The banquet ‘ended on a high note after everyone enjoyed themselves immensely’… of course, the one who “enjoyed immensely’ was actually Feng Zhi Wei. As for those bigwigs, who cares what kind of trauma they were left with? In the middle of the banquet, Feng Zhi Wei summoned Qian Yan and gave him a few orders— the Chen Clan’s underworld influence should not be underestimated. It was said that the clan had considerable connections with the ‘Dragon-Slaying Gang’, the biggest gang in Jianghuai that had only risen to prominence within the last two years. Feng Zhi Wei dared to kill the head of the Chen clan, but she is not one to ever take an enemy lightly. (That’s pretty gutsy to name your gang the ‘Dragon-Slaying Gang’ since dragons are often used when referring to the emperor.)
After the banquet, following the usual custom, she invited the various wealthy clan guests to stroll around the gardens. Shuiyue Villa was an auxiliary estate of the Provincial Administration Office. Its owner, as the richest person in the realm, naturally had the villa built in the most magnificent fashion. Under normal circumstances, most people would never have the chance to visit and admire it, so this was a rare opportunity. Unfortunately, the show of the ‘abdominal dissection’ earlier in the day had rather spoiled the mood. Although Feng Zhi Wei earnestly urged her guests to stay, more than half of them still left.
As Feng Zhi Wei stood at the gate seeing off the guests, she was just thinking that she might get a chance to rest when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught the sight of a horse carriage with a green canopy.
Qiu Yuluo hadn’t left yet?
What was she still doing here?
Feng Zhi Wei stood at the entrance and hesitated for a moment. For an instant, she didn’t want to go back inside, but there were still guests who had not left, and Ning Yi was still there as well. She couldn’t just leave on her own. At the very least, she had to find Ning Yi and excuse herself before departing.
She couldn’t find Ning Yi in the main reception hall, so she turned toward the back courtyard. She had just passed through the moon gate leading into the back garden when she heard voices coming from nearby.
A man and a woman. Both voices were very familiar.
Ning Yi and Qiu Yuluo.
Ning Yi was the one speaking. Beyond the flower-draped moon gate was a grove of bamboo. The bamboo leaves rustled in the winter wind, their mottled shadows obscuring his face. Through the gaps, his voice seemed to be expressing words of thanks, “….that day on the river, thank you, Madam, for looking after me…”
Feng Zhi Wei was taken aback for a moment. Didn’t Qiu Yuluo say something similar to him before? Could the truth be that it wasn’t Ning Yi who had helped Qiu Yuluo, but Qiu Yuluo who had helped Ning Yi? Was that why Qiu Yuluo’s tone had seemed so strange?
‘That day on the river…’ Which day on the river? Ning Yi was always surrounded by attendants. Even when he was occasionally with her, he would at the very least bring Ning Cheng, who is an exceptional fighter. What sort of situation could he possibly have been in that would fall to Qiu Yuluo to come to his aid?
If it was that day on the Li River…although they had been on a lone boat in the middle of the water at the time, they were not far from shore. Ning Yi would certainly have made arrangements for guards. Could it be that on that particular day, he had actually made an exception and had not arranged for any guards? Could something else have happened afterward without her knowledge?
Many thoughts flew through her mind. Without realizing it, Feng Zhi Wei had stopped in front of the moon gate. Through the crisscrossing bamboo leaves, she could see Qiu Yuluo’s face. She was looking at Ning Yi with the same admiration-filled gaze as before. At his words, a slow flush crept across her cheeks. She suddenly lowered her head, hesitated for a long while, and finally muttered in a voice scarcely above a whisper: “…Your Highness, why would you say such a thing…? Have you truly forgotten what happened that day?”
Behind the bamboo grove, silence fell.
After a long while, Ning Yi answered, still in that calm, unreadable voice, with neither obvious anger nor pleasure in it.
“Oh?”
That tone, not only made Qiu Yuluo, who had been watching him with such anticipation, begin to lose the color in her face, but even Feng Zhi Wei, standing behind the gate, felt irritation rising inside her— how was anyone supposed to carry on a conversation with a man who spoke like that?
Yet Qiu Yuluo had always been a stubborn one. She stared straight at Ning Yi, emotions flashing across her face. After a long silence, she finally said mournfully, “That day on the river…Your Highness was drunk…”
Ning Yi suddenly turned around. Beneath the pale blue-green bamboo leaves, his face was as white as snow, even his gaze on Qiu Yuluo was icy.
“Now that we are on the subject, there is something I find rather strange as well.” Ning Yi regarded her with an oddly intent look. “The place where I was staying, even if it was nothing more than a lone boat on an empty stretch of river, is not somewhere people may casually approach. Madam Li, you are the mistress of one of the great clans. So how is it that, in the middle of the night, you happened to ‘encounter’ me on that river?”
He placed particular emphasis on the word ‘encounter’, causing Qiu Yuluo to tremble. She immediately dropped to her knees and collapsed at Ning Yi’s feet, muttering, “Your Highness….Your Highness….I don’t know…The Lif family’s estate is right by the riverbank. That night, I was troubled and restless, and on an impulse, I took a boat out onto the water. I didn’t see any other people….Your Highness….Your Highness….You cannot suspect me…”
Ning Yi said nothing more. The hem of his robe swayed as he moved to walk around her and leave.
“Your Highness!” Qiu Yuluo abruptly raised herself halfway, and crawled forward on her knees and wrapped both arms around his leg, “I don’t believe you have truly forgotten!”
Ning Yi paid her no heed at all. He didn’t even lower his head to look at her.
Ning Cheng popped out of nowhere. He glared at her and barked, “Hey! You woman! You really have some nerve! Don’t you know that pestering a Prince is punishable by death?”
Qiu Yuluo did not so much as spare a glance at Ning Cheng. She merely tilted her head back and stared at the unmoving Ning Yi. Slowly, an expression of desperate resolve appeared in her eyes. She suddenly let go and reached into her robes, as though searching for something.
The object her fingers slowly began to draw out looked like the corner of a handkerchief. Feng Zhi Wei was waiting for her to pull it out completely when she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw several of the local gentry who had remained behind, accompanied by Qian Yan, coming her way. From the looks of it, they had come to find her, hoping to ingratiate themselves with her.
Standing where she was and allowing herself to be seen would be awkward. Feng Zhi Wei immediately turned around and walked toward the group, smiling as she said, “Gentlemen, what do you think of this garden? Actually, the scenery over in the Western Garden is even better. The few Begonia flower plants brought up from the north should be blooming soon….” As she spoke, she subtly steered the men toward the Western Garden, leaving the people in the bamboo grove behind.
By the time she took a tour of the Western Garden with the group, accepted their various gestures of goodwill, and returned to the front courtyard, she discovered that Ning Yi had already left.
She stood at the entrance of the villa and watched Ning Yi’s carriage disappear into the distance. Behind the long line of imperial attendants, that green-canopied, jewel-topped carriage followed far behind. Amid the drifting clouds of dust, the carriages gradually disappeared beyond the horizon.
After a long while, Feng Zhi Wei slowly smiled.
Behind her, Zong Chen was also staring off in the same direction. Suddenly, he said, “I heard those words just now as well. Something about it feels off. Should we send someone to investigate?”
Seemingly lost in thought, a cool smile touched the corner of Feng Zhi Wei’s lips after a long while. “No need.”
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