A Clash of Gods - Chapter 64
Chapter 64 A Misunderstanding
The tree shadows in the courtyard in the mansion of the Marquis of Martial Arts were mottled, and there were a few big trees which could be surrounded by several people between the lawns. The winding path with bluestones led to a secluded quiet place. Compared with the mansion of the Marquis of Honor, this mansion was smaller evidently, but its style was much more luxurious. The furniture in the main hall was costly and elegant, and even several chairs were made of selected precious sandalwood. Every part in the hall was well-arranged. It showed that a lot of efforts had been made in the mansion of the Marquis of Martial Arts, both in the big structure and small pattern.
But servants were not seen in and outside the main hall, which was unusual for a sumptuous mansion.
Yang Ning was sitting in the main hall in the mansion of the Marquis of Martial Arts, and Yuan Rong sat next to him. After they entered the mansion, they didn’t see anybody except the servant who led them in and the maid who served tea.
“Why hasn’t he come?” Yuan Rong sat for a long time and got impatient, frowning. “What does Su Zicheng mean? Would he keep us waiting and ignore us?”
Yang Ning was leisurely. Since he was here, he would just be relieved. He picked up the teacup and blew the tea leaves before taking a sip. Then he furrowed his brows slightly and showed a sneer on his lips.
When the Marquis of Martial Arts was in the mansion of the Marquis of Honor, he was fastidious about the tea for him. Yang Ning drank the tea in this mansion. Even though he studied little about the tea, he knew that this was not good tea. It was of poor quality and cheap obviously. He put down the teacup, seeing Yuan Rong uncover the teacup. He had a look at it. No wonder Yuan Rong had taken a few sips successively without complaint. The color of his tea was different.
Yang Ning was clear that the family of the Marquis of Martial Arts was so abject as to serve different tea for them. That was just a snobbish rich man from the rural area, seeking nothing but profits and wasn’t like a marquis who should be broad-minded.
Seeing that Yuan Rong was anxious, Yang Ning said calmly, “I am afraid that we won’t see Su Zicheng today.”
He naturally knew that Su Zicheng, the eldest legitimate son of the Marquis of Martial Arts had kept a good relation with Yuan Rong. Both of them liked to play in the brothel and became good friends.
“Why?” Yuan Rong was stunned. “Why can’t we see him?”
Yang Ning answered, “If we can see him, he should have arrived. He hasn’t showed up. It must be because Marquis of Martial Arts doesn’t allow him to come.”
“It’s surprising.” Yuan Rong frowned. “Why doesn’t Marquis allow Su Zicheng to come? Marquis knows that we are friends. Every time I came, he didn’t prevent us from being together.” He glanced at the teacup. “Since he didn’t let Su Zicheng come out, why did he tell the servant to serve tea and keep us waiting here?”
Yang Ning smiled. “Don’t worry. Su Zicheng won’t come out, but Marquis would come sooner or later.”
“Marquis of Martial Arts?” Yuan Rong stood up. “Forget it. We didn’t come to visit Marquis. Since we won’t see Su Zicheng, why do we still stay here?”
Yang Ning stated indifferently, “Sit down. Relax.”
“I won’t wait.” Yuan Rong was impatient. “Ning, let’s come again another day. We have been out for a day but got nothing.”
“Oh?” Yang Ning laughed. “Can you get something every day?” He leaned over. “Don’t forget that you have agreed to come here with me, and it is one of my requests. If you don’t want to wait, you can leave now, but Steward Wu…”
Yuan Rong goggled at Yang Ning and sat down in the end, but he moved his butt restlessly.
They heard a cough from outside all of a sudden and knew that somebody coughed intentionally to suggest his arrival. Then they saw the Marquis of Martial Arts, Su Zhen in brocade clothes with a jade belt come in.
Seeing that the Marquis of Martial Arts entered the hall, Yuan Rong was restrained and instantly stood up, bowing to him. Yang Ning also got up. Although he disdained Su Zhen’s moral quality, he still saluted the older man.
The Marquis of Martial Arts nodded at Yuan Rong and smiled, but his smile faded as soon as he saw Yang Ning. He glanced over and then walked to be seated in the host’s chair. Then a maid brought tea. There were screens on both sides of the main hall, with a picture of mountains and rivers of the country on the left, and a picture of many birds on the right. The two screens stood there and brightened the hall.
“How is the old Lord Yuan?” The Marquis picked up the teacup and unhurriedly moved the tea leaves to one side with the cover. He glanced at Yuan Rong and then stared at the teacup.
Yuan Rong replied while standing, “Marquis, thanks for your concern. My grandpa is fine.”
“A person like you from a literary family really has extraordinary bearing.” Su Zhen smiled faintly. “Yuan Rong, you often hang out with my disappointing son. Please teach him more literatures and etiquette and tell him to be sensible and well-behaved. In fact, our family has the title as a marquis. My position of the Marquis of Martial Arts will be passed down to him someday. A marquis can’t be unaware of the rules. Otherwise, he will become a laughingstock of the learned people.” While speaking, he lowered his head to drink tea, but he glimpsed at Yang Ning from the corner of his eye.
Yang Ning looked peaceful, as if nothing had happened. Su Zhen noticed that, with disdain on his lips.
“Marquis, you worry too much,” Yuan Rong answered cautiously. “Under your instructions, His Excellency is good at reading and martial arts. Few people in the capital city can be compared with him.”
Su Zhen laughed proudly and put down the teacup, asking, “Did your grandpa or your father tell you to come?”
Yuan Rong thought, “It has nothing to do with them. Yang Ning insisted on asking me to come with him.” However, he couldn’t speak directly at the moment, so he had to reply, “I just wanted to talk about poems with His Excellency, so I came to visit him.”
Su Zhen expressed impassively, “You don’t need to hide it from me. I will naturally agree with your family for anything else, but you’d better not get involved in the matter today.”
Yuan Rong was dumbfounded and had no clue, thinking, “What matter shouldn’t I get involved in?” He leered at Yang Ning standing quietly and felt restless. He assumed that he might have fallen into Yang Ning’s trap. Hearing Su Zhen’s tone, he guessed that there was nothing good.
Yang Ning lowered his head and was concentrated, without saying anything. But he had found that there were figures flashing behind the two screens. Perhaps more than ten people hid behind the screens.
Yuan Rong had to smile awkwardly, at a loss for words.
Su Zhen said out of the blue, “Zicheng is not at home today. Early in the morning, King Shu’s heir suddenly came to visit us. He specially paid a visit as King Shu told him. King Shu’s heir is a young hero and hit it off with Zicheng when they met for the first time. He even gave Zicheng a nice horse. It’s said that it is one of the top nine horses in King Shu’s mansion and it’s a rare top-grade horse even in the world. Zicheng got such a treasured horse and can’t stay at home leisurely. He went out to ride the horse.”
He spoke unhurriedly and appeared calm, but the complacency couldn’t be concealed in his tone.
Yuan Rong trembled and glanced at Yang Ning, finding that he was still unmoved and standing like a javelin. He wondered if this guy was scared by his future father-in-law as he saw the Marquis of Martial Arts.
But in the past, the heir of the Marquis of Honor would be in a daze from time to time as he was brainless. Yuan Rong was not accustomed to this man who got smart all of a sudden but was familiar with the dumb Qi Ning.
Not until then did he know that King Shu’s heir crossed the flower market after leaving the mansion of the Marquis of Martial Arts.
He suddenly remembered that the Marquis of Honor and the Marquis of Martial Arts would be related by marriage. Although not everybody was clear about this information, all the noble families had known it.
In the battle of the west region that year, the Marquis of Honor and King Shu became enemies. Although King Shu surrendered to Chu, the old grudge between the two families wasn’t dissolved as a result.
Logically, since the Marquis of Martial Arts was related to the Marquis of Honor, he couldn’t get close to King Shu. After all, he had to consider his future son-in-law’s feelings. However, now the Marquis of Martial Arts didn’t hide the fact that his family kept in touch with King Shu. Yuan Rong was not sensitive to the politics, but he knew that there was something amiss.
He thought there would be trouble. As respected, Su Zhen picked up the teacup once more and asked impassively, “Did the old lady in your family tell you to send a message? What does she mean?”
Yang Ning was clear that Su Zhen finally talked to him. He raised his head and was about to speak, but Su Zhen waved his hand to stop him, looking more distant. “I won’t agree to the marriage. Even if the old lady in your family objects to my offer, it’s pointless.”
Yuan Rong didn’t expect to hear that and was stunned. His first reaction was that there was something wrong with his ears and he must have misheard.
Su Zhen continued slowly, “The two old marquises of our families arranged the marriage that year. It seemed to be a much told tale, but they were not fortune-tellers and couldn’t foresee what would happen in the future. In fact, since the two old marquises passed away, the engagement wasn’t effective.”
Yang Ning just smiled faintly and even seemed a little shy.
“Yuan Rong, the family of Marquis of Honor asked your family to mediate, but your family told you to come alone. It means that your family knows well about me and that it can’t be changed.” Su Zhen took a sip of tea and then put down the teacup. “I never change my mind. Just go back and tell the old Lord Yuan. It’s not that I reject your family, but I think he can understand me.”
Yuan Rong finally confirmed that he didn’t mishear it. He opened his mouth wide and couldn’t believe it. He thought it was more unimaginable than Yang Ning’s poem about the lotus.
“Marquis, I… You… Eh…” He stuttered and had no idea what to say. But he thought, “Yang Ning, you are so capable. You insisted on asking me to come with you just to talk about such a matter. The marriage is between your family and the Su Family and has nothing to do with my family. Now, even my family gets involved by accident.”
Although Yuan Rong didn’t say anything, apparently, Su Zhen believed that the Yuan Family would speak for the Qi Family.
Yuan Rong was furious. The gratitude or enmity between two powerful families was the most difficult to deal with. A wise man would stay out of it and prevent his family from getting involved, but Yang Ning forcefully told him to come, and it would be trouble. Yuan Rong was just worried that he would be punished if the elders in his family knew that he was drawn into the enmity between the Qi Family and Su Family.
“Qi Ning, it’s not that I look down upon you, but everybody knows that you are disappointing.” Su Zhen gently waved his sleeve, without looking at Yang Ning. “You are flirtatious, with no virtue, but my daughter Zixuan is educated and reasonable. You are poor in reading and martial arts, but Zixuan is skilled in music, chess, writing and painting. You are ugly and stupid, but Zixuan is smart and quick-witted… Forget it. I have made it clear. No matter how foolish you are, you should know that you don’t deserve Zixuan. Since I said that, I think it’s unnecessary to continue.” He stood up and put both hands behind his back, ordering in a deep voice, “Somebody, see the guests off.”
Yang Ning gazed at Su Zhen and sighed all of a sudden. “Marquis, do you misunderstand something?”
“Nothing can be misunderstood.” Su Zhen’s tone was cold. “I have something to do, so I won’t ask you to stay.”
Yang Ning smiled. “Marquis, you must have misunderstood. Do you think I asked Yuan Rong to beg you to change your mind and not to call off the engagement?”
Su Zhen was astonished and frowned. “Didn’t you…”
“Of course not.” Yang Ning suddenly sat down and leaned against the chair, picking up the cup with poor-quality tea. “I never want to marry your daughter, and the engagement would be cancelled sooner or later. I came here today just to call it off and tell you that your daughter can’t enter my mansion.” He drank some tea abruptly and then spat to the floor, cursing, “What the hell is it? Is it for people to drink? Marquis, does your family drink such tea? Even the dog in my mansion won’t taste it.”