Chapter 18. Noble ladies brought their daughters to the warm pavilion one after another and there were bursts of chatter. Liang Huai Yu was a smart person and she knew when to stop before going too far. The star of this banquet was not her and her daughter. She naturally wanted to take advantage of people exchanging greetings to reduce everyone’s attention on them. She simply took Gu Yu Qi to an inconspicuous corner and took a seat. Gu Yu Qi let out a long breath.
While talking to her mother in a low voice and drinking tea, Gu Yu Qi was bored and sleepy. It was too hot in this warm pavilion and there were so many people with little air circulation. Her head was dizzy and she yawned several times in succession.
“Is Younger Sister tired?” At some point, Zhang Wan Yi sat by Gu Yu Qi and asked in a low voice. Gu Yu Qi was shocked as though a basin of cold water had been poured over her from head to toe. She woke up instantly.
“No,” Gu Yu Qi hurriedly sat upright and looked at her hands on her knees. She looked neither left nor right and yet felt a burst of nausea in her heart.
If she did not know the truth about her, the current Gu Yu Qi would likely be deceived by Zhang Wa Yi’s harmless white lotus appearance. She looked as concerned as if Gu Yu Qi was really her sister.
Gu Yu Qi did not understand why of all the noble ladies in this warm pavilion, Zhang Wan Yi did not go to them but just had to come and talk to her.
She was not familiar with her so far in this life!
“Younger Sister grew up in Jiangnan. Can you tell me about Jiangnan?” Zhang Wan Yi smiled and took Gu Yu Qi’s hand. Gu Yu Qi’s mouth twitched as if she had eaten a fly, but she lowered her head to hide it.
“What is there to tell?” Gu Yu Qi said perfunctorily, “It is not as prosperous as the capital.”
“But in those poems, Jiangnan is described like a painting in a dream.” Zhang Wan Yi did not seem to care about Gu Yu Qi’s intolerance and pulling her, she said, “Younger Sister came from that place that looks like a painting and is born like the person in the painting. I see that Younger Sister is bored sitting here. Why don’t we go out for a walk? It’s a little suffocating in here.”
“Ah?” Gu Yu Qi looked at Zhang Wan Yi as though she was a monster. What did this mean? The person she was avoiding was instead sticking to herself? She really wanted to take her hand out of Zhang Wan Yi’s and slap her face, but the her right now could not do that.
The young miss of a minister’s residence was sincerely inviting and Liang-shi was very happy. Although ministers did not have titles of nobility, they were a powerful faction in the court. If Gu Yu Qi could get along well with the minister’s daughter, it would be good for her. Just now, Gu Yu Qi had yawned boredly. She had known her daughter would not like this kind of social activity and in truth, she did not like it either. Now that someone was inviting her daughter to play outside for a while, it was naturally a good thing.
Before Gu Yu Qi could shake her head, Liang-shi spoke first and told Gu Yu Qi and Zhang Wan Yi to go out for a walk together.
Gu Yu Qi did not want to disobey her mother so she could only summon up her courage and stand up. Then she walked out of the warm pavilion with Zhang Wan Yi.
As soon as they left the warm pavilion, Gu Yu Qi took advantage of pulling up her cloak to take her hand out of Zhang Wan Yi’s and fall behind her deliberately. She really did not want to talk to this woman anymore.
Zhang Wan Yi seemed to really like Gu Yu Qi. Seeing Gu Yu Qi falling behind her, she stopped and waited for her. She took her arm familiarly and talked to her warmly. Gu Yu Qi returned this with an aimless manner, seeming a little indifferent. Gu Yu Qi’s reaction did not stop Zhang Wan Yi’s enthusiasm at all and this amazed Gu Yu Qi.
Gu Yu Qi looked at Zhang Wan Yi suspiciously. Could she also have been reborn?
This thought made Gu Yu Qi’s head swell a bit. Since she had been reborn, she had felt that something was wrong with everyone… She could not help but feel like it was a little funny.
“Does it snow during winter in Jiangnan?” Zhang Wan Yi asked with a smile as she took Gu Yu Qi and strolled along the path outside the warm pavilion.
“Yes, sometimes it will snow a little,” Gu Yu Qi’s mind was a little confused and she replied offhandedly.
“What about spring?” Zhang Wan Yi kept asking questions like a curious baby.
“Spring in Jiangnan is beautiful,” Gu Yu Qi said lazily.
“How beautiful?” Zhang Wan Yi continued asking.
You sister! Is there an end?!
“Jiangnan is fair and the scenery is familiar. Sunrise basks the flowers in a fiery red and the spring waters are green and blue,” Gu Yu Qi had a sudden flash of inspiration and opening her mouth, she said such a sentence.
In her previous life, she had once told Zhang Wan Yi about Bai Ju Yi’s poem called Memories of Jiangnan. Zhang Wan Yi had happily asked for this poem. Within a few days, it was spread through the streets and alleys of the capital. The author was naturally not Bai Ju Yi or Gu Yu Qi, but it was Zhang Wan Yi, the minister’s daughter.
Later on, Zhang Wan Yi also specifically apologised to Gu Yu Qi, saying that she had written it down because she liked the poem so much, and that she had not expected the servants in the residence to spread it outside. By the time she knew, it had spread all over the streets in the capital. She had also begged Gu Yu Qi to consider their good relationship and not talk about it for the sake of the Minister’s reputation.
At that time, Gu Yu Qi was already famous and naturally, she did not care about a poem by Bai Ju Yi. The proud and arrogant her was a little complacent, thinking that with a stretch of her fingers, she would be able to turn stone into gold and benefit the ancient people born on native soil. Later, when she married Yun Ke as a concubine and saw the poem inscribed on Yun Ke’s fan, only then did she know that no servant girl had accidentally spread the poem back then, and it was Zhang Wan Yi who wrote the poem on the fan and gave it to Yun Ke, making the poem famous.
It was just that when she told Yun Ke that it was her who told Zhang Wan Yi this poem, Yun Ke had never believed her.
After Gu Yu Qi finished speaking, she looked at the expression on Zhang Wan Yi’s face. Zhang Wan Yi’s eyes lit up with surprise and envy, but there was not the slightest bit of shock or embarrassment. Hm. Alright. Gu Yu Qi could now confirm that Zhang Wan Yi had not been reborn.
“Good poem,” Zhang Wan Yi had a disbelieving expression, “I didn’t expect Younger Sister would be as well read as the rumours said and profoundly learned.”
Rumours? Gu Yu Qi obviously noticed the meaning of her words. Just as she was about to ask further, she heard a clear male voice, “What a good, “Sunrise basks the flowers in a fiery red and the spring waters are green and blue.” Good artistic conception!”
Both Gu Yu Qi and Zhang Wan Yi were startled. They looked back in the direction from which the voice came.
In the recesses of the pathway, hidden by plum blossoms, two young men in Chinese clothing came out. When Gu Yu Qi saw them, the bottom of her heart trembled slightly and she unconsciously looked away.
She knew both of these people. The one in front was the fifth prince, Yun Yi, and the one following behind him was like Gu Yu Qi’s nightmare. Dressed in black with his black hair, he was handsome but his expression was cold and indifferent. Who else was it but Yun Ke?
Such injustice, how could she meet him wherever she went?! All the better. Two great enemies of her previous life were in front of her, and she could not move!
Heavens. Are you playing with me? From the bottom of her heart, Gu Yu Qi looked up silently at the sky.