Cold Years (6)
Chapter 21 Cold Years (6)
Ye Lan was Li Qi's companion in Qunfang Tower.
Ye Lan was two years older than her. That year she was fourteen and Ye Lan was sixteen.
The owner of Qunfanglou first took a liking to Ye Lan and forced her to entertain clients. However, like Li Qi, she was originally an actress and had no interest in such professions.
She refused and was beaten by people called by the madam. Li Qi couldn't bear it and took out all his belongings to redeem her.
Li Qi is different from Ye Lan. She is originally from Yunzhou. After the city was broken, the government was gone, so her indenture was naturally gone too. Unlike Ye Lan, she was not bound by the indenture.
She chose to play the piano in Qunfang Tower. One reason was that musicians could earn more money, and the other was that people who could come here to listen to music were either rich or noble, which would be beneficial to her plan to recover Yunzhou.
At that time, she had already won Wei Ming's favor, so she successfully rescued Ye Lan from Qunfang Tower.
When Ye Lan was brought back from Qunfang Tower, she was covered in wounds. She had been in a coma for many days. The first thing she said when she woke up was that she wanted to work like a slave for Li Qi.
Li Qi asked her to take good care of the young Dong Linche.
As time went by, Li Qi realized that Ye Lan was loyal but lazy. Fortunately, Dong Linche was a boy and not as particular as girls, so she took care of him in a rather careless manner.
Li Qi didn't save her to make her a maid, so she didn't care much about these things. She was just absolutely and extremely sure that Ye Lan was not so diligent as to get up early to light the fire and boil water.
Ye Lan handed her a clean handkerchief and exclaimed, "Did Lord Feng boil this water? When I woke up this morning, I saw it was still on the heated kang, keeping it warm."
Li Qi took the handkerchief and wiped the water stains on her cheeks, then looked outside the yard.
There is a swing hanging under the thick plum tree, and next to it is a small vegetable patch. Clothes on the clothesline flutter in the wind. The place is empty and there is no one in sight.
She hung up the handkerchief and asked suspiciously, "Where is he?"
Ye Lan pondered, "I didn't see him when I got up. Maybe he's new here and went out to explore the city on his own?"
Ye Lan saw her wash up, carry the used water out, and water the vegetable patch. Looking at the vegetables that were wilted by frost and snow, which she had planted one by one, she felt sorry for them and thought about building a shed for them.
Outside the courtyard, someone walked by carrying a shoulder pole, shouting loudly: "Sandalwood! The best agarwood!"
When Ye Lan heard the voice, he turned around and saw Li Qi putting on a furry red cloak and walking out of the hospital.
She passed by Ye Lan, stopped and said, "I'm going to Qunfang Tower. When Lin Che comes back from school later, remember to urge him to practice martial arts."
Ye Lan looked at her cheeks, which were shrouded in white, and her skin was as white as jade. Her bright red cloak was eye-catching, making her look like a drop of morning dew on a red plum petal, clear and tranquil.
But Ye Lan knew that she was not as clear as she seemed.
Ye Lan put down the basin and said, "Miss, you are working so hard, are you sure? If you fail, you may never leave the Jiedu Mansion."
Li Qi raised her head, her stubborn eyes dark and heavy: "Even if we fail, as long as we kill Wei Ming, we won't be afraid of leaving the Jiedu Mansion."
She was silent for a moment, then said, "What I'm unsure about is Feng Siji. I'm afraid he's just in the name of being an honest official, and he's used to caring for everyone. To him, I'm just an ordinary person among the many people."
Ye Lan sighed and said nothing more. The cold wind blew down a few plum blossoms. Li Qi stepped out and disappeared outside the courtyard in the blink of an eye.
-
Qunfang Tower.
The place was bustling at night, as busy and intoxicating as the ninth heaven. During the day, however, there were few people, only a few servants sweeping along the ladder. When they saw Li Qi coming, they all respectfully called out "Li Le Ren".
Li Qi stepped onto the third floor. The servants started cleaning from the upper floors. At this hour, there were no people on the third floor.
The empty and narrow corridor was covered with springy velvet mats, which were so soft and light that no sound could be heard when stepping on them.
Li Qi pushed open the innermost private room and saw a figure standing by the window, looking at the noisy streets downstairs.
She closed the door, walked over to him, and looked at the same street scene as him: "What's the matter?"
He turned sideways and saluted Li Qi. "Feng Siji came to the governor's mansion today. What should we do?"
Li Qi frowned: "What is he going to do?"
"He asked Wei Ming to redeem you. Wei Ming refused, so he said there was a man named Zhang in the capital who wanted to get rid of Wei Ming, and he could help Wei Ming bring him down. The condition was that you would never be allowed to play the qin again, and you wouldn't have to pay for the broken konghou. I don't know anything more than that. Did Concubine Li ever tell you about this man named Zhang?"
None of them had ever been to Kyoto, and they only had a vague understanding of the news there. There were so many people with the surname Zhang, how could they know which one it was.
Li Qi walked over to the small table in the private room and sat down, pouring herself a cup of tea. The steam rising from the hot tea blurred her face.
"No." She unconsciously stroked the teacup, sniffing the tea fragrance that filled the room. "She has had many difficulties in the palace. She hasn't written to me since the last Spring Festival. I was worried that she was walking on thin ice in the palace, so I didn't dare to send a letter rashly."
He asked, "What if Feng Siji really defected to Wei Ming's camp? Without a victim, we can't punish Wei Ming, we can't raid his Jiedu Mansion, and we won't get the mountain of gold."
Li Qi stared at the floating tea leaves in the teacup and remained silent for a long time.
She had been hanging around Wei Ming for more than two years just for his mountain of gold.
Even in the midst of war, Qianzhou is still prosperous. The governor Wei Ming spends his days in debauchery and has no ambition to make progress, all because he has that mountain of gold.
Qianzhou and Yunzhou originally bordered each other. When the Southern Yan army broke through Yunzhou City, they wanted to march eastward to attack Qianzhou together, but they finally withdrew their troops, apparently because Wei Ming promised them half a gold mountain.
Li Qi later thought that in fact, Nanyan and Yunzhou were badly damaged in the battle, and they had no ability to capture Qianzhou again. If Wei Ming had some courage and insight, he would not have given away half of the golden mountain for nothing.
She wanted that mountain of gold; if she waited any longer, Wei Ming would squander it all. Even the window frames in his governor's mansion were inlaid with gold, and the golden glare from the window frames had stung her eyes so much when she played the zither yesterday.
Not many people knew that he had a mountain of gold, and perhaps Li Qi was the only one in Qianzhou City who knew that.
Li Qi drank the tea, stood up and said, "Think of a way to provoke Wei Ming and make him want to kill Feng Siji. Imprison him and torture him. Be careful about the punishment. His old injuries haven't healed yet, don't let him die."
"yes."
-
It was already afternoon when Li Qi returned to Tingzhuyuan.
She lay absentmindedly on her small bed, listening to Ye Lan and Dong Linche setting up a shed for her vegetables in the yard, and bickering with them from time to time.
She remembered that when she was in Yunzhou, she and Dong Mingrong quarreled while sleeping in each other's arms.
Dong Mingrong likes to read storybooks, and every time he finishes reading, he will pull her over to discuss them. They are all tragic stories about talented men and beautiful women. Li Qi doesn't like to listen and always responds with a perfunctory "um" or "ah". But she can also talk on for a long time.
Li Qi knew it, and she actually knew that she was not listening, but she didn't care. She just had to say what she wanted to say.
One night, Dong Mingrong suddenly took her hand and placed it on her chest. She felt something soft in her palm and asked her, "How is it? What does it feel like?"
Li Qi pinched it and thought: "Hmm... soft and warm, like marshmallows. What's wrong? What are you doing? You're so perverted."
She quickly withdrew her hand and turned away in disgust.
Dong Mingrong lay flat on her back, staring at the golden lotus tent overhead. She said, "Today I saw a story about a talented man and a beautiful woman in a storybook. It said that after the beautiful woman got married, she particularly liked her talented husband to pinch her. Her maid teased her, saying, 'Aren't you ashamed?' The beautiful woman said, 'You don't understand. After getting married, both of you do these things. At first you're a little shy and ignorant, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be as happy as if you were a fairy.'"
She came over and hugged Li Qi's arm, resting her chin on her shoulder, and asked her, "Li Qi, tell me, after you get married, will you really do something so intimate with a man?"
"I don't know. I've never been married."
"The stories say it's like being in heaven. Do you think that's really the case? Hmm... but there's also a saying that being this intimate with someone you don't like is as painful and painful as being tortured in hell! It's really amazing. It's the same thing, but how can the feelings be different depending on the person? Sleeping with you feels the same as sleeping with my mother!"
"You have a lot of homework to do. You should think about how to report to the teacher tomorrow."
"I'm really curious. My mother is proposing marriage to me. I wonder if I will like my husband in the future?"
There was a thud outside the courtyard, and Li Qi came back to her senses. The shed built by Ye Lan and Dong Linche had collapsed. She rolled over inside and buried her face in the quilt, her eyes sore. She wondered if Dong Mingrong liked the current emperor.
Wei Ming had heard that the current emperor was already in his forties, old enough to be their father. Mingrong must dislike him, so would it be as miserable for her to accompany him in the palace as to be tortured in hell?
At that time, Mingrong was saying that the Madam was arranging a marriage for her. The man she was looking for was a scholar with a refined appearance and a noble character. Mingrong met him and was very satisfied.
If Yunzhou were still there...
"Li Leren, are you there?" someone shouted from outside.
Li Qi wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, stood up, ran out, looked at the woman standing at the gate and said, "What's wrong?"
"Feng Siji is your friend, right? He stole something from Lord Wei and is now in jail. I'm here to pass on a message, asking you to pay compensation and bring him back."
"I'll be right there."
Li Qi gathered his cloak, led a horse out of the stable, and galloped out.
As she was galloping along the way, she suddenly realized something was wrong. The outside of Qunfang Tower was crowded with people, squatting and kneeling to wipe the ground and steps. Not only here, but all the shops on the whole street were cleaning frantically, and even hung up lights and decorations, making the atmosphere festive, as if they were going to welcome some important person.
She hurriedly reined in her horse outside the Qunfang Building and asked the servant who was wiping the steps outside, "What are you doing? Isn't it usually cleaned by this time?"
The servant wiped his sweat off his forehead and replied, "Mr. Li Le, you may not know this, but His Majesty has brought the Empress from the Palace to Qianzhou! I heard they'll be arriving the day after tomorrow, and Lord Wei has asked us to make arrangements quickly!"
Li Qi tightened her grip on the reins.
Your Majesty brought people from the palace to Qianzhou. Will Mingrong be among them?
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