CH 52.1

Chapter 52.1 – A Truly Outstanding Person (1)

The competition between the two countries obviously shouldn’t be delayed for too long, so the date was set soon after Lu Qipei established her dominance.

Lu Qipei didn’t see Xie Hongyi during this period, but she saw Qi Bo everyday. The latter was still as respectful and polite as ever in front of her, without any hint of having betrayed his master – of course, it was possible that Qi Bo never regarded her as his master in the first place.

Thinking about her current situation and her future with Qi Yang, Lu Qipei couldn’t help but have a headache. With Xie Hongyi’s contact with Qi Bo, the massive Lu Mansion once again became a threat in her eyes.

At least it had been a while since she became an official, and she was no longer as helpless as when she had just been reborn.

She didn’t trust Qi Bo and was afraid that being around him wasn’t safe, so she took advantage of the busy schedule in the Court of Judicial Review to move from the Lu Mansion to the Court of Judicial Review’s temporary residence.

Other government offices might not have such a convenient lodging place, but the investigators at the Court of Judicial Review often need to stay overtime for work. They also had a fixed residence for everyone, which was even more convenient for Lu Qipei who was running away from home.

Qi Bo only watched silently and didn’t stop her – maybe Lu Qipei would feel more at ease at the Court of Judicial Review, after all, it was the place in charge of the whole country’s prisons. The security there was amazing, and she would be able to live safely.

It wasn’t only Lu Qipei’s ire that the foreigner boy from the north provoked…

The following days passed slowly like flowing water. Lu Qipei didn’t feel uncomfortable at all after moving to the Court of Judicial Review. Although she had no servants around, leaving a suffocating place like the Lu Mansion allowed her to truly relax from the bottom of her heart.

She went to work every day as usual until it was the appointed day for the competition and she met Xie Hongyi again.

Strangely, although the foreigner boy’s eyes were still full of provocation, they seemed gloomier than before. When Lu Qipei turned to look at him, he refused to look back at her. He quickly looked away, and even looked embarrassed.

What happened in the past few days??

Lu Qipei was puzzled inside, but there was nothing she could do to figure it out. Soon, her attention was drawn away by Qi Yang, who had come together with the Crown Prince. This time, she wasn’t dressed in men’s clothing. She was draped in a palace dress, looking less heroic than when she was in men’s clothes, but more charming.

But no matter how she dressed up, Qi Yang would always be the most beautiful person in Lu Qipei’s mind. When she saw her, her gaze immediately became softer. On the other hand, when Xie Hongyi by the side followed Lu Qipei’s gaze, his eyes opened up in surprise seeing Qi Yang dressed like that. The young boy saw Qi Yang wearing men’s clothing back at the palace banquet. From the looks of it, it seemed that he really thought she was a man.

Qi Yang noticed Xie Hongyi’s astonished gaze and slightly raised her eyebrows, slightly amused that she ended up accidentally tricking someone.

When Lu Qipei saw her smile, her lips curved and she asked, “Your Highness seems to be in a good mood today?”

Qi Yang also retracted her gaze at this moment. Lu Qipei was the only one left on her clear black pupils, “I’m in a good mood because I get to see you.”

Lu Qipei pursed her lips shyly. But considering how Qi Yang was so bold that she really dared to make the Crown Prince deliver such a message for her, what she did just now really was nothing much.

She pursed her lips and thought for a bit, then after seeing that everyone else was quite far, she also responded back in a low voice, “So am I.”

Qi Yang’s slightly curved eyes were suddenly filled with smiles. If it wasn’t because they were in public, she really wanted to embrace Lu Qipei and coax her to say a few more words.

But of course, now was not the time. The competition was coming up next, and there wasn’t much time for them to talk to each other, so Qi Yang could only stop here. She changed the subject to something more serious and said, “That little kid is an eyesore. Ah Pei, what do you think are your chances of winning this competition?”

When Lu Qipei heard her say this, she understood what Qi Yang was thinking, and a smile flashed across her eyes. She glanced sideways at Xie Hongyi who was not far away, then nodded at Qi Yang and said, “Around seventy to eighty percent.”

She didn’t say that she was a hundred percent sure, but those words were enough to show Lu Qipei’s confidence.

Of course, Qi Yang had even more faith in her and was about to say something more, but she saw that the Crown Prince had already waved for her to go back. She swallowed back those unnecessary words and quickly said, “Then just do your best. There is no need to force yourself.”

Qi Yang left after saying this, leaving Lu Qipei with those two contradictory words.

The Six Arts of the Gentlemen was an ancient ritual derived from <Rites of Zhou Dynasty> that said, “To teach the children of the country the Dao, teach them the Six Arts: first is the five rituals, second is the six music, third is the five ways of archery, fourth is the five ways of equestrianism, fifth is the six calligraphies, sixth is the nine calculations1.”

It was complicated just to talk about, and even more so in practice. Fortunately, it had been passed down for a thousand years. Some of them were no longer applicable now, or had been simplified by the later generations because they were too complicated, so the current version was far less troublesome. Still, the military and civil officials did not have the patience to watch the competition for the whole day.

The Emperor had already dealt with the envoys from Rong State twice, and no longer had any interest in dealing with them again. Today’s competition was presided over by the Crown Prince, so Qi Yang was able to come and see Lu Qipei under the guise of watching the competition.

When it was about time, the Crown Prince went to the main seat located high above and said, “This competition is held for the sake of the alliance and friendship between the two countries…” After saying that friendship was the most important thing and competition was second, the Crown Prince changed the subject and said, “The Six Arts are quite complicated. After thinking about it, I think it would be enough to choose one and compete in it. I wonder what the Rong State envoys think?”

The leader of the Rong State envoys smiled when he heard this, and replied without looking at Xie Hongyi’s reaction, “I have no objection, but how would we make it fair?”

Translator notes:

There’s actually a paragraph after this listing the names of each of the five rituals, six musics etc, but the names can be a bit esoteric and sometimes don’t really describe what they’re actually about. After tearing my hair out for almost an hour trying to come up with a meaningful translation, I’ve decided to skip them as they don’t really matter that much to the story either.