Chapter 61 Her Concealment
“She’s really fast,” Qin Yunuan murmured and then stood up. With her dress tidied, she asked Maner to take Li Qiqi in.
The door opened again after a short while. With her hair tied into a loose chignon, Li Qiqi wore a bright red skirt and a matching coat with ruffles today. Instead of being an exquisite like other ladies, she came out in full splendor of her beauty, which, due to her youth, made her look more attractive and charming. For those whose beauty was withering away like Dou Qing’e, it might be inappropriate to dress up in this way.
But what Qin Zhi wanted from Li Qiqi was her youth, wasn’t it?
“Concubine Li, you should have informed me that you were going to pay a visit. Maner, serve tea for Concubine Li,” Qin Yunuan exchanged conventional greetings while pulling Li Qiqi onto the couch.
“No, no. Don’t bother,” Li Qiqi waved her hand with a smile. Having witnessed the schemes in this family for long, Li Qiqi seemed more obedient, which could tell from her eyes and brows. She smiled faintly and said, “Actually, I came here for the same old thing. I don’t know whether you remember it or not, Third Miss.”
“Oh? What thing?” Qin Yunuan avoided the keen eyes of Li Qiqi deliberately.
Li Qiqi choked for a while and then answered bashfully, “My sister in Jianzhou wrote to me that the Su Family was not peaceful these days. White mourning cloths and paper flowers were hung outside the mansion. I guess young master Su may rush back any time since something important had happened in his family. I want to see him again before he leaves the Royal City.”
As Li Qiqi said this, she bowed her head and sobbed. Her tears fell upon the handkerchief and blurred, like daisies blooming slowly.
“I remember that. I did promise you,” Qin Yunuan nodded, but her tone was not that sad, “Well, I will make arrangements half a month later.”
Li Qiqi’s eyes lit up suddenly. She looked up at Qin Yunuan, “Will you come together, Third Miss?”
Qin Yunuan’s lips quivered a little. She nodded, “Of course, I also want to see off my cousin. But Concubine Li, the womenfolk is not a safe place, and I never help anyone under no conditions. You have to remember that you own me once and you have to return my favor.”
Li Qiqi nodded obediently with no more questions. However, as she got up, Qin Yunuan suddenly said, “Concubine Li, you smelled good.”
Li Qiqi turned back confusedly. These days, she had learned many things of the Qin Family. That the Third Miss had a good nose since childhood was one of these things. Though her heart tightened a little, her smile was still as sweet as flowers in the spring. “Third Miss does have a keen sense of smell. I changed my bath wash recently, and master also likes the smell very much.”
“Oh?” Qin Yunuan sniffed again carefully and then asked, “Is it Ningxianglu?”
Li Qiqi’s eyebrows knitted and her hands were squeezing into fists unconsciously.
Qin Yunuan tilted her head and continued to ask, “Or maybe it is some kind of perfume made of bamboo leaves in the southwest area?”
Li Qiqi looked off into nowhere with her eyes unfocused and her hands rubbing blindly in the front. Then, Qin Yunuan smiled gently, “I still have no idea of it. It should be some ancient secret recipe that you cannot tell me.”
Li Qiqi looked a little perplexed. It seemed that she did not understand what the Third Miss was doing. But anyway, she put on her smile immediately, “There’s no secret recipe. You had helped me a lot. If you want some, I’ll send a servant girl to bring you a few bottles over tomorrow morning. It’s just a kind of perfume made of ordinary flower juice.”
Qin Yunuan smiled and then said, “I was just curious. You don’t have to keep it in mind. I don’t like to use cosmetics. Don’t worry about it.”
After Li Qiqi left, Maner brought hot water for Qin Yunuan to freshen up. She took down the exquisitely carved hairpin with eight kinds of gems in Qin Yunuan’s chignon carefully and combed her hair slowly. Qin Yunuan’s hair was as black and shiny as obsidian and it hung down like silk.
Qin Yunuan took a sip of the scented tea from the tray and spat it into another clean spittoon after gargling.
“I’m sure it was her,” Qin Yunuan said suddenly and took a deep breath, “The one who put the snake in our courtyard before was Concubine Li. I’m sure.”
Maner halted, feeling cold in her heart. She still had a lingering fear about the poisonous green bamboo snake twitching its tongue.
“She was the only one who came to my yard that day. And when I asked her whether she had been using Ningxianglu, she frowned and clenched her fist, which were signs of holding back the anger. Li Qiqi is still young with a pretty face. She was confident that she could get father’s love by her own charm. So, she disdained to use Ningxianglu which could promote sexual maturity. When I asked her that question, she was offended because she thought that I had belittled her charm.”
Qin Yunuan bundled her long hair with a ribbon in a casual way and then turned back to Maner. “When I asked her whether it was some kind of perfume made of bamboo leaves in the southwest area, her eyes flickered and she avoided to meet my eyes,” she continued, “Even though she had tried to conceal the uneasiness in her heart, her efforts failed in that instant. Green bamboo snake is specific to the southwest area, so, it was not strange that Li Qiqi could get it. After all, she came from Jianzhou, a city in the southwest.”
Details were things that were very likely to be overlooked. Thankfully, Qin Yunuan had not completely believed in this woman who came out from brothels in the first place. Now, she even found evidence from Li Qiqi’s minute changes. Those two actions seemed similar but had totally different meanings. Then, why would Li Qiqi set herself against her? She was still very weak in this mansion.
Wondering for a moment, Qin Yunuan knew the answer. It was very simple — she had found a stronger backer.
“I knew that Concubine Li was a little strange before, but I did not expect…,” Maner patted her chest subconsciously.
“Silly girl,” Qin Yunuan tipped Maner’s nose with her forefinger, “There are so many things that you can’t imagine in this world. As long as we always did the right things and did nothing evil, it would be their losses to irritate us.”
Later, Qin Baochuan came back from Shunchang Courtyard. The lights of the yard were still bright. Worried that Baochuan might be hungry, nurse Liao had heated a bowl of hot Tangyuan on the stove especially for him. Now, while devouring the sticky and delicious dumpling balls, Qin Baochuan told Qin Yunuan what father had quizzed him today at the same time.
This was the first time Qin Zhi has paid attention to this son of his concubine, which made Qin Baochuan a bit flattered and also excited. When it came to some exciting parts, Baochuan even jumped off the chair and gesticulated, imitating the way Qin Zhi had acted. Nurse Liao worried a lot when he did that.
“Oh dear, be careful. Don’t get burned by the hot soup in the bowl.”
“Sis, you know, in the middle of the quiz, father suddenly nodded and said that since I had learned a great number of words, I could start to read The Collection of Mountains and Rivers. And I replied that I had already read this book half a year ago. Father was so surprised that his mouth was wide enough to ram an egg.” Qin Baochuan looked very funnier when he put on such a serious look.
“No way,” Qin Yunuan laughed while blowing the Tangyuan for Baochuan, “Besides, you didn’t know many of the words when you read the book half a year ago. You were bragging in front of father.”
“So, a few days ago, I took this book out and read it carefully again. I had learned a lot from it this time. And I got the right answers to father’s pop quiz about the names of several rivers.” Qin Baochuan opened his mouth wide, waiting to be fed by Qin Yunuan. He looked puerile as he always was, but the way he said was like a mature scholar
.
“You are growing up.” At this moment, looking at Baochuan’s lively and motivated attitude, Qin Yunuan felt that all those plots, cheatings and tricks that she had recently were worth it. Her painstaking efforts and scheming were rewarded. And her heart that had been bearing the coldness was finally warmed up.
Qin Baochuan was a well-behaved and keen child. He immediately noticed the relief and attachment in Qin Yunuan’s eyes. He stood upright and hugged Qin Yunuan’s thin waist slowly, “Sis, I’m going to the family school tomorrow and cannot accompany you all the time. Is it that you don’t want me to go?”
“Of course, I don’t want you to leave me, but no man would stay at home all the time. You are a little man now, Baochuan, and I want you to be responsible and work hard. I want you to take on the responsibility that you should bear.” Thinking of the previous life, Qin Yunuan was inevitably sad because Baochuan had hardly ever left her. But now, Qin Baochuan had to leave early and return late for schooling. There would be so many risks of being hurt on his way back and forth and during his time at the school. Now, Qin Yunuan’s heart couldn’t help but get nervous again.
She had to ensure the safety of Baochuan as well as his opportunity to go out to attend the family school. In order to protect Baochuan, nurse Liao had asked her son Huang Dashi to quit his job as a carpenter to guard Baochuan. Nurse Liao and her whole family had devoted too much for them, and it might put Huang Dashi’s life at risk if someone really hatched a sinister plot to harm Baochuan. So, Qin Yunuan still needed to prepare some long-term countermeasures.
In the past few days, everything went very smoothly in the mansion of Grand Commandant. The dispute over whether the Seventh Prince Sima Qiu could return to the Imperial Palace ended in a negative result that he was not old enough to get back. Being at leisure, Qin Zhi would ask about Qin Baochuan’s performance at the family school once he had free time, and he got satisfying answers every time.
Dou Qing’e was staying far away at the Guo’an Temple. Every day, Qin Yunzhuang would ask the steward to bring something to her mother. Yesan, the former steward of the counting house, was now removed earlier and he became a footman who ran errands. Qin Linfeng was quieter after he was grounded at his courtyard. He would play chess and practice his sword sometimes instead of making trouble.
The mansion of Grand Commandant Qin was like a deep ocean with no end in sight. There would always be simmering undercurrents under the peaceful surface.
Soon it was the day when Qin Yunuan promised to see Su Chenghai off. The sun seemed to have a special liking of this remote and quiet mountain road that it filled the whole way with golden shines. On this isolated mountain road, a low-profile dark grey carriage quietly drove away. And hundreds of meters away, a bigger carriage followed behind slowly. The coachman was experienced, keeping a proper distance from the former one all the time.