Hua Shiwei wore plain clothes and light makeup. On the table beside her lay a gauze-veiled hat. The carriage she had arrived in was no longer the one she had ridden to the Heavenly Lake Contest. This was an inconspicuous little carriage with blue-cloth curtains, drawn by a scrawny horse. The care she had taken to hide her movements only deepened Luo Qian's suspicions.
"Fairy Hua." Luo Qian took a cup of hot tea from an attendant, dismissed everyone else, and brought it over himself. Seeing how thoughtfully he had handled things, Hua Shiwei gave him a grateful smile. "Young Master Luo, is there somewhere we can speak?" Luo Qian set down the tea. "Come with me."
Luo Qian led her upstairs to the Secret Chamber and secured its mechanisms. "Whatever you have to say, Fairy Hua, you can speak freely here." Hua Shiwei opened her mouth, then stopped. After hesitating again and again, she rose and paced three circuits of the chamber, still unable to make up her mind. Luo Qian did not press her. If she wanted to speak, she would. Judging by her expression, she had come to him for no simple reason.
Hua Shiwei looked at Luo Qian again, her beautiful eyes flashing. "Luo Qian, the lives of everyone in the Clear Xiang Aristocratic Clan rest in your hands..." Luo Qian hurriedly cut in. "Wait, Fairy Hua! These shoulders of mine are too narrow to bear a burden that heavy. If you entrust it to me, you'll have chosen the wrong man. Please find someone more capable."
Luo Qian hastily moved to see her out. She had spoken so solemnly, and made the matter sound so grave, that he could guess with his toes it must involve breaking a hundred and eighty heavenly laws. Right now,