Chapter 129 Cascades: Slowly

The Emperor was overwhelmed by his memories. When he was still a prince, he'd defied his father and married a lady whom he had saved. Together, they went through many dangers and hards.h.i.+ps as he fought for the throne. When he was finally crowned the Emperor, he ignored the oppositions by the officials of the court and granted her the t.i.tle of Empress Zhaoren.

At that time, his foundation was weak and needed the support of the powerful officials in the court. As a solution, he married their daughters to retain the support of the officials. Empress Zhaoren never had any complaints. She did not have a powerful family to back her up and was always pushed aside by the other concubines. Yet, she continued to advise him to prioritise his political situation. Even when she gave birth to the First Prince, he was unable to grant him the t.i.tle of the Heir, unable to give the prince support of any sort. When Empress Zhaoren pa.s.sed away, there was no one left to take care of the First Prince and the Emperor had no choice but to send the Prince away from Chang'an, allowing the Second Prince to gain the t.i.tle of the Heir Apparent the following year.

Only when the Emperor finished building his foundation did he realise that in reality, he had sacrificed Empress Zhaoren and her son. However, he never recalled the First Prince back to the capital because his very existence reminded the Emperor of his incapabilities, his sacrifice of the woman he loved.

Gan Qingjia and Situ knew that the Emperor was reminiscing about the First Prince. Their eyes met for a second before looking away immediately.

The Heir knew that his plan had failed and glared at Gan Qingjia. He reminded the Emperor, "Father? We can't believe the story based on Inspector Gan's words alone. More investigation is needed."

The Emperor immediately regained his composure and turned to Gan Qingjia. "Please rise quickly." The Heir was angered by the Emperor's apparent disregard of him.

"Thank you, your Majesty." Gan Qingjia took out a golden hairpin. "This was the token of love that you have given the Empress, her favourite hairpin of the Baicha flower. Her pa.s.sing was sudden and she didn't have the time to give it back to you. My mother kept it for her and now, I would like to pa.s.s it back to the rightful owner." The Imperial Attendant immediately took the hairpin from Gan Qingjia and pa.s.sed it to the Emperor.

"I can't believe that I am able to see this token of love again." The Emperor gently stroked the hairpin, his face filled with grief. Some time pa.s.sed before he spoke again. "I remember that the First Prince is at Yizhou County. He has been away for a long time. It's time for him to come back."

Gan Qingjia and Situ's face lit up for a second. They quickly hid their joy while the Heir stood at the side, cursing under his breath.

"Please do not investigate this case anymore." The Emperor spoke slowly. "Since you are the owner of the villa, you should report all your a.s.sets to the Imperial Court so that they will know what kind of business you are venturing into. If the country is facing war or natural disaster, the villa needs to lend a helping hand. Do you understand, Inspector Gan?"

"Yes, your Majesty." Gan Qingjia finally gave a smile of relief.

The Emperor then looked at the Heir. "You have put in much effort for this case as well. You may all take your leave."

The Heir was reluctant to just walk away like that, but he had no choice except to comply. He stalked off, giving a cold shoulder to the Minister of the Left who was standing outside the court. Situ gave Gan Qingjia a nod and quickly left the palace.

Gan Qingjia quickly approached the Minister of the Left. "Why are you here, Father?"

"Were you punished by the Emperor? Did the Heir exaggerate your crimes?" The Minister looked anxiously at Gan Qingjia. Seeing that he was fine, he heaved a sigh of relief.

Gan Qingjia was touched by his father's concern for him. "Please do not worry too much, Father. I can handle this."

The Minister finally believed Gan Qingjia's words and said to him as they walked out of the palace, "I went to find the Heir today to plead for you. However, before I can finish my words, he rushed out of his place in anger to find the Emperor. I was so worried that he will take his revenge on you for refusing his order."

Gan Qingjia had a relaxed smile on his face. "It is not easy to harm me. But the fact that you chose me instead of the Heir gave me quite a shock."

The Minister of the Left glared at him. "You are my only son. If your mother knows about this, she is going to wreak havoc upon me."

Gan Qingjia grinned mischievously. "You should spend more time with mother and enjoy your life, Father. The power struggle is always changing. It's time for us, the young people, to take over the show."

"Are you saying I am old?" The Minister of the Left pulled a long face. He sighed inwardly. The crack between him and the Heir was only getting bigger and bigger. Even if he still wanted to advise the Heir, the Heir might not believe in him anymore. The Minister of the Left was so happy that his son was alright that he had forgotten to ask about the happenings in the palace. It was only until the second day when the Emperor dictated for the return of the First Prince to Chang'an did he understand what his son truly meant.

This day, Feng Luodi was busy with her business in Autumnal Ombre when Qi Jianqiu suddenly burst into her room, her face full of anxiety. She immediately took a bowl of juice and gulped it down.

"Be careful, don't choke yourself." Feng Luodi reminded her.

Qi Jianqiu quickly finished the juice and looked at Feng Luodi helplessly. "Luodi, what should I do?"

"What happened?" Feng Luodi asked. She probed gently, "Did Gan Qingjia confess to you?"

"How do you know?" Qi Jianqiu exclaimed. She waved her hand in the air. "He'd confessed to me before, but this time, he proposed to me. He proposed to me formally and sincerely."

"He proposed formally and sincerely?" Feng Luodi repeated. "Do you want to marry him?"

"That is not the point." Qi Jianqiu scratched her head and explained, "The point is that Xue Yiqi had proposed to me again yesterday."

"Again?" Feng Luodi was confused.

"That is not the main point too." Qi Jianqiu waved her hands around in confusion. "Luodi, what should I do now? Both of them proposed to me, but they are good friends and brothers."

Feng Luodi felt that the solution was very simple. "There is no logic when you talk about relations.h.i.+ps. No matter who you marry, the other one will get hurt. There is no way out of this."

"Who says that I want to marry?" Qi Jianqiu suddenly turned her face away, blus.h.i.+ng.

"Then it's easy." Feng Luodi held back her laughter and looked at Qi Jianqiu seriously. "You can just reject both of them."

"I can't do that." Qi Jianqiu replied.

"Why not?" Feng Luodi probed on purpose.

"Argh…no reason." Qi Jianqiu was prideful.

Feng Luodi could no longer hold back her laughter. "Well, it means that you like one of them right? Let me guess, is it Master Qi?"

"Of course not," Qi Jianqiu pouted, "Yiqi is just a younger brother to me."

"Oh," Feng Luodi snickered, "then it must be Master Gan. I can't believe this. You've always quarrelled with him."

"Why would I marry that flirtatious guy?" Qi Jianqiu continued pouting.

"Flirtatious?" Feng Luodi got hold of the key to the answer. "Are you against him going to brothels and zither parlours?"

"No," Qi Jianqiu was unhappy, "he can go, but he'd promised that he will bring me along to monitor him. But look at what happened in the end. You really cannot believe what a guy says."

Feng Luodi sighed. "The whole room is filled with your jealousy. How can you still say you don't like him?"

"Who likes that flirtatious guy?" Qi Jianqiu turned her face away again. Feng Luodi held her head. With Qi Jianqiu's personality, this is going to be really hard to settle.

At the Duke residence.

Situ read the reports while Gan Qingjia sat by his side, complaining to him between swigs of wine. "What have I done to offend her? One moment she was okay and the next she just turned her back to me. I went to propose to her sincerely and she replied to me by running away. Why is my love life so turbulent?"

Situ snorted. "You were never serious before. It is normal for Miss Qi to have such a reaction." I am never going to admit that I am jealous. Compared to Feng Luodi's reaction when he proposed, Qi Jianqiu's reaction is already much better.

"Wow! Are you even my brother? You don't have to help me, but you don't have to reprimand me too!" Gan Qingjia hugged the bottle of wine, slightly drunk. "I put in so much effort to finally settle my stubborn father and leave a good impression on the Minister of the Right. Look at what she did: she didn't even give me a reply! What should I do now?"

Situ gave up reading his reports. "There is no point in settling all the other people if Miss Qi doesn't say yes to you."

Gan Qingjia whined. "I know the logic. I wanted to start slowly at first and let her get used to my presence. However, Miss Feng said that this will not work so I'd change my method. It did work for a moment, but I got stuck after that."

"Feng Luodi has helped you?" Situ coldly asked.

"Yes. I'm lucky that she'd helped me." Gan Qingjia didn't notice the change in Situ's tone.

Situ frowned as he looked at him. "You seem close to her."

"Huh?" Gan Qingjia was stunned for a moment. Then he burst out in laughter. "This is the first time I've seen you like this. Haha, interesting."

Situ stared at him. "If she has helped you once, she might help you again. Why find her for help again? Miss Qi will definitely go and find her after you gave her such a huge scare."

Gan Qingjia jumped to his feet. "You are still the most reliable one. Come, let's go to the Autumnal Ombre. This time, I will get the lady by hook or by crook. I will repay you next time."

Situ stood up too and left the room before Gan Qingjia could react. How could he miss the chance to see Feng Luodi?

The two of them jumped on their horses and quickly arrived at the Autumnal Ombre. There were not many customers at that time of the day and they were quickly spotted by Scarlet, who wanted to announce their arrival. Gan Qingjia immediately stopped her and dragged Situ into the room. Qi Jianqiu was still complaining to Feng Luodi when he entered and she got a huge shock.

"You… why are you here?"

"Why can't I be here?" Gan Qingjia grinned as he walked towards her. Seeing Feng Luodi's look of approval, he gained confidence and gently asked Qi Jianqiu, "Shall we go outside and have a chat?"

Qi Jianqiu was lost as she looked into his sincere eyes and allowed him to lead her out.

Only Feng Luodi and Situ were left in the room.