When Liu Jue returned home, he was so angry that he ordered a group of subordinates to practise sparring with him in the forest. His movements were like the wind and he fought without mercy, stopping only when the group was sore and laying on the ground. Without even looking at them, he returned to Song Feng Hall and was further angered upon seeing the portrait hanging on the wall.
Liu Ying carefully observed the Young Prince’s livid expression, unsure why he had lost his temper when he normally never revealed his emotions. He asked fawningly, “My Lord, how do you want to take revenge against that little girl?”
As soon as Liu Jue heard this, his anger flared up again and looking at Liu Ying, he sneered, “The Third Miss of Minister Li’s family, the younger sister of the Crown Prince’s future concubine, has a rather close relationship with the Fourth Prince, don’t you think?”
The more Liu Ying listened, the more he understood that this was difficult to accept. No wonder she had dared to knock the Young Prince unconscious. Since he was unable to act openly, it seemed like the Lord was upset about this matter. Hearing that she was quite close with the Fourth Prince, he unconsciously said, “Isn’t the Fourth Highness going to marry Minister Gu’s daughter?”
Liu Jue had listened to the song Gu Tian Lin had played at the Peach Blossom Banquet and developed great affection for this intelligent and refined girl. Seeing Gu Tian Lin dance gracefully at the Mid-Autumn Banquet, he secretly liked her. At that time, he had sudden matters to take care of and was unable to listen to Li Qing Lei play the zither. After hearing that the Crown Prince was moved by the song, Autumn Water, he dismissed it. When he saw the two ladies at the Mid-Autumn Banquet, he had disregarded their ranks and had wholeheartedly wanted to find Gu Tian Lin. By mistake, he instead met the little girl who had knocked him unconscious. He examined the portrait daily, without noticing at all that those crystal clear eyes had already been deeply imprinted onto his mind. Now that Gu Tian Lin was going to be married to the Fourth Prince, how could he not be upset?
Liu Ying saw the Young Prince staring blankly at the portrait on the wall, knowing that the painting was of the Gu Family’s daughter. He couldn’t help but slap himself on the face and apologise remorsefully, “This subordinate spoke nonsense and deserves to die!”
Liu Jue made up his mind and said lightly, “Forget it and make preparations, I want to visit Minister Li.”
When Minister Li saw Liu Jue at the door, he speculated to himself secretly. Emperor An Qing had impressive military achievements and he had stationed his troops in the western frontier fortress for many years. The prince’s palace had been handed over to this Young Prince to be kept in an orderly manner.
The imperial court respected the Crown Prince first and foremost, yet a large number of people supported the Fourth Prince. The Crown Prince was the legitimate son of the current Empress. The Fourth Prince was the son of the late Empress. Emperor Ning had a deep affection for the late Empress, yet due to the necessity of having an heir combined with the influence of the current Empress, he had made Liu Jian the Crown Prince. In his heart, however, he cherished the Fourth Prince the most. He fully supported the Crown Prince and with the daughter of the imperial lieutenant entering the Eastern Palace, it was evident that the Fourth Prince’s status would be weakened so he quickly granted marriage between Minister Gu’s only daughter and the Fourth Prince.
The Emperor’s heart was unpredictable. If Emperor Ning intended to give the throne to the Fourth Prince when the time came for him to pass away, then Emperor An Qing’s opinion held great importance. Only he could suppress the current Empress’ relatives by leading his troops and assist the Fourth Prince in ascending the throne. For Liu Jue to visit now, what were his intentions?
As soon as Ah Luo returned, she was passed on a message from the main residence that Father Li asked for her. Ah Luo didn’t know what was happening so she walked into the hall and greeted them very respectfully. She had already seen Liu Jue sitting on the side smiling like a fox and knew that he had come to start a quarrel. She pretended that she couldn’t recognise or see him, standing there with her head and eyes lowered.
Minister Li chuckled, “Ah Luo, the Young Prince saw you play the flute at the Mid-Autumn Banquet. He praised your melodious flute sound as being exceptional and he admired it very much. The Young Prince is also very skilled at playing the flute and wanted to invite you to dinner today to compare flute playing under the moon. You should go.”
What nonsense! Ah Luo cursed inwardly and replied very softly, “Please allow Ah Luo to go and clean up.” She curtsied and hastily retreated.
Minister Li and Liu Jue smiled at each other.
Ah Luo waited until they left the Minister’s residence before she lifted the sedan chair curtain and asked Liu Jue, “Where are you taking me?”
Riding on his horse, Liu Jue replied strangely, “Dinner, then comparing flute playing.”
Ah Luo felt frustrated, as if it would be so simple.
The sedan chair swayed and Ah Luo was thrown around until her stomach felt nauseous. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, closing her eyes and thought of hotpot, spicy fish, mapo tofu, hot and sour rice noodles… everything that was delicious. Then she began thinking of cooperating with Zi Li and opening a restaurant that was full of customers everyday, money flowing into her pockets like water. She imagined the different countries with their customs that she had read about in books and how she would take Seventh Mistress and Xiao Yu sightseeing all over the world. She did her best to distract herself. However, the sedan chair continued forth. Ah Luo shouted, “Stop the sedan, stop it! I’m going to throw up!”
As soon as the sedan chair stopped, Ah Luo went to the side of the road and threw up violently. Atop his horse, Liu Jue said angrily, “There’s still more than an hour until we reach the place where we’ll have dinner. Do you people even know how to carry a sedan chair properly?” He had deliberately let the sedan chair bearers take a detour so that he could wait and watch Ah Luo beg for mercy in embarrassment.
Ah Luo felt much better after throwing up. She raised her eyes to look at Liu Jue’s expression. His face showed anger at the bearer, yet there was a trace of pride in his eyes and she knew that he had done this on purpose. Hearing that she still had to sit for at least another hour, Ah Luo was furious. If he wanted to watch her become dizzy, then let him watch it to his heart’s content. If worst came to worst, she would just continue throwing up along the way.
Ah Luo sat down calmly in the sedan chair, “Let’s go, it would be terrible to miss the Young Prince’s dinner.”
Liu Jue was startled. Seeing the faces of the sedan bearers showing that they couldn’t endure this, he angrily slapped his horse and it leapt forward, “See you at Liu Xiang Hua Fang by the Dou Ning River.”
The minute Liu Jue left, the sedan chair suddenly stabilised and in less than half an hour, they passed through the South Gate and reached the Dou Ning River.
The Dou Ning River was more than a hundred metres wide, with the waves flowing eastward. An evening breeze blew along the banks of the river and a few misty purple clouds hovered faintly in the horizon. Ah Luo couldn’t help but recall a few verses from a poem, the rays of the setting sun at dusk were condensed in the evening haze and turned the mountains purple, clouds glowing from the sunset flew together with a lone goose, and the autumn water merged into the sky in a unity of colour. In modern times, it was only possible to see such unpolluted clear waves in the mountains. Her desire to travel all over this world deepened.
Around a dozen painted boats were scattered along the river bank. Colourful lanterns glowed in the evening mist. Liu Xiang Hua Fang was three floors high and was a richly ornamented building with carved beams, painted rafters, and was furnished elegantly. A maid led Ah Luo to the top floor where behind a beaded curtain, Liu Jue stood next to a window with engraved designs, his hands behind his back.
Ah Luo looked around, seeing a few brocade stools outside and the paintings of famous people hung on the walls. Colourful flowers were arranged on display and behind the beaded curtain, there was a large round table with a couch and armchairs next to it. It was very spacious. The window was open and the river breeze blew in, making the room refreshingly cool.
Liu Jue’s clothes rippled and his hair fluttered. The profile of his face was well-defined and very handsome. She thought that it would be better to give her explanation. Separated by the bead curtain, Ah Luo opened her mouth and said, “That day, Emperor Ning sent an imperial decree to my home. I really didn’t miss the appointment on purpose. I still want to apologise for making you wait for so long.”
Liu Jue turned his head and picked up a cup of tea, though he didn’t drink it, and played with the cup slowly. Then he suddenly smiled and said, “Do you know why I went to your residence today?”
Ah Luo said, “Actually, I had wanted to visit your residence today and explain things. I was at fault last time at the Peach Blossom Banquet, I shouldn’t have knocked you out. It’s just that it was my first time leaving home and it wasn’t easy to be able to see such beautiful scenery. Unexpectedly, I was interrupted by you and I felt irritated. Let me apologise again.”
Liu Jue saw that Ah Luo was being sincere and couldn’t help smiling, “We can forget about that. However, you still robbed me of my money…”
Ah Luo’s face flushed red and lowering her head, she replied, “I’ll return it to you.”
Liu Jue thought to himself that he didn’t really care about the money and since Ah Luo had apologised repeatedly, he shouldn’t think about messing with Ah Luo anymore. Yet, he still felt that there was something wrong, “You want to end this with just an apology?”
Ah Luo thought to herself that she had already apologised, so what else could she do? She asked Liu Jue, “What do you want then?”
Liu Jue choked and thought, yes, what is it that I wanted? Then he remembered that Ah Luo and Liu Fei were very intimate and an indescribable anger flared from somewhere unknown. He said, “You have such a good friendship with the Fourth Prince, what can I do?”
Ah Luo was taken aback, “What Fourth Prince?” She suddenly realised. Was Liu Jue referring to Zi Li? Then she asked, “Zi Li? Chen Zi Li? He’s Liu Fei?”
“Did you really not know this or are you just pretending not to know? It seems like you two have known each other for a long time. The owner of Qian Feng Lou even said that you personally cooked for him. You’re that close!”
Ah Luo asked him hurriedly, “He said his name was Chen Zi Li. Isn’t the Fourth Prince called Liu Fei?”
Liu Jue smiled coldly, “The late Empress’ surname was Chen, Zi Li is his other name. Chen Zi Li is Liu Fei, and Liu Fei is Chen Zi Li. You call him Zi Li and for him to let you call him that, obviously your relationship is far from ordinary.”
Ah Luo opened her mouth yet didn’t know what to say. She had also used a pseudonym when she first met Zi Li. Zi Li hadn’t wanted others to know his identity, though it was still his real name with his mother’s surname. It was no big deal. There was nothing bad about calling the Fourth Prince elder brother. She didn’t call herself the Minister’s daughter and others wouldn’t think she had a high status if they heard them.
Changing the topic and no longer mentioning Zi Li, Liu Jue smiled and said, “I heard that the Third Miss is excellent at playing the flute. Can you play a song?”
Ah Luo parted the beaded curtain and entered. She poured herself a cup of tea and drank it, “I’m hungry, let’s eat first. Do you really want to hear a song or did you just invite me out to punish me?”
Liu Jue said sarcastically, “Look at you being like this. Are you really the Minister’s daughter, a lady of a wealthy family?”
Ah Luo glared at him and said, “You used the sedan chair to toss me about for more than an hour, making me throw up until my stomach is empty so now I’m thirsty and hungry. Where am I going to find the energy to play the flute?”
Liu Jue chuckled and clapped his hands. The maids filed in and after a while, a variety of dishes were served. Ah Luo wondered what the food here would taste like. She said to Liu Jue, “Can we start?” Then she picked up her chopsticks and began eating. She thought that they tasted quite nice, although several vegetarian dishes weren’t good. At this moment, she understood that the dishes in Feng City were rich in colour and flavour, yet the vegetarian dishes weren’t exquisite. It was no wonder that the plate of boiled tofu at Qian Feng Lou could be described as one of their three unique dishes. She thought to herself that she could only be successful in Feng City by cooking vegetarian dishes. Her chopsticks went only to the lavish meat and fish dishes. Seeing this, Liu Jue frowned, “Have you never eaten meat in the Minister’s residence?”
Eating happily, Ah Luo said casually, “Meals are usually cooked in the Begonia Garden’s small kitchen and they’re mostly side dishes. I haven’t eaten such nice things in many years.”
Liu Jue said to himself, “Minister Li is actually free from corruption?”
Ah Luo smiled and said, “My beautiful mother was born pretty but she isn’t favoured. Her days in the Begonia Garden can only be described as dull.”
Liu Jue sneered coldly, “Then how can you still be so arrogant? A person born from an unfavoured concubine should be more eagerly attentive when meeting someone like this Young Prince. Oh, right, just like how you wait upon the Fourth Prince.”
Ah Luo was furious. Suppressing her anger, she put down her chopsticks slowly and said, “I’ve finished dinner. I wonder if the Young Prince will be willing to send this little girl home after listening to some flute music?”
Liu Jue saw that Ah Luo’s expression was calm, her eyes shining in the lamplight and her face, half hidden by her bangs, was very lively. Yet, he couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. He had already made up his mind earlier and playing with his wine glass, he said, “The outer room is for performing.” In his words, he hinted that Ah Luo was regarded as one of the boat’s female entertainers.
Ah Luo thought to herself that after hearing Liu Jue’s words, another lady from these ancient times might have felt humiliated and even thrown herself into the river! Even if she didn’t die, she would’ve glared at and reprimanded him! She left the table and walked outside, found a stool and sat down, thinking to herself that the more he irritated her, the happier she would act. Flute in hand, she played <Full of Joy>.
