Li Fengqi did not comment on his words.
Ye Yunting’s heart was too soft, worrying about being involved with Ye Wang and causing trouble. But when actually faced with Ye Wang, the other party’s sincerity made him feel guilty, as though he felt unworthy of his sincerity.
However, there is no such thing as perfection in this world. The fatalistic argument was that because one didn’t try their best, one could only attribute it to fate.
If it were him, whether something was fated or not would all depend on if he was willing.
But after all, this was a matter between him and Ye Wang, so Li Fengqi didn’t comment much. Ye Wang was a careless person at first glance. If Ye Yunting really became attached to him, he would take a lot of Ye Yunting’s attention.
So of course he chose to remain silent.
The two of them returned to the main courtyard in silence. Ye Yunting and Li Fengqi parted ways in front of the door of the study. Since Li Fengqi’s appearance, officials from all walks of life have sent letters and greetings constantly, and he often stayed in his study for half a day at a time. Ye Yunting was conscious of avoiding suspicion and always stopped at the door.
But this time Li Fengqi called him: “Young Master, please come in with me. I just remembered that I need to discuss something with you.”
Ye Yunting paused for a moment. His eyes a little confused, but he still followed him into the study.
This was not the first time he entered Li Fengqi’s study, but previously he had been in a hurry and it was nighttime, so he didn’t have time to look around. Only today did he have the opportunity to take a closer look.
Two walls of Li Fengqi’s study were filled with books, most of which were military books. The remaining wall was used for hanging weapons, including sabers, spears, swords and halberds, shining with a sharp cold light.
Ye Yunting quickly swept past the weapons, his eyes lingering on the books. He had read a lot of military books, but compared to Li Fengqi’s collection, they were just a drop in the bucket.
He had never even heard of the names of many military books on the bookshelf.
“The Young Master also likes to read military books?” Li Fengqi raised his eyebrows and smiled when he saw that his eyes had been glued to the bookshelf since he entered the door.
“Well, Wangye has a lot of books, and I have never seen many of them before.” Ye Yunting blushed a little. His biggest interest in life was reading. Regardless of the content, as long as he hadn’t read it before, he wanted to try it.
“Whatever you like, just come and get them.” Li Fengqi pointed out: “Since the Young Master and I are of one mind, there is no need to be so formal. My study is not a forbidden place, you can come here as well.”
After saying that, he patted the chair beside him and gestured with his chin. “These books are all stored here, and they can’t run away. It’s not too late for the Young Master to look at them after he’s finished discussing with me.”
His words were vaguely teasing. Ye Yunting’s cheeks heated up and he had no choice but to withdraw his gaze and sit down next to him.
It was only after he sat down that he realized with hindsight that this was the master’s seat.
——In the study was a huge carved mahogany desk, on which were pens, inks, papers and inkstones, as well as posts and official documents to be dealt with. Behind the desk was a carved mahogany chair of the same style, covered with a tiger-skin rug. This was where the owner of the study handled his daily affairs.
But now Ye Yunting was sitting on this chair. And Li Fengqi, the owner, maneuvered the wheelchair and sat on the inner side, side by side next to him, extremely close.
After realizing this, Ye Yunting felt a little uncomfortable. He turned his head and wanted to say something, but one side of his face met Li Fengqi’s.
——Li Fengqi was leaning forward to pick up greeting cards piled on the other side. Unexpectedly, he suddenly turned his face. The two of them were cheek to cheek, less than two fists-width apart.
Ye Yunting could even feel his warm breath.
“…” His body leaned back subconsciously.
Li Fengqi seemed unaware. He stretched his arms across Ye Yunting very casually, took the invitations, then pulled back and said softly: “These invitations were sent by various households in the past two days.”
Ye Yunting couldn’t keep up with his thoughts, obviously stunned for a moment. He gave an “Oh” sound. The roots of his ears were slightly red, which made the small red mole on his earlobe more vivid.
Li Fengqi stared at them without any hint, his Adam’s apple rolling. He retracted his gaze and calmly told him, “First, see how many people you recognize.”
Ye Yunting had no choice but to take them, flipping through them one by one.
These greeting, stacked on top of each other, were almost a foot high. He flipped through the first few pages and found that the officials who sent the greeting cards were of varying ranks, including first-ranked officials with real power, as well as the fallen counts like Shou Chun Bo, who had been given empty positions. He frowned and looked at each one carefully, and found that the words used in these invitations were also very particular. A lot could be discerned from the choice of words and phrases.
He picked out the greeting from the officials he knew and put them to one side, while the rest, whose names he had only vaguely heard of, were in a separate pile.
Li Fengqi reviewed the two piles and looked a little surprised: “I thought that the Young Master rarely went out of the mansion, and that he didn’t know many officials.”
With Ye Yunting’s few appearances, Li Fengqi thought that he knew very little about the affairs of the court. However, among the pile of invitations Ye Yunting picked out, he actually recognized most of the officials with real power and names.
“When I was young, there was a gentleman who traveled around after he left our house and would occasionally write to me. His letters would often mention the current situation in the court, and I knew a little about it through my ears and eyes. However, I only knew the names and not the faces.”
The teacher’s name was Chang Yu’an, and he was the mentor who educated Ye Yunting. The teacher had a disciple who was about the same age as him. Occasionally, he would return to the capital to take care of business, and he would send letters that Mr. Change had written him on the way.
That was why, although Ye Yunting had been trapped in the house these years, he was not out of the loop.
“Then this will be easy.” Li Fengqi nodded with satisfaction, picking and choosing from the two piles of invitations, placing the useful ones in front of him and tossing the useless ones aside. “Recently, I’ve been planning to host a banquet for my colleagues.”
“Who are you going to invite? For what reason?” Ye Yunting asked.
“This is what I want to discuss with the Young Master.” Li Fengqi suddenly smiled. His phoenix eyes narrowed, and Ye Yunting felt that there was something a little bit malicious in his smile.
Ye Yunting’s heart gave a jolt when he heard him continue: “I intended to make the banquet more magnificent and invite all the courtiers, but after thinking about it, I felt that I couldn’t provide any suitable purpose. But in the end, I finally thought of it. Something very suitable…”
“?” Ye Yunting became more and more uneasy, but he still couldn’t help but say, “What is it?”
Li Fengqi’s smile grew wider when he heard his question, and he said slowly, “I was gravely ill when the Young Master entered the palace. The wedding was held coldly and quietly, and there weren’t even any guests. Now that I think about it, I feel very regretful, so I decided to organize a replacement banquet……” He paused and said, “It wouldn’t be necessary to follow the wedding ceremonies; having two weddings would be unlucky. We could just invite all our colleagues to have a drink and a banquet to have a good time.”
The light in his eyes shone. “Firstly, this can be an opportunity to force Li Zong to make the next move, and secondly…” He paused at this point and did not say any more.
This purpose sounded very legitimate. After Ye Yunting thought about it for a while, he understood his intention.
Since the confrontation in the court, the emperor had been silent.
The Shence Army’s surveillance had long been withdrawn. Now, the guards of the palace were all the personal guards of the Xuanjia Army brought by Zhu Lie. The servants in the mansion were all informants of the imperial palace, but they couldn’t get close to any important places. The information they managed to collect was only what Li Fengqi wanted them to pass onto the imperial palace.
Li Fengqi was not afraid that Li Zong would know his every move. On the contrary, he wanted to spread his every move to Li Zong’s ears.
The more Li Zong knew, the more uneasy his heart would be.
If you don’t kill the snake, you will be devoured. This was the situation that Li Zong was facing today.
Li Fengqi was not dead, and the Xuanjia army had not been eliminated. However, the two of them have already been at irreconcilable odds with each other1. Li Fengqi was like a knife hanging over Li Zong’s head but has not yet fallen.
The longer it dragged on, the more panicked Li Zong would become.
A he became more confused, he would be more prone to making mistakes.
Although Li Fengqi was once powerful, he never bothered forming cliques and rarely interacted with courtiers in private. With the grand banquet for the court officials reaching Li Zong’s ears, Li Fengqi must have other plans in place. This would force him to take action.
The more he did, the more mistakes and omissions he made, all sent to his doorstep.
“What about the second one?” Ye Yunting tried to understand before remembering that he had only finished half of statement.
Li Fengqi leaned lazily against the back of his chair, tapping his fingers on the table regularly, and slowly completed his unfinished words: “Secondly, I want to give the Young Master his proper name and title. Otherwise, other people outside might not know that this Yong’an-Wang’s palace has new master.”
Ye Yunting, who thought he would hear some advice: “…”
He fell silent and smiled dryly: “Wangye is joking.”
Li Fengqi, however, refused to give up. “Young Master, do you think I’m joking?” His face had a righteous expression. “After all, the Young Master and I have been given to each other in marriage by His Majesty. There had been many obstacles in the past few days, which caused the Young Master to suffer alongside me. Now that we’re out of trouble, he must have the title that he deserves. Otherwise, I will be like the Duke of Qi, treating the Young Master badly. How can I be calm and at peace?”
He suppressed his smile and said, “The Young Master knows that I have always had a bad temper. Had that person today not been your biological father, there would have been no chance of him walking out of the palace gate.”
Ye Yunting: “…”
He stared at the man with a solemn expression, thinking that this was someone who didn’t even care about the emperor himself. How could he still take this bestowed marriage seriously?
Don’t try to take this opportunity to tease him again.
But then he remembered how protective he had been in front of Ye Zhili and his wife today, and gave up the idea.
Prince Yong’an valued sentiment and commitment, and he truly was protecting him today.
Ye Yunting was not a ungrateful person. He pursed his lips. This was killing two birds with one stone. He had no reason to refuse, so he accepted the offer. “Then it will be as Wangye said.”
“Then I’ll ask Wu Geng and Zhu Lie to make arrangements.” Li Feng achieved his goal, slightly curled his lips, and returned to the previous topic: “The day of the banquet is bound to be busy. I’ll first tell you about a few important officials again, and when I’m too busy to do so, I’ll also trouble the Young Master to help with the hospitality.”
Ye Yunting nodded and leaned forward to look at the greeting cards in his hand with a serious expression.
Li Fengqi glanced at him and leaned a little towards him, getting very close to him, before he leisurely told him about the camps and factions among these officials.
The interests among the courtiers were complicated and inextricably intertwined. Li Fengqi patiently explained everything to him one by one. By the time he finished speaking, an hour had passed.
Ye Yunting looked at hourglass and was slightly surprised. “It’s past lunch time. Shall I ask the servants to prepare the meal?”
Li Fengqi frowned slightly and hesitantly said, “It’s past the time and I don’t have much of an appetite.”
“You must eat something.” Ye Yunting frowned in disapproval.
Li Fengqi glanced at him and pretended to be embarrassed. “It would be nice to eat a few pieces of sweet-scented osmanthus cake, but the palace cooks have never made them before…”
“…” Ye Yunting suspected that he was implying something.
Just now, he told Li Fengqi that there was a time when Ye Wan saw him making sweet-scented osmanthus cake and wanted to eat them but pretended not to care. Although he had noticed this, he pretended not to. Now that he thought about it, he felt guilty.
Unexpectedly, just a short while later, this person also mentioned the sweet-scented osmanthus cake.
===Author’s Notes===
The author has something to say:
77: I haven’t eaten sweet-scented osmanthus cake yet.
Tingting: Ye Er hasn’t eaten it either.
Ji Lian, I’ve eaten a lot!
77:……
——————
===Translator’s Notes===
Ah, yes, a huge library, the key to a bookworm’s heart.
Yunting being like, “Is he joking”, meanwhile Fengqi just wants to go, “this is my wife!!”
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When you are the official wife but don't know you are the literal wife.....
ReplyDeletehopefully he'll figure it out. eventually. :D
DeleteScheming gong! 😆
ReplyDeleteHe's hilarious :D
Delete