No one perceived it — that the tide turned in that very moment. To all the ladies and young misses gathered there, it appeared to be nothing more than this: the fallen, twenty-four-year-old, still-unmarried Ye Qinglan — who had hardly even felt comfortable attending Cui’s Marquis Investiture Banquet — had belatedly realized her younger sister had been slighted, and had come to take her home.
Young girls have a particular cruelty that comes from innocence — they do not believe they could ever fall into such a wretched position, yet they sense a vague, uneasy fear that they might, and so they draw their lines all the more firmly. The married ladies were somewhat kinder; after all, they were all devout women of compassion, and even when they gossiped it was behind closed doors with their own trusted companions. To her face, they said only what a pity — such looks, such talent — and a few soft-hearted ones even shed a tear over it.
But none of this prevented them from seeing her as apart from themselves. Though she was the same Ye Qinglan she had always been — even in haste, still the picture of a well-bred young woman; even walking quickly, her hairpins barely stirred.
She had come in a hurry, wearing only an everyday almond-colored wide-sleeved jacket and a silver-squirrel fur cape that made her look all the more slender. She wore no ornaments in her hair — clearly she had rushed out — only a snow cap, its silver-white fur trimming setting off her jade complexion. Not a trace of rouge or powder, her lips only their natural pale rose. She was still beautiful enough to still the restless thoughts in a person’s heart.
Cui Jingyu stood quietly in the night, watching her walk toward him.
She was not dressed for the Marquis Investiture Banquet — that much was plain from her everyday hair style. Once, he had promised her something. When he made Marquis and reached the highest ranks of court, he would make her his honored wife. She had blushed and called him a scoundrel.
That was then.
The world of grown people was always this way — no pure black or white, only an endless, unbroken grey. His rise to the marquisate had not been glorious. There had been nothing but scheming and plotting without end, and now even her younger sister had become a piece of it. The twenty-year-old Cui Jingyu, and the nineteen-year-old Ye Qinglan — could they have foreseen this moment? Or had they simply been young and willing to believe, sitting in the hills watching the paulownia flowers bloom, imagining a future that would last forever?
Ye Qinglan walked to stand before him and gave a proper bow.
He was the host, and the Emperor’s own-invested Marquis of Dingyuan. Even her bow to the Princess Consort of Pingjun and to Official Su, who represented the Grand Princess, should have come after his.
“I heard that my younger sister had an incident at the Marquis’s estate. I have come to take her home.” She spoke calmly, her eyes cast down.
He only watched her in silence, his gaze carrying what felt like a thousand pounds, because she refused to lift her eyes and look at him.
“The young nobles of the Wuling district ride east, silver saddles and white horses gleaming in the spring wind. Where do they roam after the fallen blossoms are trampled? Laughing, they enter the wine shops of the foreign girls.” The days when she had recited that verse at him in a fit of pique were long gone. He was now the dazzling Marquis Cui, sought after by every lady and family in the capital, each one eager to secure him as a son-in-law. She, of course, no longer had the right to be petulant.
And so she did not look at him at all.
“Very well.” Qinglan heard him say.
“My lord.” Even with her deep composure, Lu Wanyang was a little anxious now. If matters ended here, would it not confirm that Lu Wenyin had directed Chen Mengliu and Yang Qiaozhen to bully Ye Lingbo? So she could not help but say: “This matter concerns my sister’s reputation — please, my lord, let it be thoroughly investigated…”
Lu Wanyang was still young, after all. She had read widely and come to know all things in the world — all things but one, which she had never experienced.
She did not understand the character written as love.
“The military answers only to His Majesty — it is not at any Miss Lu’s disposal, last I checked.” He Qingyi’s voice was mild and composed.
The Lu sisters had been arrogant for too long; those they had wronged were all here now to collect their debts. The assembled ladies listened and showed no inclination to intercede.
But for Qinglan, this all rang very differently.
Apparently this was the kind of marquis he was — only at the Flower Selection Banquet, only at the Orchid Banquet, and already Lu Wanyang and He Qingyi had both stepped into the fray.
Qinglan said nothing more. She simply beckoned Lingbo over and, seeing that her sister was uninjured, asked her in a low voice how she was. Lingbo only cast her eyes down and said, “Sister, let’s go home. I want to go home.”
She had calculated the hearts of everyone present. In front of others she was sharp as a blade; the moment she saw her sister she became soft as a rabbit. Qinglan heard this and took it for a deep and real grievance, and her heart gave a sudden ache. Her expression went cold at once. She turned a cool gaze on Cui Jingyu.
There was nothing Cui Jingyu could do about this habit of hers — treating her younger sister like her own cub to protect no matter what the situation. He had barely begun to speak when Qinglan had already turned her face away.
“Ye Qinglan…” He couldn’t say what needed saying in front of everyone. Cui Jingyu could only step forward, wanting to speak to her.
What was there to say? He had held this grand Marquis Investiture Banquet, drawing every lady and family in the capital to his door like a mob chasing the same prize. She had already retreated by a considerable distance. But her younger sister had come to his banquet, and he had not protected her — she had been humiliated right there on his grounds. That was laughable.
What old friendship. What still being friends. It had only been her own wishful thinking all along. Between them, things were already far worse than between strangers.
He stepped toward her. Qinglan immediately stepped back. It was fortunate that Lingbo came between them at that moment, bringing Xiao Liu’er with her to separate the two. The night was dark, and no one noticed this brief exchange. Otherwise, Lu Wanyang would not still have been coming forward belatedly to say: “My lord, today’s matter — please, the decision is yours…”
Her mind was entirely on recovering her image in Cui Jingyu’s eyes. What she did not see was that she was walking straight into Lingbo’s trap.
“Indeed.” Qinglan stood still, and turned to Cui Jingyu with a cold smile. “I heard my younger sister was locked up on the Marquis’s estate and even struck. Then please let Marquis Cui pass judgment.”
“Sister.” Ye Lingbo chose this exact moment to play the helpless one. “Let it go. Today is Marquis Cui’s Investiture Banquet, and so many ladies are in attendance. Oversights happen when one is busy — that my situation was overlooked is understandable. Don’t blame the Marquis, Sister.”
Cui Jingyu nearly spat blood.
But what truly drove him to the edge was Ye Qinglan herself. Ordinarily a sensible person — but the moment anything touched her younger sister, she turned into a tigress defending her cub. And sure enough, hearing those words, her beautiful almond eyes went cold at once. Her lips pressed tight. The gaze she turned on him was like frost.
“Ah yes, I forgot to congratulate Marquis Cui,” she said, and gave him a parting bow. “Marquis Cui’s investiture today, the highest ranks of court ahead of you, a glorious future — it is my younger sister who has given you trouble.”
Cui Jingyu’s expression darkened at once.
He had known she still remembered.
“Ye Qinglan!”
He said her name through his teeth in a low voice. Lu Wanyang heard it and froze, something jolting in her chest. Only then did she look up — to find Ye Lingbo leaning lazily against Ye Qinglan’s shoulder, turning to look at her with a brilliant smile.
You’ve been tricked, little sister Lu. Lu Wanyang could almost hear her voice, light with laughter, saying so.
Because in the very next moment, Ye Lingbo turned to Ye Qinglan with a pitiful expression and urged: “Sister, forget it. Miss Lu and Marquis Cui have always been close; the two families are on intimate terms. There’s no need to make things difficult for the Marquis on my account — let’s just go home.”
Even if the entire capital’s worth of snow came pouring down, it would not have matched the cold that flashed through Ye Qinglan’s eyes in that instant.
The very next moment, she turned to Cui Jingyu and said: “Since it puts the Marquis in a difficult position, there is no need for judgment. I will deliver it myself. From today onward, no one from the Ye family will attend any banquet at the Marquis’s estate. I also ask that the Marquis have no further dealings whatsoever with my household.”
It was always like this. The sharpest sword in all the world could not match her heart. At any moment she could cut through — clean, with one stroke.
Cui Jingyu stood there as though he were standing in the middle of that great snowfall four years ago.
“Good. Very good.” He said nothing else — only spoke those two words twice.
Lu Wanyang still could not make sense of the relationship between them. It was an old love, yet it seemed as final and absolute as hatred between enemies.
It was no longer necessary for her to puzzle it out.
Because Cui Jingyu announced his decision for the evening.
“Since the Ye young miss has already passed judgment, then there is no need for further investigation. I also have no particular acquaintance with Miss Lu. The Ye family has severed ties with the marquis’s estate; then let the Lu family sever ties with the marquis’s estate as well. No further investigation is needed. That is fair enough. I ask that Miss Lu please convey to Official Su — this is my decision.”