Chapter 34: It’s Not About Me, Doesn’t Jiang Shaoqing think that he’s meddling too much?
After a brief silence fell in the room, Song Baoyuan lowered her head and patted the two children's heads. "Mom and Dad have something to talk about. Can you go play with Sister Qiaoyin first?"
Jiang Chengyou blinked his confused eyes, and under his mother's gentle gaze, he took his silly sister's hand and walked slowly out the door.
As soon as the child left, the atmosphere in the house became indescribable.
Song Baoyuan silently closed the box containing the porcelain bottle and said slowly, "Princess Liu'an told me that Qianqian Pavilion is not only the largest restaurant in the capital, but also a crucial intelligence gathering center. Is that true?"
Jiang Keyu hadn't expected her to ask this. After a moment's pause, she frowned. "Yes, where there are many people, there's a lot of information, especially a place like Qianqian Pavilion, where everyone from the royal family to the common people likes to go."
"Why did I never know?"
"Why would you need to know?"
What he said was so matter-of-fact that Song Baoyuan didn't know how to refute it for a moment.
Jiang Keyu sighed imperceptibly. "This kind of thing is both complicated and dangerous. Dad told me when he was alive that he didn't want you to get involved."
Song Baoyuan placed her hands on her knees and silently tightened them, "But I want to know."
Why did she want to know this? Jiang Keyu couldn't help but feel suspicious. "Did Princess Liu'an ask you to ask me this?"
"no."
"Princess Liu'an is deeply favored because she aided His Majesty during a crucial moment of the palace turmoil. That turmoil involved many, resulting in countless casualties, yet she was able to assess the situation and protect herself, proving she's no ordinary person. She may appear easygoing, but in reality, she's scheming and calculating. She's not someone you're suited to associating with."
Song Baoyuan felt inexplicably depressed. "I said it wasn't her. It has nothing to do with her. I just want to know!"
"If it has nothing to do with her, why are you being so mean to me?"
Song Baoyuan was stunned.
Jiang Keyu turned her face away and unconsciously clenched her fists. "It's only been a short time since I left home. Apart from other things, your temper has improved."
It sounded like a complaint and a blame. Song Baoyuan didn't understand why he was still angry.
"It's obviously you who's making wild guesses!"
"I just don't want you to be taken advantage of by her!"
Song Baoyuan felt ridiculous, "Am I so stupid in your eyes?"
Jiang Keyu was stunned and widened her eyes slightly.
After a moment, he lowered his head, as if he was extremely helpless, "You always misunderstand me."
Seeing that she was in a bad mood, Jiang Keyu had to soften her tone, "Are you still angry with me about Chengcheng's matter, and...what I said that night?"
Song Baoyuan bit her lips lightly and did not respond.
"Ayuan." Jiang Keyu suddenly became serious, and tried to reason with her calmly. "I really don't like you showing up in public like you are now. I'm afraid that you will be tired and criticized. I'm even more afraid that you will encounter troubles that you can't solve yourself, and I won't be able to get there in time. But if you think this is fun, that it can help you kill time and make you happy, then so be it. But... the people around you, the musicians, the waiters, and even the cooks, can you re-screen them?"
His brows were filled with worry. "You think I didn't do well with Jiang Chengyou, so I will definitely pay more attention to it in the future. So can you please not make me worry so much?"
It seemed like he cared about her, but Song Baoyuan couldn't be happy.
Naturally, I can't respond.
“Bang, bang.”
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
Song Baoyuan glanced sideways, "Who?"
Jiang Keyu was very dissatisfied with the interruption from the outsider, but she could only bury her resentment in her heart.
The door was pushed open a crack, and Qiao Yue's voice came in, "Miss, Master Qingze wants to see you."
Song Baoyuan was slightly surprised. "Tell him to wait a moment. I'll be there soon."
"Why bother?" Jiang Keyu said in a deep voice, "Just let him come over."
Qiao Yue secretly looked inside, feeling torn and had no choice but to continue waiting for Song Baoyuan's order.
"Doesn't it mean I can't be there if he wants to see you?"
Song Baoyuan raised her eyes and looked at the person opposite her who seemed to be complaining.
Jiang Keyu met her gaze and asked, "Is it not possible for me to know what you and he want to say?"
"Can't."
Jiang Keyu froze for a moment.
There was almost no hesitation in her denial, and her tone was stiff and cold.
"Why?"
It sounded like a question. Jiang Keyu had suppressed her emotions before she spoke, but she still sounded a little anxious when she spoke.
Song Baoyuan avoided the gaze from the opposite side, "Isn't this natural, Jiang Shaoqing?"
She stood up and said, "Even if they are siblings, there is no brother in the world who would know every detail about who his sister is going to meet and what she will say."
She turned her back and tried to keep her tone normal, "Jiang Shaoqing, don't you think you're meddling a bit too much?"
At this moment, Jiang Keyu looked dazed, thinking that she had heard it wrong.
What a nice word "Jiang Shaoqing". He had never felt that this title was so harsh. It was also the first time that he felt that the person in front of him was so unfamiliar.
Too much meddling? She actually thought he was meddling? Even blaming him?
"I have something else to do." Song Baoyuan opened the door. "Jiang Shaoqing, please be at your ease."
She left, leaving Jiang Keyu alone there, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.
*
Jiang Suisui, who was playing hide-and-seek with her brother, ran to the place with the least people, pushed open the only closed door in the row, and crawled under the table.
After lying on the ground for a while, she realized that there was someone in the room, sitting next to her.
She peeked out from under the table and saw a beautiful sister wearing a veil. She immediately grinned.
Qing Ze remained indifferent to this non-threatening intruder.
Until the child clumsily climbed onto the chair he was sitting on. Although she never succeeded, she never gave up. Finally, she opened her big watery eyes and looked at him for help.
Qing Ze hesitated for a long time, but finally reached out to help her.
"Thank you, sister!" Jiang Suisui said happily.
There was a piano on the table, which attracted her attention. She stared at it for a long time before turning back to look at her sister's face and whispered, "Can I touch it?"
Qingze nodded.
Unexpectedly, the next moment, the child's white and tender hands touched his face.
Qing Ze was stunned and motionless, and soon realized that what the child was really interested in was the veil on his face.
"I want this." Jiang Suisui was reluctant to let go, "Can you give it to me?"
She was small, and although she spoke politely, her actions were very domineering. She tightly grasped a corner of the veil, as if she was ready to snatch it away if the other party disagreed.
Qing Ze didn't say anything, just looked at her.
Jiang Suisui thought for a moment and took off the gold locket from her neck. "I'll trade with you."
As soon as Song Baoyuan entered the room, she saw her daughter forcing herself to buy something and pulling off Master Qingze's veil.
"Sui Sui!" Song Baoyuan hurried forward and hugged her daughter back. "I'm sorry, the child has no manners."
Qing Ze knew that his face had been exposed, but the person in front of him didn't seem to be surprised or desire at all, but only full of apology.
"Give it back to them!"
Song Baoyuan wanted to return the veil, but Jiang Suisui really liked it and refused to let go.
"Mom will buy it for you later, okay?"
Jiang Suisui then loosened his grip a little.
The surprise in Qingze's eyes was not obvious, but it was there. "Is this your daughter?"
"Yes." Song Baoyuan returned the veil, "I'm really sorry."
Qing Ze lowered his eyes and glanced at the golden lock that the child had forced into his hand.
The gold lock is small and exquisite, and is engraved with a name. At a glance, you can tell that the person who owns it not only has a wealthy family, but also enjoys endless love.
"It's okay." He said, and returned the golden lock.
"Actually, there's another thing I want to apologize to you about."
As Song Baoyuan held her daughter in her arms, she confessed, "Even though I knew you didn't want to, I still used you as a pretext to invite Princess Liu'an to come today."
Qing Ze was silent.
"But that's definitely not why I invited you here," Song Baoyuan explained. "I sincerely want to invite you to be the musician in the teahouse."
Seeing that he still didn't speak, Song Baoyuan couldn't figure out his thoughts, so she asked tentatively, "How are you feeling today? I heard from Xu Xiucai that many people are praising your piano playing."
Qing Ze lowered her head and put on her veil again. "If... I never want others to know who is playing the piano over there, do you still want me to be your musician?"
At this moment, Jiang Keyu's voice rang in Song Baoyuan's ears without warning and at an inopportune moment.
"Do you really want to redeem him?"
"Yes." Song Baoyuan heard herself say, "Whether you want to show your face or not is your freedom. It doesn't matter to me."
"Freedom." Qing Ze repeated in an almost inaudible voice.
Song Baoyuan's mind drifted away.
"But……"
Qing Ze spoke again, bringing her back to her thoughts.
"If you want me to come here, you'll have to redeem me. Not only will it be a huge expense, but... Yaofang will only let me go if someone powerful enough steps in."
Song Baoyuan paused, "Someone powerful enough?"
"Yes." Qing Ze said bluntly, "At least, it has to be someone of the status of Princess Liu'an."
Song Baoyuan hadn't thought about it that much before, but after thinking about it carefully, it was indeed true. How could the higher-ups let Master Qingze go so easily as the cash cow of Yaofang?
But the most prestigious person she had ever met was Princess Liu'an, who wanted to monopolize the beauty herself and would definitely not help her in this matter.
It's really tricky.
"But maybe..." Qing Ze saw her frown and took the initiative to say, "Jiang Shaoqing can also."
Song Baoyuan's eyes paused slightly.
"Daddy!" Jiang Suisui, who had been quietly playing with his fingers, suddenly looked up, as if he had grasped the point. "Are you talking about Daddy?"
"Um."
Song Baoyuan responded perfunctorily.
*
As the sky gradually darkened, Jiang Keyu returned home and went straight to the study.
I can't describe how I feel.
Because he couldn't sit still, he paced back and forth in the room.
I don't know what I kicked, but a "bang" sound was heard, which seemed particularly abrupt at this moment.
Jiang Keyu lowered her head to take a look. It was a scroll painting that was half hidden under the bookcase.
He remembered that he had knocked it over last time and didn't pick it up, and he hadn't let the maid come in to clean it up recently, so it rolled here.
He had just bent down to pick up the scroll when he heard familiar footsteps outside.
"Is the Madam back?"
Liu An, who was about to say this, paused and managed to squeeze out the word "yes" after a long while.
Jiang Keyu didn't even turn her head and dusted off the scroll. "Did she take Sui Sui and Jiang Chengyou to rest?"
"Yes." Liu'an hesitated for a moment, then said, "Just now, my wife asked me if Master Gao is still at home."
"Gao Luoshu?" Jiang Keyu was puzzled. "Why ask him?"
"Madam said she wants to ask Master Gao for help with something."
Perhaps Jiang Keyu slammed it too hard, the scroll suddenly opened, and the lower end fell off, revealing the person in the painting.
Song Baoyuan in the painting is drawing her eyebrows with one eye open and one closed, which looks quite cute.
Jiang Keyu couldn't remember when she had drawn this.
He walked slowly to the desk, spread out the painting, and looked at it for a long time.
Suddenly he asked, "Is there anything that Gao Luoshu can do but I can't?"
What does she need help with?
Liu'an raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com