The Protagonist Feels Something's Amiss

 Chapter 5

The main consumers of Spring Breeze Tower* are mostly self-proclaimed elegant gentlemen or wealthy young masters. They are eloquent but often lack real skills.

[T/N-Previously Chunfeng Tower, chunfeng is a slur in my mother tounge so it was weird to keep using it so I decided to use it's English translation instead]

Seeing Chu Fan achieve a "8-2" score compared to his opponent, a group of people couldn't sit still with the results in the martial arts arena.

"Nonsense! It's clearly evenly matched, how come the scoring is so biased? This favoritism is too obvious!"

"Don't worry, Brother Liu, we'll ensure fairness for you."

"Exactly, even if you lose, you should lose fairly!"

Liu Kaixiong was the defeated one, feeling embarrassed, saying, "Anyway, I lost, let's not bother about the score." Their commotion certainly drew many eyes.

Chu Fan returned to his seat, feeling puzzled.

"Xiaoxiao, Spring Breeze Tower is not simple. I intentionally held back, pretending to narrowly win against Liu Kaixiong, but didn't expect it to be noticed."

Chu Xiaoxiao smiled and pointed to the observation platform, "Brother, don't underestimate the martial artists here. This is the capital of Da Qi, and it's natural to have hidden talents."

Chu Fan's eyes lit up, "Right! Du Yinyun is Du Lie's daughter, born into a martial family, exposed to martial arts from a young age, so it's not surprising she could see through me."

Du Yinyun!

A sweet smile still hung on Chu Xiaoxiao's face. However, under the unnoticed table, her two fair and tender fingers effortlessly crushed a glass into powder.

"Brother! It's not her!" Chu Xiaoxiao said coquettishly.

Only then did Chu Fan realize that besides the five girls on the observation platform, there was also a famous playboy—Wu Qinghou's young master, He Yunxiao.

"Could it be He Yunxiao?"

Chu Xiaoxiao tilted her head, poking her chin with her finger.

"Yeah... it should be him. I heard this marquis's son has the strength of the seventh rank."

"Seventh rank strength is quite impressive."

Due to his natural affinity for "generals" and "martial artists," the more Chu Fan thought about it, the more he became certain of his speculation about He Yunxiao's behavior.

He couldn't help but whisper, "Xiaoxiao, do you think it's possible that He Yunxiao isn't really such a womanizer, but he acts arrogantly to conceal his true abilities and to protect the Wu Qinghou family?"

[T/N- As I previously explained Wu Quinghou is a title given to Noble house for their military exploit in ancient China. But they are usually also the centre of envy . So it's common to sabotage their heirs or worse conspire against the family. Chu fan thought MC acted like a no-good womanizer to avoid These eyes.]

Chu Xiaoxiao placed her hands on her lap and gently shook her head obediently.

"Xiaoxiao doesn't know, but Xiaoxiao believes in Brother's judgment."

Chu Fan rephrased his question.

"Do you dislike He Yunxiao then?"

Chu Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"I don't dislike him."

Chu Fan nodded, thinking to himself: Xiaoxiao's intuition has always been accurate. If she doesn't dislike him, then He Yunxiao is probably not a bad person. But, isn't He Yunxiao the first man Xiaoxiao doesn't dislike? And even though this guy has been rude to Xiaoxiao, she still doesn't dislike him?

Xiaoxiao is sixteen this year, the age of youthful infatuation. When she went to buy candied haws earlier, He Yunxiao even helped her...

The more Chu Fan thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.

"Xiaoxiao, do you dislike me then?"

Chu Xiaoxiao blushed at the sudden question, her eyes flickering, and she spoke in a hurried manner, "Brother, why are you suddenly asking this for no reason?"

Seeing that his sister didn't want to answer, Chu Fan could only awkwardly change the subject with a smile.

However, even he didn't know that his gaze towards He Yunxiao on the observation platform was becoming inexplicably dangerous.

...

He Yunxiao had no idea about the protagonist Chu Fan's inner thoughts. He was currently Chu Xiaoxiao's henchman, tasked with one thing: driving away Du Yinyun, one of the "bad woman," from Chu Fan's side.

He poured wine and added dishes for Sister Jiang while sneakily glancing at the green-clad courtesan to his right.

Unlike other women who leaned back in their chairs, Du Yinyun always sat upright, her back straight, her tight-fitting clothes outlining her hourglass figure.

Expressionless on the surface, but upon closer inspection, there was a kind of indistinct sorrow between her brows and eyes, which made her pitiable.

He Yunxiao's favorability rating with Du Yinyun was as high as 55. He wondered how much favorability this girl had towards Chu Fan.

As he thought this, a system prompt suddenly popped up.

【Prompt: To check the target's favorability towards others, both individuals must be within sight simultaneously.】

Within sight simultaneously?

A clever idea struck He Yunxiao, and he quickly stood up.

"Sister, is your shoulder sore?"

Jiang Wuyou didn't know what trick He Yunxiao was up to again, so she hurriedly advised,

"The next martial arts match is about to start. Since you plan to judge for me, pay attention to it."

"What's so interesting about a bunch of men fighting? My Sister's sore shoulder is the top priority."

He Yunxiao stood behind Jiang Wuyou and without a word, began to massage her shoulders.

For modern people, this action might seem ordinary, but in the Ancient Nation of Da Qi , it held significant meaning.

Children massaging their mother's shoulders showed filial piety; wives massaging their husbands showed virtue; husbands massaging their wives showed affection. Besides these three situations, due to gender norms, even lovers might not hold hands during a date.

Moreover, He Yunxiao was no ordinary man; he was a marquis's son!

In Da Qi, titles were hereditary, and He Yunxiao was the eldest son, the future Wu Qinghou, a position firmly established. Although his reputation was very poor, his status was extraordinary if only in surface. Even if others didn't care about He Yunxiao, they had to consider his father, a general with military power.

So, although He Yunxiao had always been arrogant and disrespectful, the Marquis's son massaging and rubbing the shoulders of a courtesan from a brothel was truly shocking.

Not only Du Yinyun and the other girls were astonished, but even some of the diners downstairs began to stir.

"Yang Qi, look!"

Several people looked up and were shocked to the point horrified.

"This! A esteemed Marquis's son, massaging a courtesan? What kind of behavior is this?" Yang Qi, in his early twenties and handsome, was extremely astonished when he saw what He Yunxiao was doing.

"Brother Yang, you are this year's top scholar and also alredy a official in the court. He Yunxiao may be of lowly reputation, but he's undermining the dignity of us martial artists. What should we do?" 

"I may be a official indeed, but He Yunxiao is the son of the Marquis's mansion. The mansion's power is vast and deep-rooted. I've only just entered the court, and my voice is weak. It may be of no use," Yang Qi said in a solemn tone..

The group of young men were all in their early twenties, some were students from distant regions studying in the capital, and some were temporary guests of various mansions who couldn't secure official positions.

Yang Qi continued, "Qian Yuan, aren't you temporarily residing in the house of the Minister of Rites?"

The young man named Qian Yuan immediately responded, "Yes. I am from Jiangnan and currently reside in the mansion of the Minister of Rites, Li."

"The Minister of Rites is the nephew of the current Empress Dowager and the cousin of the Princess Consort. With this connection, I believe we can even persuade the Wu Qinghou. However, it may be too presumptuous to directly request the Minister of Rites. It would be better to ask the Minister's son, Li Jin, to come forward," Yang Qi suggested.

Qian Yuan and the others were puzzled by the sudden mention of the Minister of Rites and then the Empress Dowager.

In the end, Qian Yuan asked, "Brother Yang, why should we ask Li Jin to come over?"

Yang Qi motioned for everyone to come closer with his finger.

"Ten years ago, the late Emperor led an expedition to Northern Yan and passed away shortly after returning. At that time, the Crown Prince was still young, so the Empress and the Prime Minister governed the country. The Prime Minister at the time was Han Wenxin, who now wields great power in court, and the Empress is the current Empress Dowager."

Everyone nodded, indicating their understanding.

Yang Qi continued, "The Empress Dowager lacked governing ability and relied on her family. She was almost forced by the officials to jointly request the current Emperor to revoke the late Emperor's edict."

At this point, he paused.

Everyone looked at each other, knowing full well that the current Emperor was only eleven years old at the time of the attempted coup. How could he understand anything about edicts? It was clearly Prime Minister Han Wenxin seizing power from the Empress Dowager.

Yang Qi continued, "The Empress Dowager was forced into a corner and didn't want to relinquish power to the Prime Minister. Since the Emperor was still young, she could only delegate power to the Emperor's Eldest sister, the Imperial princess Meng Qingqian.*"

[T/N- here to clarify, by Emperor here means the little kid not the dead one , so by Emperor's Eldest Sister by it meant that kid big sister]

"Recently," Yang Qi lowered his voice even further, "recently, the situation in the court has become more tense than before. The Wu Qinghou belongs to the Prime Minister's faction, while the Minister of Rites belongs to the Empress Dowager's faction. Imperial princess Meng Qingqian won't let go of any opportunity to suppress the Prime Minister's power."

After hearing this, everyone sat upright, solemn and serious. Only Qian Yuan stood up to bid farewell and hurried off to the Ministry of Rites.

~~~End~~~