Chapter 25.2
For one moment, Qiu Liang almost wanted to reveal this secret. But when she thought of the same images she had seen twice, she gave up the idea.
If this woman knew exactly how Qiu Liang’s face-reading worked, wouldn’t she drag her around every day to look?
Maybe it was precisely because Song Jianshuang learned this secret and seduced her in the future that they ended up getting married.
Thinking of this, Qiu Liang felt even more stifled. Did that not mean her future self failed to withstand Song Jianshuang’s seduction?
Impossible. Her self-control was clearly very good.
She absolutely would not ruin her entire life because of beauty. What she pursued was a moved heart, feelings that came naturally.
Just as Qiu Liang ruled out this possibility, she froze.
If she followed this logic, then could the reason they would marry in the future be that she had fallen for Song Jianshuang?
Impossible!
But why was it impossible…
“Why are you shaking your head like a rattle-drum?” Song Jianshuang watched Qiu Liang’s expression change again and again before she finally just kept shaking her head, and could not help feeling curious.
This fool. What was she thinking now?
Qiu Liang looked at Song Jianshuang with a complicated mood, then awkwardly shifted her gaze away. “I just think what you said makes sense. I can’t see the emperor, and the chances of seeing the princess again aren’t high either. Let’s not think so far ahead.”
Flustered expression, obvious attempt to cover up. This fool was hiding something from her.
Song Jianshuang reached this conclusion at a glance, but now was not the time to dwell on it.
“Then read mine.”
“I’m not helping you read your marriage fate!” Qiu Liang blurted out, refusing without thinking. Read what? She did not want to see that foolish version of herself. Wasn’t it just getting married to Song Jianshuang? Why was she smiling so cheaply? Too embarrassing.
That was absolutely not her. It was definitely the original owner. Qiu Liang silently shifted the blame in her heart.
Song Jianshuang lifted her teacup and took a light sip. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
This fool had not secretly read for her just now, had she? And what she had read was marriage fate.
“I’m not asking about marriage.” Song Jianshuang set down her teacup. “I want you to see when my father will be released from prison.”
She restrained the urge to ask everything and said this mildly.
For Qiu Liang to react so strongly, most likely, she had not seen anything good.
Song Jianshuang’s heart sank. Could it be that she really could not marry?
In truth, thinking about it carefully, this possibility did exist.
She did not want to sacrifice her own happiness for her father’s future, nor did she want to force herself to marry someone she did not like. If she never met someone who suited her heart in the future, it was truly possible that she would never marry in this life.
Song Jianshuang felt an uncomfortable feeling in her heart. Qiu Liang, however, immediately relaxed. As long as it was not about marriage. Otherwise, she truly would not know how to make things up. She could not possibly say, “Your marriage fate is tied to me.” That absolutely could not be said.
Even if she said it, Song Jianshuang would not believe her and would inevitably suspect her intentions.
“It just so happens that I have a doubt in my heart too. Cast a hexagram for me first.”
Qiu Liang silently asked in her heart: When will Song Jianshuang’s father be released from prison?
Then she consciously began shaking the copper coins.
Song Jianshuang looked at the hexagram and was too lazy to ask what Qiu Liang had calculated. In any case, this fool never said it.
She opened the book and directly interpreted the divination text. “The thirtieth hexagram, Li. Heavenly officials bestow blessings; disaster vanishes and illness disperses. Great fortune…”
When she finished speaking, she closed the book. “Read it for me.”
Qiu Liang looked at Song Jianshuang’s face and felt troubled. What excuse should she use this time?
Suddenly, she thought of a line.
“Cough, cough. You also know that face-reading and divination involve prying into heavenly secrets, and they pay attention to the Five Maladies and Three Deficiencies. My face-reading art damages the lifespan even more, so it cannot be used carelessly. If we want it to be more accurate, we have to use a deeper method.”
As for the Five Maladies and Three Deficiencies, of course Qiu Liang did not understand them.
She had seen those words last night in that book about numerology, so she simply moved them over and used them directly.
“What deeper method?”
Qiu Liang said seriously, “Bone reading.”
Song Jianshuang fell silent. Bone reading?
As the name suggested, she had to touch her… Was she sure this was not an attempt to take advantage?
Her brow lifted slightly, and she asked slowly, “Touch where?”
Under her scrutinizing gaze, Qiu Liang braced herself and said, “Touching your hand… fingers is enough.”
What was this woman doing? Looking at her like she was a pervert. She was very upright, all right? This was all for proper business.
“Oh. Go ahead.” Song Jianshuang opened her palm, her gaze unconsciously shifting to the side, her heart inexplicably tense.
Song Jianshuang’s hand was slender and fair, the joints distinct, like carved white jade. It was particularly beautiful.
Qiu Liang looked at her own hand. Mm. Very rough. The original owner had been used to doing farm work.
She silently inhaled and gathered her mind.
For a moment, her fingertip felt cool, then the sensation all turned into warmth, making it impossible to distinguish whose body temperature it belonged to.
She held Song Jianshuang’s finger and lowered her head to look at the table. Her gaze had already lost focus as she let the images flash past.
Song Jianshuang pressed her lips together. This was bone reading?
Just holding her finger without moving. Where was the meaning of “reading” in that?
She had been nervous for nothing. Ah, no, she was not nervous. What was there to be nervous about…
While she was thinking nonsense, her finger was released.
Qiu Liang raised her head and smiled. “Congratulations. Uncle will return home on New Year’s Eve, and his official post will be restored.”
Song Jianshuang could not help smiling too. If his post was restored, that meant he would be released without guilt. She could finally feel at ease.
Seeing her smile, Qiu Liang’s heart stirred slightly. “Can I ask for another hexagram?”
She was a little curious whether the emperor would die this winter. Who didn’t have a heart for gossip?
Song Jianshuang was in a good mood at this moment, so she nodded. “Cast it.”
Qiu Liang silently asked in her heart: What year will the emperor die? Then she began shaking the copper coins.
Looking at the familiar hexagram, Song Jianshuang asked in surprise, “What did you ask?”
The upper three lines and lower three lines were both Kan. It had actually matched Princess Wen’an’s hexagram. Both were the most dangerous Kan hexagram.
Qiu Liang silently apologized in her heart, then opened her mouth and said, “I also asked whether my father can live to a hundred.”
Far away in Song Family Village, Qiu the Lame suddenly sneezed loudly.
Who is cursing this old man!
Hearing that it was about Qiu the Lame, Song Jianshuang had no misgivings and said directly, “Either dying young, or an illness difficult to save. I’m afraid you may have to go back for a funeral.”
Unexpectedly, this fool still cared quite a bit about the Qiu family. But that made sense. Although they were not her birth parents, they had raised her.
Speaking of which, the reason Song Jianshuang knew Qiu Liang was not the Qiu family’s biological daughter was because her father had revealed it. That person who carried the variable was a dragon trapped in shallow waters, fated to lose all six kin from birth.
She had also cast a hexagram early on to confirm this point.
This fool’s fate was full of hardships.
Qiu Liang did not care about the Qiu family at all. Not to mention the fact that the Qiu family had treated the original owner badly, Qiu Liang herself had a very poor impression of them. The old couple had treated the original owner like goods to be bought and sold, and the younger son was a gambling addict who wanted to harm his younger sister. It would be strange if she cared about them.
Back then, if she had not been nominally their daughter, trapped by filial piety in the Qiu family, and penniless as well, she would have flown far away long ago.
However, the hexagram had been cast. Now what?
What excuse could she make to touch Song Jianshuang?
Someone save her.
Even after the two of them sat in the carriage back to the residence, Qiu Liang still had not come up with an excuse to touch Song Jianshuang.
She stared at Song Jianshuang’s profile, her fingers clenching. How about saying there was something dirty on this woman’s face?
“Why are you always staring at me?” Song Jianshuang had originally been leaning by the carriage window, looking outside. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Qiu Liang kept staring at her face and could not help asking.
This fool was definitely coveting her beauty. What deeper method, what bone reading—pure nonsense.
Qiu Liang shivered and casually said, “Nothing. You’re pretty.”
Song Jianshuang: “…”
Of course she knew she was pretty.
Did she need this fool to say it…
Qiu Liang could only temporarily put aside the idea. When they returned to the Song residence and saw Madam Song, inspiration suddenly struck. She finally had a plan.
If she could not find an excuse from Song Jianshuang, she could say Madam Song’s face had changed. After that, she could naturally suggest bone reading. Wouldn’t the problem be solved then?
After dinner.
Song Jianshuang looked at the person sitting at the table, refusing to move, and asked, “What? You can’t bear to go back? Don’t tell me you’re thinking about those six hundred taels of silver.”
Qiu Liang originally had not thought of this. After Song Jianshuang reminded her, she immediately reacted. She had almost forgotten. They still had not discussed how to split the silver.
“Eldest Miss Song also said that it was our shop. Since I contributed too, of course the silver should be split.” The future version of herself must have gone blind to fall for Song Jianshuang. This woman haggled over every detail and only cared about her own interests.
Song Jianshuang thought, As expected, this fool is only thinking about silver.
She let out a soft laugh. “Stop dreaming. Before I recover twice my original cost, you won’t get a single wen.”
“On what basis do you get to recover twice the cost?” Qiu Liang gritted her teeth. At once, all thoughts of gossip vanished. She only wanted her share of the silver. She knew too well how it felt to be a hero stumped by a single coin.
Back in Song Family Village, if she had had even a few dozen taels of silver, she would have run away long ago. Why would she have needed to live in constant fear there, restrained by the Qiu family?
Although the Qiu family had raised the original owner, they had also mistreated her greatly. Whether it was kindness or resentment, Qiu Liang, as an outsider, did not intend to entangle herself in it.
She only treated it as settling everything with the past. But when it came to money, she had to make plans for herself.
In the future, whether she remained in the capital, left it, or wandered the four seas, silver would be indispensable.
Especially since she was not sure whether her ability to see the future would always remain. She certainly would not spend her whole life staying beside Song Jianshuang for its sake. Everyone had their own fate, and everyone had their own way of living.
What she sought was freedom.
Without silver, where could she go to be free?
Song Jianshuang smiled again. “Fairness? The shop is mine, so I am fairness. Qiu Liang, do you need me to remind you? Without me, who knows where you would have been sold by now.”
There was a smile on her face, but her eyes carried a chill, as if she were reassessing the person before her.
Qiu Liang met Song Jianshuang’s gaze and froze.
Ever since she transmigrated, she had pretended to be stupid, stayed in Song Family Village, and faced the Qiu family with endless panic weighing on her heart. What filled her mind had been silver, and freedom.
When a person walked into a dead end, their thoughts and vision were often limited, causing them to overlook many objective facts.
For example, from a certain perspective, Song Jianshuang had saved her from fire and water. She had shown her kindness.
Even if Song Jianshuang had another motive and the two of them were taking what they needed from each other, it was still an undeniable fact that Qiu Liang had escaped the Qiu family because of Song Jianshuang.
Qiu Liang stood dazed for a long time, as if she had been trapped inside a stubborn stone for ages, and suddenly, someone had smashed open a crack. What she saw was no longer only that tiny stone. Outside the stone was a brilliant and colorful world.
And she had never clearly seen it, nor remembered to pay attention to it or think about it.
After a moment of silence, Qiu Liang stood. “Then let’s act according to the contract. Before Director Song returns home, I will obey your instructions. Once he returns, we will be even.”
The meaning beneath her words was that she had given up on splitting the silver earned from the shop.
“Qiu Liang, that shop won’t remain open for long. Once the matter is complete, I will thank you properly.” Song Jianshuang’s tone softened.
Qiu Liang had already reached the door. Hearing this, her figure paused, and her footsteps stopped.
Seeing this, Song Jianshuang’s voice softened further. “I did not mean to use a favor to demand repayment. The Song family also needs you now. In truth, neither of us owes the other. But at a time like this, I do not want to waste time haggling over money. I’m sorry. My tone just now was a little harsh.”
“Eldest Miss Song need not apologize. I’m the one who should apologize.” Qiu Liang’s tone was calm.
The afternoon light shone through the window, casting everything in dim yellow. A cool breeze secretly slipped through the gap in the door, making the atmosphere even more stifling.
Song Jianshuang frowned slightly. It was as if they had made things clear between them, yet it also seemed as if they had grown farther apart. The only connection between them was that thin sheet of contract paper.
This feeling inexplicably made her unhappy.
“Qiu Liang, I hope we can trust each other. At least during the contract period.”
“Do you trust me?” Qiu Liang’s voice was very light, like a thread of breeze that would scatter at any moment.
The word “trust” was too heavy.
At least, she did not fully trust Song Jianshuang. For example, there was the secret of her face-reading. And there were also those wedding scenes she had already seen twice.
Song Jianshuang fell silent. There was trust, such as her belief in Qiu Liang’s face-reading ability, and her honesty regarding everything about the Song family. But there was also not that much trust. For instance, she needed Qiu Liang’s help to walk that road…
How long that road was, and how many hardships and obstacles it contained, she did not know.
But on that road, she temporarily could not do without Qiu Liang.
After hesitating for a moment, Song Jianshuang said unhurriedly, “I need you.”
Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire. Since she herself did not trust Qiu Liang that much, what reason did she have to demand that this person believe in her?
Song Jianshuang could not help reflecting on herself and felt she had asked too much. They were originally partners bound by contract. Why force it?
And what was she trying to force?
Qiu Liang understood. Not answering directly was a denial. Of course, there was no trust between them. They were simply each taking what they needed.
She needed silver, and Song Jianshuang needed her face-reading ability.
“Song Jianshuang, can I help you read your bones one more time?” Having seen the situation clearly, Qiu Liang finally remembered the original reason she had delayed returning to her room.
Song Jianshuang looked at Qiu Liang and said nothing. She only silently extended her hand.
Trust was not built overnight. It had to be slowly established. Someone always had to take the first step before there could be a second.
She did not ask what Qiu Liang wanted to calculate. She simply answered without words.
Qiu Liang laughed mockingly in her heart. Now there was no need to work hard to find excuses. She believed that from now on, as long as she brought up this kind of thing, Song Jianshuang would not refuse.
This was Song Jianshuang’s way of trusting.
Trying to trust.
Qiu Liang sat back down at the table. Across the table, she held Song Jianshuang’s hand.
The hexagram before dinner had asked about the exact year the emperor would die. The images before her slowly unfolded.
In a resplendent palace hall, cups clinked and crossed, music and dance entertained the gathering, and all officials celebrated together. The emperor arrived late and raised his cup to wish everyone a happy new year. Below the dais, everyone knelt in one sweeping motion. After drinking the wine, the emperor suddenly vomited blood and collapsed. The Third Princess looked toward someone, but before she could call for them to save the emperor, a sword pierced through her throat.
The perspective shifted. A young prince walked before the dragon throne and looked down proudly at the gathered officials. Countless guards with blades surged into the hall and placed their swords against everyone’s necks. The image froze on everyone’s terrified faces.
Qiu Liang’s pupils shrank, and her fingers trembled. Among that crowd, she saw her own face.
Herself, wearing an official robe while a blade was held to her neck!
“Are you all right?” Song Jianshuang carefully studied Qiu Liang.
This person had originally lowered her head and remained motionless, but her body suddenly swayed. In particular, the hand holding Song Jianshuang’s fingers was trembling nonstop, as if she had been greatly frightened.
Could she have calculated great misfortune?
Not only would Song Jianshuang be unable to marry, she would also face disaster?
Qiu Liang raised her head, her eyes filled with shock. She must have seen wrong. She was just an ordinary little commoner. How could she become an official and appear in the palace hall, facing a palace coup directly?
For one instant, she even suspected the person wearing official robes was not herself, only someone who looked exactly the same, with an identical face.
But was that really possible?
Seeing her frightened expression, Song Jianshuang inevitably became uneasy. “Did you calculate something bad? Just say it. I can bear it.”
Qiu Liang wanted to cry but had no tears. She could not bear it. They could not scam people like this. She should never have come to the capital.
With a blade already held to her neck, was there any way to survive?
At this moment, not only were her hands shaking, even her heart was shaking with them. Whom had she offended?
Song Jianshuang held her trembling hand. “Qiu Liang, don’t be afraid. Look, even I’m not afraid.”
No matter what sudden disaster flew their way, they would simply block soldiers with generals and cover water with earth. Mother had taught her that when facing problems, one should think of solutions. Blind fear was the most useless thing.
Qiu Liang reflexively withdrew her hand, even though no new images appeared before her eyes.
She thought, Of course you’re not afraid. This didn’t land on your head. In that final image, she had not seen Song Jianshuang.
So she was the only unlucky one.
Qiu Liang took two deep breaths and suddenly looked toward Song Jianshuang. “Eldest Miss Song, I don’t want the three thousand taels anymore. My face-reading ability has failed. For the sake of our acquaintance, can you lend me a little travel money? I want to return to Song Family Village.”
That was right. Leave quickly. Leave the capital. Anywhere was fine.
She absolutely would not become an official, and she definitely would not enter the palace.
Song Jianshuang still seemed calm on the surface, but her heart was extremely tense. “Is our Song family about to face disaster? Tell me exactly what is going on first. I will certainly make proper arrangements and not implicate you.”
As for the claim that her face-reading had failed, Song Jianshuang ignored it directly. One listen and she knew it was a lie Qiu Liang had made up in panic.
Qiu Liang irritably rubbed her brow. It was not the Song family facing disaster. It was Qiu Liang herself facing disaster.
Fortunately, curiosity had risen in her. Otherwise, if she had fallen into the pit without knowing anything, she would not even have had the chance to climb out.
Song Jianshuang steadied herself, poured a cup of tea, and handed it over, quietly waiting for Qiu Liang to calm down.
Only after a long while did Qiu Liang finally settle herself. She took a deep breath and said, “The emperor will die on the first day of the new year, the day after your father returns home.”
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