Jin Zijin stopped and looked at Yue Rujing, saying, "Have you decided not to speak, or can’t you finish what you’re saying?"
"If you have a lot to say, how about I go with you to your place first and listen to you finish before I meet your father?"
"I..." Yue Rujing choked, "I just wanted to say that she can’t be trusted."
"You always say that, my ears could almost grow calluses," Jin Zijin said.
"Isn’t it because you won’t take advice?" Yue Rujing stuttered.
Jin Zijin said, "The one who won’t take advice is you."
"I remember I’ve told you many times as well, it doesn’t matter who she used to belong to. What’s important is now, and now we need to win her over to our side," he stated.
Yue Rujing scoffed and without thinking retorted, "Dream on, it has nothing to do with me; you’re just infatuated and want to make her yours."
"..." The garden was engulfed in an unrivaled silence, so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
Two grown men stood awkwardly, their faces flushed with embarrassment.
"Brother," Yue Rujing called out awkwardly, smacking his lips, "I’ll not speak anymore. You go to my father’s place."
The looming tower ahead was bright with lights, looking both majestic and serene.
This was Yue Tingfang’s study.
"Ajing, you go down, I have something to discuss privately with your brother," he said.
Yue Rujing glanced at his father, Yue Tingfang, and then looked towards Jin Zijin.
Only after Jin Zijin nodded at him did he cup his hands in salute and excused himself.
Yue Tingfang watched the interaction between the two men without finding anything amiss.
After closing the door, only Yue Tingfang and Jin Zijin were left in the spacious and brightly lit study. Yue Tingfang watched Jin Zijin for a long time before he began to speak.
"Ayan, I hear from Ajing that the girl is Xuanzong’s medicine-person, and she’s just an ordinary village girl?"
(The male lead’s name is Jin Yan, styled Zijin! It seems I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words, and this is the first time I’ve said it.)
"Yes!" Jin Zijin did not deny, saying, "She ceased to be Xuanzong’s medicine person a while ago."
"Nonsense!" Yue Tingfang suddenly grew angry, his expression stern and his eyes inscrutable. He spoke calmly, "You could marry any other woman and it would be better than her. Helping her break free from the status of a medicine person will bring you a lot of trouble. Moreover, that girl is just a village girl, how is she worthy of you?"
"And what kind of woman would be worthy of me?" Jin Zijin looked steadily at Yue Tingfang with an unchanged expression, his voice calm and indifferent. The challenging words that should have been aggressive somehow felt as warm and comforting as the morning sun coming from his mouth.
"The woman who is worthy of you is naturally..." He stopped abruptly mid-sentence, as if his throat was suddenly choked off, ending the sentence in an unsettlingly abrupt manner.
Jin Zijin had been watching him all along. Even though Yue Tingfang had only spoken half of what he intended, Jin Zijin didn’t push for the rest, as if he already knew the answer or as if the answer didn’t matter to him.
Yue Tingfang sighed and softened his tone, saying, "Ayan, you know what I mean. I don’t demand that you find someone with equal social status, but at least the gap shouldn’t be too wide."
Jin Zijin was silent for a moment, then let out a rueful laugh, murmuring, "With neither father nor mother, I’m like a rootless duckweed; what kind of woman would then be a suitable match for me?"
"Ayan!" Yue Tingfang was startled, his emotions rising as he said, "Why do you belittle yourself ? You well know that you are not without parents, it’s just that..."
"I know!" Jin Zijin interrupted with a raise of his hand, saying, "I think it’s pretty good. She has no parents, and neither do I; that’s what I’d call a suitable match. Uncle Yue, thank you for worrying about me over the years, but some things I must do myself. I don’t want to implicate you all."