Chapter 118 Cascades: A Meticulous Plan
Feng Luodi, along with Fei, Scarlet and Jet rushed to Wuling Province. They hurriedly put down their belongings and Feng Luodi immediately followed Jet to the zither merchant mentioned by the informant to enquire about Cascades. However, they were met with bad news.
The boss of the shop was full of apologies. "Master Li here did pay us the down payment for Cascades, but Cascades was involved in a murder case three days ago and have been taken by the authorities as evidence, and I"m not sure when they will return the zither. If you are still willing to buy the zither then, I will send someone to inform you."
"What murder case is the Cascades involved in?" Feng Luodi asked, her heart filled with suspicion.
"I am not so sure about that." The boss was confused as well. "We were visited three days ago by the people from the yamen, who came with their badge, claiming that the Cascades is an important evidence and left with it. They didn"t even give an explanation for it. But the Prefect always does things this way. As commoners, we won"t dare to ask anything else."
Feng Luodi nodded her head. "When the zither has been returned, please send someone to Yunlai Inn to find Master Li."
"Of course, I am an honest businessman, I will not cheat your down payment." The boss of the zither shop immediately agreed.
When Feng Luodi and Fei left the zither merchant, Fei said, "This is too much of a coincidence! The Cascades got involved in a murder case the very moment we arrive, and there was no explanation given at all. This makes no sense at all."
Feng Luodi suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Yes, this is very suspicious. Even if it is an investigation by the yamen, they will send someone to explain the situation. This is a law of the Xuan Kingdom. Come, let"s pay a visit to the yamen and get some answers."
Fei nodded along and asked a pa.s.ser-by for directions. Soon, the two of them arrived outside the yamen. Fei directly asked one of the guards. "We are the buyers for Cascades, the guqin which was involved in a murder case three days ago. We are really anxious about the zither and will like to know the progress of the investigation."
"Murder case?" The guard was confused. "There is no ongoing investigation for any murder case in the yamen right now. And what is Cascades?" The other guard gave an equally lost expression and shook his head.
Fei looked at Feng Luodi. Both of them were thinking about the same thing. There is really something fishy going on.
At this moment, a man dressed in court-attire came out of the yamen. "I am the a.s.sistant magistrate of yamen, who are you?" The a.s.sistant magistrate asked the two guards to return to their positions and took a long look at Fei. Then he took a look at Feng Luodi who was at the foot of the stairs. Fei repeated his statement again.
"Oh, that murder case." The a.s.sistant magistrate acted as though he understood them. "This case is still under investigation. Cascades is an evidence and can"t be returned to the zither merchant currently. The few of you will have to wait till the investigation is over."
"When will the investigation be over?" Fei asked.
"That is difficult to say." the a.s.sistant magistrate thought for a while and waved his hand impatiently. "You can come back in three days."
"What kind of murder case is this to actually involve a zither?" Fei tried to probe further.
"That is none of your business. This information is confidential. Commoners like you will not get to know of such information." The a.s.sistant magistrate started to chase them away. “Get going soon or I"ll charge you for the disruption of our investigation!"
Fei walked down the stairs and left with Feng Luodi.
"How is it?" Feng Luodi softly asked.
"Full of loopholes." Fei coldly replied. "They didn"t even try to hide their intentions. So brazen of them."
"They know that we can"t trespa.s.s the grounds by force. It is obvious that they want to hold us back, but what from?" Feng Luodi could not make heads of the situation as well. Taking Cascades away was a trap for her. When she was trapped, they could use her to threaten Chamberlain Feng.
Feng Luodi suddenly remembered when she left Chang"an, Chamberlain Feng received an imperial decree to investigate the embezzlement of the governor of the Shanyin Province. Would this matter to related to her father? Someone is trying to use her to threaten her father. But what is the relations.h.i.+p between the Governor of Wuling Province and the Governor of the Shanyin Province? Even the journey between the two places takes half a month.
"Miss, someone is following us." Fei interrupted Feng Luodi"s thoughts.
"Yes, I realise someone has been following us since we left yamen." Feng Luodi sighed. The path to finding the Guqin is filled with hards.h.i.+ps and danger.
"What should we do now? We don"t have enough reasons to ask the Prefect for an explanation. We can only be trampled upon by them." Fei was in low spirits.
"Let"s wait for three days," Feng Luodi said after some thought, "you will go around and ask for information these three days. We will stay within the compound. If three days later the reply is still the same, we immediately leave Wuling City to prevent others from taking advantage of us."
"What about the Cascades?" Fei knew the importance of the Guqin in Feng Luodi"s heart.
"We can only ask for the help of that person." Feng Luodi sighed, "hope there won"t be such a day. Let"s go back to the inn first."
"Yes." Fei agreed.
Feng Luodi only had a slight suspicion that the Cascades was withheld to keep her here. However, during the short period of time when Feng Luodi was at yamen, Duo, who was hiding in the shadows, had already gone into the yamen to investigate. After listening to the conversation between the Governor and a few others, he understood everything. They were not only planning to keep the Chamberlain in check but also wanted to stop General Situ from interfering with that thing.
Duo sneered. Such wishful thinking.
At the same moment, in Chang"an city.
Situ was getting ready to meet Gan Qingjia when Two suddenly appeared.
"General, the Minister of the Right has gotten leverage on the Imperial Treasurer. He is facing trouble now as he needs to take him down with a single strike."
"Very good," Situ nodded, "the book of accounts can now appear in his study."
"Understood. I will go do it immediately." Two disappeared in a blink of an eye. Situ looked over at the streets of Chang"an, his gaze far away. The day has finally come.
Standing in front of Moonglade, Situ raised his head to look at the plaque above. He turned around and asked Gan Qingjia. "You said you have ‘something" important to talk about. That important matter…is to come here?"
Gan Qingjia grinned and placed his hand on Situ"s shoulder. "I"ve noticed that you have been in a bad mood recently. That is why I decided to bring you out to have some fun."
"You seem very free recently," Situ coldly replied, "is everything done?"
"How can you doubt my abilities," Gan Qingjia acted hurt, "compared to Yiqi who is ignorant, I am the one who understands you the most."
"There is no connection between these two issues," Situ continued with his cold tone, "and you are older than Yiqi by a year."
"Don"t be so serious." Gan Qingjia put his arm over Situ"s shoulder. "Come on now, let"s go and enjoy some music. I hear that Linglong has a new piece. We will be the first to hear it."
In the room, Linglong played the zither in a scarlet red dress. The tune was sad and mellow, the tone full of longing. Situ and Gan Qingjia sat down a short distance away and started listening to the music while drinking wine.
When the piece ended, Gan Qingjia clapped profusely.
"Beautiful woman, beautiful piece, beautiful skills."
"Thank you for your compliment." Linglong bowed gracefully. She sneaked a glance and Situ. "Linglong tried reorganising a piece written by Miss Feng, please tolerate my pending performance."
Linglong set her hands to the zither again and started playing the piece that made Feng Luodi famous – "Blue-Flower Porcelain". Gan Qingjia looked at Situ. As expected, Situ was immersed in thoughts.
He remembered when she first played this piece of music, her gentle smile as she sat on the high grounds, her eyes that were filled with sorrow, her contradictory expressions that were harmonious with the song. The memories that happened between them: happy, angry, sad, elated; every single one of them precious. He would never forget her, ever.
He was an ardent man. He loved the battlefield and fighting battles. He loved being a hero. He was at his prime. Never would he imagined that he would one day be defeated by a lady. You could never guess a lady"s thoughts. Life is unexpected and short, yet he didn"t live it to the fullest. Finding a life partner and soulmate is already difficult, why bother with the details? He didn"t want to investigate her ident.i.ty anymore. I will be content, as long as I can always see her.
"I still have some matters to attend to. I shall take my leave." Situ suddenly stood up and strode out of the room.
Linglong quickly stopped the music. She turned to Gan Qingjia, stunned and almost in tears. "Did Linglong anger the Duke of Anping? Is it because I changed the piece too much?"
Gan Qingjia waved his hand at her. Linglong hurriedly walked over and sat down.
"He is always hard to predict; it"s not your fault at all." Gan Qingjia ran his hair through Linglong"s hair. "You play the zither really well. You should have more confidence in yourself."
"That is not true." Linglong pouted in embarra.s.sment. “Sister Crystal and Miss Feng both play better than Linglong."
"Every one of you has your own different style. You shouldn"t compare things this way." Gan Qingjia continued to comfort her. He poured her a gla.s.s of wine.
Linglong took the gla.s.s and tried to appear casual. "Why didn"t Master Jiang come today with you?"
"He is sick and resting at home." Gan Qingjia replied calmly.
"Master Jiang"s health is really worrying." Linglong covered her mouth. "Can Linglong visit Master Jiang? I have heard many times that he is sick, yet Linglong never went to visit him. Linglong feels apologetic."
Gan Qingjia drank a gla.s.s of wine and did not reply.
Linglong immediately tried to explain herself. "Linglong understands that my status is lowly and have no right to visit Master Jiang. But Linglong is really worried about Master Jiang"s health. Master Jiang has taught Linglong zither skills before. There is some affinity between us.”
"Why are you explaining yourself?" Gan Qingjia smiled gently. He drew Linglong into his embrace. "I didn"t say that I won"t bring you to see Master Jiang. A beautiful lady asked for a small favour, how can I bear to reject you?"
"Thankyou, Master." Linglong smiled and poured more wine for Gan Qingjia.
After exiting from Moonglade, Situ rode his horse and went straight out of the city without any hint of tiredness. At last, he arrived at the Painting of 10 Miles. During last year"s Autumn, he returned after inspecting the deserts of the North. Autumnal Ombre just opened and she"d sent some good wines over to his place. He invited her to the Painting of 10 Miles to have a drink. That night, the scenery was beautiful. The lotus lanterns, the fireflies, the gaze they exchanged. His heart skipped a beat.
A blink of an eye and it was already Summer, the Painting of 10 Miles remained beautiful, but it was now empty.
Thunder boomed and lightning streaked across the skies, immediately followed by a heavy downpour. Summer"s weather was indeed unpredictable.
"Luodi!" Situ stood in the rain and called out her name. Whirlwind kicked his hooves and bit onto Situ"s clothes, pulling him out of the rain.
As dusk arrived, the head steward of the Duke residence craned his neck as he looked around, worriedly antic.i.p.ating Situ"s return. Finally, he saw a man slowly riding his horse over.
"Your Highness! Why are you drenched?"