However, he still couldn't pick it up and over to his plate
He was a bit chagrined and put the chopsticks down on the table.
He was in a bad mood this morning and filled his head with nonsense surely
because he didn't sleep well last night.
After all, he had never suffered the symptoms of insomnia before. Whether
it was the wind and sand whistling like wolves howling in Yangguan, or the
ice and snow covering and freezing his armor and flesh, he had always slept
peacefully.
It was only here, when there was just one less person at night, that he
actually couldn't fall asleep.
…It's all about that King Jing.
The sick man, who could hardly breathe after only taking a few steps by
himself, didn't return to his room to rest, but had the energy to fool around
in his concubine's room?
Didn't he say that he fell for him and that he couldn't bear to put his hand
on him? He called on someone else in his harem, and on the contrary,
withstood it very much. When he returned afterwards, he was still thinking
about changing window papers for others.
What a plausible liar, with a mouthful of nonsense.
King Jing was indeed a deceitful man.
——
Jiang Suizhou changed into his court uniform early in the morning and left
in a hurry.
Courtiers weren't allowed to bring attendants when they entered the palace,
so Meng Qianshan sent Jiang Suizhou all the way to outside the palace
gates and returned to Anyin Hall to serve the expressionless "favored
concubine" who was sitting rigidly upright.
This master was usually silent, and he did everything by himself. He was
easy to serve. But today…Meng Qianshan felt that something wasn't quite
right.
As for what was wrong? Meng Qianshan also couldn't pinpoint it.
This master normally didn't like to talk, and he didn't utter a single word
today, either. He usually just sat in the corner reading by himself, and today
was the same. Nothing was different from the usual.
But Meng Qianshan always felt…that the air pressure in the house today
was particularly low.
This made him uncomfortable. He just felt breathless, like a flying insect
that could not find a place to go and could only fly around the room.
After careful consideration, Meng Qianshan inwardly reasoned that
although Madam Huo wasn't fond of His Highness, he had thrown a
tantrum from yesterday to today. Hence, there was no harm in pleasing this
master and making him happy.
With this in mind, Meng Qianshan cautiously walked to Huo Wujiu's side
and stepped forward.
"Master, it's a perfect day today. Shall I accompany you to the garden for a
walk?"
Sun Yuan, who was waiting by Huo Wujiu's side, heard the words and
looked up at the sky outside the window, which was gray and cloudy.
Lin'an in the spring was rainy, and the sky had been cloudy for a while
now. Therefore, there was no such thing as perfect weather.
Sun Yuan looked down and saw Huo Wujiu looking at his book, not saying
a word.
Meng Qianshan knew that as long as this master made no objection, it
meant that they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.
Meng Qianshan was as happy as if he had received an imperial decree and
hurriedly gave Sun Yuan a glance. "Your master wants to visit the garden.
Why don't you move faster?"
Sun Yuan promptly pushed the wheelchair and followed Meng Qianshan
out of the courtyard.
The layout of King Jing's residence was exquisite, and Anyin Hall was in
the best location in the mansion. After leaving the courtyard and turning
south, they entered the garden of the residence.
The former owner of this garden was rich and sophisticated. There were 18
scenic spots in the garden, each of which had its own wonderful view and
exquisiteness.
Meng Qianshan had been serving here for three years and could walk
through this garden with his eyes closed. Now that he was bent on pleasing
Huo Wujiu, he went into a long, vivid monologue about the scenery
everywhere they went.
However, Huo Wujiu never applauded his performance.
He sat in his wheelchair with a cold face without responding in the
slightest. He was rather like a deaf man who could not hear a sound.
Sun Yuan, on the other hand, pushed his wheelchair and listened with gusto.
He looked wherever Meng Qianshan pointed and sometimes couldn't help
but click his tongue and marvel at the beauty, earning looks of daggers from
Meng Qianshan.
However, Sun Yuan had always been a bit dense and failed to register Meng
Qianshan's displeasure. He just followed and enjoyed the sights.
They strolled through the garden until they crossed a stone bridge and went
to a bamboo forest.
"Madam, look! That is the 'Youhuang Tingquan'2
in the mansion! That is
not only a bamboo grove. After we cross the bridge and walk to that forest,
you can see…"
Just then, Meng Qianshan's rich eloquent voice came to an abrupt halt.
Sun Yuan did not understand, but he quickly followed his gaze.
In the middle of the bamboo forest, there was a gurgling stream and a
winding path. An open-air chess couch was set under the hundreds of green
bamboos with a stone-carved chess board, which was very elegant.
Right at this moment, two people were sitting on top of the chess couch.
One was dressed in red, and the other in a green robe. They were playing a
game in the grove.
Meng Qianshan was so annoyed that he called upon his ancestors, wishing
to slap himself in the face. He slammed the brakes under his feet and
grabbed Sun Yuan's shoulder, forcing him to make a U-turn on the narrow
and delicate stone bridge.
"…I remembered it wrong! It's but a ruined bamboo grove. There's nothing
to see. It's a dead end in front. Turn around, and let's go to another place…"
But at that moment, the ancestor in the wheelchair, who had been silent,
spoke up.
"Isn't there a Tingquan?" He said. "Why are you turning around? Keep
going."
The deep, cold voice sounded like it was squeezed out of his lips.
Qianshan almost kneeled before him.
You ignored me the entire way, but you were actually listening to me!
Meng Qianshan quickly bowed down in an attempt to persuade this
ancestor not to "listen to the springwater", but the moment he bowed, Huo
Wujiu's side profile hit him straight in the eye.
Meng Qianshan saw that Huo Wujiu's cold and sharp pitch-black eyes were
devoid of his usual indifference and lack of interest, and was instead as
sharp as a falcon's, looking straight ahead.
For a moment, Meng Qianshan felt that this man was on the battlefield,
with thousands of soldiers and horses behind him. Huo Wujiu's eyes were
burning like torches, as if in the next second, he would take off the head of
the enemy himself.
Meng Qianshan followed his eyes.
…This ancestor was looking at Xu Du.
Footnote:
2 Youhuang Tingquan – a bamboo grove where you can listen to the sound
of spring water
Meng Qianshan did not dare to disobey, so he signaled Sun Yuan and
pushed the wheelchair forward with trepidation.
He tearfully shouted in his heart: Madam Xu, run away.
However, the two concubines obviously did not receive the signal he sent
with his divine sense. When they heard the sound of the wheelchair, they
looked up. Both of them remained calm and composed, waiting for them to
approach.
Huo Wujiu in the wheelchair swept the two with a cold glance.
He had a little impression of the red-clad man. He took after a lady, and his
hands tended to wander. The first time they met, he reached out to touch his
face.
The other one…
Huo Wujiu's eyes sharpened a bit coldly.
Was he the one who mediated the last time they met? He twisted the claws
of the man in red, and it was this man who methodically stepped forward to
persuade and send someone to fetch the mansion doctor.
…So King Jing likes someone like him?
Huo Wujiu coolly withdrew his gaze, and there were shades of disdain in
his eyes that begged to disagree.
In their barracks, the most annoying thing was this kind of scholar who
would waste time chirping and smoothing things over. Just listening to people like him could make his head spin. However, considering King
Jing's questionable character and his poor taste, it was normal for him to
take a fancy to a man like him.
Huo Wujiu fired a cold shot deep inside without realizing that he had
included himself, whom King Jing had "secretly admired for many years",
in the scope of his attack.
He took a single glance and then withdrew his gaze. He looked upon them
frostily, and hadn't had the slightest intention of greeting them.
It was Gu Changyun who smilingly spoke first.
"The last time I saw this Madam Huo was some days ago, right?" With fox
eyes as soft as silk, he looked Huo Wujiu up and down for a good while.
"The feng shui of our King Jing Mansion is just nourishing. Look at you,
Madam Huo. You look much better."
Xu Du faintly glanced at him.
He knew that before the fall of Gu Changyun's family, there were several
concubines in his father's house. Gu Changyun had been influenced since
childhood and knew the way of fighting in the harem. When he came to
King Jing's residence, he especially loved to perform this tart play in front
of outsiders.
He usually didn't take up much of a fight, so he thought Huo Wujiu
wouldn't take him up on it either.
As expected, Huo Wujiu didn't say a word, but Meng Qianshan at the back
bowed smilingly and said, "Of course! After Madam Huo came to the
mansion, everything was fine. Thank you for your concern, Madam Gu!"
While speaking, Meng Qianshan secretly elbowed Sun Yuan and smilingly
continued, "I didn't know that the Madams were playing chess here. I'm
slow-witted and disturbed your good mood…Sun Yuan, why aren't you
bidding goodbye to the Madams?"
Sun Yuan heard his cue, and obediently bowed to the two right away.
However, before he could say the words of farewell, Gu Changyun
interrupted him with a smile.
"What's the hurry?" He said, "Coming and going like that. Meng Qianshan,
am I a man-eating tiger?"
Xu Du glanced at him.
He had advised Gu Changyun many times not to fool around, but he also
knew that Gu Changyun had experienced great ups and downs in his early
years, and had developed this temperament of playing with the world and
teasing everyone he met without fear of death. It was something that
couldn't be easily changed.
Seeing that Meng Qianshan smiled after he was asked, Xu Du opened his
mouth and said, "If you have no important matter to attend to, there is no
hurry to leave. Does Madam Huo know how to play chess? If you do, why
don't you come and see how to break this game?"
Huo Wujiu glanced at him. He hated playing chess the most.
His father was a stinky chess player, but his military advisor was a national
Go player. Since Yangguan was remote, his father did not want to let go of
any resources to educate him, so he forced him to learn chess from that
smiling tiger master.
Huo Wujiu was so impatient with the uninteresting black and white pieces
that he always messed up, and was so angry that his father confiscated his
favorite Dayuan1
horse as blackmail to force him to learn.
Just because he knew how to play didn't mean he liked it.
Huo Wujiu's cold eyes swept over Xu Du in front of him.
A talkative mud stick, the boring black and white chessboard, and the
provocative annoying one gathered together.
When Sun Yuan, who was behind him, heard Xu Du's words, he looked left
and right, not knowing who's order to follow. Then he saw Huo Wujiu
raising his hand, signaling Sun Yuan to wait in place.
Sun Yuan hurriedly did as he was told. He watched as Huo Wujiu rolled the
wooden wheel of the wheelchair and approached the chessboard by himself.
Xu Du looked at him.
Huo Wujiu sat beside the chessboard with his eyes faintly drooping. He
swept a glance around the game, and without half a second thought, he
stretched out his hand, picked up a black piece and landed it on the board.
Xu Du froze.
However, Huo Wujiu didn't give him a chance to speak to him. After
landing that piece, he withdrew his hand and pressed it on the wooden
wheel. After he gave a push, the wheelchair turned around and drifted
straight away.
"Go," he said.
Sun Yuan immediately pushed him on, while Meng Qianshan hurriedly
saluted the two and followed.
Gu Changyun watched them all the way until they went far away, then he
said to Xu Du with a surprised look on his face, "Look at that, he's worthy
of being a general. Even if he was locked up in the back courtyard, he's still
this wild and rude. He cares for nobody."
But Xu Du remained silent and didn't say a word.
Footnote:
1 Dayuan horse- known as heavenly horses