Looking at each other through the screen
A Qiu was still confused, wondering what she had promised him, when Xie Tiao turned around and headed towards the East Palace.
It was as if they were deliberately not giving her a chance to back out or explain.
Ah Qiu then remembered what she had said.
Xie Tiao asked her to visit the East Palace more often in the near future, and she clearly replied, "This concubine understands, thank you for your high regard."
She didn't answer that she would definitely go!
In Xie Tiao's heart, was this the agreement?
A Qiu watched Xie Tiao's slightly forlorn, bright yellow figure disappear around the corner before finally snapping out of her daze.
At the same time, the sound of wind cutting through the air reached their ears.
Almost instinctively, she dodged to the side and caught it with her fingers.
The object that attacked was a folding fan about a foot and a half long, made of white jade and intricately carved.
A Qiu exerted force with his fingers, vibrating out the mechanism, revealing a fine steel blade about an inch long at the front end of the fan rib.
She reversed her wrist and held the fan, using it to subtly press against the person's chest.
The man immediately cried out in protest, "Junior sister, I just wanted to pat you on the shoulder, why are you pointing a knife at me?"
A-Qiu said coldly, "How long have you been eavesdropping here?"
Gongyi Xiu said with a beaming smile, "Not long, it started around the time His Highness invited you to the East Palace. You recommended that he visit Miss Shangguan and the others more often. The rest of it is all high-sounding political ideals, and there's absolutely nothing you can't listen to."
Upon hearing this, A Qiu felt an urge to slap him to death. She understood somewhat why Shangguan Yuqi had said he wanted to beat Gongyi Xiu up.
She took a step closer with her jade-bone fan, almost tearing Gongyi Xiu's fine "moonlight white" silk. Gongyi Xiu quickly waved his hand and said repeatedly, "Junior sister, please don't get excited and hurt her. This cut will cost several taels of silver. My monthly salary isn't enough for just a few of these."
A Qiu changed her technique, pointing the tip of her knife downwards directly at the jade belt and pearl at his waist, and deliberately said, "This doesn't seem to be worth much money, it's okay if you break it, right?"
Gongyi Xiu looked at her with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, and said, "If you break my belt, it won't be about the money anymore; people will think you're molesting me."
Ah Qiu swallowed her anger and threw the fan back at him, muttering, "Only a fool would try to molest you, Senior Brother. You're already being kind by not molesting others."
Gongyi Xiu protested, "Why would your senior brother need to be harassed? Every time, it's the young ladies who pester me. You underestimate me too much." As he spoke, he put away his folding fan and solemnly straightened his clothes, looking as if he was afraid of being harassed.
Ah Qiu snorted and said, "If there's nothing else, I'm leaving." He turned to leave.
Gongyi Xiu immediately moved in front of her and blocked her way, smiling obsequiously, "Junior Sister, I have something to ask of you. I heard that your Jinling Terrace has been getting very close to Prince Gongye Fusu lately?"
A Qiu thought to herself that she had indeed been in contact with Gongye Fusu several times recently, but it was all about the Qianji Powder and the Huashen Pill. She said irritably, "That's right. Young Master Fusu recently came to ask me what your name is, where you live, what your place of origin is, and whether you are married. I didn't answer any of it, but told him to ask you himself."
Gongyi Xiu was initially taken aback, then asked with a suspicious look, "Are you married? I am not married, which is a fact known to everyone in the capital. He wouldn't ask you that, would he?"
A Qiu suppressed a laugh and said, "That's hard to say. You claim to be a member of the Xun family, a powerful clan in the north. What if you have an old wife back in Yingchuan waiting for you to come back and get rich?"
Gongyi Xiu then realized that A Qiu had tricked him, and immediately retorted angrily, "You wouldn't have said that to him, would you? This was just a joke!"
Ah Qiu laughed and said, "You don't plan to marry him, so what do I care what you say?"
Gongyi Xiu blushed deeply, and the usually eloquent man was speechless for a long time.
Seeing that he was really upset, A Qiu finally spoke seriously: "What exactly is going on between you and Young Master Fusu? I feel that you are not very familiar with him, but he seems to be..." She hesitated for a long time before saying: "He cares about you a lot."
When Gongyi Xiu was asked this question by A Qiu, he finally remembered the purpose of his visit. He was bewildered for a long time before saying, "My friendship with him dates back to eight years ago."
His gaze swept over A Qiu's right arm, where she used to hide her assassination plot against the Qin emperor.
He continued, "At that time, I was ordered by my master to retrieve something from the Imperial Mausoleum at Mount Li. On the way, I happened to see the Gongye family's carriage being robbed by bandits. I didn't know at the time that the person sitting in the carriage was the famous King Gongye Fusu of Wanxiang Kingdom. I just helped him out. In the end, we became sworn brothers through a screen. The name I gave at the time was Duan Shaoan."
He spoke casually, but when he was severely injured by the traps in the underground palace and helped Gongye Fusu, he was also in a sorry state. It was only thanks to the elixir given to him by Gongye Fusu that he was spared any internal injuries.
A Qiu laughed in disbelief: "There are actually people like you in the world who can be so open and honest with each other, even without ever seeing each other's faces, and become sworn brothers? I've only ever heard of people bowing to each other through a veil, never of people swearing brotherhood through a screen!"
He suppressed a laugh and said, "Luckily, Master doesn't know. His eldest disciple has secretly become sworn brothers with someone outside!"
Gongyi Xiu, knowing he was in the wrong, retorted, "Who hasn't been a newcomer to the martial world, full of youthful vigor? Back then, we got along well, so we agreed! As for him... you know his temperament! He's not one to easily reveal his true colors!"
He then regained his composure and said, "But the four characters 'Gongye Fusu' that he left behind are far more valuable than what he looked like!"
A Qiu asked knowingly, "So when you came to the capital and gradually rose to a high position and entered the government, you knew that this good brother was in the Wanxiang Pavilion in the capital. He was a state guest and you would occasionally meet him at the banquet. But because you respected his hobby of not showing his true face, you always pretended not to see him and acted as if he didn't exist?"
Gongyi Xiu stamped his feet and said, "At first, it was because... my status was lowly. He was the head of the Gongye family, the uncrowned king of the capital. I, Gongyi Xiu, the dignified Marquis of Lanling, why should I borrow his glory? I always thought that I could interact with him on an equal footing after I rose to prominence. But later, when I actually entered the imperial court, I realized that the higher you climb, the harder you fall. One wrong step and you will be crushed to pieces... I am still a member of the Lanling Hall, and my status cannot be revealed."
As he spoke, he lowered his head.
Therefore, it is impossible to get married or make friends in the current environment with this identity, because there is a possibility that the identity will be exposed.
Therefore, he often lived a dissolute life, frequenting brothels and drinking heavily, using his frivolous appearance to prevent anyone from getting too close and to lull others into a false sense of security.
What could be more reassuring than a rootless, wandering vagabond?
His dissolute lifestyle was just right—romantic without being vulgar, and while his reputation was questionable, he had no real wrongdoings. This kept him away from official families without escalating to the point of public condemnation, impeachment, or being forced to resign.
A Qiu suddenly realized that it must have been quite a feat for her senior brother to interpret the word "prodigal son" so perfectly and without losing his sense of proportion all these years.
She tried to soften her tone as she said, "Senior Brother, I think Young Master Fusu isn't someone who cares so much about differences in social status."
Gongyi Xiu smiled wryly and said, “The problem is not whether he is prejudiced against certain factions. If I were still just the Marquis of Lanling, with the wealth of the Gongye family, I could associate with whomever I wanted. But now I am the Left Chancellor. If he knew my true identity, would he report it to His Majesty or not? Can I put him in such a difficult position?”
A Qiu recalled how Gongye Fusu braved the rain and went to Jinling Terrace with an umbrella, just to get some information about Gongyi Xiu from her. She thought to herself, what if Prince Fusu was willing to do this difficult thing for her?
Based on her understanding of Gongye Fusu's reserved and gentle nature, it must have been his limit to test someone's limits in this way.
A Qiu sighed and said, "He only asked me if I knew someone named Duan Shaoan. I answered that I didn't know him, because I really didn't know at the time that Duan Shaoan was your alias when you traveled the martial arts world, Senior Brother."
The assassin of Lanling was feared by all. But even assassins sometimes wish they didn't want to be assassins. "Duan Shaoan" was the alias Gongyi Xiu used when he did not appear as the Marquis of Lanling.
Gongyi Xiu felt as if he had been granted a pardon and said repeatedly, "From now on, you should not admit it. I only used my former identity to ask Fusu to come forward in order to pass on your message, which aroused his suspicion. He will definitely continue to test our relationship in the future."
A Qiu felt guilty thinking about how her senior brother had been lurking in the imperial court for so many years, and how he could bear to pretend not to know his old friends and confidants, but revealed his identity as "Duan Shaoan" just to convey the sect's orders to her.
She replied, "Don't worry, Senior Brother. But," she sighed, her head throbbing, thinking of Gongye Fusu's humble, meticulous, yet shrewd and capable nature, "it's incredibly difficult to lie to someone like Young Master Fusu every time."
Gongyi Xiu gaped in disbelief and said, "Junior Sister, you haven't fallen for him, have you?"
Seeing his nervous expression, A Qiu mischievously said, "Is it not allowed? You can become sworn brothers with him, so does liking him violate any sect rules?"
Gongyi Xiu immediately broke out in a sweat, opening his folding fan and fanning himself while trying to come up with a reason, saying, "It's best not to, cough cough. It's best not to."
Ah Qiu looked bewildered and said, "But I think he's a good person!"
Gongyi Xiu finally came up with a reason and said while waving his fan, "No, no. Don't you like His Highness the Crown Prince? You just talked to him for so long and made a promise to visit his Eastern Palace more often in the future."
He leaned closer to A Qiu and said mysteriously, "If you can win the Crown Prince's favor, you might become the future Empress. That would be a great step closer to your master's goal, and your master will definitely praise you."
A-Qiu's heart skipped a beat at his words, but he immediately forced himself to calm down.
She had never thought about this issue from this perspective before. But after Gongyi Xiu pointed it out, it was a clear path forward.
To take the head of a general from a million-strong army, to capture the kingpin is to capture the thief.
Lanling Hall wants the entire Southern Dynasty, half of its territory, and doesn't care how she obtains it.
In the past, given such a good opportunity, she would have followed Gongyi Xiu's instructions without hesitation to approach the Crown Prince in order to fulfill her mission.
Gongyi Xiu, as if discovering a new world, chattered on and on: "His Majesty has already made a good impression on you. If the Crown Prince takes a liking to you, I will definitely do everything I can to push for it in the court so that His Majesty will choose you as the Crown Prince's consort. Although it seems difficult, it is by no means impossible."
He was now seriously considering this matter, calculating, "You are the daughter of the previous Xiao King. Although your family background is somewhat lower, your reputation remains, and you have saved the emperor's life. This is both talent and virtue. In terms of family background, although you do not have the support of the number one clan in Jiangzuo like Miss Shangguan, you still have a shining identity."
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