Yan Shisheng sat dazed against the wall, looking up at the young woman who was as radiant as spring sunshine, leaning at the window. She gazed down at him for quite a while before he remembered he should get up and bow.
But his elder brother and Guard Fang had trained him too harshly – his hair was soaked with sweat, his abdomen tight, his calves sore and numb, and he truly couldn’t stand up for the moment.
Moreover, seeing Mu Wanyao’s gently curved brows and eyes, she seemed to be in an excellent mood, not looking like she would lose her temper.
Yan Shisheng thus maintained his sitting posture and chatted with her in a somewhat casual tone: “How does my lady plan to help me? What if I love wealth and riches, what if I love beautiful maidens?”
Mu Wanyao smiled sweetly: “If you love wealth and riches, I’ll have people load money on horseback for you to chase after. If you love beautiful maidens, I’ll have my maids mount horses for you to pursue. I won’t deceive you – each of my maids is as beautiful as flowers, and in…”
She abbreviated that place name she was about to mention, not speaking it out loud, glossing over it casually.
Yan Shisheng pondered: Why wouldn’t she mention that place name? What was wrong with it? Was she afraid of people knowing, or did she not want people to know?
Mu Wanyao: “I’m asking you a question, why are you spacing out?”
Yan Shisheng then answered: “Then my lady’s kindness would be wasted. I neither love wealth and riches, nor beautiful maidens.”
Mu Wanyao raised an eyebrow, still smiling: “Then what do you love? Fame? Power?”
Yan Shisheng shook his head, smiling lightly: “Not those either.”
Mu Wanyao fell silent then, her clear dark eyes fixed on him, judging whether he was speaking truth or just putting on airs.
The young scholar’s attitude was proper, his character pure and refined, his eyes clean and bright, truly seeming without vain desires…
But Mu Wanyao’s face darkened, and she gave a cold laugh.
How could a man be without desires? Whether high officials or lowly commoners, given any chance, they would abandon everything to climb higher. Abandoning wives and children was commonplace, and murder and arson were everyday occurrences.
How could Yan Shisheng be different from other men? What right did he have to be different from other men?
In a world full of filth, what right did he have to remain pure?
His words were nothing but pretense and affectation.
Mu Wanyao spoke flatly: “Oh, no interest? What a pity then, without love for fame or beauty, you’ll amount to nothing in this life.”
With that, she slammed the window above Yan Shisheng shut with a “bang.”
Yan Shisheng was bewildered—
Now that the weather had cleared, Chunhua wanted to suggest the princess set out for Nanhai, to meet her uncle sooner and conclude matters here quickly.
But now because the princess was waiting for Yan Shisheng to finish making the face cream, Mu Wanyao had sent a letter to Nanhai, telling her uncle she would be delayed.
Not to mention how worried Li Zhi, the County Magistrate of Nanhai and Mu Wanyao’s uncle, was about her, Mu Wanyao temporarily remained at the Yan household, dragging Yan Shisheng before her, waiting for the face cream.
As evening approached, the maids and guards waited outside, and through the bamboo screen, they could see the silhouettes of a man and woman reflected on the Xuanli screen.
They dared not look too much, and now they were with the Yan family’s youngest daughter Yan Xiaozhou, watching the wine bubbling as it heated over the stove.
People of the time liked heated wine, not cold wine. They would heat it slowly over a low flame, and when the wine was hot enough to warm the stomach, it was considered one of life’s supreme pleasures.
The previous Lingxi Bolo had been given to the princess, so naturally, there was none left. But Lingnan was different from the Central Plains – every household in Lingnan brewed wine, and the Yan family had other fine wines, so the maids and guards were naturally desperate to taste them.
The fragrance of wine from the stove outside drifted in through the window, while inside the room, lanterns were lit, and Mu Wanyao reclined on a brocade couch with an armrest to one side for her to lean against.
Smelling the wine fragrance, Mu Wanyao, who had been resting with closed eyes, opened them to look at Yan Shisheng sitting to the side.
On the long table before Yan Shisheng, books were on the left, while the right was filled with baskets of materials – there was baifuzi, baizhi, gansongxiang, muxiang, huoxiang… numerous ingredients, twenty or thirty kinds in total.
These materials were all provided by Mu Wanyao’s side, while the craftsmanship of grinding the face cream was left to Yan Shisheng.
Yan Shisheng had been sitting here since morning, trying many times, but still couldn’t perfectly recreate what Mu Wanyao’s mother had made. Yet Yan Shisheng didn’t get discouraged, continuing to try again and again.
Mu Wanyao just sat beside him, watching him struggle with great interest all day.
He kept his eyes lowered, his expression solemn, not speaking a word, and this appearance in Mu Wanyao’s eyes was truly interesting.
Now smelling the wine fragrance, Mu Wanyao stared at Yan Shisheng’s profile, realizing he hadn’t changed his position for quite a while. Mu Wanyao reached for a fan nearby, changing to a casual kneeling posture.
She fanned herself, perhaps because the room was stuffy and she hadn’t spoken for too long, when she opened her mouth her voice was soft and lazy, enchanting to the bone: “Young Lord.”
However, her flirtatious glance was wasted on a blind man.
Yan Shisheng didn’t react.
Mu Wanyao threw her pearl-inlaid feather fan at Yan Shisheng’s back, calling again: “Young Lord!”
Yan Shisheng turned his face sideways, looking at her in surprise: “…Are you calling me?”
Why had she changed how she addressed him again?
Mu Wanyao hummed, and as he got up to return the fan she had thrown, she propped her chin on the feather fan, smiling: “They’re drinking wine outside, such fragrant wine. Would Young Lord like a cup?”
Yan Shisheng smiled slightly, shaking his head: “I fear it would interfere with my work, I don’t drink by nature.”
Mu Wanyao: “…”
She looked him up and down, wondering what kind of strange creature he was. Only seventeen years old, yet able to resist drinking. In all of Great Wei, the number of monsters who didn’t drink could probably be counted on one’s fingers.
Mu Wanyao sneered: “You’re too cautious.”
He smiled slightly, saying nothing more, continuing to lower his head and study the cream according to the book. Mu Wanyao saw several versions laid out before him, but he still wasn’t satisfied.
Mu Wanyao was somewhat bored.
Sitting close to him, seeing Yan Shisheng’s calm and quiet, pure and desireless manner, she couldn’t help wanting to disturb him.
She extended her foot, gently poking his back with her toe. Mu Wanyao: “Young Lord!”
The lady’s foot kicking him was neither light nor heavy, seeming both punishment and flirtation. It made one’s heart both hot and cold, and an electric shiver ran up his spine.
Yan Shisheng stiffly turned his head, and behind the lamplight, her collar was slightly open, flowing with warm milky light.
His face suddenly felt hot, and after turning his face away he said awkwardly: “…My lady should stop calling me ‘Young Lord.'”
It made him break out in a cold sweat.
Mu Wanyao ignored him, chatting with him: “Let me ask you, that day when my maids were stripped of their hair for falsely accusing your third brother, and then received thirty strokes, you remember that, right?”
Yan Shisheng lowered his head, giving a faint “mm.”
Mu Wanyao propped her chin: “Did you visit them afterward, bring them medicine?”
Yan Shisheng was surprised, not understanding why she asked this. He shook his head: “I didn’t.”
Mu Wanyao: “Oh, treating people differently, are we? You visit Guard Fang when he’s injured, but not my maids when they’re injured. I don’t understand why.”
Yan Shisheng said nothing and didn’t turn around.
Mu Wanyao unhurriedly fanned herself, and since he wouldn’t answer, she again extended her foot to poke him. Her brocade dress trailed embroidery, and her jeweled shoes were luxurious, poking Yan Shisheng’s waist again and again.
While her voice carried a smile: “Young Lord, why are you ignoring me again?”
Yan Shisheng was finally forced to respond.
He stood up, sitting farther from her before answering: “Miss Mu, I’m not a saint. That day I saw with my own eyes how they falsely accused my third brother, and my third brother was nearly wounded by your sword. How could I not blame them, and how could I visit them without reservations? I’m not that kindhearted.”
Mu Wanyao was surprised: “Aren’t you indiscriminately kind?”
Yan Shisheng raised his head helplessly: “When was I ever indiscriminately kind?”
His long eyes met her round, clear ones, and as they gazed at each other for a moment, in the silence, they suddenly felt the atmosphere turn strange.
Both inconspicuously moved their gazes away.
Yan Shisheng lowered his head to work on the cream.
Mu Wanyao touched her chest, somewhat distracted.
She spaced out for a while, thinking of who knows what, then suddenly asked Yan Shisheng: “Why haven’t you finished making the cream yet? It’s so late, you’re still not leaving, could it be you’re trying to linger here?”
Yan Shisheng: “…”
He answered in a gentle voice: “I’ve been studying all day but cannot completely recreate the cream your mother left you. Now it’s only seventy or eighty percent similar, I’m afraid I’ll need two more days to research…”
Mu Wanyao interrupted: “Seventy or eighty percent similar is enough, no need to spend more effort on it. When it’s done, just give it to my maid.”
Now it was Yan Shisheng’s turn to look up at her in surprise.
Mu Wanyao spoke flatly: “My mother wasn’t that good to me either, seventy or eighty percent similarity is like her seventy or eighty percent kindness to me. When she gave me this face cream back then, it was for my wedding. She just wanted me to remember her kindness and obediently let her arrange things. It’s all over now, there’s really no need for it to be completely identical. You can go.”
Yan Shisheng fell silent, shocked.
He blurted out: “For your wedding? You’ve been married?”
Mu Wanyao: “…”
Her enchanting eyes frosted over with a layer of cold, glaring sideways: “Why are you so shocked? Looking down on me? Despising me?!”
Yan Shisheng hurriedly said: “I wouldn’t dare, I just…”
Just thought she was too young, really couldn’t tell she was a married woman. And for a married woman to come to Lingnan…
Yan Shisheng hesitated for a long time, not asking the words “Where is your husband?”
Because Mu Wanyao was already slapping the table, erupting in fury: “Get up! Get out!”
This time she was truly angry, completely different from her previous playfulness.
Yan Shisheng was caught off guard, and driven out of the room. He turned back wanting to apologize, but the door was already slammed shut, nearly breaking his nose—
Mu Wanyao was in a foul mood.
That night, she had a dream, returning to her wedding feast from two years ago.
She had never dreamed of that grand wedding before, because it was a nightmare. She had personally shattered that nightmare, her heart was without guilt, and she didn’t want to relive it. Yet tonight she dreamed of it.
She dreamed of vast plains and thousands of troops. The fifteen-year-old Princess Danyang wore floor-length vermillion ceremonial robes, pearls, and jade hanging at her forehead. Her clouds of hair were adorned with flowers, she was dignified and noble as she descended from her carriage. Her dress spread across the plain like the brilliance of the sunset.
This incomparable magnificent beauty symbolized all of Great Wei.
The vermillion robes and red banners were silent behind her, flags fluttering emptily in the air Princess Danyang and her husband’s heads, eagles soaring and circling in the sky, letting out clear cries.
Princess Danyang stood expressionlessly before tens of thousands, waiting for her husband to take her hand, to share blood with her, to establish their covenant, promising never to betray each other.
Mu Wanyao waited for a long time but didn’t see the cold hand that had grabbed her when she was fifteen. Her heart was undisturbed as she calmly looked over—but this glance suddenly shocked her.
In her dream, the newly-wedded husband standing beside her had elegant features and a jade-like temperament. This husband was no longer that person, but rather… the Yan family’s second son, Yan Shisheng.
Mu Wanyao: “…”