The time the two spent together was always pleasant — relaxed and easy, as though they had known each other for many years.
In the blink of an eye, two incense sticks’ worth of time had passed. Though Huo Yan outside had not dared to urge them on, Mu Mu knew he could not keep this girl with him any longer. In times as sensitive as these, being found together with someone detained in the Military Training Building would invite gossip. This was something he did not want to draw Jiu’er into.
“It’s time to go back.” He tidied up the bowls and dishes and returned them to the food container.
Looking down at the delicate little girl before him, his heart was filled to the brim with reluctance. They had only been apart for half a day — and yet, somehow, he already missed her this much.
Feng Jiu’er gave a small nod, picked up the food container, cast him one last glance, and turned to leave.
But just as Jiu’er reached the doorway — before she could even open it — Mu Mu suddenly grabbed her by the arm from behind and pulled her back.
“Mu—”
Jiu’er’s wide, watery eyes stared at the man who had pulled her into his arms, and she immediately felt at a complete loss.
He… was holding her. And the way he looked at her — so intensely, so reverently.
Mu Mu said nothing. He simply held her, tightly, as though he did not want to let go for even a moment.
In his gaze, this girl’s beautiful eyes were limpid and clear — truly lovely. Her lips were parted ever so slightly, as though she had been startled. Those soft, delicate lips looked as though they might taste rather wonderful.
He stared at her lips for a long while. The depths of Mu Mu’s eyes grew darker and more unfathomable — and then, all of a sudden, he lowered his head and leaned toward her.
“Mu Mu!” Feng Jiu’er was startled and instinctively gave him a push.
The push was not especially forceful, but it was enough to bring Mu Mu sharply back to his senses.
He released her at once, his expression carrying a trace of complicated feeling. “I’m sorry. I just… couldn’t bear to let go.”
Feng Jiu’er’s cheeks flushed a faint pink. She did not know quite how to respond, only feeling that something between the two of them had, without warning, become strangely different.
“Don’t overthink it. Head back soon. Nothing will happen to me — there’s no need to worry.”
To spare her further embarrassment, Mu Mu returned to his chair and picked up his military text, resuming his reading.
He looked so composed, as though what had just passed between them had never happened at all.
It took Feng Jiu’er quite some effort to collect herself. She gave a small nod. “Oh!”
Then, food container in hand, she opened the door and stepped out.
Huo Yan accompanied her all the way out of the Military Training Building, not daring to let her out of his sight — for fear she might suddenly be seized by the impulse to turn around and go back to see Mu Mu.
Though he had no idea what had transpired between the two of them inside that room, the sounds he had heard, combined with the rosy flush now painting Feng Jiu’er’s cheeks, told him he had a fairly good idea.
His feelings were rather complicated. From the look of things, Feng Jiu’er and Mu Mu appeared to be quite close.
And yet… Feng Jiu’er and the Ninth Prince — were they not also quite close?
One young woman, two men — what exactly was this arrangement? Whom did Feng Jiu’er truly favor? Or did she favor both of them equally?
He truly did not want to think of Feng Jiu’er as someone fickle and flirtatious, and yet… he simply could not figure it out. It was giving him quite the headache.
What worried him most was this: would Mu Mu and the Ninth Prince end up at odds over the same young woman?
The two walked on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The moment they stepped through the front gate of the Military Training Building, Feng Jiu’er thrust the food container into Huo Yan’s arms.
“Captain, I have something to attend to — I need to head out for a bit. Would you mind looking after this container for me? Thank you, Captain!”
A light tap of her feet — and in an instant, she had vanished without a trace.
Huo Yan stared at the container in his arms, utterly helpless. What exactly did he look like a captain for? He was clearly nothing more than a servant.
Just as expected, there was a mark left by Qiao Mu on the largest tree at the back gate of the academy.
She had taken a room at an inn near the academy, and Feng Jiu’er found her without any difficulty.
“Do you want to stay here from now on, or go back to the mountain stronghold?” The moment she laid eyes on Qiao Mu, Feng Jiu’er asked her directly.
“Why? Do you have something for me to do?” Qiao Mu had already said she would follow Feng Jiu’er’s lead from here on out — so really, the question did not need to be asked.
“Good. Don’t go back to the stronghold. Stay and make your way in the Imperial City with me.” Seeing that her mind was already made up, Feng Jiu’er beckoned with a curl of her finger. She was short of people right now. “Come on — I’ll take you somewhere.”
They rode at a swift pace, and in no more than half an hour, they arrived at Snow Lotus Mountain on the outskirts of the Imperial City.
The mountain was remarkable — such an enormous peak, sitting right at the very edge of the Imperial City. It was said that the Emperor had at one point considered developing it; after all, the location was excellent, right on the city’s outskirts, and with some effort it could be turned into a scenic area or a military training ground.
But Snow Lotus Mountain was peculiar in the extreme. It was said that even in the scorching heat of midsummer, upon reaching the midpoint of the mountain, one would already be met with a sky full of swirling snow. And now that autumn had arrived, even the base of the mountain carried a sharp, piercing chill.
Such a remarkable place was truly unlike anything she had ever encountered.
Not many people could reach the summit. It was said that both the Ninth Prince and the Eighth Prince had made the ascent, as had Crown Prince Zhan Yuheng.
There was a legend that two snow lotus beasts lived at the peak, and that it was these two creatures who caused the mountain’s endless snowfall, season after season, without cease.
But none of those who had made it to the top had ever spotted any trace of snow lotus beasts — so whether it was merely a legend or whether the creatures truly existed, no one could say.
“Are you sure you want to go up?” The two arrived at the base of the mountain. Qiao Mu looked at the faint glimmer of white snow visible above and furrowed her brow. “Have you heard the legend of the snow lotus beasts? Those who go up — the lucky ones never encounter them. Those who do encounter them never come back down.”
“Do you actually believe there’s something like a snow lotus beast up there?” Feng Jiu’er was somewhat skeptical.
She was someone who had lived for twenty years in the twenty-first century. Though ten of those years were memories she could no longer retrieve, at least the remaining ten years of modern thinking were still with her. Ten years of a modern education was no small thing — she had been raised on science. Mythical creatures? Ridiculous. Such a thing was simply impossible.
“I’m not sure whether to believe it or not. I heard that the Ninth Prince, the Eighth Prince, and even the Crown Prince have all been up — but none of them ever reported seeing any trace of a snow lotus beast.”
“Exactly. So it’s nothing but a legend.”
Feng Jiu’er slung a specially made cloth bag around her waist, then handed one to Qiao Mu.
She looked upward, her eyes glinting with excitement.
“I don’t believe in snow lotus beasts. But based on my research into this mountain, I’m fairly certain there are snow lotuses at the summit. We might even find ancient ones.”
A truly wild-grown snow lotus was worth a fortune — nothing like those cultivated varieties from the modern era. And if they found ones of great age, the value was even more staggering — a single stalk could fetch over ten thousand taels!
Qiao Mu frowned, studying the barely concealed greed written all over her face. “You need money?”
Feng Jiu’er cinched her fitted jacket belt tighter, then immediately scrambled up the snowy mountain. “I do. Desperately. Unimaginably so. Let’s go!”