Li Qingluo stood at the doorway, her figure graceful, her beauty exquisite, her face cold. Her gaze swept over the jewelry on the floor before turning to Wang Gang. "What are you doing?"
Her tone was cool and indifferent, like a queen on high looking down upon an ant.
When Wang Gang gave no answer and instead watched her with an almost indifferent gaze, Li Qingluo grew impatient and signaled the little maid behind her with a glance.
The little maid hurried over to gather the jeweled hairpins scattered across the floor.
Li Qingluo walked over as though no one else were there and picked up the booklet tossed aside. She understood then, but paid it no mind, merely tucking the booklet close to her body. Throughout, she did not spare Wang Gang a single glance.
Her impression of Wang Gang came from before their wedding: a fool who knew only how to stare blankly at her.
Later, she heard that he was a good scholar, and he would send her utterly uninteresting gifts on holidays, so she concluded that he was a bookworm without a shred of romantic charm.
Even if she had discovered at their wedding that he was rather handsome, how could he compare to her beloved Duan!
Seeing mistress and maid put everything away without either noticing that the storeroom key was missing, Wang Gang found it utterly ironic.
All the wealth my Wang family accumulated over three generations couldn't even compare to this rubbish!
An unruly fire rose in his heart!
Putting on airs of nobility before me, are you! An icy beauty, are you!
Then I'll tear off your disguise! Shatter your pride!
"Let's discuss something." A mocking smile curled Wang Gang's lips as he sat down at the table and poured himself a cup of tea. Finding it long since cold, he set it down again. "Let's divorce by mutual consent!"
"What!"
Li Qingluo frowned slightly. Before she could speak, the little maid spoke first. "Have you lost your mind, young master? Who divorces right after getting married!"
Wang Gang ignored her and looked only at Li Qingluo, waiting for her answer.
Li Qingluo's expression remained calm. She had no feelings for Wang Gang. She had only agreed to marry him in a fit of anger a few months earlier, after hearing that Duan Zhengchun had married Dao Baifeng.
She had never expected Duan Zhengchun to come today, travel-worn and utterly exhausted, to tell her of the helpless circumstances behind this political marriage and promise that once his country was stable, he would definitely marry her.
His words had tangled Li Qingluo's heart like a skein of hemp. Her lover was wonderful, of course, but she was already married. If she got together with him behind her husband's back, what would that make her!
Yet she could not bear to let her lover go! For a time, her thoughts were in turmoil, and she was torn.
Hearing Wang Gang propose a divorce now, she suddenly felt relieved, yet a trace of displeasure arose as well. What right did he have to ask for a divorce!
"Your reason!" Li Qingluo said icily.
"Exactly! You were the one begging to marry our young lady, and now that she's barely entered your household, you want a divorce. Aren't you ruining her prospects?" the little maid chimed in.
Wang Gang knew full well that women were creatures whose mouths were tougher than a duck's bill unless solid proof was slammed down before them!
"Let's play a game!" Instead of answering directly, Wang Gang toyed with his teacup and looked at Li Qingluo with a teasing expression. "What did you eat at noon?"
Without waiting for an answer, Wang Gang continued, "Rice, noodles, pastries. Mm, pastries it was."
"Our young lady was busy with her makeup and bridal ornaments first thing this morning. When would she have had time for a meal? What else would she eat but pastries? Does that even need guessing!"
Wang Gang smiled without answering and continued looking at Li Qingluo. "Then let's begin for real. Let's guess who gave you that booklet tucked against your chest!"
Li Qingluo instinctively covered her chest and shot Wang Gang a scornful look. This man really is petty. He's clearly angry about the booklet, but he doesn't dare show it, and now he wants to probe in a roundabout way.
Wang Gang asked, "Was the person who gave you the booklet a woman or a man? Oh, a man."
"Childish!" Li Qingluo rolled her eyes.
"Is he from the Great Song? Hmm, apparently not. The Liao Kingdom, Western Xia, Dali... Oh, he's actually from Dali!"
Li Qingluo froze. How did he discover that? Does he know something?
"What's his surname?"
Li Qingluo continued to ignore him, only to see him launch straight into reciting the Hundred Family Surnames.
"Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng, Wang..."
When he reached "Jing, Duan, Fu, Wu," he suddenly stopped, then stared intently at her. "His surname is Jing, Duan... Ha, so it's the Dali Duan Clan!"
"Ah! How did you know!" the little maid blurted, then hurriedly covered her mouth.
Wang Gang looked over with a faint, ambiguous smile. "So you knew too!"
The little maid's face instantly turned deathly pale, and she hastily lowered her head.
Wang Gang did not pursue the matter. Leaning against the back of his chair, he seemed to ponder something, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the tabletop with an irritating clack, clack, clack.
Li Qingluo was somewhat alarmed. This man seemed rather different from the bookworm she had imagined. But she was also displeased. It felt as though he were interrogating her. She was about to walk away when Wang Gang spoke again.
"This year, Yang Yizhen rebelled in Dali and killed Emperor Duan Lianyi. The Gao Clan suppressed the rebellion and enthroned Duan Shouhui, who later abdicated in favor of Duan Zhengming. Hmm? You know Duan Zhengming?"
"No!" For the first time, Li Qingluo answered Wang Gang's question directly.
"When I mentioned that name just now, the corner of your mouth moved. But you're telling the truth when you say you don't know him. So this man is connected to Duan Zhengming, or has a similar name!"
"Mm, that seems to be it. Is this man Duan Zhengchun, then?"
Li Qingluo panicked completely. Is this man a monster? Can he read minds? How does he know everything!
"You're talking nonsense!"
"Nonsense?" Watching the agitated woman, who had lost her initial cool indifference, Wang Gang felt a trace of satisfaction rise within him. He said calmly, "A person's mouth can lie, but their expressions and movements cannot!"
"Ah! Expressions?" Li Qingluo could not believe it. If he could see all this from expressions alone, wouldn't everyone in the world have no secrets before him!
She could not believe it, yet she had no choice but to believe. Wang Gang could not possibly have known about her relationship with Duan Zhengchun. If he had, why would he have married her?
How could she have known that Wang Gang himself had only a superficial understanding of microexpressions? He was merely working backward from an answer he already knew.
While Li Qingluo was flustered, she heard Wang Gang ask in a quiet, cool voice, "You went to a secret rendezvous with Duan Zhengchun just now, didn't you?"
Li Qingluo's pupils abruptly contracted, panic filling her heart. Before she could speak, Wang Gang slammed the table and sprang to his feet. "Slut! Let me ask you this: who lifted your bridal veil! And with whom did you drink the nuptial wine!"
"You adulterous bitch, do you still need to ask why I want a divorce! You have committed adultery, one of the seven grounds for repudiating a wife. I ought to cast you out with a letter of repudiation. It was only to preserve some dignity that I offered a divorce by mutual consent!"
"You dare insult me!" Li Qingluo flew into a rage as well. How could she admit to such a charge? Nor did she dare! If she admitted it, her reputation would be utterly ruined.
"Then let's wait and see!" Wang Gang turned away with a cold laugh to face the door.
He was certain Duan Zhengchun would come. In his previous life, he had awakened at night to find the two in each other's arms. When he had angrily rebuked them, Duan Zhengchun had struck him with a finger technique, leaving him fatally wounded.
Today, he would settle all these tangled affairs. He still had a bright future ahead of him.
He suddenly asked the little maid, "Do you still think I'm the one ruining your young lady's prospects?"
"Ah! I... I..." The little maid stammered, not daring to speak.
Li Qingluo looked at the door, her fingers clutching the hem of her clothes. She knew what Wang Gang was waiting for and rose to head outside.
"What are you doing!" Wang Gang blocked her path and sneered. "Could you be going to tip off that adulterous lover of yours!"
"If you dare spout any more nonsense, I'll kill you!" Li Qingluo snatched up a longsword, her willow brows drawn sharply upward.
Utterly unafraid, Wang Gang advanced instead of retreating and mocked her. "Draw your sword. I'd like to see how you murder your own husband on your wedding night!"
Li Qingluo drew her sword halfway from its sheath, but when Wang Gang did not retreat in the slightest, she found herself stuck.
Although Li Qiushui and Ding Chunqiu had raised her to be spoiled and domineering, she had, after all, lived in Gusu for a long time. Subtly influenced by its rites and conventions, she did not dare actually kill Wang Gang.
As the two stood at an impasse, a deep, mellow voice came from outside. "A-Luo, are you there?"