"Yuan-ge," Luo Qianqiu entered the study immediately after the guests had departed.
He glanced up at her before lowering his head and continuing to write his letter.
"Why have you been so busy lately?" Luo Qianqiu complained after sitting down. "Since you returned, I've barely seen you."
"There are many matters I need to attend to after my return and I haven't had the time," he said without looking up. "What do you need me for?"
"We are to be engaged and married soon, why can I only see you when I have something to discuss?" Luo Qianqiu pouted in dissatisfaction.
Luo Yuan stopped writing. He knew Luo Qianqiu's temper. This woman was extremely willful, and he never knew what she might do when angered.
His tone softened, "Cousin Qianqiu is right, I have been neglectful."
Luo Qianqiu, however, covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled, "I was just joking, Cousin. Why take it so seriously? You are destined for a high position. How can you be delayed by matters of romance? I understand this best." As she spoke, she gently placed her hand on his.
Luo Yuan found this action extremely detestable, but he suppressed his discomfort and made no move.
Seeing that he did not immediately withdraw his hand as he used to, Luo Qianqiu felt a surge of joy. She thought her efforts over the years had not been in vain, and he was finally accepting her, whether willingly or by force.
Luo Qianqiu continued, "The brocade for the wedding attire has been prepared, but the measurements were taken from your old clothes. We still need a tailor to measure you and make adjustments in the coming days."
"Alright."
"Do you have any other important matters this afternoon, Yuan-ge?"
"None."
"The teahouse just received some Hangzhou's "Tuancha" these past few days, the kind you like most. I've asked the owner to specifically reserve the finest. If you have no other urgent business, would you accompany me to the teahouse today?"
He had intended to refuse, but as the words formed on his lips, he changed his mind. He always went to Yi Ku Gui Teahouse with Luo Qianqiu every year around this time for tea tasting and appreciation. Like many noble young ladies of this era, Luo Qianqiu was skilled at brewing tea and was quite knowledgeable about it. Her favorite was Longjing from Yi Ku Gui Teahouse. While he hadn't disliked it before, enjoying tea tasting with a group of officials was considered a pleasant pastime. However, the circumstances were different now. He had no inclination for tea, and besides, he missed the woman in his small courtyard, having not returned for days.
But if he refused before the engagement ceremony, it would seem too abrupt. So, he agreed, "Alright, I'll follow Sister Qianqiu's arrangements."
Despite saying so, he sighed deeply in his heart, feeling an increasing dislike for Luo Qianqiu.
But had he ever liked her, even for a moment? No. He had hated this woman from the very first moment he saw her. No, not hated, but loathed.
Upon arriving at the private room of the teahouse, he realized they were alone.
Luo Qianqiu led him to a seat by the window. "We're getting engaged soon, and I wanted to spend more time alone with you, Yuan-ge, so I didn't invite anyone else."
"Oh," he replied, sitting down indifferently.
It began to rain outside. Luo Yuan sat quietly, watching Luo Qianqiu prepare the tea. She broke off a small piece of tea cake, ground it into powder in a mortar, and placed it into a black bowl. The bowl was dark and lustrous, with patterns resembling rabbit fur. Its thick base kept the heat for a long time. Then, she took boiling water and whisked the tea with a bamboo whisk, creating foam that floated on the surface. Thus, the tea was prepared.
Luo Qianqiu placed the cup of tea before Luo Yuan. He picked it up and sniffed it. The aroma was refreshing, and the tea was white. It was truly good tea.
After taking a small sip, he said, "Sister Qianqiu's tea-making skills are becoming more exquisite."
Luo Qianqiu smiled faintly at his praise. "Thank you for the compliment, Yuan-ge." She took a sip of tea and continued, "I heard that your time in Bianliang was quite eventful."
"Eventful is not the word. I was utterly defeated and driven out of the capital."
"I was referring to that little maid from Fanlou, what was her name... I recall it was Yang, wasn't it?"
Luo Yuan paused. He guessed what Luo Qianqiu was implying. If Ruo Ning and his affairs had spread throughout the capital, Luo Qianqiu would naturally have heard about it. "It was merely to deceive others, Cousin Qianqiu worries too much."
"Oh, I meant, if you truly fancied her, why not bring her back and take her as a concubine? She could be a companion for me in the future."
He looked at her, sensing something hidden in her words. How could this spoiled and domineering woman tolerate him taking a concubine? What scheme was she hatching by asking this? So, he replied coldly, "That woman is no longer here."
"No longer here? Do you mean she has... died?"
"You could say that."
"What does that mean? Is she alive or dead?" Luo Qianqiu pressed on relentlessly.
"She has left."
"Where did she go?"
"She went home, to her homeland, which is very far away," he said, growing impatient.
A smile flickered across her lips. "That's a pity. Father says I must learn to get along with other women. After all, Yuan-ge will be the most honored person in the Great Song. You will surely have many concubines. Father says I am to command the harem in the future, so I cannot be so petty and jealous as I am now. I should look more like an Empress."
Hearing her words, Luo Yuan sneered inwardly. He remained silent, offering her only a polite smile.
Just then, his peripheral vision caught sight of a girl hurrying past outside the window. She wore coarse servant clothes, her hair tied up with a chopstick. As she ran, her black slippers, with only two thin straps, made a tapping sound on the flagstone path. She had told him those strange shoes were called flip-flops.
It was raining heavily, yet she had no umbrella. His eyes followed her as she ran across the narrow bridge and into the pavilion opposite.
He remembered Ruo Ning saying she hated rainy days the most. He watched her, contemplating an excuse to go out and bring her an umbrella.
However, seeing the expression on her face freeze, he suddenly realized he had forgotten his current identity as Luo Yuan, not Ah Jing.
This was the first time she had seen Luo Yuan since they parted a year ago. He hadn't had time to tell her that Luo Yuan was Ah Jing, and Ah Jing was Luo Yuan. He hadn't sold her to traffickers. Although he had resented her briefly for her disappearance, thinking she had abandoned him again, it had all been a misunderstanding. He hadn't yet found the opportunity to tell her, to tell himself he should let go of the throne and live in seclusion with her. He hadn't yet told her that his engagement to Luo Qianqiu was merely part of his plan to help Qing Ye.
Seeing her heartbreakingly sad face, her eyes instantly reddening, and her panicked reappearance in the pouring rain, he lowered his head, his heart aching, and clenched the teacup in his hand.
That night, when he finally rushed back to his small courtyard, he saw her lying on the lounge chair in the central courtyard. She heard him enter but did not look up. Then, she finally revealed all the secrets, her secrets... and his secrets.
Her slightly resentful voice floated in the darkness.
Before their love could even begin, she had drawn a line between them. She desperately wanted to cross it but always pulled herself back fiercely at the moment she was about to do so.
The reason she had to leave him was based on a future. For something he had never done, she was punishing him, and also punishing herself.
He felt this woman was so cruel. She saw things that had not yet happened, didn't she? Why was she so certain those futures would inevitably occur? Perhaps, if he hadn't met her that night, he might have fought his way back to Bianliang to reclaim everything. But she had come, and everything had changed.
Since she could not choose to be with Luo Yuan, then he would remain by her side as Ah Jing for the rest of his life.