After the feast, Qin Yunuan did not choose the usual path to go back to Jiyu Pavilion, and Maner went to a devious small pond through a lane. A man was waiting in the distant pavilion in leisure and soft clothes, which looked unique and charming.
Maner defended at the door, according to an indication of Qin Yunuan. Before she left, she could not help but persuade, “There is no need to meet him, Third Young Madam. There are many people in the mansion. If somebody saw us, we would get into trouble.”
Qin Yunuan shook her head, “It’s OK. You and Ting Xue will watch if somebody comes in. Now the thing gets into this situation. If I did not get the thing clear with him, it would be harder to explain it in the future.”
Qin Yunuan stepped slowly towards the man in the pavilion. The man who had waited for a long time here seemed to notice the smell of woman behind him and then turned back delightfully. He looked more pleased after he found the woman was Qin Yunuan.
“Third Miss from Qin Family, you come.” The man was about to walk closer to Qin Yunuan.
“Young Master Li, I am the young madam of Prince Ning’s Mansion. You can call me Third Young Madam or Infanta Ping like others.” Qin Yunuan stepped back unconsciously. The man was Li Jiaxuan. After the death of Li Weijun due to disease, Li Jiaxuan became more peaked. He missed the entrance examination of the Imperial College in Autumn, which he was likely to win the membership. He could only attend the selection in Autumn next year. By his wisdom, it was easy for him to be listed in the imperial court.
Li Jiaxuan was a little bit embarrassed. He lowered his eyes but still focused on Qin Yunuan. The lady’s smile, joy and sorrow had engraved on his mind after he met her in Wan’an Temple. He felt extremely depressed when he heard that Qin Yunuan would marry into Prince Ning’s Mansion. He thought himself useless because he could not propose marriage to Qin Family aboveboard without the achievement.
“Well, I take the music score composed by me here.” Li Jiaxuan seemed to find a way to break the embarrassment. He said while taking out a pile of white paper where there were many special music symbols, “This is the music score of Pure Serene Music played by Miss Sun tonight. I wrote it down from my memory. If you have any questions about it, you can come to find me again.” The words “come to find me again” was spoken in a low voice, which expressed his expectation and disappointment.
That was why Qin Yunuan wanted to meet him. Li Jiaxuan was a famous talent of tonality in Royal Capital. He could write the music score down correctly no matter how complicated the music was if he heard the melody. When Qin Yunuan knew that Sun Baozhen was determined to request to dance together with her, she indicated Maner to find Li Jiaxuan secretly who came to the feast too.
“Thanks for your music score.” Qin Yunuan stayed away from Li Jiaxuan all the time. She turned back to give a sign to Maner at the door, and then Maner walked here to pass a pile of banknotes to her.
A thick pile of banknotes was worth about several thousands of taels of silver.
The moment Li Jiaxuan felt confused, Qin Yunuan put the banknotes in the hands of Li Jiaxuan, “I heard that after the death of Sister Li, Li Family held a luxurious funeral for her, which cost too much. This is my hearted gift that repays your help this time.”
Generally, people thought this was just a music score that was not worth several thousands of taels of silver, but for Qin Yunuan, the music score was more valuable. It might express that she had bought the biggest secret of Sun Family.
Li Jiaxuan smiled bitterly, “Actually, you know that, with my affection to you, I am willing to do everything for you no matter how dangerous the situation is. I wrote the music score for you, not because of the money notes.”
Li Jiaxuan said with expectant eyes.
“Young Master Li, I know your affection, so I want to tell you this time. We are different in identity, position and ambition. And more importantly, Changxi is the only man in my heart. He treats me so well. I can’t love other men except hi. Please, do not draw my portraiture in the picture gallery. If someone else knew it, both of us would be in great danger.”
Li Jiaxuan felt a little bit surprise and then apologized, “At that time, I did not overthink. I just thought about you, and then…”
“It’s OK,” Qin Yunuan sighed, “I have dispatched people to buy all of my picture drawn by you. Young Master Li, you are a good man, and you will find a good lady to be your wife. Your couple will be happy with your children forever.”
Li Jiaxuan shuddered a little but heard the sound that Ting Xue, who should be at the Chuihua Gate, rushed into the pavilion.
“Third Young Madam, something bad happened. Second Madam was leading many people to come to the pavilion aggressively.”
At this moment, there were only two people, the madam Qin Yunuan and the young master Li Jiaxuan here. People would not believe them even if there were two maidservants here. Besides, Li Jiaxuan was holding the banknotes.
Maner made up her mind decisively, “Ting Xue. You take Third Young Madam away. I have an idea.”
“Maner, what are you going to do?” Qin Yunuan had almost guessed the idea of Maner.
Li Jiaxuan was completely in a daze without a word.
“Third Young Madam, we shall leave first. It will be bad to be late.” Ting Xue pulled Qin Yunuan, and Maner pushed Qin Yunuan away.
When Second Madam led many maidservants and nannies to rush into the courtyard, they only saw two shadows in the pavilion faintly, one was tall and robust, and the other was short and delicate like Qin Yunuan. The eyes of the Second Madam became bloody immediately. She ran over there with her maidservants, and shouted, “Qin Yunuan, how dare you! You are having an affair!”
But everybody was astonished by the lanterns’ light on.
“Who is the little b*tch?” Second Madam frowned, but then recollected quickly, “Oh! I know. You are the little maidservant of Third Young Madam. So, you came to this dark place to date with the man instead of serving your master in Jiyu Pavilion. It’s funny. When those above behave unworthily, those below will do the same.”
“Bah,” Maner shouted with her straight back, “Don’t frame me.”
“Frame you?” Second Madam suddenly came closer to pull out the bank notes hidden in Li Jiaxuan heavily. Several banknotes of large denomination fell on the ground, “How about these? You are just a poor scholar. The other days, your father came to my mother’s home to beg for money. I thought Li Family had almost collapsed, but to my surprise, you are still rich. Tell me. That money was used to redeem the bitch?”
The word “Bitch” spoken by Second Madam was so coarse, and even Li Jiaxuan could not help but refute, “Second Madam, Maner and I are clear.”
Li Jiaxuan wove his hand, and then one small and one bigger figure portrayals fell down on the ground from his sleeve. The delicate figure was a girl with long hair. They were the secret belongings when he was sleepless, and the figure was Qin Yunuan.
“There are more. Somebody takes the portrayal back! I want to figure out who the figure is.”
Those nannies crowded to pick the portrayal, but Maner moved quickly. She hid it into her clothes. She could not let those ferocious nannies see the figure was her master, or the reputation of her master would be destroyed.
“Pinch the little b*tch’s hands and take the portrayal back.” Second Young Madam frowned and ordered.
Having seen that there were too many nannies in front of her, Maner threw the portrayal into a water potting in the pavilion. The portrayal was dissolved after touching the water, causing that the figure got so blurry.
Second Madam got so vexed but did not give up, “Fine. Take the two people back. The Old Madam will judge them. We must find more.”
In Jiyu Pavillion, Qin Yunuan rushed back, and Xi’er was waiting at the door.
“Third Young Madam, the Old Madam dispatched people just now to let you go there at once.”
“OK.” Qin Yunuan frowned and looked at the wet bottom of her skirt due to rain on her way back. She was about to enter her room to change another dress. When she came in, she found Leng Changxi was sitting in front of the table leisurely to read over the materials from the military camp.
Qin Yunuan felt relieved somehow when she saw Leng Changxi was at ease.
“What’s up?” Leng Changxi asked without raising his head.
Qin Yunuan was taking off her skirt. She got stunned when Leng Changxi asked suddenly. She looked at Leng Changxi surprisingly and thought that Leng Changxi had known the whole thing in the pavilion.
“Yes.” Qin Yunuan looked a little bit embarrassed. She did not tell Leng Changxi in advance that she met Li Jiaxuan.
“Will you flaunt your superiority next time?” Leng Changxi raised his head and asked in a preceptive tone.
Qin Yunuan laughed out. She was only wearing a skirt, but she still walked forwardly and lay on the shoulder of Leng Changxi, “No, I won’t. With the help of General Leng, I don’t need to think and do more. I just worried that you would be angry if I let you know that I went to meet Young Master Li. You know that you are always impulsive. You will kill each one who offends me.”
“Isn’t that good?” Leng Changxi said seriously, “I love you so much with all of my efforts, so I have no more energy to love others.” Leng Changxi said while he was touching her waist and moved down. He frowned when he found Qin Yunuan was only wearing a skirt and her legs were a little bit cold, “You can’t take care of yourself well.” And then he unfolded a cloak on the chair and covered it onto the legs of Qin Yunuan.
Qin Yunuan nodded with satisfaction like a cute animal, but she had another question, “Why don’t you get worried after you know what happened in the pavilion?”
“For what?”
“Maner became the scapegoat for me, if…” Qin Yunuan felt a little bit worried.
“Are you afraid that the Old Madam will force Maner to marry Young Master Li?”
Qin Yunuan nodded. After all, though Maner and Leng Wu did not express their love publicly, they have fallen in love indeed.
“Leng Wu is such a shy and dull man. Don’t you think it is a good chance for them to expose their love with each other?” Leng Changxi suddenly smiled, and then a loud pop came from outside.
“Bodyguard Leng? Are you OK? Don’t be so hurried.”
