More time passed before the carriage slowed down. Qi Qingyao raised the carriage curtains and glanced outside. Just a glance was enough to shock her to the point of her eyeballs almost popping out of her eyes. She saw that both sides of the streets were packed densely with people with multiple carriages parked everywhere. Most of the horses had been taken away, probably to be fed. After Qi Qingyao got off the carriage with Heir Pei, she rubbed her eyes. Her lips twitched at the scene and she thought to herself, ‘You can tell just by looking at the appearance of the carriage along with its flag, that the inside of the carriage is stupidly luxurious.’
One could easily conclude that the attendees were also the rich and wealthy of Qingzhou City.
It seemed that this Jiang family was not as simple as relatives of officials that Heir Pei had described them to be.
Li Qing put a snow-white fur coat on Heir Pei. Heir Pei glanced at Qi Qingyao who was not wearing a fur coat and Li Qing quickly took out another red silk-covered fur coat. He wanted to put it on Qi Qingyao but was surprised when Qi Qingyao took it and put it on herself. She even thanked Li Qing with a smile.
Heir Pei brought Qi Qingyao and Li Qing, as well as four bodyguards, and walked toward the large entrance. Li Qing was carrying a gift in his arms. They had not even taken two steps before people had recognized Heir Pei, running toward him to exchange greetings. Pei Fengtang greeted everyone with the faintest of smiles before the group walked toward the large entrance.
Old Master Jiang did not think that Heir Pei would attend. When he saw him from afar, he personally excused himself and greeted Heir Pei by lightly cupping his fist with his hand in front of him.
“Lord Heir, you’re here.” Considering his status, he could not have possibly visited Heir Pei’s mansion yesterday. Heir Pei had come over today, and this lit up Master Jiang’s face as well as brought a shine to the Jiang family’s humble abode.
Everyone knew that Heir Pei had been bedridden from poison for four years, and now having just recovered, he had already arrived in Qingzhou City to accept his invitation. This meant that the Marquis was treating the Jiang family with dignity and respect.
Heir Pei gave him a slight nod. “Master Jiang.”
“Pfft.”
Qi Qingyao, who was following behind him, could not help herself when she saw Heir Pei greeting this way.
‘Master Jiang?
‘Old Master Jiang was fishing…!'[1]
Master Jiang turned his head and glanced at the beautiful woman behind Pei Fengtang once. “This, this lady is…”
Qi Qingyao’s eyes narrowed into a lovely smile as she bowed. She greeted rather politely, “Greeting to you, Master Jiang. I am Heir Pei’s maid, Cuihua.”
Old Master Jiang scrutinized the woman beside Heir Pei from head to toe.
She was beyond being extraordinarily beautiful.
She was even wearing a very luxurious red fur coat. The fur collar looked to be made from fox pelt.
Her smile revealed two little dimples.
Her eyes were bright with a tinge of mischief.
Her appearance and character were not at all of a maid’s and certainly not of one who was named ‘Cuihua’!
However, since the woman was unwilling to speak the truth, Old Master Jiang naturally said nothing more.
Li Qing presented the gift. Pei Fengtang expressed his tiredness and then led his people through the large entrance of the Jiang residence at once. The guards remained in the front yard; only Li Qing and Qi Qingyao accompanied Pei Fengtang all the way into the main hall of the Jiang residence.
The main hall was so magnificent that even Qi Qingyao was stunned when she saw it. This was not a main hall—this was practically a small auditorium, it was huge!
There were braziers in the four corners of the hall, warming up the entire hall. It was not in the least cold.
The moment Heir Pei led Qi Qingyao to take a seat, a horde of people approached them. They were all smiles.
“Cuihua…” Pei Fengtang asked Qi Qingyao discreetly, “You sure you want to be named this?”
[1] Qi Qingyao is repeating part of a saying which in full refers to the story of an Old Man Jiang who fishes without bait, and any fish that bites the hook only does so because they want to be caught.