Chapter 350: Locked Up

Xiao Xuan nodded slightly. “Father said to have the Princess Consort mention it to the Guardian Lady.”

Consort Lin snorted. “We’d be lucky if she didn’t try to sabotage it. We’ll have to rely on ourselves for this.”

As she spoke, she suddenly laughed. “The Guardian Lady’s daughter is nearly eighteen and still not betrothed. Everyone in the city knows she and her mother have their hearts set on the Princely Heir. Now that the Princely Heir has foolishly rejected the engagement, I doubt she’ll find a suitable match anytime soon. This is a golden opportunity!”

Xiao Xuan’s brow furrowed for a moment before relaxing. “Then I must trouble you, Mother.”

The mother and son conferred for a while longer before Xiao Xuan returned to his own courtyard.

He stood in the courtyard, staring up at the moon as he clenched his fists. ‘By rights, I should have been Father’s legitimate eldest son.’

‘It’s only because Mother’s status wasn’t high enough that Father married Duke Qin’s daughter, causing me to lose the title of Princely Heir.’

‘This time, I will marry a lady from a prominent noble family and settle this score!’

‘Besides, military influence is something I’ve always coveted but never been able to grasp. How could I possibly miss this chance?’

‘I received an invitation to the Luan Garden poetry gathering the day after tomorrow long ago. I had no intention of going, but now it seems I have to. And I need to plan it meticulously.’

…

A day passed in the blink of an eye. Early the next morning, Sister Dan came to the shop and invited Gu Fei to Luan Garden, saying it would be cooler if they went early now that it was summer.

Gu Fei shook her head. “You go on ahead, Sister Dan. I can’t go just yet. I’ll see if I can run into you when I get there later.”

Sister Dan said no more, taking Yu and her servants with her as she boarded the carriage and departed.

Gu Fei waited until late morning, when a clerk from the silver building finally came over, holding a box.

Gu Fei opened the box to inspect it. The pearls had all been set, making the phoenix hairpin even more magnificent and dazzling than before. The phoenix tail also looked a full size larger. ‘If Miss Shen still isn’t satisfied,’ she thought, ‘then there’s truly nothing more I can do.’

She hailed a carriage and boarded it herself, box and invitation in hand.

Luan Garden was in the southern part of the city. The carriage ride took nearly half an hour to reach its entrance.

After paying the fare, Gu Fei stepped down from the carriage with the box. She saw a crowd of idle onlookers, unable to enter, gathered around the garden gate.

They were mostly disheveled or dressed in coarse cloth.

Gu Fei was wearing the uniform from her family’s inn. When she reached the gate, she presented her invitation. The servant guarding it glanced at the card and let her pass.

She had just stepped through the garden gate, with no time to even take in the scenery, when a maid approached and curtsied. “Are you Manager Gu?”

Gu Fei smiled. “I am.”

“Are you Miss Shen’s maid?”

The maid smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you for some time, Manager Gu. This garden is vast; it’s easy to get lost without a guide. My lady instructed me to wait here and show you the way.”

Gu Fei nodded. “Lead the way.”

The maid led the way, and Gu Fei’s eyes darted everywhere, taking it all in. The garden was bustling with visitors. Weeping willows lined the waterways, and a sea of lotus leaves floated on the water’s surface. A winding corridor zigzagged across the lake, and the path was an endless procession of rockeries, towers, pavilions, and flowers. Every step revealed a new vista; it was truly a breathtaking sight.

The maid led Gu Fei for nearly thirty minutes until they arrived outside a courtyard. Gu Fei noticed that this courtyard’s walls were much higher than usual, and the gate was not an ordinary wooden one, but a pair of large doors cast from brass.

The maid pushed open the closed doors, and they went inside. Ahead was a large house. The maid led Gu Fei to the entrance, pushed the door open, and said, “Please, come in, Manager Gu. My lady is inside.”

Gu Fei stepped inside. The moment she was through the doorway, she heard a THUD behind her. She whipped around to see the door had been slammed shut. Frowning, she was just about to speak when she heard a CLICK from outside—the sound of a lock sliding into place.