Chapter 534 - 354: Who is Framing?
If one has sworn vengeance for their father’s murder, it is generally impossible to just let it slide without reason. Even if vengeance calms the raging fury, the heartache remains indelible. By the same token, Ran Yan claimed she had settled things, but in her heart, she still retained a profoundly poor impression of Li Ke. Being not one to easily let go of things, she would prefer to keep their interactions simple, despite believing he had no ill intentions.
Li Ke’s visit today, to make an apology, was already hard enough for him to accept given his aloof nature. Furthermore, seeing Ran Yan’s attitude, he found no need to shamelessly ingratiate himself and thus, managed to maintain composure with brief remarks before rising to take his leave.
Ran Yan saw him out. It was then that Liu Qingsong came downstairs, standing next to Ran Yan he watched the departing carriage and clicked his tongue.
"Do you know Li Ke well? Is he different from how he’s described in history?" Ran Yan whispered.
Liu Qingsong shook his head, "No, he has the same arrogance. He usually does not show a pleasant face to people, just like Jiulang."
Ran Yan frowned, "What a comparison! Yuezhi is much gentler than he is."
"No way, I haven’t even said much and you’re already defending him. Go randomly grab someone outside. If they say Jiulang is gentle, I’ll gouge out my eyeballs and give them to you to play marbles!" Liu Qingsong had suffered a lot under Xiao Song’s hands, and he would never allow anyone to say Song was gentle, "The fact is, Li Ke looks much more affable."
It was strange; Xiao Song was usually a cheerful person, and his laughter was quite hearty, yet no one felt he was approachable, whereas Li Ke was often very serious, rarely having a hearty laugh like Xiao Song, yet most people still found him gentler than Xiao Song.
Ran Yan did not want to argue and was about to go out when suddenly the street became noisy, with many people running towards the west.
"There’s something going on!" Liu Qingsong, who could hardly stay calm at gossip, immediately rushed out the door and grabbed a man dressed as a scholar, asking, "Young man, may I ask what happened?"
"You don’t know yet? The street ahead is in uproar, a woman was murdered in a tavern – and that woman is the daughter of Dou Yun, the richest man in Chang’an!" The scholar then shook off Liu Qingsong’s hand and hurriedly ran with the crowd.
Even rushing over would not guarantee seeing the body, but where incidents occurred, crowds would gather, and where there are crowds, there is news. Most people are just enthused by the gossip, eager to uncover and spread firsthand news.