Of the two sitting there, one was the cherished young lady of the marquis residence. The outer corners of her eyes were slightly elongated, giving her an aura of quiet, effortless authority.
The other was County Princess Yunhe, personally titled by the reigning emperor. Her father, the Prince of the East, was said to command some of the most formidable martial might in the Great Li Dynasty.
She had been raised in the imperial palace from infancy under the empress dowager's personal tutelage. Thus, though she bore the rank of a county princess, her retinue and privileges were identical to those of an imperial daughter. Even here in Yuanjiang Prefecture, she had a temporary palace of her own!
Now, the two sat in the octagonal pavilion admiring the snow and flowers. The snow piled on the pavilion's roof was already thick enough to sag over the edges, and a few crystal-clear icicles hung from the eaves, gleaming a cold blue in the dim light.
Two bronze braziers burned inside the pavilion. The charcoal fire roared, baking the interior until it was comfortably warm.
Not far from them, at the entrance to the garden, a crowd of bondservants huddled their necks into their collars against the swirling snow, bending low over the stone path outside the veranda to sweep with all their strength.
Several thinly clad servant boys were straining together to push a wheelbarrow, hauling the swept snow to the drainage ditch beyond the garden to dump it.
Inside the octagonal pavilion, the two noblewomen sat with their backs to them. They could not see these people, and the hems of their garments had never been touched by the wind and snow.
Not far outside the pavilion, those bent-backed, hunch-shouldered figures seemed ever smaller and drabber against the vast white landscape.
Now and then, they would lift their heads for a furtive glance at the two beauties in rich silk robes far away in the pavilion, only to lower their heads again and swing their brooms harder—as if by sweeping fast enough and clean enough, the cold and suffering brought by this heavy snow could be swept right into that invisible ditch with it.Just then, several bondservants caught sight of a figure.
The figure stepped out from the side of the veranda, carrying a vase with a flower arrangement in his hands, striding forward through the wind and snow.
"Who is that?" the steward in charge of sweeping furrowed his brow. Someone beside him immediately answered in a low voice, "A government slave from the front servants' quarters! The snow is heavy today, so he was called in temporarily on your orders, Steward!"
"A government slave?" The steward, a man already in his fifties, narrowed his eyes in alarm. "The county princess and the young lady hold exalted positions. If this government slave offends them..."
He broke into a cold sweat. Not even waiting to order the servants beside him, he hunched over and chased after the government slave!
"He's heading straight for the pavilion. Is he... tired of living? And where did that flower arrangement come from?"
The other servants kept sweeping, but their eyes could not help stealing toward that thin back.
The rules of the Baosu Marquis Residence were exceptionally strict. For a servant to disturb the masters without orders was a major crime!
Especially since Chen Lingxi possessed the lowest possible status as a government slave.
"Maybe he was ordered to?"
"He came here to sweep with us—what orders could he possibly get?"
They exchanged low murmurs.
Meanwhile, the steward hurried forward with his back bent, only to find that he could not catch up to Chen Lingxi at all, which made him grow ever more anxious.
Fortunately, a guard stationed not far from the octagonal pavilion spotted the two approaching at a rapid pace.
The guard's name was Wu Zheng. A dark-faced man in his thirties with a saber at his waist, his eyes flashed with vigilance the moment they fell upon Chen Lingxi and the steward.
In an instant, a faint, silver-white halo like moonlight shimmered around his body before vanishing just as quickly.
With only a few strides, he crossed over a hundred chi to stand directly before Chen Lingxi.
"Who goes there!"
Wu Zheng barked.
After two days of scheming, he had finally found his chance. Chen Lingxi, who had been striding forward, suddenly froze.
A piercing, bone-chilling cold seemed to rise from his very marrow!
It was cold to the absolute extreme.
He felt as though a basin of ice water had been dumped over his head, soaking through his flesh to flood straight into his heart and lungs.
He was pinned to the spot, unable to move an inch!
Behind him, the steward looked as though he had been struck by lightning, freezing where he stood as his body trembled uncontrollably.
"The noble ladies are admiring the flowers. Why do you intrude?"
Because this was the Baosu Marquis Residence, Wu Zheng did not strike; he merely barked his question in a low, heavy voice.
With a single question, the chilling pressure on Chen Lingxi and the steward vanished instantly.
Chen Lingxi found the guard's methods profoundly mystical. Just as he was about to answer, the steward behind him hurriedly said, "Sir, this slave lost his way. I will take him back right now."
As he spoke, he stepped forward to grab Chen Lingxi's arm.
Yet Chen Lingxi took a deep breath, drawing air into his chest as if he meant to cry out at the top of his lungs.
"Hmph!"
Wu Zheng seemed to see through Chen Lingxi's intent and let out a soft hmph.
The sound entered Chen Lingxi's ears, and every bone in his body felt as if it had frozen once more—as though someone had stuffed all the snow in the courtyard into his frame.
Another breath of icy air felt trapped in his chest; he could neither exhale nor inhale, left agonizingly suspended.
"Take him away."
Wu Zheng shot the steward a glance and turned away.
The steward hastily waved over two servants sweeping snow nearby. The pair abandoned their wheelbarrow and hurried over.
A single cold hmph actually plunged me into an ice cavern, freezing my whole body solid until I couldn't even make a sound.
Chen Lingxi was astonished beyond measure, yet he forced himself to stay calm.
If I fail and get dragged off by these people, I'll be punished... For a government slave to approach the masters without cause and ignore the steward's orders, I'll be flayed alive even if I survive. If they hand me back to the government office, it's certain death.
After this, getting close to them will be even harder.
So how do I break free from this restraint?
His mind raced wildly. This guard must be a martial expert with profound cultivation. The martial path...
The martial path!
A flash of inspiration struck Chen Lingxi's mind. He instinctively began breathing in and out according to the breathing technique he had learned from Lin Suri!
In a split second, wisps of clear qi flowed through his limbs and bones, merging together before surging upward!
The mass of air wedged in his chest was struck by the clear qi and actually loosened.
It was not fully cleared away, but it gave Chen Lingxi enough breath to speak...
"Chen Lingxi requests... an audience with the young lady... to present a flower arrangement."
His voice was hoarse and extremely faint, yet he had spent every ounce of his strength, his face flushing crimson!
Wu Zheng, who had already turned to walk away, paused. A distinct flash of surprise crossed his face as he looked back.
Chen Lingxi's voice was so low that even the steward standing nearby could not hear it clearly.
Yet in the octagonal pavilion in the distance, the two young ladies who had been facing away from the crowd seemed to have heard every word. They turned around together.
A look of surprise appeared on County Princess Yunhe's face.
Lin Longyue, however, knitted her brows slightly as she turned, her gaze cold and calm.
"Truly... looking for death!" the sweeping steward was almost frantic. He hurriedly dropped to the ground, prostrating himself toward the two noble ladies.
Letting someone like the county princess witness a joke in the marquis residence—this guy is dead for sure, and I'm going to be dragged down with him...
Before his thoughts could settle, he suddenly heard Lin Longyue speak.
The cherished daughter of the marquis residence actually called out, "Hold your flower arrangement and come forward!"
Lin Longyue's voice was soft, but everyone heard it clearly.
Wu Zheng stopped in his tracks, and the pressure weighing on Chen Lingxi vanished instantly.
Fine sweat coated Chen Lingxi's body; Wu Zheng's qi and blood had pressed down on him so hard that he was nearly exhausted.
Even so, he took a deep breath, straightened his robes with one hand while holding the arrangement with the other, and did his best to walk forward.
As he passed Wu Zheng, the guard gave him an approving glance.
Chen Lingxi kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, walking right up to the octagonal pavilion.
Before he even drew close, County Princess Yunhe actually stood up, her clear eyes falling on the flower arrangement in his hands.
Seeing the county princess rise, Lin Longyue stood up as well, her gaze locked onto the arrangement from start to finish.
"Bring it up."
As Chen Lingxi approached, Lin Longyue spoke. A maidservant beside her immediately stepped out of the octagonal pavilion, took the arrangement from Chen Lingxi's hands, and respectfully set it down on the table.
With the arrangement close at hand, the attention of both noble ladies was completely drawn to it.
"This vase is actually an unfired clay vessel."
County Princess Yunhe studied the vase. It was a reddish-brown earth color, with moisture still seeping outward from the walls of the clay, lending the entire vessel a subtle, matte sheen.
Yet when her gaze moved higher, she was stunned by its beauty!
A locust branch was set obliquely into the wet clay. Where it bent, the bark had split open to reveal the pale green-white wood beneath. Snow had gathered on the crack, softened by the dampness of the clay vessel, lingering on the verge of melting.
Beside the locust branch leaned a single spray of wintersweet.
The blossoms were sparse—no more than three or five—and each flower was so thin it looked sculpted from yellow wax. The translucent petals glowed faintly in the cold light. One blossom opened right against the scarred callus of the locust branch, releasing a fragrance so delicate it smelled like snow-washed water.
At the lowest point, growing close to the clay, was a stem of white calyx. The slender stalk emerged from the wet mud, bearing two flower buds on the verge of opening, a white so pure it bordered on green—like the white of porcelain before the glaze was fired.
Locust branch, snow, wintersweet, white calyx...
The four elements looked as though they had grown out of the clay vessel together.
The dark gray of the locust branch, the waxy yellow of the wintersweet, and the porcelain green of the white calyx—three colors that should never have belonged together—were unified by the reddish-brown of the wet clay.
That touch of yellow from the wintersweet landed precisely beside the split callus of the locust branch, like a sliver of light blooming out of the clay vessel. The white calyx rested against the mud, its buds leaning slightly toward the locust branch as if growing straight out of the branch's shadow cast upon the earth.
And the snow resting among the three became a fourth color—an impartial, perfectly balanced white.
"How beautiful."
County Princess Yunhe murmured to herself.
Lin Longyue could not help nodding as well. "Coexisting in the same space without intruding upon one another, complementing each other so well..."
County Princess Yunhe remarked, "And they aren't rare, costly blossoms. Finding elegance among common things is the hardest of all."
At last, a spark of delight arose in her heart. "This arrangement isn't just beautiful; its symbolism is auspicious, and it is exceptionally unique.
"Perhaps I can send it into the palace to win a smile from Imperial Consort Chun?"
Lin Longyue reined in the wonder in her eyes and smiled. "If you are fond of it, Princess, just take this arrangement back with you."
County Princess Yunhe did not stand on ceremony, but her gaze drifted until it came to rest on Chen Lingxi.
"To think the Baosu Marquis Residence actually hides a young man so skilled in the arts of elegance. This works out well... Wouldn't it be better to see more of his floral arrangements? It will save me the trouble of summoning someone from the capital."
Lin Longyue smiled and nodded.
Chen Lingxi said not a word, standing outside the octagonal pavilion.
The cold snowflakes fell softly. It was not a heavy snow, yet in the short span of half an hour, it had already covered Chen Lingxi from head to toe.
From a distance, he looked like a snowman.
The two noble ladies paid him no heed until the end of the Shen hour, when County Princess Yunhe finally rose to depart.
As she left, she took the locust branch arrangement with her, but she did not spare Chen Lingxi another glance.
Wu Zheng, trailing behind the county princess, looked at Chen Lingxi several times.
Lin Longyue rose to see her guest off while Chen Lingxi continued to stand waiting before the octagonal pavilion, already shivering slightly from the cold...
A quarter of an hour later, Lin Longyue returned, wearing a cloak with her hands clasped behind her back.
The crimson cloak seemed to possess unique properties; the snowflakes that landed upon it melted and evaporated in an instant.
She took her seat once more inside the octagonal pavilion, drank a sip of hot tea, and finally let her eyes fall on Chen Lingxi.
Only...
The eyes of the young lady of the marquis residence were now radiating a cold, cutting light.
"Official bondservant?"
"Did you think that just because County Princess Yunhe wanted to see your flower arrangement, it would erase your crime of intrusion?"