Qin Keqing

The next day.

Jia Heng rose early that morning. After washing and eating a simple breakfast, he went into the inner room and changed into clothes finely tailored by the Changhao clothing shop. He had only two such outfits altogether, essentially the only presentable clothes he owned.

Standing before the bronze mirror, Jia Heng looked at the straight-backed youth with heroic brows and sighed. His features were practically identical to how he had looked in period costume in his previous life.

No two leaves in this world are exactly alike, and neither are any two people. Jia Heng, Su Heng-who could really tell them apart?

"Brother Heng, it's time to go to the Qin Family." Just then, Cai approached with a smile, interrupting Jia Heng's thoughts.

Jia Heng nodded and composed himself.

Following Cai's reminders, Jia Heng packed the marriage contract and set off for Dagong Ward in the cart driven by her husband, Li Dazhu.

A few modest gifts had also been prepared on the cart.

The Qin Family's residence stood beside the street in Huazhi Alley, Dagong Ward. With its blue-gray walls and green roof tiles, it was a narrow little residence with two courtyards. Naturally, there were none of the imposing stone lions that stood before Rongguo Mansion, only a plain gatehouse.

Though Qin Ye was a bureau director in the Imperial Provisioning Office, living in the Divine Capital was no easy matter. Even this small residence had consumed half a lifetime's savings.

"Whoa..." Li Dazhu pulled the reins and halted the donkey cart, then turned around. "Brother Heng, we're here."

"Thank you, Uncle Li," Jia Heng said.

Li Dazhu, Cai's husband, was a typical farmer: taciturn and honest, rarely given to laughter or idle talk.

Li Dazhu grunted in acknowledgment and went to tether the donkey cart.

Jia Heng stepped forward and knocked with the door ring, composing his expression and considering what he would say.

"Coming, coming."

A woman's voice came from within the Qin Family's residence, followed by a flurry of hurried footsteps. The black-lacquered door opened to reveal a middle-aged woman wearing a simple hairpin and a plain cloth skirt.

"Young master, what brings you..." The middle-aged woman looked Jia Heng over.

Jia Heng cupped his hands. "Auntie, my name is Jia Heng. I've come to see Uncle Qin about a matter."

"Jia Heng?" The middle-aged woman thought for a moment. "Are you the eldest young master Jia from Liutiao Alley, behind Rongning Street?"

The corner of Jia Heng's mouth twitched. Eldest young master Jia? It wasn't as though he were Wu Dalang...

The middle-aged woman smiled. "The master mentioned you just these past two days. This way, please come inside."

With that, she moved to usher Jia Heng into the courtyard.

Then she suddenly noticed Li Dazhu holding the gifts. "You need only come yourself. Why go to such expense?"

Jia Heng took the gifts from Li Dazhu behind him and smiled, speaking in a clear voice. "This is my first visit to your residence. I couldn't come empty-handed. These are only humble gifts, a small token of my regard, hardly worthy of your acceptance."

The middle-aged woman's smile grew much warmer. "You're far too courteous, young master Jia."

It would hardly do to correct her form of address, so Jia Heng suppressed the odd feeling it gave him and entered the courtyard with the gifts.

After welcoming Jia Heng and his companions into the reception hall, the middle-aged woman instructed a maid to serve tea and refreshments.

From their conversation on the way in, Jia Heng had learned that this middle-aged woman was not Qin Ye's concubine, but the household's supervising nanny.

The middle-aged woman then smiled. "The master has the day off today and was going to stay home, but this morning he said he was going to Taoran Residence to meet someone. Shall I send someone to fetch him?"

Jia Heng's expression paused briefly before he smiled. "Sorry for the trouble."

The middle-aged woman called a young servant over from beneath the eaves and gave him a few instructions. Turning back with a smile, she said, "Young master Jia, if I may ask, what business do you have with our master?"

Jia Heng considered his answer. "It's nothing urgent. It's simply a matter best discussed with Uncle Qin in person."

The middle-aged woman smiled. "Even if you don't say, I can guess a little."

"Oh?" Jia Heng set down his teacup, a measure of "surprise" in his eyes.

The middle-aged woman smiled. "The master has told us that our young lady is betrothed to the eldest young master of the Jia family. I imagine that would be you."

Recalling Qin Ye's sighs the previous night, a thought flashed through the middle-aged woman's mind.

In the rear courtyard...

"Miss, Young Master Heng from the Jia Si household is here." A maid hurried into the room, delight and surprise on her face.

Within her boudoir, a graceful young woman in the bloom of youth, her complexion rosy and delicately powdered, sat quietly before a bronze mirror while a maid helped her apply a floral forehead ornament.

Reflected in the bronze mirror, the young woman had a face lovely as flowers and the moon, her dark hair piled into a cloudlike bun. Her brows were dark without penciling, her lips red without rouge. Her exquisitely fair face was as flawless as white jade, her pear-blossom cheeks surpassing snow.

"Where is he?" Her voice was soft and sweetly alluring. Qin Keqing turned her lovely head toward her maid Baozhu, curiosity glittering in her radiant eyes, with a faint trace of captivating charm.

Her father had told her that she had been betrothed in childhood to Young Master Heng of the Jia Family in Liutiao Alley, and she was deeply curious about him.

A maiden's feelings were always poetry. Qin Keqing was only sixteen, and secluded in her chambers, she could hardly help nurturing a few dreamlike hopes about her future husband.

"Miss, he's in the reception hall talking to Nanny," Baozhu said with a smile.

Qin Keqing lowered her eyes, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. "I'll go have a look."

Ruizhu quickly rose and caught Qin Keqing's pale, lotus-root-like arm, looking troubled. "Oh, my dear miss, you mustn't! If the master found out..."

"My dear girl, I'll only stand behind the curtain and take a look from a distance." Qin Keqing gave a radiant smile and spoke softly.

At this, Ruizhu said, "Then I'll go with you."

Though Qin Ye was only a minor official, a bureau director in the Imperial Provisioning Office, and was usually lax in disciplining his two children, he had still given the inner household's maids strict instructions concerning the separation of men and women.

Qin Keqing nodded and headed toward the front courtyard with her maids.

By then, Jia Heng had been chatting with the middle-aged woman, Nanny Wu, for the time it took to drink a cup of tea. Qin Ye still had not returned. Puzzled, he began considering whether he should take his leave.

Suddenly, he sensed someone watching him from concealment.

It was a keen instinct for detecting a watching gaze, honed through martial arts practice in his previous life. With that thought, he lifted his teacup. "Auntie Wu, I hear there's a young gentleman named Qin Zhong in your household. Why haven't I seen him?"

Nanny Wu smiled. "Zhong has gone to school. Why, Young Master Heng, have you heard of our Second Young Master Zhong too?"

Jia Heng took the opportunity to turn his head and raise his eyes toward the curtain behind Nanny Wu, meeting a pair of tender, enchanting eyes. The instant their gazes met, those eyes, soft as water, darted away like a startled fawn, and the curtain swayed gently.

Jia Heng paused thoughtfully, then smiled. "I've heard the neighbors say that young Qin Zhong is handsome and naturally gifted, already possessing an air of rare, refined grace at such a tender age."

These were naturally words of flattery, and Nanny Wu would not take them literally. She smiled. "You praise him too highly, Young Master Heng."

Nanny Wu had been wet nurse to both Qin Zhong and Qin Keqing, so Jia Heng's praise naturally filled her with shared pride.

Behind the curtain, Qin Keqing walked into the corridor, those calm, fathomless eyes still lingering before her.

As the saying went, the eyes were the windows to the soul. Their gazes had met for only an instant, yet for some reason, those eyes seemed imprinted before her.

"Miss, this Young Master Heng..." Baozhu asked softly.

Qin Keqing nodded, her eyes lowered. At some point, her cheeks had begun to burn. "He looks... quite all right."

In this age, marriage followed the parents' commands and the matchmaker's word. Qin Keqing had feared being matched with some crude, witless man who would disgrace her.

But the young man was handsome, like a jade tree amid fragrant orchids, his bearing calm and composed, and the worry in her heart gradually faded.