speak, he saw the young lady before him change tack. “However, this journey won’t go smoothly. There’s a sign of imminent disaster—you might even lose your life.”
“Oh?” Cousin Ji’s brow twitched; he clearly hadn’t expected her to say this. After a slight pause, he said, “Does Cousin have a way to resolve it?”
Xie Wanning choked again. He was extremely cooperative, as if fully believing her.
But with things said this far, she didn’t care if he was just humoring her and said directly, “Be careful of retainers betraying their master—the closer they are, the more cautious you must be.”
Cousin Ji’s gaze sharpened.
“Also,” Xie Wanning continued, “Stay away from water marshes as much as possible, even if it means detouring and taking one or two extra days.”
In her past life, he fell ill at Shangyang Lake and died at Upper Sweet Ridge, cause of death an epidemic.
But Lu Ziyan’s investigation revealed it was a retainer leaking his whereabouts.
And by coincidence, an epidemic broke out near Shangyang Lake, with someone behind the scenes deliberately driving infected disaster victims that way.
Causing him to die from a chain of coincidences.
If His Majesty hadn’t pursued it to the end, this brilliant Top Scholar’s death would only have been concluded as short life, thin fortune, heaven envying talent.
Thinking of this, Xie Wanning looked up at him earnestly. “Don’t disbelieve me. I really calculated it very accurately.”
Cousin Ji also lowered his gaze to her, the smile at his lips gradually fading, a hard-to-describe look in his eyes.
He had originally thought this young lady was just bored and teasing him.
But her words were too serious.
Serious enough that they didn’t seem fabricated.
After a long while, he nodded lightly. “I understand.”
Xie Wanning still felt uneasy and earnestly warned him a few more times.
Until her peripheral vision caught a tall, slender figure, she abruptly stopped speaking and turned her head sharply.
Pei Yuqing had come out at some point and was standing under the eaves of Flowing Water Pavilion, gazing quietly this way, his expression unreadable.
Xie Wanning’s eyes widened slowly. Forgetting everything else, she hurried toward him.
Cousin Ji beside her paused, then followed with his steps.
Normally, whenever she approached him, he would come to meet her before she arrived, but this time, he stood in place, unmoving.
Even if Xie Wanning was slow-witted, she sensed something off. She blinked, showed a smile. “Why did you come out too?”
Too…
Pei Yuqing savored the word carefully, then suddenly gripped her shoulders, pulling her into his arms.
“Cold?” His voice was steady. “Why didn’t you call me when you came out?”
His embrace was sudden, but Xie Wanning was glad for her quick reaction, not crushing the plum branches in her hands.
“Earlier I saw a cluster of red plums over there and wanted to look. You were deep in chat with friends, so I went alone.”
She pushed at his shoulder. “On the way back, I ran into Cousin Ji, so we chatted a bit.”
Pei Yuqing didn’t budge, only giving a low hum, his gaze falling on Cousin Ji as he smiled faintly. “What a coincidence. What did you two talk about to enjoy it so much?”
When he discovered Xie Wanning missing from the ladies’ seats, Pei Yuqing searched everywhere, all the way out of Flowing Water Pavilion.
Raising his eyes, he saw her gazing eye-to-eye with his good friend, chattering away, while this usually taciturn friend actually listened patiently, responding now and then.
They were so engrossed they didn’t even notice him standing not far off.
This pointed remark made Cousin Ji’s smile pause slightly, and Xie Wanning felt awkward too.
She couldn’t very well say she’d read his palm, so after hesitating and unable to think of an explanation, she said dryly, “Nothing much.”
“Indeed nothing much,” Cousin Ji smiled. “Saw the red plums blooming well and asked a few questions, that’s all.”
With that, he cupped his hands in salute. “You two chat slowly. I won’t disturb.”
His gaze briefly passed over the young lady held in her husband’s arms before he turned and left.
Once the person left, Pei Yuqing slowly released her.
Xie Wanning emerged from his arms, saw his expressionless face, and smiled. “What are you doing? Jealous?”
Her face showed no anomaly, no guilt in her eyes—she seemed utterly aboveboard.
Pei Yuqing looked for a while, then said flatly, “My tolerance truly isn’t great.”
He admitted it openly, and Xie Wanning’s smile deepened as she cooed softly, “Don’t be jealous. I really just happened to run into him.”
“Does a chance encounter require talking that long?” He was unusually persistent. “Wanwan, you’re my wife. I mind very much if you show interest in others…”
Even her own elder brother—he couldn’t stand their closeness, let alone others.
Xie Wanning had no idea what he was thinking and felt deeply wronged. “When did I show interest in others?”
As if she were some fickle person.
But Pei Yuqing said nothing, just stared fixedly at her, making her heart panic inexplicably with guilt.
Combined into one~~~ Begging for a monthly ticket~~
