Chapter 441

"I resigned from marriage and went to the capital when I was twenty-one. That was the most confused period of my life."

Qi Zhaohua said while leaning on the railing. Pei Ye was lying on the railing beside her listening. Looking down like this, the small garden of mountains and water fell into a flat painting.

"You know I can't cultivate. For many years before, I read books and wrote poems, and earned a very high reputation in Bowang City. People said I was the first talented woman, and I was quite proud of myself. Every day I went in and out of literary collections, and sang and sang with scholars and high officials, thinking I was completely different from those daughters waiting to be married in the boudoir."

"I spent my entire youth like this."

"Until the Qi family was very happy and proud to tell the matchmaker that the daughter originally could only be engaged to the son of the Chamber of Commerce, but now she could match the son of the Inspector."

"."

"So when that invitation was placed in front of me, I seemed to wake up from a dream." Qi Zhaohua smiled, "It turns out I am still a flower, just mounted with a layer of clean, white, and elegant color, and can enter a richer family."

"I don't hate the young master, but even if Jiang Hong wasn't waiting for me, I have always had a high opinion of myself since I was a child, and always thought that I would do something amazing in this life." Qi Zhaohua recounted slowly, "This thing gave me a big blow. I went to the Divine Capital alone with my backpack in anger. At that time, looking at this strange and prosperous metropolis, the palace city was majestic, and the hundred workshops were lined with stars, but I only felt that the road ahead was uncertain and life was confused. Except for ambition and stubbornness, I had nothing."

Qi Zhaohua paused and looked out the window quietly, as if remembering that period of time.

"At that time, I wandered on the streets of Chang'an every day. Carriages drove past me, and I didn't know which aristocratic official was sitting inside. I didn't have a hard family background since I was a child, but at that time I was quite envious, often standing dazed and looking, looking with all my might as they drove into the inner city, guessing which government office they would drive into." The woman recalled, "So I sought eagerly in the Divine Capital, throwing letters everywhere, feasting and writing poems, and visiting the blue and purple. Gradually, there was really a character called 'Qi Zhaohua'."

"The feeling in Bowang came back again—respect, attention, admiration, longing, and some malice from different sources. I had long been accustomed to dealing with these, almost like a fish in water." Qi Zhaohua was quiet for a while, looking at the moon, "But that kind of confusion never went away."

"I felt every day that what I was doing was wasting my life, but I didn't know what I could do. Heaven gave me a good appearance, and I learned a body of poetry since I was a child. This is my sharpest and most useful weapon."

"Until I met the Benefactor at a poetry gathering."

"That was four years ago. It was the highest-standard tour banquet I had sought for half a year to enter. I heard that there were sons of Ministers, famous scholars, and aristocratic nobles like Prince Zheng in this poetry gathering. I really wanted to see what the 'top' of this big city looked like, and couldn't help but fantasize about being valued by someone, and from then on, rising to the top."

"I made a lot of preparations for that poetry gathering, and finally won the applause of the whole hall with a delicate seven-character poem. That was my greatest success since I entered the capital alone. In a place like the Divine Capital, at a poetry banquet of such a standard, the benefits that could be exchanged were unimaginable." Qi Zhaohua said, "In one banquet, I really got what I dreamed of—Zheng Zheng Zhao Chen, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, invited me to the small courtyard behind the garden after the banquet, willing to recommend me publicly, and after passing the examination, I would be an official under the Zheng family."

"It only came with one small request: to accompany him for one night."

Pei Ye turned his head in astonishment. The woman with a slender figure was still leaning on the railing, her cheeks flushed after drinking.

She turned her head and pursed her lips for the first time: "At that time, I really considered it seriously."

"."

"So it made me even more irritable."

"I actually realized that my luck was a bit bad this time—this Zheng Zheng Zhao Chen had some rumors. If I had won the appreciation of that Minister's son or that literary elder, I fear there wouldn't have been these disgusting things. But do you know what really made me feel that everything was meaningless?"

She looked at the teenager beside her: "It was that I suddenly discovered that the semi-hundred-year-old scholar who was ranked second at the banquet actually wrote much better poems than I did."

"."

Qi Zhaohua turned her head away, looking quietly at the white moon in the sky, and was silent for a good while.

"There was never a moment more confusing than that night. On the Phoenix Terrace after walking out of the small courtyard, the night rain was a bit cool. I lay on the railing and didn't know how long I was dazed. I sought hard in the Divine Capital for years, but felt that I was still standing in the same place. That night, I thought about how I left my hometown to cut off my original self, but when I arrived in the Divine Capital, I still relied on poetry and appearance to step into these thresholds. What is the difference between writing poems to attract people's appreciation and applying powder and makeup to attract people's favor?"

"Years of wandering in literary circles. are all flattery."

"I met the Benefactor at that time." Qi Zhaohua withdrew her gaze and said softly, "I don't know when she stood beside me. She was wearing a gray cloak, with maids holding umbrellas on both sides, and she was holding a small pot of warm wine herself, using her hands to catch the night rain."

"Many times later, I thought, if I hadn't walked out of that small courtyard that night, I wouldn't have met her." Qi Zhaohua turned her head and smiled at him, her wine-drunk eyes somewhat hazy, "No knife can be sharper than that light sigh to dissect the twenty years of my life. I clearly remember every detail of that chilly spring night to this day."

"She said, 'Ask who you rely on for your standing? A body of beautiful skin and foolish bones.'"

Pei Ye opened his eyes slightly. Qi Zhaohua smiled: "Yes, later I knew this was the Benefactor's 'He Xin Lang Self-Singing', and I have always engraved it in my heart."

"That night we chatted about many, many things, chatted about each other's background, chatted about each other's ambitions. It was the first time I knew why the ancients said that chronic illness 'has no medicine, needle, moxibustion, or treatment, but can be said away by words and wonderful ways'."

Pei Ye listened quietly. Perhaps the woman had never poured out this heart path to anyone. Pei Ye could feel her relaxation.

At this time, he also understood why Qi Zhaohua said Xu Chuo had the grace of clearing the clouds for her. Isn't it such a grace to pull a person out of the predicament of the outside world and herself?

But he heard the woman who had become quiet beside him say softly: "But, Pei Ye, do you think this is my fault?"

Pei Ye turned his head in a daze.

Qi Zhaohua was looking at him: "Why do I have to write poems and feast?"

"."

"Why can't I let go of this body of 'beautiful skin and foolish bones'? Why do I and that semi-hundred-year-old scholar have to practice this body of flattering skin if we want to walk into those government offices? And what was he defeated by me on?"

"."

Qi Zhaohua withdrew her gaze and looked at the empty space and said softly: "The Benefactor has the grace of clearing the clouds for me, but repaying grace is just repaying grace. What makes me swear to follow is the ambition of 'seeing the sun'."

"She said that there are one million people like me in the world."

"."

The two were silent for a long time. Qi Zhaohua greeted the servant, took another small bottle of wine, and drank it herself.

"I have never told anyone about these things, Young Hero Pei." She lowered her head and said softly, "This is the reason why I returned to the Divine Capital. At that time, I stayed by the Benefactor's side for two years, and only then did I understand that 'Bowang did not have a place to accommodate me' was too arrogant a thought, so I wanted to go back, not relying on the Benefactor, but just doing some things by myself."

Pei Ye recalled: "That is the reason why we met."

Qi Zhaohua took a deep breath, as if she had completely escaped from that hazy memory, and drank and smiled: "Yes."

Pei Ye suddenly said: "I have actually seen the Pavilion Master's name."

"Oh?"

"When I was still in Fenghuai, it was written in the July National Report, saying that she was the leader of the Southern Country Literary Gathering, and the Saint even took a courtesy name for her. That was three months ago, right?" Pei Ye looked downstairs, "Doesn't that mean she is only twenty years old?"

Qi Zhaohua paused and smiled: ". About that."

Pei Ye could not help but frown. How old is how old, how can it be "about that"? But since Qi Zhaohua did not explain, he had no way to ask.

So when he met Qi Zhaohua four years ago, she was only sixteen.

Meeting in a hurry during the day, he was indeed still very unfamiliar with this Pavilion Master. As far as the word "backer" was concerned, it was unimaginably powerful, so it was also covered with a heavy mysterious veil.

Publicly publishing "Xia Gu Can" in the National Report, a transfer order to bring him into the Divine Capital, Xing Zhi, Yan Feiqing and other big sect disciples, even if they could not be said to be her subordinates, surrounded her carriage, and under the situation of Prince Yan's Mansion playing cards and applying pressure, they still exchanged him out of prison in one go. The uncontrolled Wild Evil at this time was probably already devouring the people who operated it.

This process must require the deep cooperation of the Immortal Terrace, and what role did the Sun-Swallowing Society play in it?

Pei Ye had already believed in her calm and tough wrist, but what he could not figure out was. how could the so-called "daughter of the late Prime Minister" have such broad and tough tentacles?

He clearly remembered that the late Prime Minister had passed away for some years.

He asked this question, but Qi Zhaohua became a mute and only sighed lightly: "Young Hero Pei actually understands the legacy of the officialdom now. I don't want to lie to you. You will understand naturally in the future."

"Alright." Pei Ye was not impatient now.

But there was still a more urgent question: "Miss Qi, where will I live in the future?"

"You can live in the Xiuwen Pavilion. The Benefactor lets scholars from other places eat and live."

"But I am a martial artist, and there are many things on me." It was not comfortable to live in someone else's place, Pei Ye said. He had money on him now, and he was not timid, "I still want to buy a house myself, so it's convenient to live."

"That's fine. It's not appropriate to live in the Xiuwen Pavilion for long-term residence and welcoming and sending off friends." Qi Zhaohua nodded, "I know a small house by the East Market. The asking price is just right, only 570 taels. What do you think?"

"."

"."

Qi Zhaohua was silent for a moment: "That's true. The East is expensive and the West is rich in Chang'an City. You don't associate with the officialdom, so you don't need these two mansions. The north under the Imperial City is also not good. Hmm, the south is not bad. A small courtyard with two entrances must be under 250 taels. How about it?"

"."

"."

"Going further south is also fine. Anyway, there is the Zhu Que Thoroughfare, and coming and going is not difficult; two entrances are also hard to manage, as long as it is a small courtyard, it can be traded for 100 taels of silver."

Qi Zhaohua looked at him quietly. The teenager coughed twice: "Is Miss Qi well-off?"

"Did Young Hero Pei learn to drink flower wine in Shaolong Prefecture for two days?"

"No!"

"Then where is your money?"

"A total of 200 taels. I paid 30 taels to the Taishan Medicine Hut. I left 100 taels of silver because I thought I would inevitably die, and left it to Piaoqing. I didn't have time to ask for it back." Pei Ye said gloomily, "Now there are 70 taels stuffed in the dragon ring."

It was really not the teenager's fault. He sold his house in Fenghuai for a total of 12 taels of silver. He thought the Divine Capital would be more expensive, and 50 taels would be enough to buy a place to settle down. Who knew this was simply robbing money!

Qi Zhaohua looked at him with some pity: "It turns out that Young Hero Pei fought hard for two months and earned such a great reputation, but didn't get a single penny."

Pei Ye was silent and took the half bottle of wine from her.

Two slightly drunk people walked downstairs. Qi Zhaohua paid the bill. Pei Ye took a look—it cost seven taels of silver.

This made the teenager even more silent. Qi Zhaohua sighed lightly: "I came to show my ambition, not to fish for money—I can lend you 50 taels at most. Remember to pay it back."

Pei Ye nodded.

"Go shopping in the city these two days and find a place to settle down yourself." Qi Zhaohua hesitated, "What is your situation with the Young Pavilion Master now?"

". Why?"

"Write her a letter. Since you didn't die, ask for the money back!"

"." Pei Ye thought about the letter he finally sent her, thought about the words on it, and shook his head resistantly immediately.

Qi Zhaohua rolled her eyes slightly.

But thinking that this teenager was only seventeen this year, he was clumsy and pitiful in the face of first love. She could not help but comfort him warmly: "First love is inevitably accompanied by a lifetime. Sometimes people are wrong, sometimes the time is wrong, and it is always difficult to choose for yourself. Now that it is unattainable, just work hard on cultivation. If you are sad and can't think of it, you can come to me for a drink."

"Thank you, Miss Qi."

The wine strength gradually came up. Pei Ye was too lazy to dissolve it, took the carriage back to the Xiuwen Pavilion, Qi Zhaohua gave a vague instruction, and the servant took him into a room.

This was the first night he truly arrived in this city, and it was also the first time in two months that he let himself get drunk. He lay in the room and fell asleep softly.

Sleeping until noon, Pei Ye opened his eyes lazily.

The black cat was stepping on his chest, calmly patting his face with its front paws.

". What are you doing?" Pei Ye said vaguely.

"Get up."

". There's nothing to do." Pei Ye covered himself with the quilt somewhat annoyed.

"Qu Xin came to take off your pants."

Pei Ye bounced up with a start and looked around vigilantly.

However, the room was clean and clean, and there was no figure of that simple girl.

Pei Ye turned his head and glared, but the black cat had no sense of guilt: "Since you are up, wash your face. There is still an afternoon, it's time to go to the Sword Academy to sign up."

Pei Ye yawned, and a flow of True Qi made the wine Qi disappear, and his body was clear. This was also a long-lost feeling of vigor. With the sword in his hand, a feeling of eagerness to try arose again. Without the little cat urging him again, he took his sword and went out.

This was actually the first time he walked in the Xiuwen Pavilion. He saw scholars coming and going in a hurry by the pond, and there were also gatherings of three or five people singing and responding. Among them were some extraordinary people. He looked around, and from time to time, curious eyes fell on this unfamiliar martial artist carrying a sword.

Pei Ye smiled and greeted every gaze that looked over, and walked out of the gate of the Xiuwen Pavilion.