Chu Wang Fei

by Ning er

  His hawk-like gaze only fixed tightly on Yun Qian Meng, almost as if he was trying to discern just how much she had changed from before.

  Yun Qian Meng’s expression was tranquil, but feeling Chen Wang’s cold gaze, her heart still felt somewhat uncomfortable. Slightly frowning as she retrieved her hands, she found that Chu Fei Yang was also smiling at her. Only, his dark, ink-like eyes were even harder to understand than Chen Wang’s. His eyes glittered like the stars in the sky, if she was not careful, she might even be sucked in by the force in his eyes!

  Towards Chu Fei Yang, Yun Qian Meng only remembered how he had snuck into her room as well as how he had suggested that she play another song just now. Feeling that he was really just a crafty old fox that did not let others get a grasp on his plans and actions, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat resentful towards him. She glared at him indignantly, only to find him widening his smile noiselessly!

  Sitting on the other side, Rong Yun He was extremely quiet. However, when Yun Qian Meng was playing the song, Rong Yun He felt that his mood had also improved. His gaze that had always been aloof from worldly matters now actually flashed towards Hai Tian, almost as if he was sneering at her!

  Hai Wang who had finished listening to the song had a fond, nostalgic expression on his face. Quietly staring at the inky night sky, his eyes seemed to be cherishing his memories of the past, while his breath calmed down to be as tranquil as still water, emitting the dignified and imposing manner of a genuine great general. At this moment, everyone raised their eyebrows, unable to speak as they realized that the current Hai Wang was indeed the fearless, famous general that had beheaded countless enemies in the past, Hai Quan Cai!

  “I never expected Yun xiaojie to play such an exceptional tune with that broken zither! Just what is the name of that song? It really has let benwang momentarily recall a lot of old things! Yet, nowadays, most of my good friends from the olden days have passed, and only benwang is left waiting for my remaining years to pass on this wheelchair!” Hai Wang suddenly regained his expression and noticed everyone looking at him. Dispelling his heavy murderous aura, he turned to look at Yun Qian Meng with smiling eyes and questioned her warmly.

  Yun Qian Meng stood up gently and lowered her hands to her waist, giving Hai Wang a bow before softly saying, “Answering Hai Wang’s question, this song is called ‘Water Clouds of XiaoXiang River’. This was a song chennü heard unintentionally, telling the tale of a scholar who borrowed the image of water from the mountains to describe his indignation at the darkness of reality while also expressing his passion for the beauty of his country. chennü saw the peerless presence of Mount Yangming and suddenly thought of this song. For dampening wangye’s mood, please forgive me!”

  “Ha ha ha……” Hearing Yun Qian Meng’s explanation, Hai Wang laughed heartily. He then clapped while praising, “benwang has lived near Mount Yangming for several decades. Usually, benwang will only hear sorrowful songs or emotional poems. This kind of song that can bring out the feelings of love towards the country is something benwang has not heard in a long time! Remembering my first campaign in the battlefield with my late zufu, that was such a grand spectacle and a thrilling adventure. Even though we were fighting with our lives on the line, thinking back to it now, those were the best memories! If not for Yun xiaojie’s ‘Water Clouds of XiaoXiang River’ today, perhaps benwang would have forgotten these wonderful memories! What’s more, completing the song on a broken zither is not something just anyone can do! It seems that Yun Xiang has fostered a truly wonderful young lady!”

  “Many thanks for wangye’s excessive praise!” Yun Qian Meng bowed again, her lowered eyes preventing others from looking at her expression.

  Seeing Hai Wang praise Yun Qian Meng so much, Hai Tian swept a cold glare at the broken string, her lips twisting into a sinister smile.

  Having been thrust into the limelight against her will, Yun Qian Meng waited for Hai Wang’s attention to finally fall elsewhere before she turned and left the cabin. She then walked to Qu Fei Qing’s side and smiled elegantly, softly saying, “Sorry for making biaojie worry about Meng’er just now.”

  Yet Qu Fei Qing didn’t say a word, and only grabbed the hand Yun Qian Meng used to play the zither. Seeing several red streaks on the originally flawlessly white fingers, she said somewhat painfully, “I can’t believe that in order to humiliate you, Hai Tian would actually resort to such dirty tricks! But she sure didn’t expect that you were actually able to complete the entire song! Meng’er, you’re just too out of this world! If you can even use the other strings to cover up the missing notes, then I really just worried for nothing!”

  Yun Qian Meng saw that Qu Fei Qing’s face was covered in worry and anger, with even a bit of excitement mixed in. Hence, she only smiled and answered, “Just now, when the string broke all of a sudden, I was also panicking in my heart! But then I remembered that when you play the zither, you can slide the pitch of the strings slightly, so I tried it out. I didn’t expect that I would succeed by a lucky stroke! If biaojie met with a circumstance like that, I’m sure you can handle it even better than I did!”

  Qu Fei Qing saw how modest she was being and understood that Yun Qian Meng did not wish to stand out in front of so many people. Hence, she nodded to Qu Zhang Qing before bringing Yun Qian Meng to the deck. As they were standing by the railings to admire the inky blue lake surface, she whispered, “You should know, that expression you had when you were playing the zither; don’t say men, even I, a girl couldn’t help but get captivated! You were so outstanding today, and even showed up that conceited Hai Tian. I doubt she will just take this lying down! I’m worried she will try to cause more trouble for you in a moment, so you must stay alert! Don’t fall into her traps!”

  Yun Qian Meng, knowing that Qu Fei Qing was concerned about her, gently patted her hand and assured her, “Don’t worry, biaojie. I won’t let her get her way!”

  Qu Fei Qing saw that she was listening to her warning and felt a bit less anxious. She then smiled and asked, slightly puzzled, “Why did you play that kind of song? I originally thought that would play something more contemporary!”

  Hearing this, Yun Qian Meng shook her head, turning her glistening eyes to the crystalline lake surface, softly saying, “‘Ambush from ten sides’ is Hai Tian’s best song, and my zither playing is still far too inferior to hers. There’s naturally no way I would fight such an uphill battle! Even more so, the song that I played on the pipa was already a contemporary song. If I also played the zither like that, it would be hard to escape from Hai Tian’s nitpicking! That’s why I considered, since Hai wangye used to be a pillar of West Chu country, even though he is now confined to a wheelchair, he was still a hot-blooded man that fought to serve his country back in the day! I brazenly played this song, not just to evoke Hai Wang’s memories from the bottom of his heart, but also to borrow his words to shut Hai Tian up!”

  And surely enough, regardless of the truthfulness of Hai Wang’s earlier praise, Hai Tian didn’t open her mouth in the end. She could say that she had won the gamble this time!

  Listening to the end, Qu Fei Qing momentarily opened her cherry like lips in awe. After quite a while, when she finally managed to find her voice, she pulled Yun Qian Meng over and cried out in amazement, “I absolutely wouldn’t have thought that you had considered so many things just to play one song! If I was in your place, perhaps I would have stupidly fallen into somebody’s trap right from the start!”

  Yun Qian Meng only smiled lightly and said somewhat ruefully, “biaojie has laotaijun, jiujiu, and other people to protect you, so your character is naturally simple and genuine! But the xiangfu is not like that, I had no choice but to be careful all the time!”

  Hearing her explanation, Qu Fei Qing recalled the foul atmosphere in Yun xiangfu. Her willow-like brows immediately knitted into a frown as a sigh escaped from her mouth. She didn’t say anything yet, but only tightened her grip on Yun Qian Meng’s hands.

  “So what a
re you two chatting about?” At this moment, a soft voice came from behind them. Yun Qian Meng and Qu Fei Qing immediately exchanged a glance before turning around simultaneously, finding Hai Chen Xi who was supposed to be sitting inside the cabin slowly walking towards them!

  Under the bright moonlight, Hai Chen Xi narrowed his eyes, holding a smile at the corner of his lips. With his lanky build, his even steps towards them created a feeling of danger.

  Yun Qian Meng and Qu Fei Qing immediately shuffled to a side, maintaining a safe distance from Hai Chen Xi. Then, they bowed, saying, “Greetings to Wu gongzi!”

  Hai Chen Xi only turned a blind eye to their greeting and walked over to the railings by himself. Holding the railings engraved with cloud patterns, he let his wander across the endless yet calm lake. He gazed at the distance for a long while before turning his head to look at them, glancing at the gentle and beautiful Qu Fei Qing as well as the cool and calm Yun Qian Meng. Finally locking his eyes on Yun Qian Meng’s fearless expression, he smiled and said, “Qu xiaojie seems to be afraid of me?”

  Qu Fei Qing didn’t actually expect Hai Chen Xi to speak to her. Seeing his temperamental appearance, she had a feeling of foreboding as she hung her head and quietly replied, “I don’t dare!”

  Hai Chen Xi didn’t mind Qu Fei Qing’s obvious fear. Instead, he continued to stare at Yun Qian Meng and warned her slightly, “Yun xiaojie really stood out against all the flowers today! You even stole the show from my conceited meimei! However, standing out like this might not be too good a thing!”

  Feeling Qu Fei Qing’s hand become cold, Yun Qian Meng soundless stepped in front of Qu Fei Qing and calmly met Hai Chen Xi’s gaze. She felt that his man was way too dangerous, his smiling eyes were staring closely at her like a poisonous snake. It felt like if she were to make any sudden moves, he would snap at her neck without the slightest hesitation!

  The feeling of being watched like prey was very annoying to her, but Yun Qian Meng did not let it show on her face. She only replied harshly, “If junzhu didn’t ask me to play, then chennü would not stand out at all! Why does Wu gongzi think this was chennü’s responsibility?”

  Hai Chen Xi saw that Yun Qian Meng was able to keep her composure and even replied with an unyielding spirit that was rarely ever found in normal young ladies. Raising his eyebrows, he laughed audibly as he couldn’t help but sit up and take notice of this young miss from the xiangfu!

  “What matter has caused fifth brother to laugh so unrestrainedly?” Yet at this moment, Hai Tian walked over slowly with her servants. Her rose-colored dress dragged across the shiny wooden deck, creating a perfect silhouette under the moonlight, causing others to be momentarily unable to look away!

  However, even though Hai Tian had a smile on her face, the thick hatred in her eyes was still evident. When she saw Hai Chen Xi and Yun Qian Meng chatting by the stern of the ship, a plan was suddenly hatched in her head!

  Although Hai Chen Xi saw Hai Tian come over, he still continued to laugh without restraint. He only said mockingly, “Of course I’m laughing at how you humiliated yourself earlier!”

  As soon as he said that, Hai Tian’s smile suddenly froze, as an almost solid aura of resentment immediately gushed forth from her body. Her enraged eyes glared Hai Chen Xi who was still openly laughing while she said darkly, “Fifth brother certainly stands out from the masses. Without respecting etiquette and decorum, you actually went to chat with some other girl alone. If word gets out, I’m afraid that father will be extremely disappointed with you!”

  Hai Tian’s words had a double meaning, both saying that Hai Chen Xi was trying to seduce women, as well as scolding Yun Qian Meng for being shameless!

  However, her words had barely any effect on Hai Chen Xi, who had always been at loggerheads with her. As for Yun Qian Meng, her words obviously didn’t incite her anger whatsoever!

  The two of them just remained silent, making Hai Tian suddenly realize she had been ignored! She only glared at Hai Chen Xi again before softening her tone to say, “Please go back, fifth brother. I want to discuss some intimate matters with Yun xiaojie.”

  Hai Chen Xi glanced at her and only widened his smile. He then looked at Yun Qian Meng one last time before he turned around and returned to the cabin.

  Not having expected Hai Chen Xi to actually leave, Hai Tian was momentarily puzzled. However, seeing that only Yun Qian Meng and Qu Fei Qing were left on the deck, she made a satisfied smile as she walked to Yun Qian Meng’s side. Sticking out her head, she whispered in her ear, “Yun Qian Meng, I hate you very much!”

  Hearing this, Yun Qian Meng slightly raised her eyebrows and inclined her head to look at Hai Tian. Smiling elegantly back at her sinister smile, she also leaned towards Hai Tian and whispered in her ear in the exact same way, “The feeling’s mutual!”

  Hai Tian only turned her head suddenly and narrowed her eyes dangerously, her cold smile freezing over even more as she said mysteriously, “If that is the case, where there’s space for you, there’s no place for me. And in my place, there is naturally no space for you!”

  Hearing her say these words which seemed to have some other meaning, Yun Qian Meng’s heart quickly started to flip over. She suddenly noticed under the moonlight that Hai Tian had a thin, colorless thread wrapped around her waist. If not for the reflection against the moonlight, it was almost impossible to see the thread with naked eyes. Thinking about Hai Tian’s words, Yun Qian Meng came to a sudden realization. In order to avoid dragging Qu Fei Qing into the matter, she immediately let go of Qu Fei Qing’s hand!

  Hai Tian also didn’t give Yun Qian Meng much time to react. Her hands suddenly grabbed Yun Qian Meng’s writs as she pulled her towards the railings. The servant she had brought along immediately started yelling, “Oh no! Yun xiaojie is pushing junzhu off the boat! Someone, help!”

  Yun Qian Meng was extremely angry when she saw that Hai Tian was willing to go so far to scheme against her just for Chu Fei Yang’s attention. She was about to subconsciously subdue Hai Tian, but, after a moment of thought, held back and grabbed her wrists instead, yelling, “junzhu, what are you trying to do to chennü? junzhu, be careful! The deck is slippery……”

  However, Yun Qian Meng didn’t finish her sentence before rushing at the railings, letting her body fall into the lake that was dark as ink……

  “Meng’er……” Qu Fei Qing was shocked silly by the sudden commotion and threw herself at the railings, intending to catch the edge of Yun Qian Meng’s skirt. However, the speed of the fall was too quick. Qu Fei Qing’s hands only snatched thin air, and even almost fell off the ship herself. Luckily, Qu Zhang Qing had rushed over and managed to grab her!

  Qu Zhang Qing was ashen-faced as he brought his sister back to a safe place. Just about to jump into the water, he suddenly heard three continuous splashes. Everyone had rushed over onto the deck, while Hai Wang and Hai wangfei immediately called the servants over to help!

  “Tian’er, exactly what happened?” Hai Wang, pushed onto the deck by Hai Chen Xi, questioned the currently pale-faced Hai Tian severely.

  “wangye! It was junzhu who pushed Meng’er off the ship!” Not giving Hai Tian any time to weave out a reply, a teary-eyed Qu Fei Qing pushed everyone aside angrily and announced the truth while pointing directly at Hai Tian.

  “Qu Fei Qing, you make slanderous accusations!” Hai Tian quickly recovered her wits and, obviously not willing to admit to her scheme, retorted immediately!

  However, the person that had fallen into the lake was Yun Qian Meng. In addition, Yun Qian Meng’s shouts before had caused everyone to be extremely suspicious of Hai Tian. They all looked at Hai Tian doubtfully, wanting to know just what had happened between her and Yun Qian Meng before this to make her want to push her into the lake so heartlessly!

  “wangye, now is not the time for questioning. Finding Yun xiaojie is the more pressing matter! Just now, Chu Xiang, Chen Wang and Rong gongzi all jumped into the water to rescue her. We can’t afford to let anyt
hing bad happen!” Hai wangfei interrupted at just the right time, successfully halting Hai Wang’s interrogation while also diverting the crowd’s attention elsewhere.

  Qu Fei Qing and Qu Zhang Qing immediately ran to the stern, leaning out over the railings to search for Yun Qian Meng’s shadow from within the pitch black water!

  Hai wangfu’s servants had already stopped the ship. They quickly sent over a dozen small boats out while lighting as many lanterns as they could fine. Within the shortest time possible, they had quickly illuminated the entire lake surface. They then shouted as they rowed the small boats towards where Yun Qian Meng had fallen off earlier, carefully looking for any sign of her……

  However, as time passed, they still could not find any trace of Yun Qian Meng. Even Chu Fei Yang, Jiang Mu Chen and Rong Yun He had never resurfaced, momentarily causing all the people on the ship to break out in cold sweat!

  Qu Zhang Qing knew that the longer this dragged on, the more dangerous it would become. He immediately said, “Not good, there must not be enough hands. I will go too!”

  “No!” But at this moment, Hai Wang spoke to stop him, “There are already a lot of people in the search, Qu gongzi should not inconvenience yourself. Surely, they will soon be able to find her!”

  Qu Fei Qing only felt indignant at Hai Wang’s calmness. If the person who had fallen into the water was Hai Tian, he most likely wouldn’t have said something like that. However, just why haven’t they seen any trace of Yun Qian Meng in the vast lake?

  A bad premonition suddenly rushed into Qu Fei Qing’s head, causing her eyes to redden. She gripped the railings tightly, greatly resisting so that she wouldn’t let these cold-blooded people see her tears fall!

  Qu Zhang Qing also didn’t listen to Hai Wang’s objection. Instead, he vaulted along the course ropes left behind by the small boats. By the time the crowd managed to catch sight of him again, he was already standing on one of the small boats, holding a lantern as he scoured the lake in search of Yun Qian Meng……