Today, Zi Li and Ah Luo went to inspect Su Xin Zhai. They had just sat down and were about to order when Liu Jue suddenly appeared, sitting down rather impolitely then smiling at Zi Li, “You wouldn’t mind if I joined, right? I heard that this business is under His Fourth Highness’ name and had stolen Qian Feng Lou’s limelight, now named as the top vegetarian restaurant in Feng City. This is the first time I am here to show my support, you mustn’t send me away!”
Zi Li smiled lightly and said, “Last time, I drank the Young Prince’s wine. Let’s take it that this time I am returning your hospitality.”
Seeing that Zi Li had not said much, Ah Luo couldn’t drive Liu Jue away. This Liu Jue, he seemed to be everywhere she went. Ah Luo wished she could turn herself into a cockroach, a flea, or a mosquito so that Liu Jue would automatically avoid her when he saw her.
She lowered her head and drank some tea. Suddenly, she thought, since when had she become so cowardly? If she had encountered such a situation before, she would already have told him to leave. Yet here, she had to pay heed to so many things. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she felt. She really wanted to disregard everything. If she felt angry, she wanted to let her temper go, and if she felt childish, she wanted to be obstinate. If she tolerated this any longer, she would go crazy sooner or later. Ah Luo glanced at Zi Li and couldn’t decide whether she wanted to laugh or not. Then she looked at Liu Jue who still had a cynical attitude. Ah Luo thought that these two could just eat together and that she would just not accompany them.
She stood up, smiled and said, “I’ll just go and take a stroll in the backyard and come back.”
As soon as Ah Luo left, the dishes were served. Liu Jue smiled and said, “I’ll help myself then?” He picked up his chopsticks and tried the food. Zi Li watched him in amusement as he gradually revealed the same expression as when he himself had tried vegetarian dishes like this.
Liu Jue ‘tsked’ and said, “His Fourth Highness is extraordinary, where did you find such a great chef?”
Zi Li smiled lightly and said, “They were taught by Ah Luo.”
Liu Jue’s expression changed slightly, “She taught your chefs?”
Zi Li nodded, “She only taught four or five dishes, saying that she only knew these. However, there are still so many people who have come to Su Xin Zhai. There are other vegetarian dishes, but these are the signature ones.”
Liu Jue smiled and said, “Since I’ve come, it’s only natural that I should taste them one by one.”
The two of them ate for a while, yet Ah Luo still hadn’t returned, so they chatted casually. There was actually a sense of sympathy for each other. Liu Jue felt that after coming into contact with the Fourth Prince, there was a natural affinity with him. Zi Li also felt that Liu Jue was not as arrogant and unreasonable as he appeared, having his own opinions during the conversation. They glanced at each other and both of them thought that to be called the five noble sons of Feng City by others, each must have their own exceptional abilities.
Zi Li held up a glass of wine and toasted Liu Jue, “Young Prince, let me toast you with this drink. If I had known that you loved Miss Gu, I would definitely have stopped my father, the Emperor, from appointing this marriage.”
Liu Jue was taken aback and said with a smile, “His Highness misunderstands, I simply think that Miss Gu’s zither skills are extraordinary and that she is very talented. I just wanted to be close confidants, but I don’t love her.”
Zi Li said curiously, “Then why did you hang a portrait of Miss Gu in your hall? Gazing at it everyday?”
Liu Jue’s heart froze. Song Feng Hall was regarded as a forbidden place in the prince’s palace. Without his permission, no one was allowed to enter. Song Feng Hall was guarded by the Qing force and even birds had difficulty entering. How did Liu Fei learn about little things like this? With a calm expression, he said, “I like painting portraits of beautiful women. Any woman with unrivalled beauty would be painted into my collection. This drink should be my toast to you. If I keep this portrait of Miss Gu any longer, it would be disrespectful to the Fourth Prince’s concubine. I’ll send someone to the Fourth Prince’s residence tonight, please accept it.”
Zi Li smiled slightly, “Everyone has a heart for beauty. The Young Prince is so courteous, it makes me seem petty.”
The two of them laughed and drank their glasses of wine.
The young waiter stepped forward and said to Zi Li, “Third Miss wanted to send you a message. She says that she suddenly felt sick and will be returning home first. She would also like to tell the two of you to have fun, and to not worry about her.”
Zi Li smiled slightly and thought to himself that Ah Luo didn’t just simply dislike Liu Jue. With him here, she didn’t even want to eat.
Liu Jue appeared calm and composed, yet there was a massive turbulence in his heart. This Li Qing Luo, normally people were only too eager for him to look at them. Yet she lost her appetite at the sight of him?
Both of them were shrewd and continued to drink, neither of them showing any emotions. Whenever the wine arrived, they drank it all and secretly admired each other’s drinking ability. Zi Li was the first to fall, “Young, young prince, your capacity for liquor is too, too good.”
Liu Jue laughed loudly, looking drunkenly at Zi Li and said, “Why call me Young Prince, if you don’t mind it, call me Yun Zhi.”
“Alright, Yun Zhi, no need to call me Highness this and Highness that, just, call me, Zi Li!” Zi Li grinned. The faint smile on his face had long become an intoxicated expression.
Liu Jue’s body swayed as he walked up Zi Li and sat down next to him. He put an arm around his shoulder and shouted, “Young waiter, more wine!” Eyes dazed, he laughed foolishly and said, “Your Highness, Zi Li, say, what part, of Li Qing Luo, is good? She is far worse, than her eldest sister, and second sister. Any random person in Feng City is better than her. Does she, not have eyes?” He stood up, supporting his swaying body with his hands, and yelled, “Have you heard of the five noble sons of Feng City? Minister Li, what of it? She’s just a daughter of an unfavoured concubine!” After saying this, he staggered and fell back into his seat. Taking another pot of wine, he gulped it down.
Zi Li giggled and said, “Yun Zhi, you should know, that Ah Luo is a piece of treasure. I still can’t understand her after so long, she’s just different, just different. She doesn’t seem like someone who is only thirteen or fourteen. She has a good heart. If I can have her as my wife, I will be satisfied.”
Liu Jue chuckled and said, “Then what will Miss Gu do?”
Zi Li smiled arrogantly, “Naturally, I would hold Ah Luo in the palm of my hand. If she also has me in her heart, she should understand that I had no choice.”
Liu Jue downed another pot of wine, unable to do anything other than sway and laugh. Zi Li finally raised his hand and waved in front of his face, “Yun Zhi, Yun Zhi, hehe, you’re way more drunk than me.” After saying this, his head fell onto the table.
Liu Jue giggled and pushed him, “Zi Li, Your Highness, you dare say that you’re more drunk than me, haha!” Laughing, he threw up a large pool of filth, then swayed and fell on the table too.
More than an hour passed. A figure flew in from the window, walked up to Liu Jue and watched him quietly for a long while, then slashed towards him with a knife. The knife sliced swiftly and fiercely through the air. It swung at Liu Jue’s neck where it stopped abruptly. Liu Jue remained motionless. The figure put away the knife, then said in a low voice, “Your Highness, he is drunk.”
Zi Li lifted his head from the table, his face returning to a calm expression. He looked at Liu Jue with a complicated gaze for a long time, then said to the figure, “Call a carriage and take good care in sending him back to the prince’s palace.”
Liu Jue was so drunk that he was practically carried into the residence. Si Shu and Si Hua were very busy inside Song Feng Hall, having tidied it up after much difficulty. Liu Jue opened his mouth and threw up again all over the floor. After fussing about for a long time, he fell into a deep sleep.
Si Shu and Si Hua lightly closed the door and left. Liu Jue was alone inside the room, lying on his bed. He carefully listened and didn’t hear anyone around him, then slowly opened his eyes. His sight was clear but he was still slightly drunk.
Ever since Zi Li had accidentally revealed that he knew about the portrait of Miss Gu in Song Feng Hall, Liu Jue had naturally paid more attention. He shouldn’t have doubted Zi Li, yet a few days ago, the wine brought back from the border town by Emperor An Qing that he had given Zi Li at the grass plains was not an ordinary wine. The average person who drank this wine would have choked on the fiery alcohol when swallowing it. At that time, Zi Li had drunk a large mouthful of this wine. By Liu Jue’s judgement, Zi Li’s alcohol capacity was similar to his. It made no sense for Zi Li to be drunk before him.
Liu Jue was the first to become tipsy, then naturally became drunk. He had deliberately drunk another two pots, forcing himself to throw up. Just as he had fallen onto the table exhaustedly, he had heard the sound of breathing outside the window and someone had flown in. If it wasn’t for this figure coming to test him, he wouldn’t have suspected Liu Fei was pretending to be drunk. At the grass plains, he had already known that Zi Li’s imperial guards had been hiding in the dark. If the figure that had appeared wasn’t Zi Li’s bodyguard, the imperial guards wouldn’t have allowed him to intrude with a knife. Moreover, Liu Fei was already drunk.
Surely enough, after the figure had tested him with a knife, Zi Li had come to his senses. He had ordered them to send him back home. Liu Jue knew in his heart that he and his father were too important to the Fourth Prince. If he himself had taken advantage when Zi Li had been drunk and been disrespectful or made impertinent remarks, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
What was the Fourth Prince’s testing? Was he testing whether he was on the Crown Prince’s side? Because he claimed to have proposed a marriage arrangement to Minister Li? And Minister Li is clearly on the Crown Prince’s side? The Fourth Prince had repeatedly questioned Liu Jue’s attitude towards the daughter of the Gu Family. Was he worried that he would hold a grudge because he had robbed him of the person he loved?
Liu Jue lay motionless on his bed. The Fourth Prince had actually known about what was happening inside Song Feng Hall, so he must have made arrangements long ago. Who was this planted agent inside Song Feng Hall who could have gotten close to him? The majority of those who were allowed to enter Song Feng Hall were sacrificial men who had been raised here since they were orphaned as children. Who had he bribed? Was this planted agent arranged by the Fourth Prince or Emperor Ning?
He remembered the Fourth Prince’s words which had been partly true and partly false. Ah Luo was always heard in his speech. Was she Zi Li’s weakness?
Liu Jue thought about when Zi Li had been drunk, saying that Ah Luo was different and he couldn’t understand her still. He had ordered someone to keep watch on Ah Luo and from the reports he had received, she hadn’t been talented as a child and had only learnt the bamboo flute after the Peach Blossom Banquet. What part of her was different? Liu Jue agonisingly puzzled over every word Zi Li had said today. With a flash of understanding, he sat up straight on the bed.
Zi Li had said, “She doesn’t seem like someone who is only thirteen or fourteen.” Liu Jue let out a long sigh. This was it. During the Peach Blossom Banquet, Ah Luo had only been twelve. She had almost fallen into the water and when he had seen her pale jade-like feet, she had blushed and called him a thief! When he had seen her again, she had been lying down indecently on the grass. She also knew a bit of martial arts and he still hadn’t been able to find out where she had learnt her strange punches and kicks. She had a child’s face, yet her attitude and way of speaking back then was definitely unlike that of a lady of a wealthy family who had never left the residence. According to his reports, Zi Li had incidentally heard her playing the flute when he was near the river and he had played the xiao at the river bank, harmonising with her everyday for a few consecutive months.
It was widely known that the Fourth Prince was talented at playing the xiao, having been taught by Empress Chen since he was young. After Empress Chen had passed away from illness, the Fourth Prince had loved the xiao even more. To be able to match his xiao melody, Ah Luo’s flute skills couldn’t have been inferior to his. Despite this, she had hidden this at the Mid-Autumn Banquet, giving up the chance to show her talents in front of everyone.
Liu Jue thought that Zi Li really was partly truthful and partly drunk when he talked. This Ah Luo certainly was different. Very different. Liu Jue lay down again. He wasn’t in any hurry; he was bound to find out all the reasons for this sooner or later.
