Top Scholar

Chapter 163 Two Beauties
Seeing that Su Tai's enrollment issue was perfectly resolved, Magistrate Lu rose to take his leave. He had no choice but to leave; he was bursting with impatience...

Huang Bingxian naturally did not try to keep them, and instead asked the butler to see the guests out.

Watching Magistrate Lu stagger away, Huang Ke knew he was desperate to use the restroom. But that was the rule in officialdom; using the restroom at one's superior's house was considered impolite.

He didn't mind, but Magistrate Lu clearly did...

When Su Tai came out of the flower hall, She Yunluo had already disappeared. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that he could get away with it like this.

"What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and go!" Magistrate Lu urged him, as if to say, "Doesn't this lord's bladder is about to burst?"

"Oh, oh." Su Tai nodded and quickly followed Magistrate Lu out of the military affairs office.

Magistrate Lu was finally helped into the sedan chair by his attendant, his voice trembling. "The spittoon, hurry up!"

"Quickly!" The servant hurriedly took the spittoon from the servant's hand.

Almost without pause, a long, gurgling sound began to echo from inside the sedan chair…

There was also a sigh of relief from the old man.

After the crowd escorted Magistrate Lu's sedan chair away, two maids peeked out from the gatehouse.

“Follow them and see where they live,” the leader instructed the other.

“Okay.” Another maidservant responded and left, while the one in the lead went straight into the inner courtyard and arrived at the embroidered tower where the young lady lived.

The second floor of the embroidered building is elegantly furnished and filled with the fragrance of books.

The entire second floor is separated from the outside by Xiangfei bamboo curtains. The outer room is a study, and the inner room is furnished with a bed.

The study has bookshelves on three sides, with only the side facing the garden having a zither stand.

The bookshelves were stacked high with all sorts of books, from hefty classics and historical texts to collections of poetry and prose like *Zhaoming Wenxuan*, *Li Bai Ji*, and *Huajian Ji*; scholar's notes such as *Youyang Zazu*, *Bowu Zhi*, and *Tieweishan Congtan*; and even some books in Sanskrit and Persian, the contents of which were unknown…

Without exception, all the pages were densely packed with Xue Tao paper and ginkgo leaves used as bookmarks, clearly not just for decoration.

In the center of the study stood a large rosewood table. Besides the Four Treasures of the Study (writing brush, ink stick, inkstone, and paper), books, and calligraphy practice books, there were also water droppers, paintbrushes, and various paints. A white jade rabbit paperweight held down an unfinished painting—a panoramic view of Luzhou city.

In the painting, the Yangtze and Tuo Rivers converge outside the city like two green ribbons, their surfaces teeming with boats, their masts like a forest. On the gray-blue bricks of the eastern city wall, the eaves of Ningguang Gate and Aijin Gate still adorned with red lanterns for the first month of the lunar calendar…

~~
Two rosewood chairs were placed next to the zither stand, with a tea table in the middle. Steam rose from the teacups, and freshly baked almond cookies were served on a plate next to them.

Two beautiful young women stood and sat there. The young woman, She Yunluo, was pacing back and forth angrily.

The other young girl sitting upright in the chair was Huang Ke's youngest daughter, Huang E. Her skin was as white as morning dew on jade, her eyebrows as dark as distant mountains, and her eyes as clear as autumn water reflecting the moon, containing three parts liveliness and seven parts tranquility. She was just like the famous line from when she was twelve years old, which made her famous throughout Sichuan: "A golden hairpin laughs as it pierces the red window paper, leading in a thread of plum blossom fragrance."

She Yunluo was already quite beautiful on her own, but compared to Huang E, she paled in comparison. Huang E embodied the essence of nature and the elegance of poetry and literature, exuding a serene and captivating charm, her brows radiating a refined scholarly air…

At this moment, the renowned talented woman from Sichuan had been staring at the Xue Tao paper in her hand for quite some time. To be precise, she was focused on the matching couplet that Su Lu had provided—

'Thinking of the Retreat Pavilion, a patriot concerned with his country, he endured joyous rains, raging waves, and sorrowful tides, sighing at the startling clouds, breaking through fear, and reading history through winter and summer.'

She and She Yunluo, one active and one quiet, didn't disturb each other at all...

Then, Luo Luo, a maid, came up and whispered to She Yunluo, "Mu Shi, that person has left. I've already sent Ahua to follow him."

"Yes, we absolutely can't let them get away again!" She Yunluo finally stopped and said with certainty, "I can't be wrong, it must be him!"

“Actually, I didn’t need to follow him; I already found out,” the maid said. “He came with the magistrate of Hejiang County, and he’s probably staying at the Hejiang government office.”

"You're quite capable, A-Cai." She Yunluo patted her shoulder happily.

“And…” the maid added indignantly, “He might very well be a fraud!”

"Shut up! My benefactor is absolutely not a liar!" She Yunluo immediately retorted angrily, "If you utter another word of nonsense, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

“But…” the maid said, forcing herself to speak, “I asked Steward Huang, and the man’s surname is Su, and his given name is Su Tai. His surname is not Hao at all.”

"You're not mistaken, are you?" She Yunlu asked incredulously.

“Sister has definitely been fooled.” Huang E couldn’t help but chuckle. “Who is named Hao Ren? It’s obviously a homonym for ‘good person’.”

"Ah?" She Yunluo's mouth opened slightly as she carefully recalled the details of that time. Suddenly, she slapped the maid's shoulder hard and said, "I remember now. When I asked them what their names were, Hao... Su's brat brother, rushed to say that his father's name was Hao Ren!"

She stomped her feet angrily and said, "So I was tricked by that kid! No wonder I couldn't find anyone named Hao Ren anywhere in the Three Guards!" "Hehe..." Huang E covered her mouth and laughed, "He probably used an alias because he was afraid you would be too powerful to find him."

"I'm here to repay a debt of gratitude, not to seek revenge." She Yunlu asked, puzzled, "Why are they avoiding me?"

“Everyone has their own stance and concerns,” Huang E said softly. “Perhaps they don’t want to get involved in the feuds of important people, or perhaps they don’t want their peaceful lives to be disturbed.”

After saying that, she stopped smiling and said, "In short, since they are your benefactors, you should respect their decisions instead of repaying them in the way you think you should."

"Oh..." She Yunluo nodded as if she understood, then slumped down and said, "Then I won't go to repay the debt of gratitude..."

“That’s right.” Huang E nodded and said, “It’s only the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. The fact that the magistrate of Hejiang County brought him to see my father means that he is already doing well. There’s no need to add to his already good fortune just to put his mind at ease.”

She paused for a moment, then added, "Besides, didn't you already introduce yourself? People know you're the daughter of the Yongning Pacification Commissioner. If they encounter any difficulties they can't resolve, they'll naturally come to you. Wouldn't it be even better if you offered help in their time of need?"

"Yes, sister is absolutely right!" Hearing this, She Yunluo's eyes lit up, and she praised, "I really shouldn't have been in such a hurry to repay their kindness. I should have waited until they needed me to help!"

She cheered up again, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Let's see if they'll still avoid me then!"

"It's good that you've thought it through." Huang E nodded, her gaze involuntarily falling back to the Xue Tao letter.

She Yunlu put aside her worries for the time being and turned her attention back to her. She waved for A Cai to leave and asked with a smile, "What's wrong with you now? You haven't been able to take your eyes off this piece of paper since you got it."

As she spoke, she nudged Huang E with her elbow and winked, "Could it be some kind of messenger... what?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Huang E said speechlessly, "I've never even met that Young Master Su, I'm just a little annoyed."

"What's there to be upset about?" She Yunluo asked with interest.

"At that time, the younger brother from the Zhu family was crying and looking for his older sister, saying that he had been bullied by Young Master Su," Huang E said.

“Yes, I was there too. Didn’t you give him a couplet and tell him to go back, saying he was sure to turn the tables?” She Yunluo said.

“I was too hasty and arrogant back then.” She picked up the Xue Tao paper and said, “I even made a mistake in the first line of the couplet at random. The seven colors should be ‘blue, red, yellow, green, blue, purple and white,’ but I wrote ‘White Pagoda Street, Yellow Blacksmith, Red Furnace, Burning Black Charcoal, Emits Blue Smoke, Flashes Blue Light, Quenches Purple Iron,’ mistaking black for green, and even let Zhu’s younger brother take it to test people. It was so embarrassing.”

Her earlobes turned a deep red with embarrassment, and she covered her face with her hands, saying, "People don't even know how they'll laugh at me."

"It doesn't matter, does it?" She Yunlu asked, puzzled. "Didn't they match it up? It's just a matter of going in and out, isn't it?"

"That's because Young Master Su is making do with me," Huang E sighed. "Look at his second line—"

As she spoke, she stretched out her slender finger and pointed at Su Lu's impeccable classical Chinese writing: "Thought, worry, joy, anger, sorrow, surprise, fear... Did you notice? He deliberately changed 'fear' to 'fear' just to accommodate me."

"Huh? Is that guy surnamed Su really that thin?" She Yunluo was initially incredulous, but then she noticed something interesting and said, "Hey, he's also surnamed Su? What's his relationship with Su Tai?"

“The younger brother of the Zhu family said his name is Su Lu.” Huang E said, “Su Tai, Su Lu… they seem to be brothers.”

"Could he be that little liar?" She Yunlu asked.

“How could that be!” Huang E shook his head decisively. “How could a gentleman like Young Master Su lie?” He paused and added, “Perhaps they have other brothers?”

"Really?" She Yunluo asked, puzzled. "You've never even met him, how do you know he's a gentleman?"

“I just knew it.” Huang E’s gaze fell on the regular script, which was as stable as a pine tree and had strong strokes. He could see that the horizontal and vertical strokes were full of humility and arrogance, and he could tell that the characters contained a dignified spirit.

"Thinking of the Retreat Pavilion, worrying about the country, experiencing joyful rain, passing through raging waves, surging sorrowful waves, sighing at the startled clouds, breaking through fear, reading the Spring and Autumn Annals through winter and summer..." She recited it softly, then sighed and said, "Only a true gentleman can understand such a state of mind, right? I really want to apologize to him and say that I was being presumptuous."

"That's easy, isn't it? Just have Zhu's younger brother pass on a message to you," She Yunluo said casually.

“That would be even more reckless,” Huang E said with a wry smile. “If we are destined to meet again, I will apologize to Young Master Su in person then.”

"Hiss..." She Yunluo said speechlessly, "I really don't understand you Han people. Why do you have to wait until later when you can do things now?"

"I still have to save face..." Huang E said helplessly.

"Fine, fine, you Han Chinese care about your reputation, but we Luo Luo people don't have so many scruples!" The thought that She Yunluo had just suppressed surged up again. She slammed her hand on the coffee table and said, "I've decided, we'll do it my way!"

"So all that was said was for nothing?" Huang E sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Repaying a debt of gratitude isn't the same as revenge; it can be left unresolved overnight..."

"I didn't mention repaying a debt of gratitude. We'll talk about repaying a debt of gratitude later." She Yunluo smiled confidently, "Don't worry, I won't let anyone know that they saved me!"

(End of this chapter)