Qin Yunuan smiled lightly, “General Leng, you mean my cousin. I have heard that you were a little bit familiar with my cousin Su Chenghai. And my cousin always said that he would invite you to the First Boite of the Royal City to have a cup of good tea and a dish of Glutinous Rice Balls. He wanted to talk about your old days with you.”
Leng Changxi slowly looked at the distance, “He did say that?”
“Of course,” Qin Yunuan answered with a smile, “His business will rely much on you in the future.”
“You care much about your cousin and think much for him,” Leng Changxi said with various emotions full of happiness and jealousy, “But I can accept the nice tea, but not the Glutinous Rice Balls. I do not like sweet snacks.”
Smart people always did not talk about the whole thing. Qin Yunuan turned silent. The two people were just standing silently on the winding corridor, looking at the clear and bright full moon which seemed to be washed by the purest spring water in the southern Watertown. The wind blew mildly with the grass aroma from the opposite bank of the pond. Out of the hall, people turned to be noisier.
It was time to get back to the feast. Leng Changxi deliberately stopped and let Qin Yunuan go first. After a while of half burning joss stick, he turned back to leave. Now he felt that the wound on her body which was well just now, but at present it was painful. It was intolerable for ordinary people to suffer the pain of deep treatment.
When Qin Yunuan joined the feast, all guests had already been seated. Qin Yunuan was half-familiar with all the guests, who she had met at the Flower Fairy Festival and the praising ceremony. Fang Ziying came with her father. The layout of the feast was a shape of “U”, and the center was the platform of performance. Fang Ziying sat in the distance, and exactly was opposite to Qin Yunuan.
The moment Qin Yunuan sat down, Fang Ziying opposite to her winked at her happily. Qin Yunuan happily responded to her too. The feast would start after half the time of a cup of tea. Qin Zhi was sitting at the supreme position of the feast, constantly greeting to his colleagues. Dou Qing’e who should go to Guo’an Temple now wore a jade-green long skirt with two gledes patterns and with golden hair accessories, which was very elegant and luxurious. Following Qin Zhi, she also saluted all the guests, especially to Sima Ray who could be arranged to sit beside Qin Yunzhuang. She talked to him happily and seemed to forget the leading role of this feast was Qin Linfeng who sat on the right hand.
Qin Linfeng was a little bit fretful. He unconsciously glimpsed at shy Qin Yunzhuang and handsome Sima Ray. The more Dou Qing’e talked about the two people, the pettier actions he had. He constantly knocked the corner of the table, or held the wine cup, answering the salutation from the guests insincerely.
That was very interesting. Qin Yunuan sat in the feast silently, and kept observing the show played by the three people: Dou Qing’e, Qin Yunzhuang and Qin Linfeng. The more restless Qin Linfeng was, the more smiles she had.
“Oh,” Dou Qing’e seemed to notice Qin Yunuan suddenly, “Where is Baochuan? Why isn’t he here? It is the birthday party of the master. It is not appropriate to be late for him.”
Qin Yunuan paused for a while and said with a pretty face and a gentle smile, “Don’t worry, mother. Wait for a minute. Baochuan has been waiting for a long time to present his father a surprise.”
After Qin Yunuan said, people could hear a sneer from Qin Linfeng. Qin Linfeng believed that Qin Yunuan was telling a rough lie. He did not say anything and even did not satirize her. He wanted to see how the daughter of a concubine – a female embroider could make up her lie.
“Really?” Dou Qing’e said in a higher voice, and used the cover of teacup to push aside the tea leaves, “I remember that Baochuan has not attended the family feast and family reunion dinner for many times. Um… is he seriously ill?”
Qin Yunuan looked at aggressive Dou Qing’e and then turned her eyes onto Qin Zhi who was silent but still observed what happened here. She smiled, “Baochuan caught a cold actually in the back room. But he moved into the Fuxi Courtyard where the house was warm and the food was sufficient and delicious. Now he is robust enough.”
Such an eloquent girl. Dou Qing’e squirted and thought that Qin Yunuan’s words suggested their old disputes.
At this moment, Concubine Chang said, “The words of Third Miss are right. Master, I have met Baochuan twice. He is very smart and lovely now.”
Qin Zhi did not contradict and express his happiness. He just said ok. He had no much more memory about this son of the concubine. Since the sudden death of Lian six years ago, he cared less about him because the Biddy Zhao had said according to her fortune-telling that the son was a bad sign which caused the death of He Lian. Apart from his grabbing test that he chose a jade tablet, he knew nothing about this son born of a concubine.
With the fireworks emission, the feast started. All the lights around turned dark except the large platform in the center of the feast. A kind of lady’s aroma came with eight dancers who took random steps from the left and right side. It was now in April but they wore gauzy skirts as thin as cicada’s wings. Their slim waists and cloud-like colorful cappa danced to the music played with flute by the musician. The female singers played the Chinese zither and sang folk music from the regions south of the River. They are giving a smooth and gentle performance, which charmed all the guests here with the music.
During the performance, Leng Changxi was seated somehow. His seat was inferior to Qin Zhi but equal to Left Chancellor Shangguan Yuan and Sima Ray. He raised his hands to play with the wine bottle with his confusing and lazy eyes. His floating eyes frozen till he looked at Qin Yunuan nearby. Suddenly he smiled gently and moved his eyes away from Qin Yunuan silently.
Qin Yunuan noticed that. She could feel the non-cold and non-hot eyes of Leng Changxi. She just kept calm. Tonight, there was one more important thing that she should finish.
The performance came to an end nearly. The moment those dancers were about to quit, a strong and sonorous reading sound of a child came from the end of the feast. Tender as the voice was, each word contained full sincereness.
“Baochuan wishes father could be longevous, energetic, powerful and prestigious.”
Each word was so sonorous and smooth.
Suddenly the face of Qin Linfeng turned pale. He could not believe that the little boy was well now in the feast though he ordered the menial girl Tinghe to add the poison which could cause the fester of human’s gut. Why? Why could the little boy show up at the feast normally. He was cheated by Tinghe? No, no way! That was impossible! The girl was dreaming to be his concubine, and furthermore she had no reason to play tricks to him.
In a flash, Qin Linfeng glared at Qin Yunuan with much anger. It was her! It must be her! He had heard from his mother that the girl now was very shrewd and changed totally. It was out of his expectation that she became such a canny girl.
At the end of the feast, Qin Baochuan wore a crescent-white shirt inside and a bamboo-green robe outside with a two-finger wide belt in his waist, which looked very energetic. As he was walking forward, all guests were looking at him surprisingly. They had never heard of such a decent young master in the mansion of Grand Commandant.
“Father, this is the birthday gift for you.” Qin Baochuan came to his father, curling his knees and bowing his fist with a handsome posture. Before Qin Zhi got surprised, Tong behind Qin Baochuan had already presented a scroll.
Qin Yunuan started to say, “This is an ink and wash painting that Baochuan paid much attention to finish for you. Father, please, accept it.”
It was just a painting but full of sincereness from this young boy born of a concubine. So, Qin Zhi gave him a rare smile and waved his hands to let Bulter Xie put away this scroll.
“Don’t you open it, father?” Qin Yunuan said with a smile.
“Huh, just a painting from a six-year-old son born of a concubine. How can this painting be released to the guests?” Qin Yunzhuang felt funny in her heart but still said in a soft and gentle voice, “Father wants to put away this painting for sake of the second brother. There are so many valuable and famous paintings from those nobles here. Second brother, that’s in vain. You would be defeated by other famous paintings.”
Qin Baochuan was a little bit upset and seemed to be scared. He looked at Qin Yunuan to ask for help, but only saw that his sister gave him determined eyes. Encouraged by his sister, Qin Baochuan plucked up and added with his bowed fists, “Please read the painting, father. I am sure that you will be satisfied with this unique ink and wash painting.”
Qin Zhi seemed to be uneasy about the sudden enthusiasm from Qin Baochuan, “Fine, thank you for this gift.”
Before Qin Yunuan said something, a leisure voice came nearby, “I want to see how unique the painting is.”
Looking at Leng Changxi, he smiled, “Since General Leng wants to see it. Come on, open the scroll.”
As the order was given out, two servants came forwards. One held the scroll and the other unfolded it slowly.
When the three-meter scroll was unfolded totally, the mountains and thatched cottages were lively on the scroll. Qin Yunuan seemed to have heard that Qin Zhi took a deep breath. He mumbled, “Is this?”
Qin Baochuan was like an adult and said proficiently, “I have ever heard from my sister about the study things of father. The nannies in the mansion also told me that you have left the hometown for nearly 20 years to seek for gaining an official position. You missed the thatched cottage built at the foot of Zhongnan mountain very much when you studied. Busy in government affairs, you cannot afford enough time to go back to the place. Father, Baochuan painted the thatched cottage in your memory. Though it may be a little bit different from the one in your heart, I hope you can receive my sincereness.”
On this three-meter scroll, there were mountains, rivers, peculiar stones and falling waterfall, which made Qin Zhi recollected the mountain spring near the cottage. In the painting, all kinds of trees stood on the mountains, a small but delicate thatched cottage was located on the mountainside with two red-crowned cranes hovering above the cottage, which seemed to indicate that the man reading books loudly in the cottage would be successful in the end.
Such a skillful painting with great composition was from a six-year-old child. How unbelievable!
