When she finished the last stroke and raised her head, she discovered that someone had appeared beside her. After seeing who it was, she hurriedly threw away the withered branch in her hand and curtsied: “Greetings, Second Young Master!”
The visitor was none other than Li Shimin. He had returned from Qingchun Garden, and when passing through the back garden, he noticed someone dancing, so he came over to take a look, never expecting it to be Yunyi and the others.
“Rise.” Li Shimin carefully examined the drawing on the ground. Though it had few strokes, it captured both form and spirit, perfectly outlining Jiang Caiping’s demeanor. This level of artistic skill was something even he couldn’t match.
Seeing him staring at the drawing, Yunyi inwardly groaned. How unfortunate that he had to see it! She quickly erased the ground drawing with her foot and laughed lightly: “I was just drawing randomly. I hope Second Young Master won’t laugh at me.”
Li Shimin looked at her deeply: “If this is your random drawing, then when you’re being careful, even those masters probably couldn’t match you.”
“Second Young Master, please don’t tease me. I just… have liked drawing things since I was little, and I secretly listened to a few painting lessons when the teacher was instructing at the village private school, so I can barely make it presentable, but it’s still far from being refined.”
“You’re being modest.” During their conversation, Jiang Caiping also noticed Li Shimin, stopped dancing and came over to pay her respects. Li Shimin only glanced at her briefly before focusing his attention on Yunyi again.
No matter how talented a person might be, without a master’s guidance, it would be difficult to create such a lifelike drawing. Meixue… was most likely lying!
Although his previous attempts at testing her hadn’t revealed any flaws, he still felt that this woman was suspicious. Now, seeing such exquisite artistic skill, he was even more doubtful. Was Meixue actually in league with the assassin, or… was her disguise technique so advanced that it was impossible to tell true from false?
Yunyi feared that continuing would let Li Shimin see more flaws, so she lowered her eyes: “If Second Young Master has no instructions, we shall take our leave first.” As she spoke, tiny bits of ice cold fell on her face—it was snow.
Just as she was preparing to leave with Jiang Caiping, Li Shimin suddenly grabbed her hand: “Come, I’ll take you somewhere!”
Yunyi was startled by his sudden action and hurriedly said: “Second Young Master, where are you taking me?”
“You’ll naturally know when we get there.” Saying this, he addressed Jiang Caiping beside them: “You go back first. I’ll personally escort Meixue back later.”
Jiang Caiping had always felt that Li Shimin was interested in Yunyi, so naturally she wouldn’t object. She quickly lowered her head in agreement, and when Li Shimin wasn’t looking, she even made an encouraging gesture to Yunyi, indicating that she should seize the opportunity well, leaving Yunyi quite speechless.
Yunyi, fearing she might expose herself, didn’t dare struggle too much and let Li Shimin drag her all the way to the mansion gate. When she heard Li Shimin telling the servants to prepare horses, she couldn’t help asking again: “Second Young Master, where exactly are we going? It’s already snowing.”
“It’s precisely because it’s snowing that we must go.”
“Why?” Faced with Yunyi’s puzzled gaze, Li Shimin didn’t explain, only saying to Duan Zhihong who was following beside them: “I nearly forgot—go fetch writing materials, and also dry provisions and water.”
After Duan Zhihong complied and brought the items, the servants also led over Li Shimin’s mount—a fine horse with an azure mane.
After packing the writing materials into the leather pouch on the horse’s side, Duan Zhihong said to the servants: “Bring my horse over too.”
Before the servants could respond, Li Shimin said: “You don’t need to come. Go handle the matter I assigned you earlier.”
“But Second Young Master cannot be without an escort.” Duan Zhihong glanced at Yunyi, and Li Shimin understood his meaning: “It’s fine. I’m just going to West Mountain; it won’t take much time. Oh, and last time the people from Ji Garden came to report that they were short of rice and grain, and they feared they couldn’t distribute rice porridge on the first day of next month. Have Steward Lin prepare it and deliver it personally. Set out immediately, and be careful on the way—don’t disturb the common people.”
Duan Zhihong showed a trace of confusion. Ji Garden had indeed sent people to report, but yesterday Second Young Master had already had Steward Lin send over a full three hundred pounds of finest white rice. Why was he saying this now? And asking him to personally transport it—how strange. Could it be… was Second Young Master hinting at something? Set out immediately… don’t disturb the common people… disturb…
Duan Zhihong had followed Li Shimin for several years and had some understanding of his thoughts. After pondering for a while, a dawning realization slowly arose in his heart.
Li Shimin took Yunyi westward, and after leaving the city gate, they rode for nearly an hour before reining in the horse in front of a towering mountain that reached into the clouds.
Yunyi brushed away the unmelted snowflakes from her clothes and looked around at the desolate surroundings, her breath visible in the cold air: “Second Young Master, what did you bring me here for?” Before they had even left the mansion, the sky had begun to flutter with fine snowflakes, just as Yunyi had predicted.
Li Shimin helped her down from the horse and said gently: “Have you ever heard of snow lotus?”
“I have not.” Yunyi had not only heard of snow lotus, she had actually seen it with her own eyes, but these things absolutely could not be told to Li Shimin.
“This flower grows on the Tianshan Mountains in the Western Regions, so it’s also called Tianshan Snow Lotus. It blooms once every three to five years, lasting only one day before withering. It has miraculous healing properties. Many people travel thousands of miles just to pick Tianshan Snow Lotus, but the people of the Western Regions regard it as a sacred flower and forbid anyone from picking it. Once discovered, they will face the condemnation of all the people of the Western Regions!”
“I never imagined there was such a miraculous flower in this world. But… why is Second Young Master telling me this? Surely we don’t have snow lotus here?”
Her words were meant in jest, but unexpectedly Li Shimin actually nodded and pointed up the mountain: “Several months ago, when I came here to survey the terrain for my father, I inadvertently spotted an unopened snow lotus bud halfway up the mountain.”
“Here?” Yunyi said in surprise: “Didn’t Second Young Master say this flower grows on the Tianshan Mountains in the Western Regions? How could it appear here?”
“I’m not certain either, but that plant is definitely a snow lotus.” He glanced at the sky, which had become even more overcast than before: “I come here every few days, but the snow lotus has never bloomed. I asked some people who had heard the legend of snow lotus, and they said snow lotus only blooms when it snows. Today should be the day it blooms. I want to ask you to draw the snow lotus in bloom so that Wugou can see it.”
“Wugou?” Yunyi frowned as she looked at Li Shimin. In her two months at the Governor’s mansion, she had never heard this name.
Li Shimin smiled gently: “Wugou is my betrothed wife. The year before last, when I accompanied my father to visit my uncle’s family, she mentioned that she very much wanted to see the snow lotus that grows on Tianshan, to see if it was truly as pure and flawless as the legends say. Unfortunately, she cannot travel far, and once picked, snow lotus withers immediately, so she has never had the chance to see it.”
Li Shimin’s face often wore a gentle smile, but this time it felt particularly warm to Yunyi, as if even the continuously falling snow wasn’t so cold anymore: “I see. So Second Young Master hopes I can draw the snow lotus to fulfill Miss Changsun’s wish.”