CH 6

Chapter 6: A Test

Tao Xinhe held her hair in her hands. Streams of tears rolled silently from the corners of her eyes, which were absorbed by the soft pillow.

Feeling the wetness of the gradually cooling tear marks on her cheeks, she thought to herself, my husband lied to me all over again. He would even use the Ministry of Rites as a cover again and again, why bother.

Zhang Shangshu is nearly 60 years old. He is upright and clean. How could he suddenly think of asking ministers from the Ministry of Rites to drink some wine?

He even left from the alley of that Mo Qiniang’s1 house. Where would he go after that? He returned late at night, drunk and covered by rouge marks. He must’ve went to a shady place.

***

It was late at night on the 21st of the twelfth lunar month, no, it’s already pass midnight. So it’s the 22nd, a day closer to the new year.

In another part of the capital. Inside the small courtyard of Mo’s family, it was supposed to be quiet in the middle of the night. Mo Qi woke up from coughing again, he struggled to grab the edge of the bed and vomited, which alarmed Mo Qiqi. She hurriedly put on her clothes and came across the room to help her brother Pat his chest and back, clean up the courtyard.

With the faint candlelight, Mo Qi looked at his younger sister who was constantly busy, and thought that his younger sister, Mo Qiqi, was beautiful, soft and charming, with misty apricot eyes, thin red lips, exquisite figure, wicker Waist, warm temperament.

It’s not that there are no teenagers in their hometown who admire his younger sister and propose marriage to her.

It was only because he wanted to pass the Jinshi examination and find a proper marriage for his sister later on that he delayed his sister’s marriage until she was eighteen.

However, the young girl was pretty strong-willed, how could he control her. For example, earlier this afternoon, when she saw Mr. Gu visiting, my sister’s eyes lit up instantly, and her face gradually became red.

I could see the joy and fascination that could not be suppressed from her eyes. I seemed to be the only one who discovered it, and Gu Ningxi didn’t notice it at all. Thinking of this, Mo Qi felt a dull pain in his heart.

He tried his best to sit up straight, cleaned up the filth on his hand, and took advantage of the opportunity to recall the conversation between Gu Ningxi and himself when he was alone today.

***

Earlier in this very room, under the hot and scorching afternoon sun, Mo Qi was coughing and wheezing, and tentatively asked:

“Master Gu, I am so grateful to you. Sorry for this ones presumptuousness, I’ve seen the adult’s gaze, it seems to often linger on my sister’s face, but do you have the intention of accepting her as a concubine?”

Mo Qi had already known the identity of the Jinshi Exam’s Examiner who had been visiting frequently for more than two months under the reason of “Caring about the poor scholars”.

Gu Ningxi, the Minister of the Tribute Department of the Ministry of Rites, is a fifth-rank official residence, with a dragon and a phoenix2 appearance. He was young and promising, full of talent,  knowledgeable, excellent in both calligraphy and painting. I heard that his hand-painted flowers and birds were pretty popular.

He was born in a scholarly family, but both his parents died, and his grandfather was Gu Chengxiang, the second-rank imperial tutor, who passed away more than a year ago.

It is said that at that time, the new emperor Yongsheng, personally came to express his condolences, and wished to bestow the honor on the deceased prime minister, and also wished to bestow favor to his children.

I heard that the son of his eldest son was called Gu Ningxi, who had been an official for several years and never relied on his grandfather’s reputation.

He was excellent based on everyone’s evaluation, he wrote a lot of books, and his superiors has only praises for him. The emperor even patted Gu Ningxi on the back and said, “This is the unicorn3 in Gu Xiang’s family, and the teacher’s successor.”

Therefore, Gu Ningxi, whom Mo Qi didn’t personally know, deciding to take good care of their siblings. Made Mo Qi confused and worried.

Mo Qi would be proud to win the favor of a high-ranking official if it was based on his own talents and abilities, but offering his sister as a concubine and seeking honor and attachment are things he would never do.

Today, Gu Ningxi gave him money and medicine again, thinking that it is difficult to repay the accumulated kindness, Mo Qi finally couldn’t hold himself back, and directly asked Gu Ningxi whether he has any intentions about his sister.

After he heard this, Gu Ningxi looked straight at the door where his younger sister went, and looked at him. He was slightly frowning and pursing his lips, a little surprised, maybe a little ashamed? Mo Qi didn’t know if his interpretation was correct.

Gu Ningxi coughed twice uncomfortably, then looked directly at Mo Qi, and confessed his shortcomings:

“Mo Juren, to tell you the truth, I suffered from a disease called face-blindness since I was a child, and I couldn’t distinguish between myself and other people’s faces, just like a blind man with his eyes open. However, I can seem to see your younger sister’s face.”

Mo Qi opened his eyes in disbelief. Gu Ningxi smiled wryly and waved his hands, and continued: “I am also puzzled. Your sister’s face, to me, is like white jade, which is incomparably precious, and unique.”

Mo Qi was terrified when he heard it. He was very glad that his sister was not there. Otherwise, hearing such a red-hot confession, wouldn’t he be more deeply involved? Master Gu said so, does he really have any reverie about his sister?

Gu Ningxi lowered his eyes and continued to speak, with a sincere expression:

“For these treasures, I only have a heart of admiration, and I have no intention of being obscene. I don’t know if Mo Juren can understand that your sister’s face, not your sister herself, is important to me. It’s special. As for any women, I only have eyes for my wife, and I will never have another woman in my heart in this lifetime.” As if thinking of that person, the corners of his lips slightly raised, and his face brightened.

Apart from the fact that Gu Ningxi was once praised by the new emperor, what Mo Qi remembers is that he has a good wife in his family.

Speaking of the unconventional noble lady Tao who went in and out with her husband at the same banquet, the people who gossiped were still fond of talking about Gu Ningxi’s public words on the day of their wedding that “A couple for a lifetime” declaration that Gu Ningxi said.

Mo Qi knew that his younger sister could not be Gu Ningxi’s main wife, but it is common for a man to have three wives and four concubines in this country, so he thought that Gu Ningxi wanted to make his younger sister his concubine.

Hearing the words “No other woman” with his own ears, Mo Qi realized that he was thinking too much.

This is the possibility of Gu Ningxi cutting himself off completely from having more wives and concubines.

After moving to the capital, Mo Qi, who is proud and wants to marry a wife after passing the Jinshi examination, asked himself and realized that he may not be able to do it in the future. He was feeling a bit speechless and complicated.

Gu Ningxi was originally sitting on the only decent wooden chair with a backrest in the room. At this point, he stood up neatly, tall and handsome. He apologized to Mo Qi who was lying on the bed:

“It’s still me acting impudently causing Mr. Mo to misunderstand, I apologize, and I will pay more attention to my behavior in the future. Please don’t make any more assumptions.”

Mo Qi finally let out a sigh of relief then nodded in agreement.

After that, he unexpectedly formed a righteous relative, and since then he has another brother and even a sister-in-law.

Mo Qi specially entrusted his younger sister to try out her marriage, seeing that Gu Ningxi’s complexion was fine, and he agreed happily. He shakily let go of the knot in his heart. Finally confirming that this righteous brother has no feelings of affection towards his sister.

The siblings have been dependent on each other for so many years. Mo Qi has long understood his sister’s mind, and his remaining worry was how to get rid of the silly idea of ​​his sister’s budding romance.

He remembered that before Gu Ningxi left, When Qiniang found out about them becoming righteous siblings, she quickly changed her address from “Master Gu” to “Brother Xi” in one step. She even volunteered to send “Brother Xi” to the alley in the cold wind of the night. Mo Qi secretly smiled wryly, knowing that he had a long way to go to change his sister’s mind.

***

The cough in his chest brought Mo Qi back to his senses, he patted himself a few times to calm himself down. He then told his younger sister with a guilty conscience:

“Qiniang, go to sleep, brother will take care of himself.”

Mo Qiqi, who is thin and slender, has quick hands and feet, while lowering her head to clean up and wipe the foul-smelling vomit, she comforted her brother with a soft voice:

“Even though the doctor that Brother Xi invited today arrived late, he still has some abilities, he will definitely be able to cure my brother, and we will change to new medicine tomorrow morning. Brother, lie down and recuperate quickly, don’t worry about me.”

After tidying up and putting warm tea to Mo Qi’s hand. Although Mo Qiqi was worried, she knew that her brother’s illness should not be rushed. She then returned to her room with a candle.

Although she was awakened from a deep sleep and was busy, the young girl’s room was still in good shape. Where the residual warmth of the charcoal basin remained, She made up her bed then fell asleep. As soon as her head touched the pillow, she dreamed about the scene of getting along with Brother Xi during this period of time.

She and her elder brother left their hometown in the early spring of this year and went to the capital early to prepare for the Jinshi examination. Unexpectedly, after the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, it seemed like he was suffering from heatstroke and lethargy. My brother then fell ill and couldn’t take the exam.

Mo Qi talked about it every day, and it was better to be at the bottom of the exam than to be absent. Mo Qiqi took care of her elder brother day and night, and after listening to this a lot, she had a sudden epiphany and came up with the idea of ​​disguising herself as a man to take the exam on behalf of her brother.

She squeezed out some money and entrusted his elder brother to a neighbor to take care of him for a few days, then Mo Qiqi went to the Gong Yuan.

The first time I saw Brother Xi outside the Gong Yuan. He was a high-ranking young civil servant, dressed in a majestic scarlet official robe, with piercing eyes on his handsome face. He led me to the corner of the wall, without saying a anything, and he was staring at my face.

At that time, Mo Qiqi might have been scared and trembling, but when the scene of the first encounter reappeared in her dream, she became shy and bashful.

What’s more, actually at that time, a strange voice rang into her ear, and Mo Qiqi, who was extremely nervous, ignored it.

In her dream, that voice was drawn from the depths of her mind, faithfully serving as the background sound:

[Drip—drip, bind the host, and the “Help You to Consummation” system is activated. 】

[Starting lock on the male lead, face blindness reality, among all the thousands people he will only recognize you.】

[Oops, it seems to be tied wrongly, the host is not the one who is destined with the male lead. Untie, untie! 】

[Unbinding failed. 】

[Since there has been a mistake, the system task has been adjusted, from “Help you to Consummation” to “Add a test”, it seems that the hero recognizes his true heart. Ugh……】

While dreaming, Mo Qiqi frowned, and unconsciously stretched out her hands to rub her ears, as if she was dissatisfied with the sour dream.

She was completely engrossed in the dream. She can’t stop muttering the words “Brother Xi” during her sleep. The dream then continues.

After Missing the exam her brother’s condition got worse, Mo Qiqi felt gloomy. Two days later, Brother Xi came to visit their dilapidated and cramped residence, with a gentle attitude and plain words. Completely different from the stern and disciplined inspector in her impression. He was like a man from heaven.

Brother Xi still looked at her face, with very focused eyes, as if she was the most important treasure in his world.

For two months, Mo Qiqi couldn’t tell when Gu Ningxi would come, so she missed him and looked forward to him even more. She was even more pleasantly surprised to see him again.

Their eyes met, and her heart couldn’t stop beating wildly.

The kind smile that often hangs on the corner of his lips will be chewed by her repeatedly. It drives her to snicker on places where no one can see.

The simple and polite, few-sentence conversation response made her feel that Gu Ningxi was restrained and reserved, and must have meant something beyond the words, and she made associations by herself. The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she became.

She thought that Gu Ningxi was the only shining light in her monotonous and bleak life.