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Under the Power - Chapter 28

Published at 27th of July 2022 06:14:54 AM


Chapter 28

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“Lu Daren, Ms. Zhai is waiting.” Jinxia reminded him as she took down her bamboo pointy hat and set it aside. 

Lu Yi raised his head. Instead of playing the zither, he voiced out loud toward Gao Qing, who was standing outside: “Go tell Ms. Zhai I’ve finished playing.” 

“…” 

Clearly no zither sound had been heard, yet he said he had finished playing. Gao Qing was surprised for a moment, thinking he had heard it wrong. He felt confused and looked at Lu Yi.

“Go say the song is over and please, ask Ms. Zhai to grant our request.” Lu Yi gave the orders.

Gao Qing didn’t understand what he meant, but still took the orders and walked out. 

“Ms. Zhai is not deaf.” Jinxia was astonished. She looked at Lu Yi and said: “Can this work?”

Lu Yi placed his elbows on the edge of the table and leaned his head on top of them. He replied unconcerned, “If it can or cannot, you will find out soon.” 

After a short while, a loud voice came from the round-faced maid: “We invite Daren to come on the boat.” 

“Is she really deaf?” Jinxia asked, not understanding. 

Lu Yi glanced at her briefly, shaking his head and sighing, he said: “You’ve been in LiuShanmen for two years and you’re still an amateur. Try to think, do I want to meet her or does she want to meet me?” 

“……”

Jinxia was about to reply, but then she heard Lu Yi’s order, “Later on the boat, as a servant, you should behave like one, not like an immature child. Don’t embarrass me.”

After saying that, he turned and left the room. 

Jinxia didn’t dare to offend him, could only stick out her tongue and curse at him in silence while slowly walking behind him. 

After getting on the boat, the maid guided them up to the top floor. Just on the first step of the stair, a pervasive fragrance went up their nose; Jinxia glanced at YangYue and he glanced back at her, saying in a low voice: “This perfume is made of  kitolod flowers, it’s not easy to make… Mixing it is very difficult, because the ingredients must be accurate in measurements and temperature. People who know how to make this are quite rare.” 

Sniffing in the scent of the perfume made YangYue happy, the tone of his voice couldn’t help but show commendation. 

Jinxia smiled mischievously,  teasing him in a small voice, “You haven’t met her in person, yet you are already drunk on her perfume. Brother, don’t fall when you go inside.” 

“Go, go, go…”

Upstairs, the decorations were more luxurious than downstairs. The windows were partly open, the wind was bringing the smell of the perfume in fragments, a soft red bead curtain hung down to the floor, covering a slim woman sitting inside the room. 

“Daren’s zither song can be heard in such silence, Lan Ye asks for your guidance.” Her gentle and friendly voice passed through the curtain, her tone was mellow and full of fallen beads, “Even though the zither sounds melodious, when it comes to picking one note, the other tone disappears and just by not picking one note, the five notes can be completed. Since I could meet Daren today, it’s the fortune of three children*.” 

*[Fortune of three children = Indicating having a fortune for three generations, TN] 

Those words could reasonably explain the zither’s song with no sounds played by Lu Yi, the sincere request from the woman to be in his care and they also expressed her admiration for the young man. Hearing this made Jinxia feel sorry, because she just realized she’d always shamelessly asked for favours but they were granted not because she was of thick skin but because her demands were low. She needed to rethink deeply. 

“Miss, you’re too humble. Under high mountains and water flowing, finding a friend is very difficult. Yan Yuan is also very lucky.” Lu Yi gave a soft smile. 

“Daren, please sit down.” Zhai Lanye slowly stood up and ordered the rounded-face maid, “Gui’er, don’t stand there, serve the tea.” Although she was blaming the maid, her tone of voice was gentle and graceful. 

The rounded-face maid heard her order and walked out. Zhai Lanye reached the beads curtain to stretch them and roll them up. 

Only a slender soft white finger was seen, gently and carefully rolling up the bead curtain. The curtain was bright red, making the white skin of her hands look smooth and soft. While the thin layer of beads were being wrapped up, her slender waist was shown. In a moment, also her neck was visible, white and polished, and the face, which was like a silver plate; the lips were not dyed but of a natural red and the eyebrows were not drawn but thick black… 

Jinxia’s gaze immediately was drawn to her head, her hair was similar to the strands placed in the fragrance bag, most likely the owner of that strands of hair was her. Jinxia had a habit of looking directly at YangYue, in order to see if he’d found out anything, but in front of her he was staring at Zhai Lanye with a blank face. 

“Da Yang?”

She poked him and saw that he wasn’t reacting, so she quietly stretched her legs and stepped on his feet. YangYue felt the pain and murmured some words, but his eyes were half-turned; he was still looking at Zhai Lanye. 

After rolling up the bead curtain, Gui’er also came in with a tea tray. Zhai Lanye walked over and sat down near Lu Yi, laughing, while charmingly saying: “This is the tea I usually drink, I hope Daren doesn’t mind the plain taste.” 

This smile, a kind of shyness and timidity, beautiful wandering eyes… Even Jinxia could not help but feel her heart jumping, let alone a man. 

Lu Yi opened the lid of his teacup, glanced at her and laughing he said, “Liu An’s green tea from An Hui… I don’t really understand tea. I don’t know if Zhou Xian drank the same tea when he was here?”

He talked about Zhou Xian right away!

Zhai Lanye stood still, her beautiful eyes glancing at Lu Yi, as if they wanted to change his mind. 

Jinxia was also a bit shocked. She thought that he was swayed by Zhai Lanye’s beauty and hence he would be a little softer, exploring with tactfulness. She didn’t expect Lu Yi to be so direct, it was a big surprise. 

“Miss, have you forgotten?”

Lu Yi sipped his tea, and looked at Zhai Lanye without relaxing. 

“I… Of course, I remember him.” Zhai Lanye lowered her pair of eyes, struggling to hide the sad expression on her face, “Zhou Daren was good at talking, never thought he would…” 

“I’ve heard that, over the past months, Miss and Zhou Xian have been in a close relationship, not knowing instead if the river’s funds embezzlement  had been mentioned by him or not.”

Zhai Lanye slowly shook her head: “I only know that time he came here because he had the responsibility to renovate the river embankment. As for ‘having a close relationship’, I don’t know where Daren has heard it from. After the first meeting, we only met three, four times, and even then it was only for a small conversation. I was not too familiar with him. He also never brought up anything like that in front of me.” 

“But…” Lu Yi put down his cup of tea, “I’ve also heard that his feelings for you were special, that it was difficult to part. Because of you, he did not regret taking bold steps like embezzling the river funding.” 

“Even though Lanye was not born in a wealthy family, I was taught the ‘History of a married woman’ as a child. If  Daren says all that, should he calmly leave Lanye with no place to stand?” Zhai Lanye’s eyes did not back away, she looked straight at Lu Yi, “I also don’t need to hide this from Daren; my adoptive father, who has been taking care of me, has a rule: you would need two thousand taels of silver to marry me. Although the amount is not small, compared to one hundred thousand taels of silver for river repairment, it’s not very meaningful at all. I said to him shamelessly, `If  Zhou Daren really loves me, pay fifteen hundred taels of silver and you’ll be able to marry me.’”  

As soon as she finished her words, her face turned red, she took out a silk handkerchief to cover her mouth, turned her head and coughed. The rounded-face maid served tea at once, bringing in a wash bin for her to wash her mouth as well. Then she took out another handkerchief… The maid was so busy, like she was flying. 

Jinxia looked at the maid and sighed: Zhai Lanye had only coughed a few times and she was already this occupied. It was really not easy being a maid. 

Yangyue saw Zhai Lanye as a willow in the wind and when she coughed a little, he felt very bad. For a moment, he forgot where he was, couldn’t stand it and said: “Please Miss, don’t misunderstand, we didn’t mean it that way…” 

“……” 

Lu Yi turned his head, looked at him and raised his eyebrows, then coughed heavily. 

YangYue felt awkward and then he recovered, realizing that he was a servant right now, saying those words was overdoing it. He stopped his movements and bowed his head. 

It was only at this time that Lu Yi said: “Miss, you’ve said it very well. Just now, Yan Yuan was very rude and rash. It’s because of this case that I have traveled to Yangzhou. These few days, receiving unclear clues, I was feeling a bit worried… Today, I decided to take a boat trip to lighten up the heart. I was not expecting to offend a lady. This time Yan Yuan is really to blame.” While talking, he rose to his feet, raised his hand and bowed.

“Daren, don’t! It’s Lanye’s luck the one to be accepted.” 

Zhai Lanye rushed forward and pulled Lu Yi’s two hands.

Her hands felt soft and smooth, Lu Yi was silent for a moment, his head looked down… As she felt that she had done something inappropriate, Zhai Lanye’s cheeks suddenly turned red, she was about to pull her hands back but instead they were held tightly by Lu Yi. 

“Miss, will you forgive me?” 

Lu Yi asked with a soft voice whilst looking at her and holding her hands loose. 

“It turned out to be a love adventure.” Gao Qing was in awe of him.

“Pervert!” Jinxia’s heart looked down on him. 

“Beast!” YangYue said furiously. 

Zhai Lanye struggled a bit, saying in a small voice with shyness, “Lanye does not dare, Daren’s words are too much… People are watching. Daren, you mustn’t be like this.” 

Lu Yi released her hands, he turned around and ordered: “You go back first, go back to the boat.” 

It turned out that he was indeed a pervert. Once a beautiful woman appeared in front of his eyes, everything else was thrown to the seventh heaven. He might even have forgotten his intention for coming here. Jinxia snickered. Feeling lazy to witness this love scene, she dragged YangYue back to the boat. 

Outside, the drizzling rain had stopped. She immediately walked into the inner room and poured tea; her eyes saw a snack of rose cake on the table, hence she reached out to grab and eat it. 

Gao Ging lifted the curtain and went inside. Seeing that she was eagerly eating, he furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and couldn’t help saying: “Why are you eating?”

“I’m hungry.” Jinxia answered. 

“This is for Lu Daren.” 

Jinxia, one hand holding the cake, the other hand cradling the cake, pointed to the tower boat with her lips. In a whisper she said: “Don’t worry, Miss Zhai was born with beauty. There’s a beautiful lady on Daren’s lap, how could he still think about eating? If I don’t eat them, then it will be such a waste! Do you want a piece?”

Gao Qing naturally shook his head. 

Jinxia didn’t care about him anymore. She cried out: “Da Yang! Da Yang!” 

After calling twice with no answer, she paused for a moment: she clearly returned to the boat with YangYue, why hadn’t he come in yet nor answered? She wiped the cake crumbs off the edge of her mouth, suspiciously stood up, lifted the curtain, and walked out to see YangYue sitting in silence on the side of the boat like a statue, the robe on his body blown by the breeze. 

“Da Yang, what’s wrong with you?” Jinxia leaned in to look at him. 

YangYue said nothing. He looked at Jinxia, then looked down and looked up at the lake. 

At this moment, inside the tower boat, the sound of a zither could be heard. YangYue seemed to be slammed by something, and quickly looked at the tower boat… Jinxia observed him with attention, and then she realized: “Da Yang, do you really like Miss Zhai?” 

YangYue glanced at her gloomily, still not wanting to speak, his eyebrows furrowed stiffly like iron. 

“I really like her!” Jinxia looked at him sympathetically and said in worry, “This is rather difficult to deal with.” 

This was not only difficult to deal with, but it was something that was not even thinkable. It was not a matter of Zhai Lanye liking or disliking YangYue, but in order to marry her, he should have paid two thousand taels of silver. Let’s suppose those silvers had fallen from the sky all of a sudden, there was still Yang ChengWan: he would certainly not have allowed YangYue to marry a thin horse into the family. 

“Didn’t you say you want to marry someone who is gentle and kind, who can work at home?” Jinxia brought out a whole plate of the rose cake and put the pointy bamboo hat on YangYue’s head, then accompanied him for a chat, “Did your spirit run away when you met her?”

YangYue let out a long sigh: “I didn’t understand before, but now I do.”

“What…What?” Jinxia didn’t understand what he was talking about. 

“Before meeting her I did not understand… I thought my wife had to be like that and this, but after seeing her I understand those previous thoughts were ridiculous. She is what is important.” 

Jinxia was confused, but at least one thing was clear: YangYue saw Zhai Lanye, without even being served tea, he had completely fallen for her. 





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