Since the night talk by candlelight, Fang Junqian came almost every night, and every time he came, he always requested to have food and tea. Xiao Qingyu couldn"t help doubting that he deliberately skipped dinner at home and came here to freeload. Was the Prince"s mansion in such a tight budget? A duke shouldn"t be that poor! After a.n.a.lysis, he came to the conclusion—it was purely the problem of Duke Fang himself!
Besides, he never walked in through the gate! In fact, besides Uncle Lao and Zhang Jinya, the little boy who stayed with his childe all the time to serve him, n.o.body knew the fact that the prestigious Duke Fang came to visit him in this small courtyard every night. Hence, when it turned to nine o"clock in the night, our Childe Wushuang regularly asked the night guards to leave, prepared refreshments and tea, and secretly left a window open for Fang Junqian, who sneaked into Xiao Qingyu"s bedroom pavilion through this window every night.
Fang Junqian laughed at himself that his lightness skills progressed to a new level after these days of "practicing" and that he became increasingly like a deflowering thief (a euphemism for rapist).
Xiao Qingyu sighed, "Shame that there isn"t a beauty in the pavilion."
Fang Junqian answered seriously, "There is, right before me."
Staying silent for a while, the two suddenly burst into laughing!
When the two were together, sometimes Xiao Qingyu played vertical flute in the blossom shower, while Fang Junqian listened quietly. When performing, Xiao Qingyu looked tranquil, his fingers animated as if narrating a story.
The flute tune was sad, sorrowful, desolated and lonely.
At first, it sounded indifferent, yet as it got to the deepest quietness, it was full of every emotion… When the tune reached climax, it suddenly forgot emotions and became careless.
Fang Junqian listened attentively and felt that the tune hit right in his heart to experience afterwards an enjoyment of soothing, touching and a faint of subtle loneliness…
He couldn"t tell exactly what kind of feeling that was or why he had it.
Fang Junqian couldn"t tell the reason.
Some other times, Xiao Qingyu played guqin (similar to Chinese zither, smaller and with only seven strings) while glancing at the moon.
When he played guqin, his countenance was handsome and a little pretty, a quiet beauty like that of a reserved virgin. His fingers were slim and powerful, sweeping the strings again and again, in the agile, natural and sometimes arrogant movements.
The tune "flowed" all the way to the end of the river, and it was at a loss when suddenly it reached flouris.h.i.+ng willow trees and bright flowers, as waves rolled up and clouds gathered in. All could be interpreted through in the bouncing, twisting and lingering notes. At this moment, Duke Fang felt like playing swords to the guqin rhyme.
He moved swiftly like an overwhelming dragon. The sword glimmer and guqin sound flew up together; the black hair and red scarf danced at the same time.
In the mood, Fang Junqian would suddenly leaped to the branches! The peach blossoms, invaded by the sword wind, gracefully fell and swirled down, like a most spectacular heart-breaking fireworks!
The pink shower splashed and landed on their bodies, clothes, and hair, somehow tangling and winding them up, even in the heart…
But at this moment, they were playing chess.
The two were equal players, so the result was unpredictable.
Fang Junqian picked up a "horse", smiling languidly, "The horse on five moves to three and kicks your "cannon"." Fang Junqian was excelled at attacking. His chess skills resembled his sword. Sometimes, even Xiao Qingyu was cornered or conquered by the sword wind. "Able to conquer a city or land as easy as taking something out of his own pocket." This was the comment that Childe Wushuang made for him with a smile.
Xiao Qingyu was also an excellent chess player. His retreating moves often contained killing potentials to fight back and overbearing momentum to destroy the enemy in a flash. His chess moves, unusual and ingenious, always amazed Fang Junqian and made him admire terribly.
Xiao Qingyu, without a previous hint, ate Fang Junqian"s "premier", and in an instant, the "soldier" already arrived at the back land to crash the general! "Checkmate." He looked up at him, eyebrows carrying a smile.
Fang Junqian blamed himself for the misjudging, quickly replayed several rounds the various methods of moves in his mind and finally found that there was no chance to turn over the situation. Therefore, he quickly put down the chess piece and made a candid generous smile, "I lose."
"Thanks for letting me win." Xiao Qingyu"s right hand, winded with gold thread, gracefully stroked his long dark hair from the temple, with a warm smile and unspeakable pride in his eyes.
"Childe Wushuang lives up to your reputation. You"re an expert in everything from Taoist magic, mechanical techniques, chess, poetry, painting, musical instruments, to medicine, divination, astrology and military strategies. You"re really unparalleled. I feel so content to have you as my bosom friend!"
"You"re flattering me, duke." He smiled, like a pure pear flower reflecting on the surface of water. "There are no identical people in the world. Every single individual is unique, so everybody is unparalleled. However, people just don"t understand this simple truth."
Fang Junqian, "Haha, you"re right. I was wrong."
"Childe, childe! Something wrong!" The book boy hurriedly ran to the second floor and dashed right into his childe"s bedroom!