chapter 4
Qin Xuan recovered quickly and raised his voice. “You tricked me!”
I blinked. “I hardly said anything. Those were all your own words.”
His face flushed deeper, his eyes blazing with the fury of a man who had been made a fool.
I stepped back, and my servants moved in front of me.
“Why are you angry, Young Master Qin? Were those not your true thoughts?”
He choked, then forced himself to answer. “They were no lies.”
“So much the better.” I turned to my servants. “Words spoken in private accomplish little. Invite Young Master Qin to our residence, so he may criticize the two lords to their faces.”
The servants reached for him.
Qin Xuan shook them off. “Who dares? I am Qin Zhi’s nephew!”
“We know. The honorable Lord Qin is your uncle. You have not yet earned a degree, but you already dare denounce court officials. Such courage! A tiger uncle could never have a dog for a nephew.”
The corner of Lin Zhiyun’s mouth lifted.
Qin Xuan stopped struggling, his face turning whiter still.
If he accepted my invitation, he would be declaring that Qin Zhi opposed the Luo family.
Everyone might know of the discord between them, but dragging it into the open would look ugly.
“I… I meant nothing of the sort.”
“Then what did you mean?” I asked at my leisure. “Can it be that you bear neither Lord Luo any ill will?”
Humiliation filled his face. He nodded through clenched teeth. “I misspoke.”
I nodded too. “Then you were not speaking bluntly from an honest heart. What purpose did you have in stirring trouble here?”
His lips parted, but the talkative scholar had become a mute.
At some point, Lin Zhiyun had come to stand beside me.
“There is a third possibility,” he said solemnly.
I turned to him.
With a perfectly straight face, he explained, “Brother Qin envies me for gaining such a fine family by marriage. His longing could not be fulfilled, and his resentment caused this momentary lapse.”
I stared. “Is Lord Qin not enough for Young Master Qin? Though born into the Qin family, does his heart belong to the Luo residence?”
Lin Zhiyun looked troubled. “That… only Brother Qin can know.”
I regarded Qin Xuan in confusion. “Do you also wish to become a son-in-law of my family?”
He stormed out with a crimson face.
The other scholars, their entertainment over, soon took their leave as well.
My cousin had gone home in our carriage, so Lin Zhiyun escorted me part of the way.
He seemed in an excellent mood.
“You are nothing like the rumors.”
I resumed playing mute.
What had happened in the restaurant was an emergency. Qin Xuan had been spreading claims that Uncle manipulated the examination, which could harm the entire Luo family.
Such rumors were best strangled before they grew.
When I did not answer, Lin Zhiyun looked at me, his eyes bright. “Am I not as good as Qin Xuan?”
I gave him a puzzled look.
“You racked your brains to say so much to him, yet you have nothing to say to me.”
What was there to say?
After a moment, I told him, “There is a tea leaf stuck to your tooth.”
His upturned lips slowly flattened.
The atmosphere felt safe again, and I quietly exhaled.