The Number One Treacherous Minister [Rebirth] - Chapter 4

Yuan Jing raised her head and looked at the plaque that was at once familiar and strange. As she listened to the moving strains of strings and woodwinds drifting from within, scenes from her previous life emerged one after another in her mind like an opera.

In her previous life, she had stormed out of home in a fit of anger and wandered aimlessly until she found herself somewhere unfamiliar. Curious about the place, she had walked inside. From that moment onward, she had stepped into a quagmire and sunk into an abyss from which there was no return…

Hua Rui suddenly asked, “Second Young Master, why have you come to a place like this?”

“What’s wrong with me coming here?”

“It will soon be time for dinner at the residence,” Hua Rui reminded her.

“There’s food and drink here, along with beautiful women. We’ll have dinner here tonight!” Yuan Jing’s lips curved into a smile. At this point in time, that woman should already be here. She did not overlook the flash of contempt in Hua Rui’s eyes. Laughing softly, she walked inside.

Hua Rui reluctantly followed her in. Although very few women visited places like this, that did not mean women never came. After all, this was not an obscene and shameless establishment like Wenxiang House. Even so, the sight of those men who appeared less interested in appreciating the music than in admiring the women immediately filled Hua Rui with disgust!

After bringing that woman home, Yuan Jing had never returned to this place. Now that she was revisiting it, she could not help searching for the figure she had once loved so deeply, yet now hated enough to wish she could grind her bones to dust and scatter her ashes.

Goulan Pavilion had five floors and was arranged in the style of a Fujian tulou. Each floor was reserved for performances featuring different instruments, while the large stage in the center was where the most popular entertainers performed together.

Yuan Jing had barely entered when an unfamiliar voice called out to her. It was unfamiliar only because she had not heard it in many years. The voice was so full of mockery that she had no choice but to look over. A youth dressed in luxurious brocade robes was staring at her with a sneer. “Oh, so Second Young Master Yuan visits places like this too? I thought Second Young Master Yuan had no interest in women!”

“And he even brought his maid with him. Second Young Master Yuan certainly has a bold way of doing things!” A young man beside the brocade-clad youth laughed, then stared at Yuan Jing’s leg. “Second Young Master Yuan, is your leg all right? You haven’t become a cripple, have you?!”

The brocade-clad youth immediately added, “If he were crippled, wouldn’t he have to be on the bottom when doing that sort of thing?”

Their words sent the nearby crowd into peals of laughter.

Hua Rui watched them with a cautious, solemn expression, ready to prevent a fight from breaking out. Just as she wondered whether Yuan Jing would fly into a rage and attack them, Yuan Jing smiled faintly and said with refined courtesy, “So it is Young Master Zhang and Young Master Liu. I shall never forget the special consideration Young Master Zhang showed me during the hunting competition. In the future, I naturally ought to show my gratitude by repaying that consideration several times over. I only hope Young Master Zhang will not refuse.” The brocade-clad youth was Zhang Jinhou, son of the Minister of Personnel, while the young man beside him was Liu Chi, son of the Vice Minister of Personnel.

In the past, such mockery had always been enough to provoke Yuan Jing’s anger, but her reaction now was entirely unexpected. The brocade-clad youth’s expression darkened. He snorted, brushed past Yuan Jing, and entered Goulan Pavilion, with Liu Chi and the others laughing as they followed him.

The commotion was not particularly loud, but when the sons of two official families clashed at the entrance, they were bound to attract the attention of passersby. The people inside the pavilion also turned to look.

After entering Goulan Pavilion, Yuan Jing noticed many gazes directed toward her. She discreetly surveyed the room and discovered that quite a few imperial officials were present. In her previous life, she had become the top imperial scholar, and because of Yuan Ye, these court officials had eagerly tried to ingratiate themselves with her. She had therefore been forced to memorize their appearances and official positions.

Some of those gazes were appraising, some curious, and some disdainful. Among them, one gaze filled with hatred compelled Yuan Jing to take notice…

Yuan Jing raised her head and looked toward the second floor. One door stood open, and a graceful young woman stood at its entrance. She held a pipa in her arms. The moment Yuan Jing looked at her, she concealed the hatred in her eyes and replaced it with tenderness.

Yuan Jing knew perfectly well that this tenderness was false, yet she still could not stop herself from looking deeply at her several times. Finally, memories of her nightmarish previous life surfaced, and she erased the tenderness imprinted upon her heart. She sneered. She had been deceived by that tenderness for four entire years! That poison called “tenderness” had consumed her until there was almost nothing left of her!

The proprietress of Goulan Pavilion had noticed Yuan Jing from the moment she appeared at the entrance. At first, she had merely wondered how someone could be both as handsome and delicately beautiful as Yuan Jing. For a moment, she had nearly mistaken Yuan Jing for a woman, but Zhang Jinhou’s appearance dispelled that notion.

She noticed that after entering, Yuan Jing merely gave her surroundings a cursory glance. She showed none of the curiosity expected of a first-time visitor and instead looked directly at the pipa player on the second floor. When their eyes met, an idea occurred to the proprietress. She approached Yuan Jing with a smile. “I heard that the second son of Vice Minister Yuan had arrived, and sure enough, here you are. I’ve heard that Second Young Master Yuan seldom leaves home. Our Goulan Pavilion is fortunate to be the first music house Second Young Master Yuan has ever visited. Whatever piece Second Young Master Yuan wishes to hear today will be free of charge.”

Yuan Jing nodded to the proprietress with a smile. She held a rather favorable impression of this woman. When that other woman had nearly been forced to become one of Wenxiang House’s girls, the proprietress had mercifully saved her by purchasing her and bringing her here as an entertainer. Yuan Jing hated that woman now, but she would not implicate the proprietress because of it. She understood perfectly well that none of it had anything to do with her.

“How could I be shameless enough to ask the proprietress to entertain me for free? I would like to hear some pipa music. Proprietress, please invite whichever young lady is currently available. I can still afford to pay.”

“Second Young Master, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. As long as you come and listen to our music more often in the future, won’t Goulan Pavilion easily earn back the little money it loses today?”

Hearing this, Yuan Jing laughed heartily. “Proprietress, you truly are refreshingly straightforward. In that case, I won’t refuse your kind offer.”

“Then please come upstairs, Second Young Master.” The proprietress led Yuan Jing to the second floor. “Only Pingyao is available today. I hope Second Young Master will not take offense.”

“Pingyao?” Yuan Jing deliberately pretended not to recognize the name and asked with apparent curiosity.

“Pingyao recently joined our pavilion. She is exceptionally beautiful and remarkably talented. Unfortunately, her life has been tragic. Otherwise, she would never have fallen so far as to end up here.” The proprietress spoke with both admiration and sympathy, hoping Yuan Jing might feel a trace of compassion for the young woman.

Since someone wished to play the kindhearted matchmaker, why should Yuan Jing reject her goodwill? She therefore asked, “What happened to make her life so tragic?”

The proprietress sighed. “I don’t know the details. I only know that she was once the daughter of a wealthy family. Later, her family declined, and after being passed from place to place, she eventually ended up in the capital. I saw that she was strikingly beautiful and knew how to play the pipa, so I bought her.”

Yuan Jing nodded. She knew the truth far better than the proprietress did.

When they reached the doorway where that familiar figure had stood, the proprietress knocked and called, “Pingyao, a guest would like to hear you play.”

A moment later, the door opened, and a graceful figure slowly appeared before Yuan Jing. At the sight of that distinct yet painfully familiar face, Yuan Jing’s heart began pounding violently—not because she still loved her, but because the bloodlust of revenge was boiling inside her! Her body trembled unconsciously, and she could not think of anything to say.

It was her…

Two years earlier, Luochuan Prefecture had suffered a catastrophic flood. Countless crops were destroyed, leaving no harvest, and the commoners’ homes were submerged beneath the floodwaters. The imperial court allocated five hundred thousand taels for disaster relief, but by the time the money reached the magistrate of Pingyao County, only thirty thousand taels remained. How could thirty thousand taels possibly purchase enough grain when rice prices had soared?! When the granaries were opened to provide disaster relief, the grain stored inside lasted only a few days.

The starving refugees consequently rioted and continuously flooded into other cities, creating severe disturbances throughout the surrounding regions. As a result, the magistrate of Pingyao County was executed for mishandling the crisis and embezzling disaster-relief funds. His family was not implicated in his crimes, allowing his wife and daughter to escape punishment. However, the hardship of their lives and the stigma of being “the wife and daughter of a corrupt official who accepted bribes” placed more pressure on the magistrate’s wife than she could endure. She fell gravely ill and died. After being passed from place to place, his daughter eventually arrived in the capital and was nearly sold to Wenxiang House. Because of her exceptional beauty and talent, however, she caught the eye of Goulan Pavilion’s proprietress and entered the pavilion as an entertainer who sold her art rather than her body.

Later, she learned the truth from a drunken minister. The Ministry of Works had been responsible for transporting the disaster-relief funds, as well as constructing dams, preventing floods, and handling similar matters. After Yuan Ye, the Vice Minister of Works, received the five hundred thousand taels, he took two hundred thousand for himself. After officials at every level skimmed their share, only thirty or forty thousand taels remained by the time the money reached each county.

She knew that Yuan Ye was the true culprit behind everything!

She hated Yuan Ye bitterly and thought of every possible way to take revenge. Yet forget revenge—she could not even step through the gates of the Yuan residence. After so long, she had accomplished nothing. Then Yuan Jing came to Goulan Pavilion, and a plan formed in her mind. For the sake of revenge, what did it matter if she sold her body once?!

In her previous life, Yuan Jing had known Pingyao’s background, but she had not known that Pingyao’s feelings for her were false. Or perhaps she had known but had been too self-important to accept it. She had assumed that after betraying her family and father for Pingyao’s sake, Pingyao would remain by her side. It was only after Yuan Jing was arrested and imprisoned that she heard Pingyao admit it herself: everything had merely been done to use her. Pingyao had long since joined forces with Prince Qi, planning to attack from both within and without and capture the entire Yuan family in one fell swoop.

Now, what should she do with this woman who had exploited her feelings while appearing so utterly innocent?

It seemed as though an eternity passed—an eternity as long as two previous lifetimes. The proprietress assumed Yuan Jing had fallen in love with Pingyao at first sight and asked with a smile, “Second Young Master, did you come here to listen to music, or…”

The Pingyao before her was only eighteen. Although she knew Yuan Jing was the son of her enemy, she was still momentarily captivated by her appearance. Yuan Jing was certainly not unattractive. In fact, she was rather handsome, and combined with her height, which was no less than that of an ordinary man, almost no one could tell that she was a woman.

“Second Young Master—” Hua Rui’s voice shattered the ambiguous atmosphere. Although it sounded rather abrupt, it was enough to pull Yuan Jing back to her senses.

The proprietress was somewhat irritated by Hua Rui’s lack of tact but said nothing. This Second Young Master was strange indeed, bringing a maid along to listen to music. Smiling, she introduced Yuan Jing to Pingyao. “Pingyao, this is the second son of the Left Vice Minister of Works. You must perform your finest piece for Second Young Master!”

“Second Young Master.” Pingyao dipped into a curtsy.

Yuan Jing reached out and lifted Pingyao’s chin, forcing her to meet her gaze. Throughout that calm exchange of looks, both women concealed themselves perfectly. But the hatred in Yuan Jing’s heart only intensified.

She closed her eyes. If Pingyao had revealed even the slightest trace of hatred, Yuan Jing might not have regarded her as such a deeply calculating woman! With her own hands, Yuan Jing extinguished the final shred of hope she had harbored. Now, she no longer needed to agonize over whether Pingyao had been forced into what she did or whether she had ever felt any love for her. She needed to remember only one thing: she could never trust this woman again!

Now that Yuan Jing had been reborn, would she continue to be used as someone else’s pawn, or would she toy with all of them in the palm of her hand?

Author’s Note:

Mm, there are certain details worth noticing. For example, did Pingyao truly learn that supposed truth by accident, or did someone deliberately arrange for her to hear it?

Yuan Jing’s hatred stems from the emotional deception, I suppose…