Chapter 169: A Change of Heart

Qingruo’s room was decorated with exquisite elegance. A suite of pure yellow pearwood furniture was matched with flowing sky-blue gauze curtains, creating an environment that was instantly exceptionally soothing and comfortable.

Busying herself inside the room now was another young maid dressed in a gosling-yellow skirt. Her yet-unfaded childish face bore a trace of undisguised panic. As she poured tea for Lianyue, her hands trembled so much that the teacups nearly spilled their contents across the table top.

Lianyue touched the bridge of her nose. Was she really that terrifying? It seemed that what had happened downstairs earlier had indeed not gone unseen. Although Lemon hadn't explicitly said she would punish the maid, the Wanyuan Tower was, after all, an establishment open for business; since when was there a rule driving customers away? Even if your young mistress was of noble status, you still had to gauge the identity of the guests. If the rules were broken, Chai Mengqing, the proprietor of Wanyuan Tower, would be the one to punish you, which had nothing to do with her. Why did these maids pin the blame entirely on her?

To be honest, however, Lianyue didn't care about such trivial matters. She merely cast a helpless glance at Chai Mengqing, who was sitting nearby with a faint smile at the corner of her lips, and deep down, she felt a slight wave of warmth.

From beginning to end, Yuwen Lingxi's gaze followed Lianyue's every movement, though his eyes remained rather subtle and obscure, making it difficult for ordinary people to detect.

The closer his contact with Lianyue grew, the more Yuwen Lingxi discovered her merits. Lianyue belonged to that typical breed of person who would never offend unless provoked, but if anyone dared to provoke her, she would repay it manifold.

The more Yuwen Lingxi savored this personality, the more it suited his taste. At the very least, she would never be the one to suffer a loss. Moreover, Yuwen Lingxi could faintly sense Lianyue’s intentional estrangement toward him. Even so, his heart was filled only with joy. After all, wasn’t Lianyue acting this way precisely for the sake of his alter ego, An Ming? It was better not to harbor jealousy over his own disguise; otherwise, during the long and arduous process of coaxing Lianyue into a change of heart, he would either be bored to death or soured to death.

In short, to put it in a single phrase, Yuwen Lingxi was in a good mood at the moment. In his leisure, his gaze drifted back and forth between Qiao Zhi and the girl named Qingruo.

Regarding Qiao Zhi, Yuwen Lingxi could truly claim to understand him thoroughly, and he had also heard the story between him and Qingruo. Externally, Qingruo was said to be an orphan, but she actually possessed another identity: she was the maternal aunt's niece of Qiao Zhi.

Qiao Zhi's birth mother had passed away early, and it was only with his maternal aunt, Lady Qin, that he could ever feel a shred of maternal love. Apart from the Retired Emperor in the palace who still treated him like a son, his only remaining kin was the family of his maternal uncle, Wei Changkong.

As Qiao Zhi grew older, the Empress Dowager began to grow wary of the support Wei Changkong's family provided him. Taking advantage of a severe illness of the Retired Emperor, she directly fabricated a trumped-up charge and threw Wei Changkong into prison, and within a few days, news spread that he had committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

Shortly after, Wei's eldest son also met an untimely death away from home. Lady Qin, unable to withstand the continuous heavy blows, likewise perished of a broken heart.

Yuwen Lingxi remembered that it was only his third meeting with Qiao Zhi back then. An eleven or twelve-year-old boy had wept bitterly before him, kneeling in the yellow earth with his hands raw and bloody. After that night, Qiao Zhi remained silent for two days before revealing a smile once more—a smile so brilliant that the surrounding camellias lost their luster, yet he, who rarely shed tears, felt an unbidden stinging in his eyes.

It was also after that incident that rumors of Qiao Zhi's romantic escapades gradually began to spread. Encountering Qingruo was a deliberate strategy by Qiao Zhi to heighten his reputation for wallowing in female indulgence: spending a thousand pieces of gold merely to buy a beauty's smile. Just as he had wished, upon entering her chambers and beholding Qingruo's face, Qiao Zhi had nearly lost control on the spot.

For no other reason than that Qingruo’s brows and eyes looked as though they had been cast from the very same mold as Lady Qin’s. Qiao Zhi had written to ask for his help in thoroughly investigating Qingruo's origins. Qingruo was indeed an orphan, picked up by the Yanyu Pavilion from a crowd of beggars when she was three years old—a timeline that coincided precisely with the disappearance of Lady Qin's sister's young daughter for nearly two months.

Upon learning this news, Qiao Zhi had been overjoyed, knowing that at the very least, he could now do something for Lady Qin. With great difficulty, he brought Qingruo back to Lady Qin's sister's marital home, only to discover that the only surviving member of Qingruo's paternal lineage was an elder sister married out into another family, and even this sister's life with her husband's family was far from easy.

Thus, having consulted Qingruo's wishes, the two of them returned to Xijing in this manner. However, from that day onward, the Fairy of Zither Music no longer showed her face in public, playing her zither solely for a single favored patron. And that favored patron was, naturally, Qiao Zhi.

These pieces of information flashed rapidly through Yuwen Lingxi's mind, leaving him somewhat astonished. Until he paused to think about it simply, he hadn't realized just how much he knew about Qiao Zhi's affairs, and in such fine detail.

A good brother remains a good brother. What Yuwen Lingxi was pondering was precisely what was troubling Qiao Zhi at this very moment. Toward this Qingruo, he had never harbored any improper intentions, nor had he ever entertained a single romantic thought.

In his heart, he had always regarded her as a younger sister, and he had hinted at this repeatedly through both words and implications. Yet Qingruo continued to act as though she didn't understand; whenever he brought the matter up, she would simply start to weep. He was naturally helpless against weeping women, which was why every attempt always ended hastily.

Now that matters had reached this point today, it was indeed time to speak clearly.

With the Empress Dowager around, the inner courtyard of his prince's manor would certainly never be tranquil, making it entirely unsuitable for Qingruo. Besides, his consistent intention had always been to find a respectable family so that Qingruo could be married off in grand style.

Within this brief span of time, Qingruo had already raised her hands to the deep red *baoyue* zither resting before her. Her delicate fingers plucked the strings, and note after note welled forth, connecting seamlessly in the air to play a winding, mournful melody. The brows of everyone in the room furrowed simultaneously, and Chai Mengqing's expression darkened for a fraction of a second.

She had just stated outside that this tune was meant as an apology to Lianyue, yet Qingruo had chosen to play such a sorrowful piece. But reflecting upon the desolate look she wore last night upon hearing the news of the imperial marriage decree she had brought back, Chai Mengqing cast an apologetic glance toward Lianyue, who was looking over.

From yesterday to today, through all the fragmented words Chai Mengqing had spoken, Lianyue was well aware of who this song was truly being played for.

She had merely been curious about the genuine zither skills behind the moniker "Fairy of Zither Music." Lianyue had always believed that if one wished to express a woman's mournful sentiments, the *pipa* was the superior instrument, as zither music tended to be overly ethereal and aloof. Yet, played under Qingruo's fingers, it carried a distinctly unique flavor.

Her internal prejudice against Qingruo melted away bit by bit within the music. Then, imagining what her own feelings would be if she heard the news of An Ming's engagement, her eyes carried a hint of pity when she looked back at Qingruo, while her gaze toward Qiao Zhi turned blazing with fury.

Yet Qiao Zhi's heart was a tangled mix of all five flavors while he deliberately maintained the facade of a noble scion purely appreciating a melody, which only made Lianyue's teeth itch with hatred.

Had Qiao Zhi known that this demeanor of his would provoke Lianyue's subsequent outburst, he surely would never have acted this way.

At this moment, Qingruo gazed at Qiao Zhi with an unreserved, infatuated intensity, only to find that Qiao Zhi remained entirely unmoved from start to finish. Her heart struck with grief, a single line of clear tears streamed down her cheeks. Paired with her vibrant spring-colored garments, she looked, to Lianyue's eyes, precisely like fallen petals scattered beneath a tree after a night of rain.

At that instant, Lianyue could finally no longer contain her outburst. Disregarding the fact that Qingruo was still playing, she infused her inner energy directly into the teacup in her hand and hurled it straight at Qiao Zhi. Yet, upon closer inspection, the teacup was deliberately aimed to miss any vital points.

The first two to notice were naturally Yuwen Lingxi and Qingruo. Qingruo was so startled that her hands froze mid-string, and with an involuntary gasp, she knocked over the zither stand before her and rushed headlong toward Qiao Zhi.

Yuwen Lingxi's reaction was even swifter. He decisively hurled the teacup in his own hand along the exact same trajectory and using the identical method. The two teacups collided a mere foot away from Qiao Zhi. Qiao Zhi's reflexes were likewise quick enough that he swept up the rushing Qingruo and leaped aside to dodge.

Lianyue had never intended to injure Qiao Zhi. Before making her move, she had noticed Yuwen Lingxi's occasional glances falling upon her; as Qiao Zhi's close friend and sworn brother, Yuwen Lingxi would undoubtedly intervene. Even if he hadn't moved, the teacup at worst would have only knocked away Qiao Zhi's high-coiled hair pin and drenched his head in tea.

Now, watching Qiao Zhi shielding Qingruo, Lianyue felt he looked somewhat more agreeable. She curled her lip toward Yuwen Lingxi and said nonchalantly, "My hand slipped; I don't know how this cup flew out on its own. Having too much internal energy is truly a nuisance—one can never quite control it."