Chapter 42: Tang Yi

So he was the young master of the Tang Sect. No wonder the madam from Yunxiang Gardens treated him respectfully, despite kicking him out. 

Jiang Ling suddenly saw the light: this was how she would approach the Tang Sect. 

“What a coincidence.” Jiang LIng answered smoothly. 

“Here, come have a drink with me.” The youth behaved with a natural familiarity. Jiang Ling wanted to get close to him and agreed to his invitation, learning that his name was Tang Yi. 

Indeed, that Tang Family’s young master brought her to the Yunxiang Gardens. When the attendant saw him, he gasped in shock, “Second young…Sir, why did you come back, Miss Qi is not up yet.”

“Hey, I’ve invited a friend for a drink. I didn’t come to see A Qi!” Tang Yi did care about the attendant obstructing him and walked straight over to a private room, ordering some dishes and wine and offering Jiang Ling a seat. 

Jiang Ling sat down properly, coming straight to the point, “I, this humble one, will not lie to you, Brother Tang. I’ve come to Yuzhou to find the Tang Sect’s Sect Leader.”

Tang Yi suddenly understood, “I heard that someone kept coming to see my eldest sister for something. So it was you ah.”

Tang Yi’s face did not contain any hostility, but his words were frightening to hear, “I also said that if they came back, I would have someone take care of it.”

Jiang Ling wiped the cold sweat on her forehead, “Brother Tang is skilled at making jokes…”

Jiang Ling made her motivations for coming clear. Tang Yi seemed to be both listening and not listening. He tapped his fingers nimbly on his knee, as if lost in thought. 

“According to you, Brother Jiang, your shixiong Gu Yun was killed by poisoned needles, and you believe it to be our doing?” Tang Yi’s expression was steady, which made Jiang Ling unable to see through him. 

Jiang Ling was afraid he would misunderstand, “Brother Tang, please do not misunderstand. It is precisely because the Tang Sect is well-known and much more versed in this area than I that I’ve come to learn a few pointers, so I may have some direction in searching for the cause of my shixiong’s death.”

Tang Yi’s facial expression relaxed. He smiled, retracting his hostilities, “So you must be the shidi of the Gu Family’s son who passed. I shall believe you for the moment, but for this matter, you must ask my sister.”

Tang Yi grabbed the jar of green bamboo leaf wine[1] by his hand, “Then come have a drink with me and I’ll tell you where my sister went.”

The green bamboo leaf wine burned more than the grape wine from yesterday. Jiang Ling screwed her eyes shut after two sips from the burn. 

Seeing Jiang Ling’s appearance, Tang Yi almost spit out the wine in his mouth from laughing, “Brother Jiang, you aren’t a little girl, are you?”

Tang Yi had really hit the nail on the head. Jiang Ling was even more persistent now, “My master never let me drink alcohol before. I’ve even made Brother Tang look down on me.” Saying as much, Jiang Ling drained her cup. 

“Great! What a man!” Tang Yi was also unwilling to be outdone. He grabbed another bowl and downed bowl after bowl. 

“Come with me!”

“No, let me go!”

Jiang Ling heard a commotion outside. It sounded like Qiu Shi was being harassed. 

Jiang Ling opened the door. Qiu Shi was being grabbed by a man of about twenty five or twenty six years of age who was wearing a brocade robe. The man reeked of alcohol. He was rough with his hands, Qiu Shi’s wrists red from his grip. The others looked on without lending a hand. 

Perhaps it was the wine, but by the time Jiang Ling thought to go help Qiu Shi, she had already grabbed the man’s hand and twisted it, pushing him several paces away and protecting Qiu Shi behind her, “Even if it’s a brothel, you can’t coerce them.”

The man’s face contorted in pain. Seeing that it was youth who looked like he would blow away in the wind, he immediately straightened and bore down on her, “Who do you think you are, getting in the way of this young master?”

Based on his appearance, he was also one of the young rakes in the area. None of the servers came forward to stop him. One of the onlookers enjoying the show called out, “Young Master Chen, looks like Miss Qiu Shi has something else in mind…”

Qiu Shi, hiding behind Jiang Ling, spat, “A bunch of thugs.”

Spurred on by the onlookers and the alcohol, Young Master Chen wanted to move forward and establish his superiority over Jiang Ling, but as soon as he took a single step forward, Jiang Ling was holding her sword’s scabbard, the hilt of the sword resting on his shoulder and the blade, half unsheathed, flashing silver. If he drew the slightest bit nearer, that Young Master Chen’s blood would spatter the walls. 

Young Master Chen was scared out of his wits by the sudden movement. He sobered up, his legs went soft, and he knelt on the ground, “Good sir, have mercy on me!” The onlookers went silent. 

Jiang Ling tilted her wrist, the sword returning to its scabbard, “Don’t accost women next time.” Jiang Ling did not specifically mention Qiu Shi, making her view of Jiang Ling shift quite a bit. 

Young Master Chen took the chance and, with a sound of agreement, scrambled out of the Yunxiang Gardens. 

The onlookers, seeing the main character of their show running away, scattered like birds. Only then did Jiang Ling realize that she had abandoned Tang Yi by himself in the room. Thinking of Tang Yi’s mercurial face, her heart went cold, “Qiu Shi-jiejie, he won’t harass you anymore. I’m going back now.”

Tang Yi was seated, his fingers circling the rim of his wine cup. Seeing Jiang Ling and Qiu Shi enter the room together, the corners of his lips hooked upward into a meaningful smile, “Who knew that Brother Jiang would find a female confidant so soon after arriving.”

Jiang Ling did not think that Qiu Shi would come with her. Qiu Shi acted even more familiarly, sitting beside Tang Yi and filling his cup, “Second Young Master, why are you drowning your sorrows here? Will Miss Qi still not see you, then?”

It seemed that Tang Yi was feeling broken-hearted and wanted to find someone to drink with. 

Tang Yi’s sore spot was prodded. He finished off the cup of wine that Qiu Shi poured for him, “Her and my eldest sister, they both don’t want me to live happily!”

“Look at you, what kinds of words are these? Eldest Miss is doing it for your own good, sir.” Qiu Shi took the wine cup away and served some dishes, “You can’t always run off to a brothel, either.”

Tang Yi was already somewhat drunk. He poured out his discontentment, “Doesn’t my eldest sister always run off to see that Gu Family’s daughter, why would she mind what I do?!”

Qiu Shi rushed to cover his mouth, “My young sir, you cannot speak rashly.”

“Fine, I won’t. I want to drink, not eat.”

Qiu Shi had no alternative but to fill his cup again. 

Jiang Ling understood most of it now. She figured that Tang Wanyi had gone to Mingzhou again. No wonder that when she told the guard disciples that she had come on Gu Zhao’s behalf they had treated her with malice. It was because Tang Wanyi had gone to Mingzhou; they had known as soon as they heard that she had come from Mingzhou that she was a liar. 

Then, this second young master had the chance to come see his own female confidant, but Miss Qi would not see him. The Yunxiang Gardens’ manager had also received an order from the Tang Sect to disallow Tang Yi from coming to see Miss Qi, thus resulting in the scene Jiang Ling had witnessed yesterday. 

“Qiu Shi-jiejie is the lucky one. Brother Jiang looks like a good one, pulling his sword for a beauty just now. I was very moved just watching.” Drunk as he was, Tang Yi did not forget to tease Jiang Ling, waving his hands in the air

“Brother Tang is poking fun at me again…”

“Is it that Brother Jiang has already married?”

Jiang Ling hurriedly shook her head, thinking, how does that even follow ah. 

“Then you must have someone in your heart. Having a beloved and still running to a brothel, you’re a cad!”

“…” Tang Yi had run off to a brothel himself and still deemed her a ‘cad’ to her face. Jiang Ling could not help but laugh. 

“My beloved just won’t see me.” Tang Yi’s eyes grew moist with tears from his heart feelings. He downed cup after cup of wine. 

“A beloved…”

Jiang Ling was infected by Tang Yi’s. He Xi, who she had tried not to think of, immediately appeared in her mind. It had already been a month since they separated in Longxi and she did not know where she was. Jiang Ling followed him in drowning her sorrows. 

“Good sport!” Tang Yi had Qiu Shi fill her cup again. 

Qiu Shi could not talk them out of it and could only play along. 

“Brother Tang…” Jiang Ling hiccuped, “Didn’t you say wine could allay our grief, why do I feel more grieved?”

“…”

Tang Yi had already drunk himself into a stupor. Tears clung to the corners of his eyes and dripped onto the table as he murmured, “A Qi, A Qi.”

Qiu Shi sighed. She softly wiped away Tang Yi’s tears, carefully stroking his cheeks, her eyes filled with tenderness, “Little fool.”

Jiang Ling fought to keep her eyes open. Looking at the scene before her, something seemed to twist in her heart, “Qiu Shi-jiejie, you…hiccup…I want to go back…”

Just as she stood, her knees weakened. Qiu Shi swiftly caught Jiang Ling and supported her as she sat back down, “You’re drunk.”

The door was opened from the outside. Jiang Ling and Qiu Shi, drawn by the sound, looked up. An elegant woman dressed in a goose-yellow ruchun[2] Her eyes were like pools of clear water, like a lotus blossom growing unsullied from muddy soil. 

“Miss Qi.” Qiu Shi greeted. 

Qi Yue signaled toward them with a nod. She said, her voice sweet and warm, “The second young master is drunk. Bring him over to me.”

Qiu Shi broke out into a cold sweat, “Miss Qi, if the the eldest miss were to find out…”

“His and my business does not concern her.” Then, two servant girls came from behind Qi Yue to pick up the dead-drunk Tang Yi and take him away. 

“Excuse me.”  Qi Yue dipped her head toward them in farewell then quit the room. 

Jiang Ling was very muddled-headed. She saw the two servant girls carrying Tang Yi away and wanted to follow them and pull him back, “Brother Tang, come back…”

 Jiang Ling pouted, her voice sticky, “Why did you leave me without a word…”

Jiang Ling’s heart grew more distressed, “Qiu Shi-jiejie, drink with me.” Jiang Ling straightforwardly picked up the wine jar and started to chug it. 

“Don’t steal my wine.” Jiang Ling’s face was flushed red, her forehead dotted with sweat. She felt that someone was trying to take away her wine jug, so her tone was ill-tempered, “Hiccup…He Xi?”

Jiang Ling could not see very clearly. Three ‘He Xi’s wavered in front of her. She thought, so she could see He Xi if she was drunk.

Jiang Ling blinked with effort, “Qiu Shi-jiejie…I’m sorry, I thought you were my…my friend.”

“Friend?”

Jiang Ling stood up shakily, “Hiccup…seems like we aren’t friends, I don’t know either…this wine really can…can ease worries.”

Jiang Ling’s steps were unsteady, so she fell into Qiu Shi’s arms before she could even take a step. Jiang Ling closed her eyes, resting her head on Qiu Shi’s shoulder, “I hate her, how could she leave me alone without a word…no, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have made her mad…I miss, really miss her…”

The hand supporting her waist slowly tightened, gently pulling Jiang Ling in her embrace to let her lean against her as she cried. 

By the time Jiang Ling woke up, it was the afternoon of the next day. Her head felt like it was about to split apart. She faintly remembered that she seemed to have taken Qiu Shi for He Xi and cried to her for a good while. Jiang Ling’s head hurt even more thinking back on this. 

Jiang Ling gritted her teeth as she supported her throbbing head and sat up. Looking around, she found herself to be sleeping back at the inn. 

Jiang Ling closed her eyes and shook her head. She smiled bitterly, “How could it have been her.”

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