Miss Jun was not angry as everybody had antic.i.p.ated.
She still sat there: motionless, indifferent.
"Go ahead, Xianglan is here," she said.
Lin Jin"er nodded, shooing Jinchuan away.
"There"s no need for you to do any waiting on," she said.
"You still haven"t left," Fang Jinxiu said angrily.
Jinchuan did not dare say anything more. She lowered her head and left with the horsewhip in hand.
She stood outside the door uneasily, wanting to go back in, but Yinbao was still outside. She waited there to remind her, but she did not catch sight of Yinbao.
Only the attendant was waiting outside the door. Jinchuan went blank.
Didn"t Xianglan just say Yinbao went to relieve herself? Could it be she hadn"t returned yet?
"Wait a moment. When my little sister comes, tell her to go in and serve," Jinchuan told the attendant.
The attendant agreed.
Jinchuan hurriedly walked outside. As she was exiting the hall, several young men walked in. Jinchuan paid no mind and dodged them to the side.
"Eh? It seems very quiet?" one of the n.o.blemen said in surprise as he looked around the hall. "Why isn"t there anyone playing?"
"Before, this time was pitch-pot"s most feverish period," said another with a frown. "Could it be that no one dares to play this year?"
"Then the Jinyun Halls" profits will suffer," someone joked.
Although it was an elegant affair, it was essentially betting, and they had to abide by the rules of betting.
The Jinyun Hall wanted their commission.
"Yunzhao single-handedly brought them a day"s profit in commission that year. Such a fortunate thing cannot happen every year," someone teased.
The person standing behind Ning Yunzhao snickered, then searched the hall.
"It shouldn"t be that no one is playing," said one of the attendants responsible for greeting. "It"s just that it"s not convenient for everyone to play now."
Inconvenient to play?
The group of n.o.ble sons looked at him; Ning Yunzhao too.
"Several young people are fighting now, so the stakes have grown large," said the attendant tactfully.
The last several games, first section, seventeenth, and first section, nineteenth have been frantically and violently calling out large sums. Anyone could see it was a deliberate fight.
Since it was a fight, of course, other people would not get involved.
"Whose family"s kids are so ignorant," said one of young men with a wink. "They ran to the Jinyun Hall to fight. The Jinyun Hall"s anger at lost profits is better than fighting with someone else?"
The attendant smiled easily.
"You jest, n.o.ble son," he said.
That n.o.ble son laughed.
"Do you still have a room?" Ning Yunzhao asked next.
The attendant smiled and led the way.
"Yunzhao, you want to play?"
"If you do, it"ll be really exciting."
"It"s been a couple years since I"ve seen your skills."
His companions laughed and teased.
"That is for when I was young. Now that I"ve gone with Second Uncle to the capital, I won"t play again," Ning Yunzhao said with a smile. "This is not innate skill; it"s practice, and I"m out-of-practice."
"Even if you were just born, you could dominate the whole place more than we could with practice," joked his companions.
Boisterously, they went upstairs. Ning Yunzhao lingered at the back, searching the quiet hall and the windows of the private boxes. He could not help but sigh and feel it was laughable.
It was originally a chance encounter. If fate would have them meet again, then they would run into each other.
He thought this, but he still felt faintly regretful.
After all, he still hadn"t solved that Go arrangement, and she might have some ideas.
After the sounds of footsteps pa.s.sed outside, it immediately returned to silence.
Fang Jinxiu poured out cups of tea for Miss Jun and Miss Lin.
"Please," she said, "play as you wish. Don"t stop on my behalf."
Lin Jin"er"s expression was yet gentle, and there was no change in Miss Jun either.
"So Third Miss was coming too. I hadn"t known, otherwise we should"ve all gone together," Lin Jin"er said softly. She paused. "Zhenzhen is now a much closer relation to you…"
Fang Jinxiu smiled.
"Miss Lin has really suffered much, talking so quietly for Miss Jun and me," she complimented. "I cannot take your good intentions as a donkey"s liver and lungs [1]."
Miss Lin"s expression did not change, though Xianglan sitting behind her had a hard time disguising her anger.
As expected, this young miss of the Fang Family was an uncouth merchant"s daughter.
Fang Jinxiu was yet smiling and lifted the teapot, pouring herself a cup.
"Come, come, I will use tea to cheer Miss Lin in place of alcohol," she said.
Miss Jun, who had been silent during the exchange, hit the table. The teacup in front of Fang Jinxiu rolled off the table because of the vibrations.
"You can"t just come here and drink our tea," she said coldly and stood up.
Miss Jun was angry. She said that with no hesitation.
"Jin"er, let"s go," she said.
An expression of "as I expected" crossed Fang Jinxiu"s face, while Lin Jin"er was very uneasy.
"Zhenzhen, where are we going?" she asked.
Miss Jun grabbed her hand.
"Bathroom," she gave Fang Jinxiu a glare, then pulled Lin Jin"er out.
Xianglan hesitated, before hurrying after her.
"Hurry back," Fang Jinxiu said with a raised voice, while remaining seated.
It didn"t matter if Miss Jun didn"t come back. Fang Jinxiu had already gotten rid of the obstructing servants. All Miss Lin had to do was guide that idiot Jun Zhenzhen to jump into some hole.
Fang Jinxiu smiled coldly. She looked at the fallen teacup but did not pick it up; instead, she set the teapot back down.
Lin Jin"er was very uneasy as she stood outside. Miss Jun looked all around her with a frown.
"Little Sister Yinbao was called away by Third Miss." Xianglan knew what she was looking for as she spoke with an uneasy expression. "I was afraid that Miss Jun would be displeased, so I didn"t say anything."
"Zhenzhen, don"t be unhappy. You know how she is." Lin Jin"er squeezed Miss Jun"s hand. "Just send her away later."
Miss Jun made an "en" sound, then squeezed her hand.
"You shouldn"t be unhappy too," she said.
Fang Jinxiu coming was not in Miss Jun"s expectations and probably messed up Lin Jin"er"s plans. Miss Jun hoped sincerely this would not cause complications for her, since she wanted to settle this matter as soon as possible. She felt this was troublesome.
Lin Jin"er couldn"t stop the laughter in her heart. Actually, ever since Fang Jinxiu entered, she could not stop her laughter.
As they say, Heaven helps the worthy.
Jun Zhenzhen was a no-brained fool, but Lin Jin"er couldn"t win against Old Lady Fang"s suspicion. She had a.s.signed so many servant girls to guard her. Although her plans would still go through, it would have required more time and effort to avoid raising suspicion.
Now everything was great. Fang Jinxiu had actually come and bluntly chased these obstructions away. She had also compelled Jun Zhenzhen to leave the room on her own.
Now anything that happened could be pushed onto these cousins fighting; everything was hers for the plucking.
Lin Jin"er looked at Miss Jun with sparkling eyes, clear as water.
"I am not unhappy, as long as you"re happy, I am too," she said. "I don"t care about those people."
Miss Jun nodded.
"That is very well," she said, patting Miss Lin"s hand. "Then we…"
At the moment, they were walking hand in hand down a corridor.
Lin Jin"er suddenly turned to look at Xianglan.
"You go and ask Mama if the Fushun residence has been set up properly. We will go there in a moment," she said.
Xianglan nodded and hastily walked away.
Lin Jin"er paused and squeezed Miss Jun"s hand.
"Zhenzhen, there is something I don"t know if I should say or not," she sad in a low voice, her expression nervous.
As expected, it really wasn"t just losing money.
"There is nothing that can"t be said between us."
Miss Jun looked at her.
Lin Jin"er looked left or right, then leaned close to Miss Jun"s ear and covered her mouth.
"Tenth n.o.ble Son Ning is here, and he wants to see you."
Miss Jun"s eyes flashed angrily.
To go this far.
[1] The full phrase is: To take an honest man"s heart for a donkey"s liver and lungs, aka, take somebody"s goodwill for ill-intent.