Chapter 88 Part 4:

Ye Shijie was in the middle of chatting and picking out lanterns with Ye Ming Xuan. He turned his head by chance and suddenly glimpsed a familiar back. He nearly blurted Jiang Li’s name out, but before he could open his mouth, that figure was drowned out by the crowd and could no longer be seen.

Ye Shijie suspected that he had seen wrongly and was in a daze. Ye Ming Xuan handed the money over, then turned around to see Ye Shijie looking at the crowd while lost in thought. He asked: “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Ye Shijie retracted his gaze and shook his head; his heart saying that it was probably a mistake. Even if Jiang Li went out tonight, she wouldn’t be alone and would have members of the Jiang family following along.

He was truly thoroughly bewitched.

……

Wang Xian Lou was the largest restaurant in Yanjing.

When Jiang Li was the Shen family’s madam, she once passed by this restaurant together with mother Shen and Shen Ruyun. At that time, mother Shen and Shen Ruyun were both very envious. She, however, didn’t care much about it. Compared with the members of the Shen family, her desires had always been extremely light. But since that time, she became aware that Wang Xian Lou was a place where the top-notch people come to squander their money.

She wasn’t able to step foot inside this place in her previous life. But in this life, she could swagger inside and was still called “distinguished guest”, and “invited” to go in. Though this invite was not like that invite, in the end it was still justifiable.

Some people were already on the first floor of the hall. However, the place where Jiang Li was invited to was the second floor.

In the tea room on the second floor.

The chief assistant’s government residence was already very luxurious, but Wang Xian Lou was still more carefully selected for quality compared to the Jiang family. Just the blanket spread on the floor was a Persian velvet embroidered rug with precious stones at the top. Jiang Li couldn’t smell the incense lit inside the room, nevertheless, it was extremely comfortable and extremely fragrant. Borrowing Xue Zhao’s mouth, it would be, “expensive at a glance”.

In the “expensive at a glance” second room tea room of Wang Xian Lou, Wen Ji helped Jiang Li to push the curtain aside to enter.

Jiang Li saw the people inside.

To her surprise, aside from Ji Heng, there were two other people inside. One of them was a scholar in green clothes with a goatee who smiled slightly at Jiang Li. Jiang Li didn’t know this person and simply smiled in return. Jiang Li knew the other person. He was the examiner during the riding archery examination, captain of the chariots, Kong Wei, also known as Kong Liu.

Kong Liu seemed very happy to see Jiang Li and called out in his rough voice: “Jiang second miss.” He apparently intended to chat with Jiang Li, yet after pondering, he couldn’t come up with suitable words. Therefore, he could only praise: “Jiang second miss’s horsemanship is not bad, your archery is also very good!”

It looked exactly like he was praising the soldiers he accepted.

Lu Ji and Ji Heng both gave him peculiar looks.

Kong Liu scratched his head, laughed awkwardly, and no longer spoke.

Afterwards, Jiang Li looked at Ji Heng. Today, this young man wore a pale red robe. Despite the pale color, against his skin, his appearance actually appeared even richer. His skin was fairer than females with make-up on and his lips were rosier than the peach blossoms in the fourth month. As a result, the fair became fairer and the rosy became rosier. The pair of eyes he was born with was clear amber, the whole person seemed to be unaffected by human’s fireworks. Where he stood, the scenery in that place seemed like a painting. Even if he was currently lazily playing with the gold rimmed fan in his hand, the scene was so beautiful it could mysteriously turn into a painting at any time.

“Is there some matter for the duke to call me?” Jiang Li asked. She truly was not clear on the reason why Ji Heng called her.

Ji Heng glanced at her and laughed unexpectedly. He said: “In any case, we can be regarded as having a bit of friendship. Jiang second miss no need to be a stranger. Today is the Mid-Autumn festival, there’s fated meeting on the road. Jin Man Tang is going to sing in Wang Xian Lou’s hall, simply inviting Jiang second miss to appreciate together.”

Jiang Li was bewildered, how can they be regarded as having a bit of friendship? If talking about friendship, that can only be a bit of an ill-fated relationship. Ji Heng was aware of her scheme of Master Jing An at Mount Qingcheng, also saw her previously edging Shen Ruyun and stirring a pool of muddy spring water for Zhou Yan Bang and Jiang Yu’e. Moreover, she accidentally ran into a secret dealing between Ji Heng and a person from the Li family. Each knowing of the other person’s secret, after some time, it’s not exaggerated to say that they wanted each other dead. Ji Heng spoke lightheartedly as if they had been friends for many years.

It’s truly unimaginable.

In addition, there were no “fated meeting on the road”, clearly it was Ji Heng dispatching someone over, didn’t give her a second option to choose the “invite” to go up.

Jiang Li said: “Many thanks for duke’s kindness, but I don’t like watching plays.”

“If second miss is thinking of singing in a play better in the future, might as well learn from famous actresses.” Ji Heng faced her smilingly.

Jiang Li nearly could no longer smile. This words spoken by Ji Heng seemed to remind her of the matter happening during the palace feast. Indeed, she made a mistake in one matter, that was not supposed to let Ji Heng grab her handle, being threatened like this all the time.

Kong Liu looked left and right, absolutely puzzled by the subtle atmosphere between Ji Heng and Jiang Li. However, he could still be considered polite and said to Jiang Li: “Jiang second miss, just now saw you from upstairs without a single bodyguard nor were there any family members by your side, perhaps separated from your family. There’s quite many females lost every year during the lantern festival; there are also many bad people. Even if the city guards are prepared, it isn’t absolutely safe. There’s no harm in watching the group in the hall until it’s finished before we find someone to escort you back to your residence so you can go back to your family and avoid any accidents.”

Stretching a hand, don’t hit a smiling person. Besides, Kong Liu appeared to be much simpler and more sincere than Ji Heng. it’s very difficult for Jiang Li to give birth to ill will towards him. Furthermore, what Kong Liu said makes sense. Seeing the night scenery got darker, the lanterns along the streets were brighter, the crowd coming out to admire the full moon also grew more and more in number. Shuttling alone in the crowd at this time was truly not a sensible thing. She saw Tong’er and Bai Xue also showed worry on their faces and soon set her mind. For the time being, she would follow Kong Liu’s arrangements.

In an instant, she raised her head and plastered a smile on her face, looking very pure and tender and said: “Many thanks Master Kong.”

Kong Liu was somewhat flattered and couldn’t help proudly glancing at Lu Ji. How? He didn’t scare the little lady. His age is not that old, right?

Lu Ji moved his head, too lazy to look at his stupid look.

As they were talking, the unique opening sound of the theatrical troupe was heard from downstairs.

Jin Man Tang’s group was about to begin, this was the start of the first play.