Chapter 121 Cascades: The Light of Summer
"Young miss, we have finally returned to Chang'an! I feel like crying!" Jet sat in the carriage and rubbed her eyes.
"Aren't you exaggerating it?" Feng Luodi looked at her resignedly as she lifted the curtains and looked out at the unchanging but spectacular view of Chang'an.
"It’s so hot! Why are Fei and Scarlet taking so long to get snacks?" Jet fanned herself with her hands, looked around, and said, "Actually, we can head straight back to the Feng household."
"Do you know how far it is to travel from the North Gate to the Feng household at Zhengnan Street?" Feng Luodi rubbed her brows. "Also, this is the time the day when the traffic is at its busiest. If we go back now, you’ll have to stay hungry all the way."
"Oh," Jet pouted, "that is true. The whole street will be filled with people going for meals! If we get down now, we will take a long time to find an empty restaurant. No wonder young miss asked Fei and Scarlet to get some snacks." Jet smacked her head. If only I could be as meticulous and thoughtful as young miss.
"There is no need for that. You are adorable in your own way." Feng Luodi suddenly said.
"Young miss, how do you know what I am thinking?" Jet was surprised.
Feng Luodi facepalmed. "You voiced out your thoughts."
Jet's face turned red in embarrassment. Looking at Jet, Feng Luodi couldn't help but break out in a huge grin. She started worrying about the future husband of this lady. She needs to find someone that loves her and understands her.
"Young miss, we are back." Scarlet and Fei carried some snacks and entered the horse carriage. The four of them started eating silently.
It was quieter than it was on normal days.
Feng Luodi looked at Scarlet's worried face curiously. "What’s wrong? Why did your face change after coming back? Did someone outside offend you?"
Scarlet kept quiet.
Feng Luodi turned to look at Fei. Fei just looked down and continued eating his food.
Now, even Jet realised that something was wrong, "Scarlet, if there is anything you can just say directly, why do you need to keep it from young miss?"
Scarlet hesitated a while. In the end, she said, "Young miss, if I tell you what had happened, can you promise not to get angry?"
"What can I be angry about?" Feng Luodi got even more curious. "I only got angry once and that scared the wits out of you all?"
"I don't mean that…" Scarlet got anxious and immediately poured out everything. "Just now, when Fei and I were going to buy snacks, we overheard many people saying…" Scarlet paused, "saying that a few of the Commandery Princes gave the Duke of Anping beautiful ladies to be his concubines. Now, the Duke residence has quite a few concubines."
Feng Luodi remained shocked for quite a while before she muttered, "He took all of them in?"
Scarlet carefully watched Feng Luodi's expression. She didn't dare to fully replicate the gossips that she heard.
"Yes."
Feng Luodi suddenly put down the water canteen, got down the horse carriage and lifted her dress as she walked quickly in a certain direction. The other three recognised where she was going – the Duke residence. Seeing their young miss's blackface, they knew that she was angry.
The three people in the carriage took a while before they reacted and rushed down, following Feng Luodi from behind, "Young miss, you should take the carriage if you do indeed want to go to the Duke’s residence. It will be faster."
Feng Luodi stopped in her tracks immediately after hearing this sentence. She turned around and stalked back to the horse carriage.
"Let's go have our meal first. After we eat, we can return to the Feng residence. The head steward had sent a message saying that Father was met with assassination. I want to go back earlier to check on his condition."
Scarlet blanked out for a while before asking, "Young miss, are we not going to the Duke residence?"
Jet took a bite of a bun and said, "Didn't the Duke of Anping said earlier that he would only marry our young miss and no one else? Why did he keep the ladies to be his concubines? Young miss is definitely angry at him."
Scarlet and Fei glared at Jet but she took no notice.
"I am not angry." Feng Luodi spoke lightly. She took out her water canteen. "I have no right to be angry."
Scarlet and Fei looked at each other and copied Scarlet, eating quietly.
When the crowd on the street had dispersed slightly, Fei immediately drove the carriage and rushed back to the Feng residence.
In the Duke residence, Situ sent a table flying to the side of the room with a single kick. He turned to ask Quattor. "Did she really just get off her carriage, walked a few steps, and went straight back to the Feng residence?"
Quattor was sweating profusely as he wittily tried to redirect Situ's anger. "This is what Duo told me."
Situ breathed a few times before erupting again and gave another table a flying kick.
"What a heartless woman!"
Quattor knew that Situ was going to fly off the handle soon. He immediately took his leave, "If you have nothing else for me, General, I shall take my leave." After finishing the sentence, he quickly but silently snuck out of the room and directed the head steward inside.
When Situ turned around, he saw the butler wearing an awkward smile, "What is the matter?"
The head steward scanned the room and in a flash, understood the situation. He folded his hands, bowed and said, "General, what shall we do with the ladies in the West Chamber? They have entered the residence for almost half a month already and have yet to meet you. Do you want to set a time to see them?"
"Why should I see them?" Situ glared at him.
"Ermmm…" the head steward tried his best to explain, "do you not intend to let the ladies that were given by the Princes to be your concubines?"
"Who wants them to be concubines? They will not be of any help." Situ got irritated. "Marry them off."
"Marry them off? To whom?" The head steward was confused.
"Let them go to the army base and choose someone they like. The residence will provide the dowry for them." Situ waved his hands impatiently, "if you are not sure about what to do, you can ask Gan Qingjia, he has experience."
"Master Gan has experience?" the head steward raised his eyebrows. What is Master Gan doing?
Situ paced around in circles in the room. The despair within his heart did not dissipate even as he continued kicking the chairs and destroying the tables.
The head steward stood outside and shook his head. “Seems like I have to buy a new set of furniture for this room."
On the second day after Feng Luodi’s return to Chang’an, Qi Jianqiu came over asking for an explanation.
"You didn't allow me to visit you when you fell sick. Neither did you tell me when you went to the Villa. And when you ran to Wuling Province, all you did was to leave me a book of recipes. Worst of all, you didn’t send anyone to inform me now that you’re back! If I wasn’t smart enough to figure out that you’d come back, when will you ever tell me?" Qi Jianqiu recounted all the events that had happened between them. Finally, she looked at Feng Luodi. "Say, how do you plan to compensate me?"
Feng Luodi controlled her laughter as she held Qi Jianqiu's hand. "Come on now, let's head to Autumnal Ombre, I do have a plan to compensate you."
"What is it?" Qi Jianqiu questioned quizzingly as she instantaneously forgot about her unhappiness.
“It’s a secret, you’ll know when you get there." Feng Luodi smiled.
Qi Jianqiu heaved a relief as she saw Feng Luodi's smile. In a blink of the eye, they reached Autumnal Ombre. Fei, who went to the shop before them, came out and welcomed them.
"Young miss, the things have been made according to the images you drew. The snacks have also been prepared for you."
"Good job." Feng Luodi patted his shoulder and realised with a start. "Fei, you have grown taller again. Time flies. You are seventeen years old already."
"You're right. It’s been a year since I’d come to the Feng residence." Fei recalled with emotion as he welcomed them in.
Qi Jianqiu grinned at Fei. "I still remember when you were still a servant for Master Wang. You were all timid and mousy then! Look at you now, with a strong aura and full of confidence. This is a good thing."
Fei smiled. "I will always remember how young miss took a kick for me."
"Errr…Yiqi was just really angry at that point in time. Please don't take it to heart." Qi Jianqiu anxiously explained for Xue Yiqi.
"I understand. It was Master Xue who helped me retrieve my contract of employment." Fei answered appropriately.
In the room, as Feng Luodi fiddled with equipment which looked weird to the rest, she teased Qi Jianqiu. "You seemed to have a good relationship with Master Xue."
"He was the only person I could hang around with when you weren’t around." Qi Jianqiu pouted. Although she still felt awkward due to Xue Yiqi's proposal, she acted normally around him after realising that he wasn’t affected by it. She liked to make friends and didn't want to lose this friend of hers. Feng Luodi immediately changed the topic. She placed a washed peach into a smooth wooden container and shook a handle. After that, she placed some crushed ice inside the machine and repeated the action again and again. The final product was a bowl of ice cold peach juice.
"Have a taste?" Feng Luodi picked up the bowl and passed it to Qi Jianqiu.
"Is this drinkable?" Qi Jianqiu looked at the bowl of peach juice with doubt.
"Don't you trust me?" Feng Luodi frowned teasingly. Qi Jianqiu immediately took the bowl and gulped down the juice.
"Wow, this is really good! It's sweet and cold, perfect for relieving the summer heat."
"Yes," Feng Luodi gave a smile, her hands continuing to shake the container, "I’d thought of making these when I saw a carpenter in action in the Wuling Provincial City. When I came back to Chang'an, I immediately commissioned this machine and it was a success."
Feng Luodi made another bowl and passed it to Fei.
Fei was also full of praises after tasting the juice. "If only the people of Chang'an could drink this too. The summer heat would be much more tolerable."
"You are really suitable to be a merchant." Feng Luodi nodded her head. "I am thinking about making more of this machine. We can buy fresh fruits every day and add ice to it to make juice. We can sell the juice at a higher price and name it 'Summer Light', the opposite of Autumnal Ombre. It will be another source of revenue."
"Young miss is more suitable to be a merchant." Fei smiled.
"Fei," Feng Luodi said, "Autumnal Ombre's wine business is already on the right track. You will be free at this moment. Can I let you be in charge of this 'Summer Light'?"
Fei gave a bow. "Young miss has placed much trust in me by giving me the drawings of the machine. How can I disappoint you?"
"You are getting better at talking." Feng Luodi smiled as she patted him. At this moment, she realised that Qi Jianqiu had been keeping silent after drinking the peach juice.
"Jianqiu, what are you thinking about?" Feng Luodi couldn't help but broke her train of thoughts.
Qi Jianqiu recovered from her thoughts and smiled apologetically. "Maybe its the heat," she said as she lifted her bowl. "Good stuff should be shared with the other people as well. It has been a while since we’d had a gathering."
Feng Luodi's smiled faded a little. She remained silent.
"Are you still angry at Situ?" Qi Jianqiu walked over and held her hand. "Situ first made it known to the entire city that he was going to marry you, causing much trouble to you and Chamberlain Feng. Now, he kept all the ladies send by the various Princes, stirring up much gossip about you again. It is normal that you are angry. But shouldn't you visit Jiang Moyin? He has been gravely sick in bed for a very long time now. He didn't allow us to send you a message while you were out of Chang'an".
"Brother is gravely ill?" Feng Luodi got nervous.