'That was very foolish and silly of me.' Chu Yu walked out of Rong Zhi's courtyard and smiled in self-mockery.
When she read novels that revolved around the theme of time-traveling in her past life, she had once disapproved of the notion of worrying about changing history. However, she was surprised to find herself feeling depressed when it was her turn now.
She did not have the courage to take risks easily because she was involved in this situation.
Rather than describing her actions as being overcautious and indecisive, the most basic reason behind her hesitation for such a long time was actually nothing but the respect she had for history that was ingrained in her bones. She did not have the boldness to change the direction in which the river flowed so casually due to her respect for history.
After making up her mind at last and unburdening herself, Chu Yu could not help feeling enlightened and relieved when she looked back at her struggles over the days. She could not refrain herself from feeling amused as well. What was the use of her respect? History was her doom. If she did not make any changes, how would she live?
As a result, her days' worth of worries could be summarized in ten words. The words would be—very foolish, very naive, very stupid, and so very silly.
However, what was the significance of a person's existence in the world if the person had never been silly before?
She turned around to find that Rong Zhi's silhouette had already been blocked by the bamboo shoots separating both of them. Chu Yu could only see a stretch of lush green vegetation before herself. She squinted her eyes ever so slightly while her lips were arched into a very shallow curvature. A moment later, her facial muscles relaxed as she suddenly shouted loudly, "Haaaa!". She shrugged as if she was bidding farewell to her past for the very last time.
Soon after that, she paid no attention to Yue Jiefei's astonishment by her side and continued to leave in long strides. She needed closure after all.
When her life was at stake, history and dignity were nothing. She thought to herself as she smiled wryly, 'Please allow me to…create a little havoc.'
…
She went over to meet Huan Yuan after leaving Rong Zhi. Yonder Residence no longer looked like how it was in the past after going through the alterations these days. As a token of her sincerity and trust, Chu Yu pulled the guards guarding in front of Huan Yuan's doors back. Although there was no need for Rong Zhi to report his whereabouts, there was a limit to his freedom naturally. He was still required to report to her if he were to leave the residence.
As soon as she entered Yonder Residence, she was met by Huan Yuan's slightly pale face. His lips were pursed into a thin line. His pair of serene, graceful eyes were scanning through the account book rapidly as his left hand flipped through the pages of the account book while his unoccupied right hand inscribed wonderful strokes across the page. Lines of words flowed out from the tip of the calligraphy brush to make important notes.
When Chu Yu walked into the room, Huan Yuan appeared to be overly focused on the task that he did not realize her presence. She smirked and made her way to take a seat in front of his console table and waited quietly for him to discover her presence.
She waited for a long moment before he placed down the calligraphy brush as if he was fatigued. He raised his hand to pinch the area between his brows just in time to catch a glimpse of Chu Yu sitting in front of him.
Huan Yuan was stunned for a moment. Due to his current position, he felt that he was supposed to leave his seat to salute her in a panic. Still, he was feeling rather recalcitrant and uneasy in his heart, so his body froze on the same spot.
Upon noticing the apparent struggle on his face, Chu Yu smiled and waved her hand to dismiss him. She stuck her head forward to take a glance at the account book. Then, she asked casually, "How's work?"
"I'm trying my best." Huan Yuan's answer was neither humble nor arrogant. It was a steady answer. However, he paused for a moment before he could not stop himself from saying, "But I feel that I've been swarmed with various affairs over the days. In the past, these affairs were in perfect order when handled by Rong Zhi. I'm beginning to think that Rong Zhi is truly…"
Chu Yu continued to smile at the moment of his pause. "What?"
"Deep beyond fathomable."
He did his utmost effort just to manage the affairs well with a desperate attempt. It felt as if these affairs could be managed perfectly in an instant when tasked to Rong Zhi. Even though this was slightly related to Rong Zhi's experience in managing affairs, he could not help feeling like he was beholding a great man in awe. It was a formless pressure that was exerted upon him such that he felt like he was almost suffocating.
Chu Yu smiled and patted his shoulder encouragingly. She removed her hand upon noticing that his body stiffened at her touch. She spoke softly, "Don't be dejected. I'm not asking you to be on the same par as Rong Zhi now. I'm only giving you the opportunity to learn to manage some affairs." Even though time and tide wait for no man, if she were to pressure Huan Yuan too much to the point that he was crushed even before he could grow, all her previous efforts would go to waste.
She considered it for a moment before she informed him, "I'm assigning you to these affairs because I have plans naturally. It is not to get you on par with Rong Zhi and there's no need for you to compare yourself to him. You have your strengths too." Chu Yu paused for a moment then she bit her lip and smiled. She spoke while looking straight at him, "I think that Rong Zhi will never possess the talent of your eloquence that you demonstrated in the poetry society the other day no matter how capable he is."
Although Chu Yu mentioned the incident unintentionally, Huan Yuan immediately thought of the cliff incident from the other day. After the eventful day, Yue Jiefei had sent over someone to investigate the incident, but he was not implicated. It felt as if someone had destroyed the clues intentionally.
He heaved a sigh softly. 'I gift thee arsenic, thou beseech me driftwood.' [1]
Had it not been him who hired the assassin, he would have suspected that it was Chu Yu who arranged the incident intentionally just to draw people to her side. It was precisely due to his hiring the assassin that Huan Yuan found that he was immensely shocked by the incident more than he would have been otherwise.
Why, why did you stretch out your hand to help?
Huan Yuan stared at Chu Yu. There was even a wisp of barely discernible resentment in his mixed-up feelings. Why did it have to be her? If it were someone else, then he would not feel troubled by such conflicting feelings to repay her favor, would he?
He looked at Chu Yu absentmindedly. Subconsciously, she examined her body to analyze if there was something wrong with herself. Then, she touched her face to determine if her face was fine before she felt slightly relieved. She checked the account book and found that she could not understand it very well, so she made the decision to give up cultivating her talent in this area. She asked Huan Yuan at once, "How much have you taken over these days?" What she meant was how much of Rong Zhi's power had he taken over.
Huan Yuan was startled by her words. He hastily calmed himself before he answered, "By more than half."
Almost all the gold and provisions in the treasury were already within his control now. On the other hand, Rong Zhi had already passed over the general duty of mobilizing manpower in staffing and personnel assignment. However, Yue Jiefei was tasked with the duty of arranging defense forces. "Rong Zhi has almost passed all the other affairs to me, but there are still a few that he insists on not passing over."
Chu Yu's expression remained safe though her eyelids fluttered. "What are those?"
"Spices, medicinal herbs, and imperial medicinal affairs." When he made the attempt to take over Rong Zhi's duty of managing affairs, Rong Zhi passed all his tasks to him almost generously. However, Rong Zhi had also established that Huan Yuan was allowed to take everything else except for these three affairs. He emphasized that Huan Yuan was not allowed to have any ideas to seize these three affairs and he also declared that he would not be passing these duties to anyone else.
Spices, medicinal herbs and imperial medicinal affairs.
Every time Huan Yuan enunciated one of these three terms, Chu Yu raised her eyebrows once. She lowered her gaze and replied indifferently, "I bet he's keeping the duties of the medicinal herbs and imperial medicinal affairs so that he can make arrangements to treat Hua Cuo's injuries." By asking around, she learned that Rong Zhi was skilled in the art of healing. At least, he was so experienced that the two doctors from the imperial medicinal affairs that would come to seek his guidance occasionally.
"As for spices…" Chu Yu could not refrain herself from touching the perfume pouch suspended on her waist. She gave it a gentle flick and it unleashed a faint scent that spread out in the air. "Let him keep that. You are to manage the affairs passed on to you temporarily. When the time is right, I have something to hand over to you too."
Before she left, she comforted Huan Yuan by encouraging him not to feel so dejected. On the other hand, she advised him not to push himself so hard because she would be done for if he was exhausted. Then, she announced that she would send someone over with nourishing tonic for him.
Suddenly, she suddenly heard a loud roar of voices coming from the outside.
Translator's note:
[1] It means "Here I am trying to kill you with arsenic, but you're trying to save me from drowning with driftwood."