Chapter 1874: 1862: She Is Qi Le!
Chapter 1874: Chapter 1862: She Is Qi Le!
The officials from Great Chu weren’t deaf, and since they’d been picked to come to the grasslands, they more or less understood some of the grassland tongue.
The grassland nobles hadn’t bothered to hide anything, nor did they lower their voices; everyone heard them loud and clear, and several faces darkened at once.
Do they have no idea what “subtle beauty” means? Do they really think hanging their whole family fortune on their bodies looks good? Vulgar!
That was what the Great Chu officials were thinking.
Song Chongjin and Fu Jian were even better at keeping their cool, and simply didn’t put these people in their eyes at all, disdaining to spare them even an extra glance.
Fu Jian shot a look at the mission members, telling them to calm down a bit.
Song Chongjin walked to the carriage, lifted the curtain, and reached in to help Ming Zhu down.
Ming Zhu poked her head out, and the people around them instantly felt their eyes light up.
The last streak of sunset just happened to fall on the Phoenix Hairpin in Ming Zhu’s hair; the gemstones and pearls shone brilliantly in the afterglow.
Not only the grassland noblemen, even the noblewomen were all captivated by the sight.
They were wealthy and hardly lacked for gold and silver or gemstones, yet when they saw the exquisitely crafted, breathtaking Jinchai in Ming Zhu’s hair, they still couldn’t help being struck dumb.
Then they saw that Ming Zhu wore only a white fox-fur cloak over her shoulders, and aside from the Jinchai in her hair and a pair of gourd-shaped gold-inlaid earrings, there wasn’t a single other ornament on her.
And yet, just like this, she was so beautiful they couldn’t look away.
The grassland noblewomen, who were always used to lavish attire, suddenly felt a faint sense of inferiority; although they were covered in jewels and jade, compared to that woman from Great Chu, they were clearly outshone.
Some of the women were already whispering to each other: “That thing on that Great Chu woman’s head is really beautiful.”
“Did you see the earrings she’s wearing? Those are beautiful too!”
“Do women in Great Chu wear such pretty jewelry every day?”
…
The grassland noblemen, on the other hand, had their eyes fixed on Ming Zhu’s face. They were used to the charms of grassland women, but now that they saw a noblewoman from Great Chu with such poise and radiance, they couldn’t help swallowing hard.
Song Chongjin’s expression sank. These grassland nobles were truly crude and discourteous, daring to stare so brazenly at another man’s woman without the least bit of restraint!
His gaze swept sharply over the circle of grassland men around them, and those men felt a chill crawl up their backs. Seeing the look on Song Chongjin’s face, even the densest of them knew they ought to rein themselves in now.
So one by one, they drew back those blatant, naked gazes.
A few of them, when they looked at Ming Zhu, had nothing in their eyes but fear—pure fear! They had been there that day when, with a single brazier, she struck Muhe down.
And that little tyrant Bayar called her “Grandaunt.”
Back then they had guessed she was some new favorite of someone’s, but seeing this now, it turned out she was part of the Great Chu Diplomatic Mission? Judging from the way things looked, she was definitely not someone they could afford to offend. One after another, they quietly shuffled a few steps back and hid among the crowd.
After all, this was the gate of the Royal Palace; countless eyes were watching, and the commotion was quickly noticed by those inside.
In no time, Batu hurried out, smiling broadly as he welcomed the Great Chu Diplomatic Mission in.
Everyone in the Wang Capital knew that Batu was Queen Ah Lan’s trusted aide. Seeing how warmly he treated the Great Chu Diplomatic Mission, they all promptly packed away their contempt, no longer daring to act presumptuous, and followed them inside.
Since the banquet hadn’t started yet, Song Chongjin and the others were arranged to rest separately in a small courtyard.
They had only just sat down when a beautiful Maid came in and said she was there on Queen Ah Lan’s orders to summon Song Chongjin and Ming Zhu.
Song Chongjin and Ming Zhu exchanged a look, then glanced at Fu Jian.
Fu Jian naturally understood, thumping his chest as he said, “Lord Song, Lady Dingguo, please go without worry. We underlings will wait here for you!”
Song Chongjin knew that while Fu Jian seemed smooth and easygoing, he was actually very disciplined. So he merely nodded, stood up with Ming Zhu, and instructed, “Lead the way.”
The beautiful Maid discreetly sized the two of them up with a quick look, then led them out of the courtyard.
The Grasslands Palace covered an enormous area, mostly built of white stone, with some distance between each courtyard; in some places there were only large stretches of grass and no buildings at all.
The Maid led them past several courtyards and grass plots until they saw a large courtyard up ahead, higher and more luxurious than the others around it.
Several guards stood outside the courtyard; they had clearly been instructed in advance. When they saw the two people following behind the Maid, they only gave them a quick once-over before signaling for the two to go in.
Upon entering the courtyard, they discovered it was a world unto itself.
A large pool lay before them, its water steaming—clearly hot spring water channeled in?
Beside it seemed to be a garden. Though the weather was still cold, the hot spring made this courtyard warmer than the others, giving it a touch of spring. The grass underfoot was green, and some flowers were already in bud.
In a distant corner by the wall, several branches of spring plum had bloomed, exuding a faint fragrance.
It did somewhat resemble a noble’s garden courtyard in Great Chu Country.
The Maid who had led them there said she was going in to report, and left the two of them standing in the courtyard.
They couldn’t see anyone around them, but both could feel that in the shadows several pairs of eyes were fixed on them as a couple.
Ming Zhu wasn’t afraid in the least; instead she was very interested in the hot spring. She even squatted down to test the water’s temperature with her hand and caught a faint whiff of the sulfur scent unique to hot springs.
She couldn’t help saying, “Brother Song, when we go back, let’s buy a Hot Spring Manor, all right? In winter we can bring Mother there to soak; it’ll definitely feel wonderful!”
She hadn’t thought of this before, and had suffered through the winter cold for nothing.
Still, she couldn’t really be blamed; the upper circles of the Capital City didn’t seem to be into hot springs.
No matter. Once she got back to Great Chu, she’d order people to search the area around the Capital City—this kind of thing was usually found in the mountains.
Once they found a hot spring, she would buy up the best spot and build her own Hot Spring Manor.
Ming Zhu was calculating all this in her heart.
Song Chongjin had always indulged her. Hearing what she said, he nodded with a smile, then played with the water with her for a while. Afterward they stood up and admired the flowers and plants in the garden, even making a few comments on those plum blossoms.
There wasn’t the slightest sign of unease or fear—they were as at ease as if they were in their own back garden.
The Maid was inside for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before she came back out to the doorway. “Queen Ah Lan invites the two of you in!”
As soon as Song Chongjin and Ming Zhu stepped into the main hall, they felt a wave of warmth. The entire hall was pleasantly warm, and not with the heavy heat of a flue-warmed wall; the warmth rose from under their feet.
Ming Zhu thought of the big hot spring pool outside and understood—this courtyard had probably been built right atop the hot spring, or rather, the stone floor below had been specially designed to let the hot spring water wind beneath it so that heat would seep up through the floor tiles. That was why the room was so warm.
So this was the ancient version of underfloor heating?
The floor of the hall was paved with white marble tiles, laid over with gorgeously woven wool carpets, and the walls were inlaid with all kinds of gemstones and pearls, lavish beyond compare.
But all of that paled beside the woman sitting above; she sat there as the brightest pearl in the entire hall, a presence one simply could not ignore.
She was Qi Le—finally, they were meeting at last!