Volume One, Chapter 20: A Slap After a Whiff of Fragrance

Xie Jiaoyue stopped what she was doing and looked up at the firmly closed door.

Through the door, she could hear the sound of fists hitting flesh, the scraping of chairs and tables being moved, and a teacup falling to the floor.

“Miss, shall we go in and help Second Young Master?” Zhiqiu asked just as Ping’an, who had been standing guard nearby, hurried over to the door. He looked respectfully at the two of them and said, “Miss Xie, my family's heir only wants you to stay outside for your own good. If you go in, you might get accidentally hurt, and if you’re hurt, my heir will feel just as pained.”

Xie Jiaoyue froze in place and took a deep breath. She wanted nothing more than to turn and leave without bothering about what was happening inside.

But she couldn’t.

The Young Master of Jingyang and the son of the Prime Minister’s residence were fighting in Guanghe Tower. If this got out, it would disgrace both families.

“Step aside,” Xie Jiaoyue said, looking at Ping’an.

Ping’an shook his head. “Miss, I’m sorry, but I cannot obey.”

Xie Jiaoyue stood still and slowly turned her gaze to Zhiqiu.

“It’s not that I don’t want to go in; it’s that I can’t.”

She knew whose side Zhiqiu was on. She hoped Zhiqiu would truthfully convey to Madam Xie that she had done her best to stop it, but her abilities were limited—she couldn’t stop a madman and a deaf man from fighting.

Standing outside the door, listening to the sounds of the brawl, her heart filled with irritation.

This irritation was directed both at herself and at Xu Huaiyang.

She was tired of Xu Huaiyang’s marriage proposal, tired of his persistent entanglement, and even more tired of herself.

She despised her own weakness and inability to break free from Xu Huaiyang or refuse his proposal.

Xie Jiaoyue took a deep breath and turned her back to the door.

She wanted to not listen, to not care, but in the end, she couldn’t betray her own heart.

She turned back again and walked up to Ping’an.

“Step aside.”

Ping’an didn’t move. “Miss Xie, my heir forbids you to go in for your own good. Why must you insist on going in?”

“Zhiqiu, pull him aside,” Xie Jiaoyue said coldly. Perhaps because of the chill, a frost seemed to have settled over her delicate features, making her look cold and solemn.

“For her own good.”

Xie Jiaoyue found that notion laughable.

If it were truly for her own good, why would he arrange to meet her in Guanghe Tower? If he truly cared for her, why would he leave them alone together in a room?

If Xu Huaiyang truly cared for her, he would have let her go, parted ways cleanly, never to meet again. He wouldn’t have rushed so recklessly to propose at the Prime Minister’s residence or treated her so frivolously.

Xie Jiaoyue saw no goodness in Xu Huaiyang—only frivolity and cruelty.

Ping’an stood firm at the door, watching Xie Jiaoyue who was determined to enter.

“If you go in, who will you help?” he asked.

Ping’an said, “My heir only tries to stop you to prevent trouble for you, so why insist on going in?”

Indeed.

Why did she insist on going in?

Xie Jiaoyue asked herself the same question. What did she intend to do once inside?

She recalled the past—when Xie Chengzhu and others played cuju, and when he would immediately come to her after the game to discuss strategies, how he would smile despite his discouragement to comfort her.

She knew her little brother was frail and not very capable, but when she was criticized by other scholars for reading too much, he would stand up for her.

Once upon a time, Xie Chengzhu had been a kind and caring little brother.

Xie Jiaoyue clenched her sleeve tightly. She was going in just to stand between Xu Huaiyang and herself, just as Second Young Master Xie once stood before her.

Inside the room, Xu Huaiyang pinned Xie Chengzhu down on the table, twisting one of his arms behind his back and pressing a hand on his head.

He looked down at Xie Chengzhu with reckless arrogance in his eyes.

“Second Young Master, done playing? If not, I might just let go. My fiancée is waiting outside for me to accompany her to the lantern parade.”

“You!” Xie Chengzhu’s face twisted with anger. He gritted his teeth and said, “You’re nothing but a spoiled brat, and no one really takes you seriously.”

Xu Huaiyang chuckled at this and pressed down harder on Xie Chengzhu’s arm.

“I may be a spoiled brat, but even so, I can pin you down so you can’t move. What kind of person are you to be less than a spoiled brat?”

“A fool or a useless idiot?”

“You—!”

Seeing Xie Chengzhu’s face contorted in fury, Xu Huaiyang laughed and loosened his grip, releasing him.

Xie Chengzhu immediately raised his fist and swung at Xu Huaiyang again, but this time Xu Huaiyang didn’t hold back. He delivered a heavy kick to Xie Chengzhu’s knee, causing him to collapse to one knee with a loud thud.

“Second Young Master, there’s no need for such grand gestures. We’re equals, and since we’re to be joined by marriage, such roughness would only embarrass me. That won’t do, won’t do.”

Though he spoke of restraint, Xu Huaiyang’s kick was hardly gentle. If Xie Chengzhu were weaker, a single kick could have crippled him.

“Bastard!”

Xie Chengzhu was sweating cold beads from the pain, yet for the first time, he raised his head and glared fiercely at Xu Huaiyang, his eyes filled with a hatred as if he wanted to bite a chunk of flesh from him.

Xu Huaiyang, the small-time tyrant of the capital, was not afraid of a glare.

He looked down at Xie Chengzhu kneeling and unable to rise, smiling.

“Second Young Master, you’d do better to spend your time at the pleasure houses. The girls there can curse with more vigor than you.”

Xie Chengzhu trembled with rage. The scoundrel had just compared him to the women of the pleasure houses.

At that moment, Xie Chengzhu truly wished he could kill this bastard.

As for the bastard, he smiled brightly and patted Xie Chengzhu on the shoulder.

“Judging by your state, you won’t be getting up today. In that case, I’ll have to accompany Jiaojiao to watch the lanterns.”

With that, Xu Huaiyang turned and opened the door wide, just as Xie Jiaoyue was about to push it open.

Seeing the young lady so close, Xu Huaiyang suddenly remembered the slap she had just given him.

The faint scent following the slap lingered—not painful, but a bit irritating to his teeth.

Xie Jiaoyue stared at the “red wall” before her, stunned for a moment. Once she realized what was happening, she immediately stepped back.

As she stepped back, Xu Huaiyang advanced a step toward her.

Xie Jiaoyue furrowed her brows and looked up at him. She was about to speak when Xu Huaiyang suddenly shut the door, cutting off her view inside.

She could only focus all her attention on Xu Huaiyang’s face.

“What did you do to him?”

“What do you think I could have done, Jiaojiao?”

Xie Jiaoyue took a deep breath and lowered her eyes.

“Please step aside, Young Master. Rong Jiaoyue wishes to go in and see my second brother.”

Seeing her humble and polite demeanor, Xu Huaiyang lowered his head to look at her.

“Why speak so politely to me? It’s not like I’m forbidding you from going in.”

Though he spoke these words, Xu Huaiyang did not move his feet; he had no intention of making way.

“There’s nothing wrong with him inside. Jiaojiao need not worry. Rather than worrying about him, why not come with me to watch the lanterns and solve riddles?”

Xu Huaiyang said this smoothly.